Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

Epilogue

Danika touched the large oak tree. A thicket of roses surrounded its gnarled black base. Galeta had been furious that Miriam had outwitted her. But it was a victory Danika could not rejoice in.

It was a wound to know her friend was lost to her forever. All that remained was a gnarled old oak.

“Thank you, Mir. Thank you for loving like you do, for protecting that girl. Ewan is madly in love and Violet feels the same. I planted more roses last week. Not sure if you noticed.” She sniffed. “They’re blacks, I thought they were appropriate.”

She sighed, glancing at the wild abundance of roses. Every night since planting her best friend within the small rose garden, she’d returned and planted one new rose. There were whites, reds, yellows, orange, pinks, creams… an explosion of color that she knew Mir would have wanted.

“I love you, sister. I’ll never forget. But I must return to the mortal realm, Jinni’s mate is in trouble. I know all will be well, but…” Danika stuttered as the fresh pain lanced through her heart. “I must go, dear. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

She stood, dusted off her spider silk skirt, and grabbed her pouch of fairy dust. Sprinkling the gold flecks liberally on the garden.

The roses swiveled, blinking rose colored eyes gratefully back at her. They never talked here, as if they knew that were rooted on sacred ground.

“You’re welcome,” she murmured to them, then patted the tree one last time.

Heat infused her palm and in her heart, she knew Miriam had thanked her too.