EXT. PARIS – SUNSET

Warning: here be spoilers.

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ETA: I wrote more about these guys after all! The newest version of Lily, the one with this cover:

has a brand-new epilogue set in Paris, in which René and Elijah prepare for a visit from Solomon and Serena. 

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A lot of people have asked me whether I’ll ever write a story about what happens in a certain gay secondary romance after the end of A Lily Among Thorns. The truth is, I probably won’t, because to me, their story is over. Their conflict is resolved. In fact, there’s no doubt in my mind that their next meeting will go something like this…

EXT. PARIS – SUNSET

RENE, a baker, gathers up baguettes from a table on the sidewalk outside his shop. He is perhaps 45, dark-haired. He seems contented, whistling as he works, but there is a certain sadness about his eyes.

ELIJAH makes his way through the crowd towards the bakery. A tall, blond man in his late twenties, he wears a faded green coat and carries a battered portmanteau.

ELIJAH stops a few feet from RENE and watches him work. His knuckles are white on the handle of his bag. Then he sets it down with an unnecessarily loud thunk.

RENE looks up. His whistling cuts off abruptly, and baguettes fall unheeded to the pavement. Seconds pass. Then—

               RENE
            (in English)
          You came back.

               ELIJAH
            (in French)
          You knew I would.

               RENE
            (makes a small, laughing,
            brokenhearted sound)
          I hoped.

SILENCE. RENE is very still. ELIJAH trembles.

They fall into each other’s arms, lips meeting in a joyful, desperate kiss. MUSIC swells. The camera swoops around them and soars upwards, out over the ancient, beautiful city. One by one, the street-lamps are lit. The setting sun turns the Seine a deep, passionate crimson.

FADE OUT.

THE END