#Chapter 142: Epilogue - Home

Ember Ten months later Clara sits beside the crib reading to her baby brother from a picture book she is mostly inventing. Theo is six months old, round-cheeked and solemn, with Kaine's dark eyes, my auburn hair, and Clara's stubborn chin. "And then the brave wolf saved the prince," Clara announces, changing the story for the fourth time, "because big sisters protect everybody." Theo gurgles as if agreeing. Clara takes this as applause. The nursery is a disaster in the way healthy rooms become disasters: blankets over chair backs, wooden wolves lined along the windowsill in strict rank order, a basket of clean cloths that Theo has somehow defeated, Clara's drawings taped crookedly to the wall because she insists babies need art. Five years ago I counted coins beside a cradle and listened for footsteps outside a cottage door. Now my son sleeps under palace guards who know his name, and my daughter argues with a baby about plot structure. Kaine appears behind me and wraps one