160AN: Italics are memories.
Epilogue
Five Years Later...
If Liam Thurston had learned anything, it was that his parents were disgusting, but everyone, except him, weren't aware of it. At the age of seven (eight tomorrow!), Liam had watched his father sweep his mother up in his arms every time he returned home and littered her face with kisses. Everyone thought the King and Queen were so in love.
It wouldn't have been so bad if Liam hadn't noticed a correlation between his parents kissing and the amount of siblings he had. It had been nice, being the only child, until he wasn't.
Milo was born first. He was born nearly a year after Will had beaten his father, and Milo was the boy that reunited the Realm back together. The first year of Will's rule had been tumultuous, to say the least. There were uprisings in the South, that required Will and his Northmen to go put down, like a wild dog.
After one of the final uprisings, Will returned home in time to discover that Tamzin had gone into labor. The birth of their second child moved significantly faster than with Liam and in a few short hours, Milo Thurston had been born.
"He's perfect," Tamzin murmured as she stared down at her newest son. "A second son. The South will view that as a divine ruling."
"I don't care about that," Will said as he kissed her cheek. "You have given me two healthy children. I care very little that they are boys. You are their mother and that's all that matters."
Liam knew it could be worst. Milo was his best friend, and Liam had been fascinated with the baby when his mother first presented Milo to him.
"He was in your tummy?" Liam asked as he looked at Tamzin's still rounded belly. "Is there another one in there?"
"Oh, dear, no! Thank the gods for that," Tamzin giggled as she watched as Liam's blue eyes narrowed at his little brother.
"But how did he come out?" Liam asked and Tamzin giggled again, while Will's cheeks flushed.
"I will tell you when you are older," Will said as he ruffled his son's curly hair. "You're still my Little Bear. No one will be my Little Bear, but you."
Liam smiled.
Milo was now five and smart as a whip. He was accomplished for a child his age, reading better than Liam himself, and he was able to memorize the books he read. Jacque had taken a shining to the child and Milo spent time with the old healer after his lessons.
Despite Milo's strength in the academics, he did not match Liam for his tenacity or physical strength. At age five, Liam began to trail one-on-one with Will to learn what he needed to do well in battle. Rolf taught him how to shoot arrows, and Tamzin showed Will the best poisons to place on the arrows, to further kill his opponents.
Liam cherished the time he spent with his father; it was hard to share his parents with his other siblings, but Liam knew, even at his age, that he and his father had a special bond. It did not fade when the other children were born.
"How did this happen?" Tamzin murmured to her husband at the stared down at their two sons. Their two newborn sons. "I don't have twins in my family. Do you?"
"I don't believe so," Will replied as he kissed the twin in his arm's head. "We make beautiful children."
"Of course we do," Tamzin grinned as she pressed her son into her chest. "You're going to have to help me more with them. It's going to be hard to feed them both at once."
"Do you wish for a wet nurse?" Will asked before he earned a glare from his wife. "No?"
"Absolutely not!" Tamzin barked softly as her son snuggled into her arms. "Four sons. I cannot believe we have four sons."
"I can," Will said as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "I don't think anyone in the Realm is surprised that we have so many children."
"You need to learn to keep your hands off of me," Tamzin teased as she used her free arm to remove her strap. She revealed both her breasts and her son easily latched on. She sighed. "Give him to me," Tamzin said as Will, gently, handed the second boy to Tamzin. With a pillow in her lap, Tamzin held her sons as they both suckled from her.
"When should we tell Liam and Milo?" Will asked as he helped Tamzin become more comfortable.
"After I finish feeding them. Did you see how annoyed Liam was when we told him I was having another baby?" Tamzin said with a grin. "I think he misses being an only child."
"I don't know about that. He does love Milo very much. They're attached at the hip," Will said as he helped her support his newborn sons' heads.
"He misses spending complete one-on-one with you," Tamzin murmured as her sons finished their feedings. "All of our children need you, but Liam..."
"I know his nightmares have started again," Will replied with a frown. "He does remember more than we thought he would."
"He doesn't know that what he dreamed about actually happened. I'm not sure I ever want him to know what happened," Tamzin said sadly as she looked down at her new sons. "Help me burp them, and then go retrieve our sons."
The twins, Bennett and Charlie, were nearly two and a half. They were rambunctious little boys, but when Tamzin sat them down in front of blocks, you could see their true talent. The twins enjoyed building things, and Garrett had seen the boys build monstrous-sized buildings.
"When they grow bigger, they're the ones that are going to be making the new weapons," Garrett said to Will as the the brothers helped Bennett and Charlie build with their blocks.
"Papa, Papa, Papa," Charlie would ramble as he sat in Will's lap to reach a higher platform. Will smiled as he kissed Charlie's dark brown hair. Bennett, Charlie, and Milo all favored Tamzin's strong Roth roots, with their dark hair and dark eyes. The children also tended to tan in the sun. However, all four children had Will's curly hair, something that Tamzin nearly wept for joy with.
"Mother," Liam asked as Milo, Charlie, and Bennett toddled along behind her. He pulled on her dress. "Hi, Father," Liam grinned as Will turned to look down at his four sons.
"My boys," Will said as he dropped to his knees and embraced his sons. Liam smiled as he buried his face in his father's shoulder and his siblings all crowded together to try and get closer. "Were you good for your mother?"
"Yes," the boys replied in unison, and Will laughed. He looked back to Tamzin for confirmation, and with an eye-roll, she nodded. "I don't know if your mother agrees so much with that assessment, boys."
"The twins through a fit when I tried to take their blocks away, Milo wasn't happy when he couldn't find a book, and Liam..." Tamzin trailed off as she looked to her oldest son. "You need to talk to him."
Will looked to his son with a glum expression. Liam frowned; he knew he was not in trouble, but he did not like how his mother spoke. His father stared at him with a bit of sympathy and Will approached his son and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.
"I will talk to you after I visit your baby sister," Will said as he kissed Liam's hair, like he did when he was a toddler. "But first!" Will exclaimed. "Presents."
Will had been gone for nearly a month, treating with the Clansmen and visiting his sister, Katya. Two years ago, Sam and Katya had married, before she relocated to the Mountains. Nicola was upset for a good number of months, but surrounded by her grandchildren, she recuperated easily.
Willem, after he had been injured during the attempted purge in Isabelle's territory, was never able to fight again. Instead, he took over as the tutor for Will's children, with Tamzin's help, and with Jacque. Will never admitted it, but Willem was the closest Will would ever have for a father, and other than Turner Roth, the only person he would allow his children to call Grandpapa.
What Nicola lacked as a mother to Will, she made up for with his children. She delivered all of his children, and Will remembered the first few weeks when Liam was born. She was the one who showed Will and Tamzin how to change Liam's nappie and how Tamzin could become used to breastfeeding. She attended to Tamzin, personally, after the birth of each child, and when Will was away, she helped with the child-rearing.
Will did not think of Nicola as his mother, but he had come to terms with their relationship. He did not resent her any longer, not after the joy his own children provided for him.
"For my favorite scholar," Will said as he kneeled down to Milo's level. The five-year-old grinned at his father as Will gestured to Garrett, who produced a book from inside his jacket. "A book we found. It explains how the Clans use plants and other things for medicine."
"Thank you, Papa," Milo grinned, his two front teeth missing. Will grinned as he embraced his second-born son, and kissed his hair, a curly brown color.
"And my smallest builders and inventors," Will said to his twins as he gestured to Garrett again. "This is a gift from your Aunt Katya." Will pointed to behind the twins, to the wagon. Will stood before he picked up his twins easily and walked with them to the wagon. "They're blocks that can be used to build our castle."
The boys looked at each other with amazement in their brown eyes and they struggled in Will's arms to be put down. Will and Tamzin both laughed as the boys tried to climb up into the wagon. The Northmen rolled their eyes with good nature, and helped the small toddlers into the wagon, where they pulled at the box that had the blocks inside.
"And where is Kendall?" Will asked as he kept his eye on his sons.
"She's with her nurse. She was taking a nap," Tamzin said as she placed her hands on Liam and Milo's shoulders. "Boys, come inside!"
"But Mama!" the toddlers yelled from the wagon. "We want to play with the blocks."
"And you will, inside and after dinner," Tamzin replied as she steered her sons towards the entrance to the Palace. "Upstairs! Wash your hands and change your tunics! Bennett, Charlie, I won't ask again!" Tamzin said as she began to approach her twins, but Will stopped her.
With a grin on his face, the twins jumped into Will's arms and he carried them horizontally with his arms around their middles as he jogged up the stairs to the castle.
Inside, the castle was bustling with activity. Thurston was the capitol of the Realm, with Roth as its sister city and Warden of the South. Turner never remarried, but he visited regularly to see the boys.
Turner laughed boisterously when he saw the newborn twins, Bennett and Charlie.
"Three children in a row with the Roth look. How will the Northerners deal with that?" Turner asked as he stared down at the newborn boys. "They remind me of Thom."
The children followed their parents upstairs, but Liam had a knot in his stomach. He knew his father was right behind him, and he was nervous about what his father would have to say. Liam had been cross with his mother, after he had trouble sleeping. Would his father be upset? Liam knew how adamant he was that the boys have respect for their mother.
Tamzin led their children to the family suite, an area where the children had their lessons, Will had his study, and a small area for baby Kendall to play.
Kendall, Will and Tamzin's youngest child, and their only girl, was nearing six months. Her skin was the color of porcelain, her eyes as blue as Will's, and she had his dark hair, which was beginning to curl. Her lips and cheeks were always bright red and she had long, dark eyelashes. Despite having Will's coloring, her face was entirely Tamzin.
As Will tended to his son's in the suite, Tamzin carried Kendall towards her father, with her small arms outstretched. Will grinned as he saw his little daughter, her face so much like his beloved wife.
"Boys, our lives have now changed," Will said as he walked back and forth in front of his sons, who all sat together on the davenport in front of the fire. It was midday, but a snow storm had darkened the sky and the children were forced to play inside. "As you know, your mother has had another baby..."
"Do we have another brother?" Liam asked with his arms crossed over his chest, with a slight pout.
"No," Will said with a grin. "You have a sister."
"It's a girl?!" Milo asked with a shocked expression. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Will laughed at his son before he stopped pacing. "It is something I have told each of you since your birth. As Thurston men, you always protect your mother. And now, you always protect your little sister, as well."
"My little girl," Will whispered as he took Kendall into his arms. "I have missed my girls," he said as he kissed Kendall's cheek, which made her gurgle.
"I will take the boys and Kendall. You should speak to Liam," Tamzin whispered before she kissed Will's lips. "I'm so happy you're home."
"I'm happy to be home," Will replied against her lips as he shuffled Kendall back into her arms. "Boys, go with your mother. I need to speak to Liam alone."
Liam's stomach dropped. He looked up, uncertainly, at his father and then his mother. Tamzin approached him with a smile, and she kissed his cheek.
"You're not in trouble, Little Bear." She called him Little Bear when he was the most scared; it soothed Liam in an odd way. Liam stared at his mother's loving face and he felt his stomach knot begin to unlace. "Wave by to Papa and Liam," Tamzin said to Kendall as she lifted her daughter's hand and flapped it at her father and brother.
When Tamzin left, she shut the door behind her, and Liam and Will were left alone. Will approached his son, and sat next to him in front of the fire.
"Your mother wrote to me and told me you were having nightmares again," Will began as he ran a hand through his hair. Liam recognized his father was frustrated. "What happens in your nightmares?"
"You die," Liam responded bluntly as his lip began to tremble. "Mother and I are riding a horse and you have a lot of arrows in you. I can smell burning and fire; I can feel the heat on my cheeks. It feels real."
"It was real," Will replied as he steadied his voice. He blocked those memories out of his mind, until this moment. Liam needed to know the history of Thurston fathers and sons, and why Will would break that tradition. "Your mother and I hadn't even married before my father began to formulate his plans to kill me. When you were still growing in your mother's belly, she escaped his first attempt on her life. By the time you were three years old, I had been shot with arrows, whipped to within an inch of my life, and faced death, all at the hands of my father."
Liam gasped.
"I trusted someone I loved, and she betrayed me. I was lured into a trap, and I brought you and your mother with me. What is in your dreams is my sacrifice so you and your mother could ride away, on Angus, to safety," Will said as his voice began to tremble. "I executed my father a few weeks after your third birthday, just as my father killed his father." Will took Liam's hand into his.
"I want you to understand something," Will began to whisper. "I love you, your brothers and sister, and your mother unconditionally. I have faced death countless times and I always will, for your mother and you and your siblings. Listen to me when I say this, Liam, I love you. I love you more than I have ever loved anything, and this is where everything ends. I will raise you and your siblings to grow up and be the best men and woman you can be. You will have the love I did not know I could have until I married your mother."
"Your father was mean to you?" Liam asked as he stared at the fire in front of him. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I dreaded the day I would have to tell you. I had hoped you would never remember what you saw or experienced when you were a toddler. I prayed, every night, that you would never remember," Will said as his eyes watered. "My father wanted me to die so he could be a King forever. I don't want that for you. I look forward to raising you to be the best man you can be. It is more important to be a great man, than it is to be a great King. You know that I love you, don't you?"
"Of course, Papa." Liam had not called Will 'Papa' since he began to train as a soldier. Will was now 'Father' and he hated the name. He didn't care if Liam was a grown man, Will always wanted to be his Papa.
"Your birthday is tomorrow," Will smiled as he wrapped his arm around Liam's shoulders. "You know, tomorrow is my favorite day of the year. Well, I have quite a few favorite days, but tomorrow is my first favorite day."
"Why?" Liam asked as he laughed at his father.
"The day you and your siblings were born are the best days of my life, and followed by the day I married your mother. You, your siblings, and your mother have provided me with something I never had before," Will said as he kissed Liam's hair.
"What's that?" Liam asked.
"Peace."
AN: I am done! The story is finished and I am simultaneously ecstatic and very sad. People have asked if I would do any oneshots, and after how I am feeling, I think I am going to compile a few oneshots to show Will and Tamzin, along with their children over the years, along with expanding more on these specific moments, such as their children's birth. I'm sure quite a few of you are interested to see what was going through Will and Tamzin's heads when Kendall was born.
As of right now, I am outlining two new stories, going back to my roots. It's between a vampire story (set in the same type of universe as 'The Thin Line' series, but more explanation/mythology/new characters) or an enemy-to-lovers story. Leave a review on your thoughts to this epilogue and which story you are interested in reading next?
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT, REVIEWS, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!