She was actually sailing to Virginia with Nicholas as his wife. The enormity of her decision no longer alarmed her. She could only contemplate her future with eagerness and excitement and hope.
Nicholas was her life. The only man she would ever love.
As her lips molded to his, a line from the journal came back to her: He held my heart captive, with chains stronger than steel.
She was Nicholas's captive, she reflected, but a completely willing one.
She sighed and gave herself up to his searing kiss. Nicholas owned her heart. And she knew with utter certainty they had touched only the beginning of something vast and beautiful. Their future lay ahead of them. A future bright with promise. Husband and wife, bound together by an irresistible passion known as love.
Epilogue
Journal entry, February 4, 1814
I see the truth so clearly now. All of my existence before you was nothing but a shadow of living. I kept life at a distance, never allowing myself to get close.
Only you freed me from my prison. Only you touched me deeply enough to find the core of passion inside me. Only you saw into my heart, baring the depth of my yearning.
You taught me passion and then taught me love -
Aurora paused in her writing, her gaze lifting to the door of the sitting room that adjoined the bedchamber. Nicholas. She had sensed his presence rather than heard him, they were so attuned to one another.
He stood casually leaning against the doorjamb, looking so irresistibly handsome that her heart skipped a beat. The bright winter light gleamed golden in his hair, which was no longer darkened to disguise his identity.
She smiled to see him, overcome with love and desire. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long."
"You seem to be developing a habit of watching me."
"True. It's one of my greatest pleasures, looking at my beautiful wife." Nicholas crossed the room to where Aurora sat at her writing desk. "Are you writing about me again?"
"About us," she contradicted.
She was writing her own journal, setting down her most intimate thoughts. She had wanted, needed, a means to express the depth of her feelings for Nicholas.
He was the only one who would ever see it. She had no secrets from him. He had led her on an odyssey of the heart, an odyssey that was still unfolding. Each day with him was a fresh wonder, each moment a joy.
"Forgive me for interrupting, dearheart," he said, handing her a rolled parchment, "but this just came from Lucian. It should please you."
Curious, Aurora set down her pen and opened the document. She gave a cry of delight to see the royal seal of England's Prince Regent. "You have been pardoned?" she exclaimed, reading feverishly.
"Yes. The price was exorbitant – two merchantmen and a schooner from the Sabine shipping line – but I can now return to England without a death warrant hanging over my head. And you can visit your homeland, sweetheart."
Aurora was elated, more for Nicholas's sake than her own. He was no longer a fugitive. She no longer had to live in terror that he would be apprehended like a criminal and sent to the gallows.
"If you like, we can plan a trip there as soon as the war ends," he offered.
She glanced up at him in contemplation. America's war with England was still raging – dangerously close to their own shores, in fact – which made travel across the Atlantic extremely hazardous.
Giving him a smile of gratitude, Aurora shook her head. "I have no urgent need to return to England," she said softly. "This is my home now, Nicholas. Everything I care most about is here. Except for Raven, of course… Did your cousin Wycliff send any word of her?"
"A brief mention. She's still the toast of London, apparently. Her betrothal to a duke only seems to have added to her allure."
A slight frown scored Aurora's brow. "I worry about her, Nicholas. It disturbs me that she accepted Halford when she had so many better choices of husband."
"I don't much care for her choice either, sweetheart, but we have discussed this before. And we agreed I wouldn't forbid the marriage."
"I know, but even so… I think we were right to send her the journal. Perhaps it will help Raven reconsider before she commits to a life without passion or love. I want her to understand what she is giving up and realize that the joy of love is well worth the risk of pain."