Seven Months Later…
*Poppy*
“What the hell is going on?” I hiss. I’m waddling as fast as I possibly can given how enormous I’ve become over the last few weeks. I feel like I’ve tripled in size–at least. What has also tripled in size is my attitude, according to Antony. He recently accused me of looking for a fight when I lost my mind over the last of the chocolate chunk ice cream with the brownie bits I liked being gone. In my defense, I’d been out of my mind with hunger and pregnancy cravings. In his defense, I had been the one to finish off the carton.
That had been three weeks ago before all hell broke loose.
My anger right now isn’t an exaggeration. Warriors rush through the castle as I stalk down the hallway toward his office and yank open the door. “Antony!”
“My love,” he says with little emotion and an abundance of annoyance. “What happened to the warriors I had guarding your room?”
“I killed them,” I deadpan, even though that’s far from the truth. I just screamed at them until they cowered and let me out of the room I’d been shut up in for the past three days while a storm has broken loose around us and is threatening to swamp the entire island with each passing hour.
Maatua is at war–again.
And I am due any day.
With twins.
Mystica had been right when she said I was having a boy. I am, but I’m also having a girl. And while I should be preparing for their imminent arrival, I am now watching my mate fight for his Goddess damned life to protect his kingdom against a fucking wizard.
If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.
“Have you called Maddox, by chance?” I say sweetly, flopping down in the chair across from his desk as his commanders and generals scramble around the room. Papers are flying through the air. It’s utter chaos. Antony levels me with a look that tells me he’s not in the mood but I press him, saying, “Or Isla?”
“Yes,” he says flatly, exhaling. “Maddox will be here in three days.”
“Well, what is with the screaming and carrying on?” I say with a little laugh. Inside I’m frantic, but I know for a fact that if I show even a shred of fear, Antony will go absolutely feral to protect me from whatever he feels is a threat.
And that threat is currently a deranged wizard unleashing pure havoc on our island.
“He can manipulate the tides?” I screech sometime later as I try to match Antony’s incredible stride as we walk through his gilded castle. It’s amazing to me how quickly they’ve rebuilt everything here, thanks to the treasure that was found behind the waterfall. The corridor is open to the air outside, large archways flashing with blue-hued lightning as a storm of epic proportions rages outside. “Antony!”
He’s not even listening. His body is rigid with tension, his face pale and sallow with fatigue and stress.
“How many ships have been destroyed?” Antony says hurriedly to the young commander walking by his side.
“Eight.”
“Goddess above,” Antony curses, throwing his hands in the air as he breaks into a sprint. I scream his name, wind whipping me in the face as I slow my pace and rest with my hands on my knees.
I don’t see him approach, but I hear his hurried footsteps as he runs to my side and places his hand on my back, the only calming presence in the chaos overwhelming what has been my home for over half a year.
“Come with me, Poppy. Please. I need you to rest.”
I allow him to gather me up like I don’t weigh as much as a full grown dolphin and cradle me against his chest. He barks commands as he strides down the hallway, but I ignore them, trying to block out the thoughts racing through my mind, all of them bad.
He shoves into our room and takes me to the bed, laying me down. I protest as he pulls the sheets over my aching body, but he shushes me. The only other time I’ve seen him this worked up is when he strangled that murderous warrior who’d tried to assault me and succeeded in stabbing me back at Maddox and Isla’s castle.
I hate seeing him like this. I reach out and cup his jaw, hoping he understands what I’m trying to say to him.
It’s going to be okay. I love you. I trust you.
“I don’t know if Maddox and Isla can make it safely to port,” he admits, leaning down so his forehead is pressed against mine. “But they have to. I have to trust that they will.”
Selfishly, I cringe at the idea that Isla will miss the birth of the twins if this bloodbath continues. Antony has rallied all the troops he has to defend Maatua, but what good are warriors against an unseen enemy, and one who is using powerful magic from afar?
“Listen to me,” he breathes, clutching my hands in his. “I have to go to KiloKilo.”
“No, Antony.”
“I have to. This storm can’t continue forever. Once there is a break in the weather, I am leaving with my men and ending this.”
It shouldn’t have come to this. The diamond being returned to the temple should have prevented a war like this from coming to fruition. But KiloKilo doesn’t bend to the Goddess’s rules. No, the man waging war on Maatua has skirted those Goddess-defined boundaries at every turn.
Alatar the Last. That is this bastard's name. The last of his kind, we’ve been told, and according to his own description of himself, the last thing any one of us will see before he burns Maatua down to embers.
All of this started the second the diamond was placed in the temple. It’s been festering slowly for months. Whatever barrier the diamond had created that protected Maatua from Alatar’s wrath has fully lifted, leaving us defenseless. I think of Isla’s vision every time I think of Alatar. I think of the waterfall and the man the Goddess watched being saved from death.
Had that man been Alatar himself? The man that supposably bested the Goddess in some way? The man she’d given not only her diamond to, but the necklace we’d been tasked in finding?
Had the Diamond of Faith been left here in Maatua to keep him contained? Now that it was gone, was it protecting Crescent Falls but not Maatua?
It meant sacrificing the peace of one kingdom for another if that was the case. But all of that happened centuries ago.
None of it made sense. I’d spent months trying to figure it out.
The only way we’ll know anything for sure is if Alatar talks to us, and so far, all he’s interested in is killing Antony and leaving nothing but destruction in his wake.
Antony is what he wants. All of this will end if Antony gives himself up–gives up his throne, his title, his life.
I fight back against the bile rising in my throat as tears burn my eyes. Not Antony. Not my mate. I know if he leaves for that Goddess forsaken island that I will never see him again.
“Please don’t,” I whisper, my lips brushing over his. “Please, Antony.”
“You will go back to Maddox’s kingdom–”
“No–”
“I cannot keep you safe here. I cannot protect you–”
“I won’t leave–”
“Maddox isn’t coming here to bring aid, Poppy. He’s coming to get you.”
“No!” Tears spill down my cheeks as I choke on my sobs. No. No, no, no! “Our babies are due any day, please–”
“There will be nothing left of Maatua, Poppy. Please, you have to listen to me!” He pulls away, but I dig in my nails hard enough to cut through his shirt and tear it. He takes my face in his hands, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Our son,” he says, his voice trembling. “Adrian. That will be his name.”
“Antony, no–” He can’t be serious. He can’t be leaving right now. No! I blink to clear my vision and notice daylight spilling through the nearly black clouds that have turned day to pure night for the last three days. This is the break he’s been waiting for. This is the reason for the chaos and keeping me shuttered away.
“Daphne,” he whispers, his throat bobbing as he presses another desperate kiss to my forehead. “That’s our daughter's name.”
I scream in frustration, beating my fists against his chest.
“Antony! Please!”
Warriors enter our room like he had all of this planned out. Antony kisses me fully despite the fact I’m falling to pieces, too weak to do more than sob his name.
“P-please don’t go–”
“I have always loved you. I loved you before I knew you. I loved you before I ever looked upon your beautiful face for the first time. The Goddess put you in my heart the moment I took my first breath, and you’ll be the only thing I think of when I take my last. I love you more than life itself, and I need you to know that I go willingly into death to protect you and our children.”
“Please no–”
He grits his teeth, grimacing like his body is racked by searing pain.
“I am so sorry I couldn’t protect you from this, Poppy. I am so sorry I can’t be there for you or our children. Please forgive me.”
I’m blubbering incoherently at this point, desperately trying to wake myself up from this nightmare. This can’t be real. But I can feel his lips on mine again. I can feel his weight pressing against me, his hands on my shoulders.
He pulls away and backs away from the bed, his eyes fixed on mine and blurred by an indescribable grief.
“I have to go, Poppy. I’m sorry.”
“WHY!” I scream. Why him? Why is he what Alatar wants? He’s only the king because Isla said so! I try to get out of bed, but the room is swarmed by warriors, their bodies blocking my path to my mate. My mate. The love of my fucking life who is slipping through my fingers.
“I love you,” he says as he reaches the door. He hesitates, then says to one of the warriors, “Have her waiting at the port for their ship in seventy-two hours exactly. They will be here, and they are to leave immediately. Use force if necessary to get them to leave. I don’t care what needs to be done. They cannot stay.”
He won’t even allow Maddox and Isla to help.
“ANTONY!”
He turns from me and disappears through the doorway.
Pure agony rips through my body. I find it hard to catch my breath as maids flutter into the room, all of them glassy eyed with fatigue and fear as they try to get me back into bed. I think I hear Mary’s voice as well, his mother, who has been so helpful during my pregnancy, but right now, it’s all a blur. Pain ripples over my belly, bringing fresh tears to my eyes.
He can’t abandon me with twins. He can’t force me to leave. No. I won’t allow it to happen.
“Get off me!” I scream, fighting the hands pressing me into the mattress. I panic as a healer approaches holding a syringe. Oh Goddess. Oh, my Goddess. What is happening? “Don’t!” I cry, trying to calm down, but I can’t. Everything hurts. I am in so much pain I can barely breath.
I scream Antony’s name, but it falls on deaf ears as the needle pierces my skin.
“She’ll be able to rest. She needs to be moved to a secure…”
Darkness swells, and my vision fills with stars as my body is forced into a deep, dreamless sleep. With the last of my strength I send a desperate prayer to the Goddess, then a desperate message to Isla through the mind-link I pray is strong enough to relay it across an ocean, though it shouldn’t be.
Everything has gone wrong, Isla. I need you. We need you.