“There’s something else she said,” I whisper, knowing that the confirmation will certainly break him. But he needs to know, to have closure.
“What is it?” His dark eyes burn into me, searing me with more question than he voiced.
“Your mother,” I start slowly. “She’s… she’s dead, Logan.” When I look at him, I see the sadness flit across his handsome, rugged face. And I wrap my arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me,” he mumbles into my hair as he buries his face into the crook of my neck. He doesn’t want to show me his emotions, and I allow him to hold me as he comes to terms with the news.
We stand together, holding each other up for a long while. Silence is calming as it surrounds us. I’m not sure how much time passes when Logan finally pulls away, cupping my face in his hands and smiles.
“Thank you for being here with me. You’re a beauty,” Logan says. “And I love you.”
“I love you too, my Broken Prince,” I tell him as I snuggle into his warmth.
Epilogue
Four months later
My father looks at me like I’m a princess. Today of all days, I feel like that girl I read about in books when I was a kid. I feel like I’m special, more so than normal because as Dad takes my hand, I take a deep breath and turn to the aisle.
“Make sure I don’t faceplant on the carpet,” I whisper to him, causing him to chuckle.
“Never, sweet girl,” he tells me before leading me to my destiny.
When I was ten years old, I met a boy.
When I was eighteen, I ran away from home because said boy didn’t want me.
And now, I’m all grown up, and I’m marrying said boy. He’s no longer convinced he’s a monster, just a broken man who grew up too quickly. It’s what happens when monsters raise us. Logan has come to terms with himself, with his desires and mine over the time we’ve been together. We’re both older, grown up.
By the time I reach Logan, he’s become blurry because the tears threatening to spill are sitting on my lashes. The moment I blink, they slowly trickle down my cheeks. Logan takes my hand, bringing my knuckles to his lips.
“You look perfect,” he tells me before we turn to the man before us. Words are spoken, but I don’t hear them because my heart is thrumming wildly in my ears. It’s a rhythm I find solace in for the moment.
As time passes and we turn to each other once more, Logan takes my left hand, lifts it, and places the sleek, golden band on my ring finger.
“There was a long time where I thought marriage was for fools. I believed that finding love was not something I’d ever do because I could never find a woman who would see past the exterior and look deeper. But you, my beauty, did just that.”
His voice catches, and I have to swallow back my own emotion, or I’d be a basket case of tears right now. But they’d be happy tears. Definitely happy.
“When you accepted me for who I am—not your knight in shining armor—but your Broken Prince, I knew I’d found my Sleeping Beauty.” His words warm my chest, my heart beats against my ribs, and I can’t stop the tears from falling now.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I promise you forever.” Logan slips the ring all the way to the last knuckle. The golden band sits beside the diamond ring he gave me only a month ago. Even though we’re not perfect apart, we’ve found flawlessness together.
“Logan.” His name on my lips feels so natural as I take his hand and slip the thick gold ring onto his finger. “You’ve taken my wants and needs and made them your own, and I’m so thankful you did. Even though we walked a very strange, long, and winding path to get here, my heart is filled with more love and happiness than I’ve ever experienced.” The ring fits perfectly, and I smile up at him when I say the last few words. “Forever and a day, my Broken Prince.”
The priest says his final words, announcing us as husband and wife, and the few guests we have whoop loudly when Logan pulls me in for a kiss. The guys who helped us when we needed it most—Dax, Kael, and Axel—along with their partners are here. My father and Abigail, his friend that has been around a few times over the past few weeks. I’m so happy to see my father has found a friendship that had long since fizzled out because of my mother’s wrongdoings.
We don’t need much more than this. And there’s still one more thing I need to tell Logan, but not here. Our hands lock in a tight hold as we make our way down the aisle and out the doors into the sunshine.