*Maddy*
Several days have passed since Isaac woke up. I’m still processing it—him coming back from a coma, and the aftermath of the war.
Everything seems too peaceful. The sudden shift from pre-war times when there was nothing but tension in the air to now feels too abrupt. The war ended before it began, really. A few weeks seems like nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The past three months have been the hardest part about it. I basically just floated around the castle like a ghost, a shell of myself, praying to the Goddess every second I could spare to bring him back to me–to us.
I rest my hands on my belly as I walk barefoot through the castle. It’s quiet here today. Ben and Emery went back to the Obsidian Temple territory several weeks ago to rebuild. Trinity and Rosie are back in Moorn with Elijah. Cassian practices daily at the training grounds on the far side of the village to learn to better move his wolf with only three legs, and Isla and Maddox tend to keep to themselves.
I know better than to believe they’re just resting before the return to Maatua, which is their plan.
I know that Isla has been going to the temple everyday to pray for Ella and search for the answers all of us are seeking about the reasoning for the war and Ella’s current state. Maddox is there with her right now, but my father-in-law isn’t the kind of man who vocalizes his real feelings, at least to no one other than his mate.
And now, with Isaac having thrown himself back into his role as Alpha King and making up for three months of lost time, I’m alone.
I walk out onto the back patio and bask in the hot sun for a moment. It’s a beautiful day. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a true summer, one where the sun shines and the air is unforgivingly hot but carries a sweet scented, cool breeze that makes my skin tingle with relief.
But the days are getting cooler and shorter. Rain has started to roll in at night, pattering down on the window panes. Hannah keeps telling me the leaves are going to start changing colors soon.
Autumn is here, despite the warm temperature.
Walking around the back garden has become part of my routine every day. Barefoot in the warm grass, I run my fingertips over the back wall as I pace back and forth, trying to unravel my thoughts of the day before I go to bed. For months that meant lying awake in the room adjoining Isaac’s, wondering if he’d wake, and being too afraid to fall asleep because that meant I’d miss it.
But now I fall asleep beside him and bask in our new normal.
Even if none of this feels normal at all.
“What are we missing?” I say as I pick at the moss on the garden wall. I never know who I’m speaking to when I’m talking aloud during my walks. The baby? Sometimes. Mystica? It sure would be great if she’d will herself into existence again and give us some clarity.
Whatever happened on that battlefield wasn’t what I thought would happen. No gods of old came crashing down, and my mate didn’t have to sacrifice himself in order to save our kingdom. But the more I think about it, the more confused I get, like we’ve overlooked something, like something is missing, like something is still brewing over that distant mountain range and this war is only the beginning.
The one person who might know won’t speak to any of us.
I continue my walk, bored, sighing dramatically while kicking little pebbles out of my way with the tips of my bare toes.
But a crunching sound catches my attention, and I look up, finding Ella holding a long stick. She tosses it into a pile and moves onto the next, her cheeks pink with exertion.
“Ella,” I say, her name cracking over my tongue. I clear my throat, half expecting her to startle and run away like she’s been doing lately, but she simply tosses another stick into the pile. “What are you up to?”
“Cleaning up from the storm last night,” she sighs, bending at the waist to gather smaller sticks into her hands.
“The gardeners–”
“I sent them away.” She straightens up, her back to me, and throws the sticks into the growing pile. “I wanted to be out here by myself.”
Her words sting. I immediately feel like I’m intruding and take a step back, ready to turn around and head in the direction I came, but my feet won’t move. This has been going on for months. I should be the one giving her the cold shoulder for abandoning me in the forest and taking off just as Kane and his men approached, not the other way around.
“Did I do or say something to you?” I ask, and not kindly.
She pauses in her work, turning to look at me over her shoulder, but her eyes are downcast. “No.”
“Then why are you being like this?”
“Like what?”
A flush of frustration heats my face. I hug myself tightly and walk toward her. “What’s going on with you, Ella? You won’t speak to anyone. You locked up your studio. Every family meeting we’ve had about the war, about what happened and what could be coming next, you never show up. We need your help.”
“You don’t need my help.” She picks up a large stick, rolling it in her hands before chucking it into the pile.
“We do. There’s a lot you haven’t told us–”
Her sea green eyes meet mine, bright and cold in the sunlight drifting down from the large tree over our heads. “There’s nothing any of you need to know.”
I bristle, suddenly chilled. “Ella, what is the matter with you?”
She stares at me for a moment, then shakes her head, a melencholy, withdrawn smile touching the corners of her mouth. “It must be so easy for you, being powerless. Able to go back to normal after everything that has happened.”
“Why are you being like this to me?”
“Because you need to butt out and leave me alone!”
“Ella!” I stomp toward her with every intention of grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her until she comes back to her senses. “I thought you trusted me. You showed me your powers. You showed me you could walk through paintings!”
“I can do much more than that!” she sneers, but tears begin to well in the corners of her eyes. “Get away from me, Maddy!”
“No, I won’t.”
“I don’t want you here!”
“I don’t care.” I plant my feet, curling my toes into the grass. “You can be a bitch to me all you want, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then I’ll leave.”
“Fine.”
“Fine,” she growls and whirls away, purposely chucking the small, thin stick she’s holding in my direction. It nearly hits me in the face.
I reach down and grab it, gritting my teeth as I hurl it back at her. She hisses in pain as it snaps against the back of her head.
She has exactly the reaction I want. She turns around slowly, her eyes glowing and narrowed into cat-like slits, pure fury etched into her delicate face. “Leave me alone!”
“Not until you tell me what’s wrong!”
“He is my mate!” she cries, her fury cracking and shattering between us. “He is my mate, and he is our enemy! My enemy! I don’t belong here, Maddy! Don’t you see?” She storms toward me, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’ve been holding back for so long, my whole Goddess damned life, and I can’t–I can’t do it anymore.
“But I don’t have a choice. I can’t leave my family and my friends. This is my home, but not really. The war was my fault. I’ve upset the balance. My birth allowed the powers the Goddess shunned and buried over those mountains to creep in. It was my fault. Mine. All of those deaths, all of those families broken, all of those packs decimated was because of me. Me!”
She begins to turn. but I grab her and pull her against me, wrapping my arms around her. She fights, trying to shove me away, but I hold onto her with all of my strength. “Stop, Ella.”
She tries again to break free of me, but I dig my fingers into her back, pinning her against my chest.
“You’re going to be okay,” I say, trying not to totally break down myself. “I promise.”
“You don’t know that. None of you understand.” She pushes me hard enough that I’m forced to let her go and stagger backward to keep my footing. Panting and teary eyed, she looks at me with a desperate expression behind her eyes. “I stopped Isaac. I was the one who stabbed him. I stepped between him and Kane and stabbed my own brother in the chest. I did it. I made sure he wouldn’t wake, not for a long time, not until I was long gone. That was the plan, at least.”
Shock paralyzes me. “W-What? I didn’t see–”
“Of course you didn’t. I made sure no one saw. Not you, not my parent’s, not Isaac. They were going to kill each other. I couldn’t let that happen, not when things are only going to get worse.”
“Ella–”
“I told Kane to take his army back to his homeland. I told him to do what he could to get rid of his father’s forces. I could tell by the look on his face that none of this would end unless I went with him, crossed whatever rift is between our worlds. But I couldn’t do it. I’ve seen his lands in my dreams, Maddy. It's all darkness, death, and chaos. Magic none of us can even comprehend. That’s where I’m meant to be. I brought that here, and the war was only a taste of what’s to come. Isaac dying wouldn’t have done anything. He was ready to die by Kane’s hand, and if I hadn’t stepped in, he would have. Kane would have done it because he’s just as stubborn and proud as Isaac!” She screams the last sentence at me.
I stare at her, dumbfounded.
“His father has been looking for me since I was born. Did you know that?” she continues, taking a step toward me. “I’m some prophesied demon that’s meant to serve him and bring down the barrier the Goddess put in place, keeping his kind locked away. But I’m here, and as long as I’m here, he’ll come. He has a way to send his armies here. You saw what they can do, Maddy. They are not like us. Our people don’t stand a chance. He brought his armies here looking for me.”
“But Ryatt–”
“Do not say his name to me!” she cries, pulling her shoulders inward as if in agony.
My mouth parts as I watch Ella come completely undone.
“Do not ever say his name again,” she pleads, and I realize her pain is truly there, a physical, visceral reaction.
“Have you rejected him?”
She shakes her head, staggering backward and falling to the ground, pulling her knees up to her chest. “Thinking of him is like a knife to my heart. I hate him. But he’s in my mind, constantly. We’re linked–more than just mates. I don’t know how to describe it. I am meant for him, and that’s why his father–” she presses her eyes shut and lowers her head to his knees, shaking her head. “I sent him back to a death sentence. I know that much. He came here for me, to protect me from whatever’s coming next.”
“Why didn’t he just tell Isaac the truth in the beginning?”
“He doesn’t care about anyone but me, and not because I’m his mate. He wants me as a tool, something to wield against his father. He came here to get me because he didn’t want his father to find me first. That’s all. He didn’t care whether my kingdom fell. He came to Isaac with the intention of warning him what was about to happen, yes. It had nothing to do with me. He would have taken me regardless.”
“But he hasn’t taken you–”
“I am just as powerful as he is, maybe moreso, and he knows it. He wants me to submit, to come willingly. He wants me willing for whatever he has planned. So, that’s what's going on with me, Maddy. I have three options. Stay here, which puts my kingdom and everyone I love at risk. Go with him and be used for his own gain, forced into a world of chaos and darkness. Or….”
“What’s your third option?”
“I run away. Far away. Take a ship and sail until I drop off the face of the earth.” Her eyes glimmer with unshed tears. “And let both kingdoms spiral into oblivion because I’m too much of a selfish coward to do anything to fix it.”
I kneel before her and lean down so my cheek is resting on top of her head. She starts to tremble, her body racked by silent sobs. I hold her there, a cool breeze rustling our hair, and close my eyes. “We’ll figure this out. You’re not going anywhere. There has to be another way. Isaac will find another way, but you need to talk to him. You need to tell him the truth.” I pause. “Why did you put him in a coma?”
“He would have torn the world apart to make it safe for you and your child. He would have killed himself to do so, and I knew if I didn’t do something, he’d do just that. He’d raise hell itself on Eastonia, and he has no idea what he’s dealing with.”
“But you do?”
“I think so.”
“So you put him to sleep until you knew Kane was gone?”
“Yes, until peace was restored. I’m sorry, Maddy. He woke up on his own accord. I thought I’d have this figured out by now.”
I hold her a little tighter. “How did you do it?”
“I can do the opposite of heal.”
I nod, unable to say anything. Unable to comprehend what she just said, actually. “Maybe we don’t tell him what you did, at least for a little while. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
She snorts with laughter and that hard, twisting tension snaps between us, easing that heavy weight in my chest. “Well, if he kills me for it, none of these problems will matter anymore, will they? Not for me, anyway.”
“We do need to talk to your mom, though.”
“Not now.”
“When you’re ready.”
“I love you,” she whispers, the words fluttering away in the wind. “I’m sorry.”
“I love you, too. You’re not alone.”