“Vile betrayer!”
“I love love,” Tiggy said loudly.
“Me too, kitten. It truly is a magical thing between two people.”
“Or three people,” Kevin pointed out. “If one was so inclined and did what they were supposed to do instead of choosing someone crazy and getting captured by them.”
“Excuse me?” Gary growled. “It’s not my fault I—”
“My gods,” Terry said with a sniff. “Have you ever thought of not being a whore?”
“Whaaaaat is happening,” Ryan said.
“Randall!” I bellowed. “You get us dude-hitched right this second, or I will never forgive you!”
“Oh no,” Randall said flatly. “Please, anything but that.”
Morgan elbowed him.
“Fine, fine. Dearly beloved—oh, I already said that part. Of all the—where was I? Right, right. The act of marriage is a sacred union between two—”
“And I now pronounce you husband and husband!” I cried. “I may kiss said husband!”
And so I did.
The crowd gasped dramatically.
But Ryan?
Gods, how he smiled against me. His strong arms wrapped around me, and he lifted me up as I kissed him with all I had. Every ounce of love and hope and wishes upon the stars for the future we could have, I gave to him.
He gave me the same in return.
And you know what?
We lived happily ever after.
UNTIL THE next day, when I woke up after giving Ryan the dicking of his life and realized that the Prince was still single, and I couldn’t have that. I vowed then and there to make it my mission to find my best friend 5eva the love of his life, if it was the last thing I did.
Little did I know then that it almost would be. Because apparently there was a generations-old decree of an arranged marriage between the prince of a faraway land and the firstborn of the King of Verania.
But that… well.
That’s a story for another day.
Author’s Note
THE END is always hard to write for an author. Depending on the length of the story, one could have spent weeks or months or even years with a set of characters. I started the adventures of Sam of Wilds in what was a very dark time for me personally. I needed to laugh and forget about the real world for a time, and Sam and Ryan and Tiggy and Gary and Kevin helped me to do that. They gave me more than I’d hoped for.
But even then, I had no idea when I started The Lightning-Struck Heart that the story would go as far as it has. I thought I would be telling an overtly immature take on a common fairy tale trope. And now, four volumes later, I’ve wrapped a much bigger story of love and friendship, of pain and sacrifice. I’m proud of how this has ended, the story line readers know I lovingly refer to as the Destiny Fuck Yeah! arc. And while Sam and his band of merry misfits are more mature (ish) than when they started out in a cave with Lartin the Dark Leaf, they’re still the characters who made me smile when I needed it more than anything.
This is their happy ending.
But I don’t think I can let them go quite yet.
After all, Justin’s still single, isn’t he?
Can’t have that.
I’ll return to Verania one day. For now, I have other stories I want to tell. But when I do, it’ll be from Justin’s point of view. I already have some funky ideas about what’s going to happen with that prince from a faraway land.
I can’t wait.
Thanks, as always, for reading!
TJ