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"There you are," Ares says, joining us on the porch. "I was looking for you, Remedy."
He sits down on the other side of her and clears his throat.
"I have something I'd like to say to you, Rem. Mostly, I'm sorry for being such a crazy fucking lunatic out in the forest. I don't know what happened to me when I shifted. I truly became an animal. Now it makes a little bit more sense, considering the Fates had cast a spell over me."
"Do you love me?" she asks.
"Yes." Ares rakes a hand through his wild hair. "Of course, I do. I hate that I missed so much. I'm sorry for hurting you, for not giving you what you need. For scaring you. Threatening you. For all of it."
His eyes are filled with tears and I have never found him more handsome than I do at this moment. His vulnerability shines through, it burns brighter than any of his fires ever could.
"It was pretty fucking confusing to think my dad wanted me dead."
It's remarkable. Her ability to truly forgive Ares after what he did to her.
But true love has a way of helping us let go of the past and grab hold of the future.
"Persephone," Ares says. "Can I speak to you too?"
Remedy gives her father a quick hug before slipping away and as she walks away the smile on her face is breathtaking.
"Thank you," she whispers. "For coming back. I've waited so long to have a mom and dad."
Tears blur all our faces then, and after she walks away, Ares takes my hands in his.
"I was a fool."
"Weren't we all?"
He laughs. "But I was a really big fucking fool," he says. "What if I had killed her?" He drops his head. "How can I live with myself now, knowing the truth, remembering the way I treated her?"
I set my hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look me in the eyes. "But you didn't kill her. We're all alive. We're here. Together."
"I don't deserve it."
"Does anyone? Does anyone deserve love like this? Love at all?"
"Maybe not," he says. "I just can't believe how much time we lost. I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love you. How glad I am to have you here with me now."
"I don't need your words."
I pull Ares into a kiss, pressing my lips against his and let my tired body sink into his arms. My skin missed him so much and my heart strains against my chest. I need him.
I need all of my husbands.
"I love you," I tell him.
Gasping for breath, he says, "I love you too, Sephy. So, fucking much." Our lips crash together once more and my eyes close, savoring the fact that we have forever.
Somehow, we ended up here, on the front steps of the Fates' cottage, together at last.
"Am I interrupting something?" Hades asks, joining us outside.
I look up at him. His long, lean body still captures my heart.
Maybe in some ways, I had never let him go.
"No," I say, smiling. "We were just making up."
"I see," he says. "Then maybe I didn't apologize as well as I should have. I didn't get a kiss."
Hades takes my hand and pulls me to stand, his firm hand on my waist, my body already melting into his.
"Oh, Hades," I say. "I think I'll give more than kisses tonight."
* * *
We go back to where we started. To the building where the beautiful ball was held the night I met my gods.
Anticipation grows in my belly as they lead me up the stairs.
The night is dark, the swollen moon high in the sky. Shimmering stars make the mood magical and I don't think anyone else could quite understand how amazing it is to stand outside.
Breathing in the night air.
I spent so long in the Underworld. Night and day or years and months... time meant nothing to me. The only thing that mattered while I was locked up, all alone, was finding my daughters again.
The crazy thing is that when I found them, I also found they don't need me in the way I always imagined.
And the unbelievable part is that I'm okay.
"The girls will be okay, I think," I tell the gods. "Don't you?"
Ares smirks. "Remedy certainly will be."
I smile, thinking about her fire, her spunk. "What is she going to do with a pack of wolves?" I ask laughing. "It's a good thing those boys will have a mother like her. She certainly takes after her dad."
"And Harlow?" Poseidon asks. "She's not the same as Remedy, she seems softer, more..."
I answer for him, "More like her mother."
"Yes," Poseidon says, looking at me with affection in his eyes. "That's it. She is like you."
We walk to the center of the rooftop, where pillows and blankets lie waiting. My mind goes back to the night so many years ago.
