After the Turning [c o m p l e t e d]

Epilogue

Epilogue

10 years later

Adan sat tall and mighty on his throne. He had a knightly air around him which made him all the more stunning. My husband. We had sworn eternity together nine years ago, but unlike some marriages that got boring and filled with disdain, ours still stayed strong. I could never look at him without thinking, how in the world did I get so lucky? With each passing day, my blessings increased.

A pixie floated in front of Adan, leaving sparkles as it swayed back and forth. "Our people have been asking for more land ever since a few centuries ago." He was the leader of all pixies, Lord Yesoff. I met him often; most of the time he complained about the same thing—land rights.

The annoyance on my husband's face was obvious. He scoffed and spoke without even bothering to look at his subject. "And I have made it clear for centuries that your people have sufficient lands."

"Not as much as the fairies!"

"The fairies have always been large in numbers. If I award you any more it will be unfair and cause them suffering."

"They had stolen our ancestral lands, and we have proven that time and time again."

Adan tapped his fingers on the rest of his chair. "There will be no more discussion to this." He stood up and glanced at his watch. He and I had an appointment this afternoon. Neither of us wanted to be late for it. "This is the last time I will hear of this. From this day onwards there will be no more talk about pixie land rights in this court." He meant that. At that point. But two weeks later Lord Yesoff's wife would appear again to raise the same issue. They were persistent creatures.

My husband had gotten too tired of destroying their leaders when they brought up the argument over their rights to court. The death of a leader meant a mini pixie war. It complicated matters. Still, even though he let it go, Adan got annoyed at their persistence.

"My lord, we honestly believe that you should reconsider this," the old pixie said.

Adan sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "That will be enough. Guards!"

One of my husband's head guards rushed toward the pixie and caught him in a small glass container. He then ran to the window and threw him like he would a pesky fly that someone decided to let live.

"I thought he'd never stop," Adan said, dragging his feet down the steps where I stood. A job as the underworld's ruler sounded nice, but its responsibilities were mentally tiring. Underworld creatures had tons of complaints everyday and Adan, as a responsible lord, tried to see to every one of them.

I held his hand. "You know he's coming back again next week right?"

He glanced at me and when he did, his face softened. "I know. These pixies. I regret ever creating them."

"They're fun little creatures." We started to the main gate which was right in front of us. The carriage waited there. There was no hurry. We had plenty of time.

Adan scratched his chin. "Annoying maybe. Fun? That's debatable."

"Irene likes them."

He nodded. "Which reminds me. I should stop her from playing with them. They can be dangerous."

"Daddy! Mommy!" A little girl jumped off from the carriage and sprinted toward us. I was worried that she might fall because of the klutzy way she handled things. If not for her fast healing, she'd have bruises all over the place.

Adan smiled and lifted her into his arms. "How's my little girl doing?"

Irene flashed him a cute little pout. "You and mommy made us wait too long."