Epilogue
Year 10 of the Horseman
T setting when it happens.
Victor drops his book, the spine hitting my legs, which are draped over his lap.
I glance up from my own novel, my gaze going from the book to
his ashen face.
“What is it?”
Gently, Victor moves my legs aside and stands. He walks a few feet before he leans heavily against the nearby wall.
I set my own book aside, alarmed. I pretty much have to kick a path through the scattered children’s toys to get to him.
“What’s the matter?” I ask.
Is he having a heart attack?
Is that even possible?
When he meets my eyes, there’s an old and familiar torment in them. “You may have stopped me all those years ago, Sara, but I am afraid …” He trails off, his eyes going to our home’s large balcony, which overlooks the Pacific. “I cannot stop my brothers.”
A chill slides through me. We haven’t even talked about this subject in months. For it to come up now, and so ominously … Victor heads outside, driven by some force I can’t sense, and I’m helpless but to follow him.
He stands at the ledge, his hands gripping the railing so tightly I can hear the wood beginning to splinter. Amazing to think that those hands that can hold me so gently can also do this.
“The wheel of fate has been set in motion,” he says. “It still turns without my help.”
Despite my unease, I smooth my fingers over his hand. Beneath my touch, his hold on the railing loosens.
“I can feel it,” he says, not bothering to meet my gaze. His eyes move restlessly over the land. “My brother is waking.”
I go cold all over. “What?”
He won’t look at me, his body forced into a rigid stance.
“Pray for the world, dear Sara. War is coming.”
Keep a lookout for the next book in Laura Thalassa’s The Four Horseman series:
War Coming soon.
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Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s young adult paranormal romance series
Rhapsodic
Out now!
Click here to buy it on Amazon
Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s new adult post-apocalyptic romance series
The Queen of All that Dies
Out now!
Click here to buy it on Amazon
Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s young adult paranormal romance series
The Unearthly
Out now!
Click here to buy it on Amazon
Other books by Laura Thalassa
T B :
Rhapsodic
A Strange Hymn The Emperor of Evening Stars
T F W :
The Queen of All that Dies
The Queen of Traitors The Queen of All that Lives
T U :
The Unearthly
The Coveted
The Cursed
The Forsaken The Damned
T V G :
The Vanishing Girl The Decaying Empire
T I : Blood and Sin
N: Reaping Angels
Acknowledgements
S are patient—some even coy. Then there are other book ideas, like the one I had for Pestilence, that simply pour out of you. This novel was the lovechild of months of sleepless nights and feverish writing. And yet, for all my excitement, this book wouldn’t be what it is without the help of some amazing individuals.
Thank you first and foremost to my husband, who has always been my number one fan (on top of just literally being the best human out there). Special thanks also goes to my little June Bug, who actually probably did more to stall this book than anything else (hello halftime work), but whose utter existence is still so mind- blowing and amazing to me that it was inspiration enough.
Thank you to Leia Stone for you know what. Shannon Mayer, huge thanks for letting me pick your brain on really dull research stuff. You da best.
To literally all the authors who’ve shown interest in this book— Grace Draven, Scarlett Dawn, Amber Lynn Natusch, Kelly St. Clare, Linda Lee, and more—seriously you all are making me sweat and now I’m going to do a victory lap of editing humble me.
Shout out to my beta readers and ARC reviewers, my street team and all those wonderful book bloggers and bookstagrammers who have given this novel so much love. I heart you all so hard.
Lastly, thank you to you, the reader, who at this point is getting extra credit for making it all the way here, to the end of my acknowledgments. I hope you enjoyed reading about these characters as much as I did writing them.
F forest when she was young, Laura Thalassa was raised by fairies, kidnapped by werewolves, and given over to vampires as repayment for a hundred year debt. She’s been brought back to life twice, and, with a single kiss, she woke her true love from eternal sleep. She now lives happily ever after with her undead prince in a castle in the woods.
… that anyway.
W , Laura can be found scarfing down guacamole, hoarding chocolate for the apocalypse, or curled up on the couch with a good book.
