Kaelen started to speak, but my father held up a hand to stop him.
After a long moment, a broken smile touched my father's lips.
"You're right, Elara. I don't deserve to be your father. We won't bother you again. You... take care of yourself."

As he spoke, a figure burst from the bushes beside me.
It was Sable.
Her hair was a tangled mess, her belly swollen and round.
She lunged at me, a knife held high.
"Elara Ashford! It's all your fault! Because of you, I lost my chance to be the Dalton matriarch! Because of you, those two pigs sent me away to be tortured, and now I'm carrying this... this thing!"
"You ruined my life! Now you die!"

In a flash, a body moved in front of me.
The knife plunged into my father's chest.
He turned his head, a faint, sad smile on his lips.
"Elara,"he gasped.

"Dad... finally protected you."
Then he collapsed.
Seeing this, Kaelen went insane.
He let out a primal scream and launched himself at Sable, grabbing a loose brick from a garden border and bringing it down on her head again, and again, and again.
It took several bodyguards to pull him off her.
Sable was gone.
Someone in the crowd had called the police.
They took away the bodies of my father and Sable.
They also took Kaelen.
As they led him away, he looked at me, his eyes hollow.
"Elara,"he asked,
"I avenged you. Will you... will you come visit me in prison?"
I looked at the man who was once my beloved brother.
"No,"I said quietly.
A smile that was more painful than a sob twisted his lips.
He said nothing more.
On the way home, the setting sun cast our shadows long on the pavement.
I looked at the man beside me.
"Why did you refuse your family's arranged marriage?"
I asked him.
"You're an amazing man. The woman they chose for you must have been extraordinary."
Caspian squeezed my hand, his voice a low, warm murmur in the evening air.
"Because I was waiting for the rose in my heart."
His hand was strong and warm in mine.
Every step we took felt safe, secure.
And at the end of the road was our home.
(End)