*Isla*
“Look at you,” Maddox beams as he balances on his hands and knees in front of Isaac on the floor in the large, airy sitting room near the library. I glance up from the magazine I’m reading to watch them, smiling as Maddox drops onto his elbows to look Isaac in the eyes. Isaac, hating every minute of what his nanny calls “tummy time”, screws his face into a scowl and lets out a howl of displeasure. “Oh, come on. You’re big and tough!”
“You’re torturing him,” I chuckle, flipping a page. Maddox makes a face at Isaac, and the baby’s scowl turns into a grin. Seeing Maddox as a father is… a dream. Speaking of big and tough, this man used to intimidate the hell out of me, and still intimidates practically everyone else. Maddox just stepping into a room is enough to silence the space, and one look from him has Alphas cowering.
But with Isaac he’s goofy, lighthearted, and… soft. The kindest, truest soul. I set my magazine down as Maddox rolls onto his back and lifts Isaac onto his chest.
“Better?”
Isaac coos, a dribble of drool pooling on Maddox’s shirt.
“He looks just like you, Isla,” Maddox sighs, but his mouth is firmly curved in a smile. “Thank the Goddess.”
“What do you mean by ‘Thank the Goddess’?”
“I wasn’t a very cute kid,” he admits with a touch of wryness in his voice. I snort, crossing my legs as I settle further into the cushions of the sofa.
“I find that very hard to believe–”
“I swear,” he says with a small laugh as Isaac scrunches his shirt with his little fists. “If Isaac is this good looking, imagine what our daughter will look like!”
“Already wanting another one?” I smirk, tapping my foot as I look down at him. “I died, remember?”
“Eh, well, it all worked out in the end–”
“You just want to make a baby, not have another one,” I continue, giving him a teasing grin. He shrugs as he looks at me up and down, a flare of heat dancing behind his eyes.
I love this time with him, this family time, where we can sit uninterpreted and just be together. No crushing royal responsibilities. No talk of war. No allies sitting at our dining room table, and no enemies trying to beat down our front door.
I’m reminded that these moments are unfortunately few and far between when a knock sounds on the door, and Antony strides in, bobbing his head to Maddox in greeting.
“I’m here too,” I say from the couch. Antony rolls his eyes and drops into a feminine curtsy. Now I’m rolling my eyes and glaring between Antony and Maddox as Maddox laughs from the floor at my feet.
“Alpha King, Luna,” Antony says formally before sitting on the armrest of the sofa, adjusting his weight to get comfortable.
“Do you need something, or are you just here to bug us?” I ask, reaching for my magazine again.
“I need to speak to you, Maddox, about the upcoming Beta Trials.”
Maddox purses his lips, his expression immediately fading into the mask of stone-cold authority.
“Well, that’s my queue,” I breathe, leaving the magazine on the couch as I rise and stretch. “Come on Isaac, I can’t leave you here to be bored to death–” I reach down to scoop Isaac off Maddox’s chest, but he stops me with a gentle hand on my forearm. I bend a little further, planting a kiss on Maddox’s lips before pulling away. “I’ll see you later.”
Antony grunts as I whirl around to face him with Isaac in my arms.
“Where is Poppy?” I ask on my way out of the room. I pause at the door and turn to look at the two men. Maddox stands, righting the wrinkles in his shirt, and Antony shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest.
“She said she was going to take a nap and then go for a walk with Mystica.”
I nod, thinking a walk sounds like just the thing I need.
* * *
“But do you really trust what Seth said about Trinity?” Poppy says, slightly out of breath as she pushes Mystica’s wheelchair through the grass.
“Maddox said he sounded sincere–”
“Maddox wants you to trust Trinity, that’s why,” Poppy huffs, patting Mystica on the shoulder. “Mystica, I love you, but for some reason, pushing you in a wheelchair is exhausting me.”
“I’d much rather be pushing you, Poppy,” Mystica says lightly and with effort. I can’t help but smile and let out my breath at the sound of her voice. While a week has passed since she was, by all accounts, on her deathbed, Mystica wasn’t getting any better. But, she wasn’t getting any worse, so we’d begun to get her out of the castle and into the garden when the weather allowed.
She doesn’t talk much anymore. She rarely eats or drinks. Mystica spends most of her days in bed, or in an armchair near the window in the herbary while maids and nurses go about their day around her.
There are moments when I wonder if she can actually die, or if she’s made to only linger on the cusp of death for the rest of her life.
Poppy chats with Mystica as she pushes the wheelchair ahead down an even, well beaten path along the walled-in front garden. The rose bushes are in full bloom now, the smell intoxicating and rich, and the bushes thick with red, white, and pink sprays of color. I pluck a few petals as we pass, rubbing them between my fingers. I smile down at Isaac in his stroller, his eyes wide open and taking in everything as we follow Poppy and Mystica to the fountain garden in the corner of the front yard.
A large oak tree shades the space as Poppy finally comes to a stop, heaving with effort as she parks Mystica’s wheelchair.
“As I was saying,” she pants, running her fingers through her hair, her brow speckled with beads of sweat. “Is Trinity even someone you want around, Isla? Even if she is trustworthy.”
“If what Seth told Maddox is true,” I begin, unfurling a large picnic blanket and laying it out in the shade, “then Trinity was only acting in the way she believed was best for Maddox and his pack. Plus, she told Maddox it was the first time in her entire life that she’d felt like she was stepping out of the shadow of Rebecca, and was… important–”
Poppy snorts and throws me a dirty look.
“I believe that part of it, Poppy,” I scold, throwing her dirty look right back at her. “I was also living in Rebecca’s shadow until not too long ago.”
“So you’re going to forgive her?”
“More than that,” I say with a reluctant sigh as I take Isaac out of his stroller and lay him on the blanket. “I’m going to give her a position in the house. I don’t know what it’s going to be yet, and she’s not going be my maid, but I want to give her a job. Something that will make her feel important. She knows a lot more about this life than I do. Being a Luna… being high standing–”
Poppy pulls a thermos of lemonade out of the picnic basket she’d been carrying and pours a glass for Mystica, angrily tossing a straw into it.
“Well, I don’t like it.”
“Well, you’re going to Maatau soon, so it doesn’t really matter what you–”
“I’m trying to enjoy my last few moments in this realm, girls. Please shut up.”
We both turn to Mystica, who has a slightly smug grin that actually brings some color to her cheeks. I glance at Poppy, who has no intention of backing down. We’d been bickering lately, which I didn’t like. Poppy has just seemed to be on edge over every little thing under the moon for the past week, and nothing I say or do seems to make her any less anxious.
“Are you going to tell her the news?” Mystica sighs, turning her head away when Poppy tries to put the straw in her mouth.
“What news?” I ask, looking between Mystica and Poppy. Isaac kicks his legs, his little hands reaching as though he’s trying to clasp one of the branches of the tree towering over our heads.
“I don’t have any news,” Poppy practically growls, then downs the entire glass of lemonade she poured for Mystica in one go before sitting down on the blanket with her legs crossed. “Other than I am, in fact, going with Antony to Maatua.”
“Well, I knew that much,” I say with a hint of suspicion. Mystica seems to have zoned out, her eyes glassy with some long-ago memory. I look at Poppy, startled as a look of unease creeps over her face. “Poppy, what’s the matter?”
“I think I might be pregnant,” Poppy says after a long pause. Shadows drift over her face, her eyes shining in the flickers of sunlight breaking through the shade. She blinks, steeling her expression as she turns away from me and looks down at her empty glass of lemonade. “Antony doesn’t know yet.”
“But you know for sure?” I say in a near whisper. Excitement bubbles through me, but also dread as I notice the lines of what I can only describe as uncertainty settle on Poppy’s face.
“I took a test, yes. And I am. But it’s incredibly early, and I didn’t want to tell anyone yet.”
“I won’t tell anyone, Poppy. I–”
“I don’t feel well,” she hiccups, tears glistening in her eyes. “And I’m terrified something is going to happen like it happened to you–”
“Oh, Poppy!” I rise from the blanket and hurry over to her, throwing my arms around her and pulling her into a tight squeeze. “You’re going to be fine! This is good news, okay? The best news! Think of how close in age our babies are going to be! Think of how much fun they’re going to have in Maatua when I visit.”
“And you will visit, right? Because I don’t think I can–I can’t imagine–”
“Isla will be in Maatua sooner than she thinks,” Mystica whispers. Poppy and I stiffen, slowly turning to where the old woman is resting in her chair. Her eyes are still fixed on everything and nothing at all.
“Mystica?” I say, but Mystica only hums to herself.
“She’s having visions, isn’t she?”
“She said something strange to me last week when I thought she was dying right there in my arms,” I admit, swallowing thickly. “That I’d need my powers for a greater purpose other than saving her life. Now she’s saying I’ll be in Maatua…. Is something going on there?”
“I haven’t heard anything about it from Antony,” Poppy replies as I release her from the hug and sit back, the two of us watching Mystica closely.
“There you are,” Maddox says from the trail leading to our picnic spot. He looks as Mystica for a moment as he passes by, his brow furrowed as he waves a hand in front of her face. “Mystica–”
“She’s still alive,” I laugh, smiling as some tension leaves Maddox’s shoulders as he turns to face me. “What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you,” he says, sticking his hands in his pockets. “I’ve narrowed the applicants for the position of Beta down to three men.”
“Oh?” I say. Poppy perks up a bit, shifting her position on the blanket to better see Maddox.
“The trails are set to begin tomorrow, and you, Luna, are going to be the judge.”