And Liam, who'd never had a family to speak of, had seen a future where he did. He'd been so focused on the idea of finally belonging somewhere that he'd missed why that could be scary.

"Verity," he said softly, "Look, I know I'm the last one to talk about this sort of thing," being as he was the product of eons-old prophecy, "but the future is hardly set in stone. Just because they've shown up doesn't mean we have to run off and get married tomorrow."