Moss, but now you are also Snow Tree.”
Leyloni’s lips spread into a wide smile as relief flooded her. Holding Serek closer, she turned back to Arysteon. Her breath caught when she saw the look in his eyes. They were brimming with possessiveness, desire, need, and love. They told her all she needed to know, all she had known already.
Reaching up, he caught her chin and lowered his face closer to hers. “I see you, my heartsong.” He stroked her jaw with his thumb. “I will forever see you—only you.”
“I love you, my dragon,” Leyloni whispered, tears brimming her eyes, and closed the distance between them to capture his mouth in a kiss.
Epilogue
The bird songs always seemed different in the winter. It wasn’t merely a matter of different notes and patterns, of different purposes behind them, or of some species having migrated, but of the season itself. The crisp, clear winter air and the dampening effect of the snow blanketing the ground lent the bird songs an otherworldly tone. It was a tone well suited to this landscape of glistening snow and sparkling ice.
Arysteon’s heartsong had changed, too—it was richer, deeper, more resonant than ever before. It had changed as his love for his mate grew with each passing day, it had changed once he’d realized that his small family—one piece of the larger clan he’d also come to love—would soon be a little bigger.
He’d never expected to find this sense of belonging and purpose again. He’d never imagined that following a single alluring scent as a lightning storm built over his forest would lead him to contentment, bliss, love. So many things could have been different that day. Even the smallest changes might well have kept him from this. Just the slightest difference in wind direction, or the rain starting a little sooner, might have been enough to prevent Arysteon from having ever found his mate.
He lifted his gaze to Leyloni. She was leaning against a nearby tree, stunningly beautiful even while bundled in furs and hides. The cold had brought splashes of pink to her freckled cheeks, and the locks of hair that had escaped her hood were as vibrant as fire against her pale skin and the even paler snow. Her eyes sparkled more brightly than the ice clinging to the boughs overhead, and her skin bore a vital glow.
But most radiant of all was the smile she gifted him as she met his gaze and ran her hand over her rounded belly.
Their tribe sisters had said another moon cycle, perhaps, before Leyloni birthed their child. Arysteon’s anticipation grew daily and had long since surpassed reason.
“Awi,” called Serek in his high little voice. “Da da dagon!”
The command in Serek’s words jarred Arysteon from his reverie and called his attention down to his son. Serek—already so much bigger than he’d been when he’d first come into Arysteon’s life—was clad in his own furs and stood impatiently just ahead of the dragon. Between them was the pile of snow Arysteon had been building before losing himself in thought.
Full awareness rushed back to Arysteon. There were voices all around, snow was crunching beneath booted feet, and the laughter of children and adults alike filled the air as everyone ran and played in the season’s first major snow.
So many of the Snow Tree people had gathered in this clearing to celebrate the coming of winter, to celebrate the hard work they’d done in preparation. To celebrate being alive.
Serek waved his hands at the snow pile. “Moh, Awi. Moh!”
More, Ary. More.
Being alongside Serek as his babbling had developed into words over the months had filled Arysteon with immense pride—the pride of a father watching his youngling learn and grow.
Arysteon sank a little deeper into his crouch, spread his arms wide, and leaned forward to sweep more snow into the pile. He stopped building it only when it was well above Serek’s head.
The youngling stared at the mound with wide, eager eyes and a silly smile, bouncing in place.
Smiling himself, Arysteon stood up and stepped to the side of the mound. “Go, little dragon!”
With a gleeful cry, Serek charged forward, his steps made awkward by his bulky furs but overflowing with enthusiasm, nonetheless. The boy growled just before reaching the pile, where he came to a sudden stop, hopped up, and fell face-first into the loosely packed snow.
Powdery white dust fluttered in the air, and Serek sank deep enough that he was almost entirely engulfed by the pile but for his little legs sticking