The Bars Between (MxM)

Epilogue

Two children, a boy and a girl, ran around the snow covered garden.

With their silvery hair and pale skin, they almost blended in and their parents would have a hard time keeping track of them if not for their bright clothes.

Their mother, Katasha, watched them with nothing but love in her eyes.

Their father watched them, bored.

Although their parents were sitting on the same bench, they sat at opposite ends, not touching in any way.

The children were used to this, their parents never showed each other any affection.

Katasha, seeing her children a distance away, turned to her husband. "I want another kid." She asked, or a better word would be demanded.

Adren sighed, turning to her. "We already have two, why do you want more?"

"You might not love them but I do and I want another." Katasha replied shortly. Adren did love his kids, but not as much as he probably should.

"It's kind of a stressful time right now." Adren's father was horribly sick so he'd been taking up most, and there was no doubt that he would soon pass, which meant Adren would soon fully become King.

Katasha slid closer to him. This wasn't to try to seduce him, she'd given up on that a long time ago due to his lack of response. "I know, but it will take a while for it to not be stressful. I think we should do it now before you have to deal with being King." Procreation had always been a challenge for them. Adren only agreed to it when he had no other choice, so only when Katasha pressured him into having a kid. Even then, he wasn't what she would call an active participant in the activity.

"Fine." He finally gave in, his voice showing his annoyance.

"Tonight."

He sighed. "Tonight."

Satisfied, Katasha turned back to her children, still a lot closer than she had been at the beginning of the conversation. Even though they'd been married for years, Adren never loved her. She knew this. Even though she went into the marriage full of hope and love and initially tried every time they were together to get him to love her back, he never responded to it. She had no idea why, but focused all of her frustration with him into love for their children.

Adren didn't even know why he couldn't love her. He knew that Ryion broke his heart, but years later it was still affecting him more than he could explain. He did try to feel affection for Katasha, for Ardion and Leonexa, but all that came was very little.

He forced himself to look involved and loving for his people and tried to show his kids that he cared, but it never came across right.

Suddenly, he saw a flash of something dark in the corner of his eye.

Moving his hand to grip the knife he kept in his belt, he stood. The guards should keep anything dangerous away, but he had a bad feeling about this.

Katasha noticed his movement and stood too, eyeing him with concern.

She didn't follow when he stalked off in the direction he saw the thing from.

He walked to the archway he saw it from. The arch itself was beautiful, blue flowers wrapping around it that were always covered in frost, and it led to a small lake that was always frozen. He stepped through, walking on the stepping stones carefully placed along the way, trying to see something out of the ordinary, his hand still tense on the knife.

At first, he couldn't anything.

But then he looked down.

Laying on a perfect snow-covered stone, undusted by snow, showing it was placed there really recently, was something that made his heart race for the first time in a very long time.

Sitting on the stone was a completely black rose.