52 Epilogue

When Helena wakes the first thing she notices is that she's in a fancy not-destroyed bedroom.

The second thing she notices is that Kent isn't with her.

She puts a hand to her dazed head as she gets off the bed, marvelling at the lack of pain.

Either she's on some very good drugs or she's been treated by a healer - probably Adrian.

She'd have assumed one of her friends from the mountains if not for the unfamiliar bedroom.

She cautiously makes her way out of the room in search of someone.

After everything that's happened recently she'd rather not open herself to more strain by using her empathy to do it.

When she does finally find the occupants of the house, it's Larcen and Adrian.

When she speaks her voice comes out raspy from disuse.

"Nice digs."

It's lame, she knows, but she doesn't quite know what else to say.

"Lee! You're awake! I was beginning to think you were gonna sleep forever!"

She frowns at this and the sudden hunger making itself known to her.

Her bodily systems are finally coming back online after being shut down for the restorative sleep of an overexerted gifted.

"How long was I out for?"

"A week."

Larcen's calm response only draws attention to the fact that he's no longer emitting anything but the comforting nothing of a Void.

Good.

His pain is finally healing.

Her body tries to force her into fulfilling it's needs but she ignores them for now.

It's waited a week, a few more minutes won't matter.

"And um… what happened to Kent?"

She's not sure she wants to know the answer.

"He woke up a couple days ago and went back to the… well the new Auron Household. The old one collapsed when the castle did. Thankfully no one was in it. Sonia and Riel are trying to make a go of it apparently."

Helena nods at this news.

Of course he'd go back to them.

Still, it's a lot better than her fears that he managed to get himself killed in the collapse.

"Lord Ausset?"

"He's been very involved in restorative work. So has Arabella. There might actually be something there."

"No there isn't!"

Helena can't help but smile at Adrian's immediate denial.

If there is something there she'd be good for him.

If not, well, he'll find someone eventually.

He has to carry on the family line after all.

Speaking of family lines…

"So what's the deal with the monarchy, now? Who's the current King?"

Larcen shifted uncomfortably at this.

"The previous King was crushed when the castle collapsed. A replacement hasn't been decided yet. We're thinking of holding an election."

"Will you be running?"

"Fair enough. What if the next King is as bad as the previous?"

"We'll deal with it."

They shared a small conspiratorial smile.

***

A couple of days later, Helena slings her small bag of belongings over her shoulder and says goodbye to Larcen and Adrian.

She waved off their offers of her staying as long as she wanted.

As interesting as staying with them had been, it just wasn't home.

Not to mention she'd gotten too many visits from members of the rebellion wanting to see how she was doing once word got out that she was awake.

Needless to say it got old fast.

She did enjoy the visit from the feisty Arabella who got shy any time the subject of Lord Ausset was broached.

The visit from Lord Ausset who did the same whenever Arabella was brought up was doubly amusing considering his previous reputation as something of a charmer.

Riel and Sonia's visit had been awkward but she wasn't really expecting anything different.

It got a bit better once she told Sonia she wouldn't be enforcing their deal regarding Kent but not by much.

As for Kent himself…

He never visited.

Not that she can blame him after the last time they'd been in the same room together.

She tenses when someone falls into step beside her.

A quick glance has her speeding up, but he keeps pace with her.

"Go home, Kent."

"That's what I'm doing."

"House Auron is in the other direction."

"I'm no longer a vassal of House Auron as per the agreement made."

"Didn't Son-sorry, Lady Auron tell you? I'm not enforcing it."

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"You already did."

She winces as he references her bold declaration in the castle.

A part of her had hoped he'd forget it.

"Yeah well, I'm releasing you from it. You're a free man now. Do what you will."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Don't. Don't force yourself to do this out of some misguided sense of honour or whatever."

He stops at those words, but she keeps going.

Just when she thinks he's given up she hears him rushing to catch up.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I meant what I said. I don't want you to do this unless it's what you want."

"You've never doubted it before."

"Well that was before… what happened in the castle, okay?"

"You mean when I threw you into the wall? I'm sorry and if I could take it back I would. I wasn't exactly in my right mind at the time and you'd just claimed me as a servant. I would never have hurt-"

She stopped walking and he did as well.

"When I calmed your rage I saw it's cause, okay?! I tried not to but I couldn't block out all of it!"

He frowns in confusion and she can't help but think he looks his cutest when he's confused.

"I know you did. Why would that be an issue? If you think I'd hold the invasion of privacy against you when it's really the only reason the Kingdom still exists… you have a very strange idea of my priorities."

She just stares at him for a moment before making an impatient noise.

"Kent, when I looked into your pain, I saw that I was the cause for most of it. How could you want to be with someone who's the source of your pain?"

He looks at her for a while trying to determine whether she is serious and when he does he starts to laugh, a hearty amused laugh.

Helena thinks of leaving him there but now she is too curious and a little bit hopeful too.

Better to kill the hope now than to wonder.

"What's so funny?"

"You. You fixated so much one this one little detail that you failed to see the big picture."

He sobers quickly and fixes her with his gaze.

"Hel, the reason why you're the source of most of my pain is because I love you. There've been so many roadblocks in our path that when you left for the mountains I resigned myself to never being able to be with you but I never stopped loving you."

She barely hears the words after 'I love you'.

She's been waiting to hear those words for so long that nothing else seems to matter.

"I-I love you too."

The smile that breaks out on his face is practically beaming and she can't help but feel shy under his gaze.

"So, where are we headed? The mountains?"

As much as she loves the idea of starting a life with him somewhere far from here the practical side of herself rears its head.

"You can't just up and leave to the mountains! Your life is here."

"My life is with you. Besides, I've been spending the time since I woke up sorting things out so I'd have nothing forcing me to stay."

As sweet as that is she can't help but feel a little skeptical.

"And Sonia?"

"I'll admit, I would like to visit but well she doesn't quite need me anymore. She has family around her and someone very wise once said that I can't spend my entire life taking care of her - I need to live my life too."

He gently reaches out to cup her cheek and she can't resist the urge to nuzzle into his palm - she doesn't want to resist it.

"So, I'll ask you again, where are we going?"