*Maddy*
The ballroom is totally transformed from floor to ceiling. The finest flowers in the kingdom stand in large, marble vases resting on tables covered in light blue tableclothes. Champagne flows, poured into crystal flutes, and graceful string music fills the air, rising above the chatter.
I walk through the crowd, which parts to allow me to pass. I smile and bob my head at the people who bow and curtsey to me, their cheeks going pink as I meet their eyes.
The fact that Isla and I were able to put this event together in a little under a week is a miracle in itself, and all over that surrounding villages and large cities beyond, similar celebrations are taking place to honor the dead and celebrate the victory of the war.
Tonight’s celebration is specificaly for Isaac, my king, and my mate.
My ivory gown of silk and satin trails behind me as I walk through the ballroom, stopping to chat with the Alphas and Lunas who’ve assembled. An overlay of silver stars flows from my sternum to the floor, accentuating the obvious curve of my belly.
“You are radiant,” the Luna of a small, mountainous pack called Riversong Meadows says as I stop to talk to her group. A beautiful, graceful woman in her forties, her beauty is renowned, and I can see why everyone speaks so highly of her. She curtsies low, followed by her five equally beautiful daughters, all of them having inherited their mother’s jet-black hair and strikingly high cheekbones.
I’ve become friends with her in the recent weeks. Her name is Claira, and her mate was a strong ally of Isaac’s who was killed in the war.
Claira doesn’t seem too upset about his death. In fact, she held a small celebration after the fact, naming her eldest daughter as heir. I suppose not all marriages are between mates or for love, especially among pack leaders.
I smile at the thought as I bow my head to her and meet her gray eyes. “So do you, Claira. How was your journey down from your packlands?”
“Delightful. We took the train. The girls loved it,” she grins, then motions to my stomach. “How much longer now?”
“Four more months,” I sigh, placing a hand on the slight rise beneath my dress.
“Spring is the best time for childbirth in my opinion,” she muses, glancing at her teenage daughters, all of whom are scoping out dancing partners among the handsome young warriors in the crowd. One of the daughters is swept into a dance, her screech of surprise and pure joy floating through the ballroom. “Oh, Goddess. She’s going to break her ankle,” Claira sighs, but her eyes are full of love for the girl. “You know, it’s rare to get to marry for love when you’re born into the line of succession, even in small packs like ours. I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
Her eyes mist over for a moment before she continues, “But your family has proven to many packs that there’s a better way. I am forever grateful to you, and the Golden Queen before you, for leading the way for our daughters.”
My lips part in surprise at the compliment. It settles in my heart, blooming into something warm. She gives me a little shrug and wistful smile as her eyes shift back to the dancefloor. A tall man in another pack’s warrior attire stands on the far side of the dancers sipping from a glass of scotch. His eyes meet hers, and he raises his glass, his mouth twitching into a knowing smile.
My brows raise as I notice the striking resemblance between him and the many daughters of Luna Claira. They might have her coloring, but they have his bone structure.
When I look back at her, she’s staring at me. “Now, I can choose my own future, too.” She nods her head at me and takes her leave, rejoining her daughters.
Interesting. I glance back at the warrior, tucking this juicy tidbit of information in my back pocket to gossip to Hannah and Ella about later.
“Hmm…” I whirl around and start making my way to the back of the ballroom where my family mingles. Isaac looks smart in his suit, which he hates. He spent all afternoon complaining over the fit, the thick, itchy fabric, while I fluttered around him like an annoying little bird. But he smiles as I approach nonetheless, his eyes creasing with pleasure as I curtsy low to him with a teasing look in my eyes. “Darling,” I say, much to his amusement.
“You’re on your best behavior tonight,” he grins as I come up beside him and knit my fingers in his.
“I’m always on my best behavior,” I say with a little nudge. “You’ll never believe what I just found out about the Luna of Riversong Meadows.”
“That her daughters aren’t the Alpha’s?”
I frown, looking up at him. “You already knew?”
“Alpha Abernathy was a strong ally but a very arrogant man who forced Claira into a marriage when she was practically still a teenager,” he says, his voice dropping an octave. “It’s no secret those girls aren’t his. Old news, sweetheart.”
“I can never get anything past you.”
“Well, try harder. I know everything that happens in my kingdom.” He smiles down at me. “Claira is an even better ally than her dead husband, and her pack will be better for her being in charge.”
“I agree,” I sigh, a smile touching my lips as we look back over the crowd.
After a moment, he asks if I’ve seen Ella. I shake my head. She should be here. She said she’d come. But ever since the day I finally got her to talk, she’s still been withdrawn. She’s spoken to Isaac, but nothing deep enough to mend the rift between them he has no idea is there.
I’ve kept her secret, but it’s weighing me down as the days go by.
“Your parents told me this morning that they still plan on going back to Maatua. They’re taking a ship on Tuesday.” There’s obvious pain in my voice at the idea of saying goodbye to them, even if it’s just temporary. “They’re coming this spring for the birth. Your mother promised.”
“Mother keeps her promises,” he assures me, lifting our hands to brush a kiss over my knuckles. “You’ve never met Poppy, my cousin Antony’s mate and the Luna of Maatua. She’s dying to meet you, and I may have promised we’d take a trip to Maatua for Winter Solstice.”
“Really?” I beam up at him, my eyes going wide with excitement. I’ve wanted to go, especially after listening to Isla talk about the warm, turquoise water and white sand beaches every day for months.
“Would you like to?”
“Of course! I’m dying to go. Especially once it starts getting cold and dark here again.”
“That’s why my parents are so antsy about leaving soon. Living there for the past several years has ruined them against winter.” He chuckles as the music starts up again, another dance beginning. He looks over the dancefloor, then down at me. “May I have this dance?”
My brows shoot up. “A dance?”
“Like old times,” he whispers into my ear before whirling me in a circle and guiding me onto the dancefloor.
A hush falls over the entire ballroom, followed by tittering, excited conversation about our being on the dancefloor. A waltz begins, and he places his hand on the small of my back.
I look up at him and see him as the young man he was the day I met him. The day, I realize, I came face to face with my mate without knowing it, without understanding the blessing the Goddess had in store for me.
This makes everything I’ve been through worth it.
He sweeps me into the dance, and I smile, my cheeks burning with glee. I’ve never been happier. Never thought I could be so ridiculously joyful.
Sometimes, I still pinch myself to make sure I haven’t dreamed this up, that Isaac is real and our love is true and everything good about my life will stay as it is. That this family that accepted me with open arms and showered me in love is real and not going anywhere.
I am the luckiest girl alive.
I giggle as he bends me over his arm in a very dramatic show of his skill. The crowd claps madly as he spins me around and around.
“You’re a very good dancer,” I muse, beaming up at him.
“So are you,” he replies, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You’re a little heavier than I remember.”
“It’s almost like someone got me pregnant,” I tease, resisting the urge to swat him in front of his entire kingdom. He dips me again as the song draws to a close, and leans down with me, kissing me deeply.
A sigh floats around the room, some people holding their hands to their chests and smiling as he straightens us up and turns to bow to the crowd, which erupts in applause. “Well, that’s enough showing off. Have you had anything to eat? Or drink?”
“Not yet.”
He leads me back to the far side of the ballroom where the thrones have been placed. I’m still getting used to sitting on a throne. Thankfully, unless I’m meeting with Alphas in a formal setting, we don’t use them that often.
But just as I’m sitting down, glad for the opportunity to rest my aching feet, a trio of male servants cuts through the dancefloor wheeling a dolly with something large and square riding atop it, covered in red velvet. Ella, wearing a black silk sleeveless gown that makes her fair skin glow like starlight, walks behind them.
That warm feeling in my heart evaporates as I watch her approach. She has a kind smile on her face, but it’s trained, and her eyes are dark and withdrawn.
No one would know that her smile is all for show unless they knew her like I do.
She comes to stand before us, the crowd watching our every move as she motions to the servants and they remove the velvet sheet.
My mouth drops open, and I struggle to get to my feet, Isaac having to assist me. “Ella,” I gasp, meeting her eyes. A single flash of emotion greets me, something like pride.
It’s a canvas in a golden frame. Isaac and I, with me seated in front of him in my wedding dress, the sash with the colors of the royal family draped across my chest and the tiara passed down to Isla from Maddox’s side of the family atop my head. Isaac stands behind me with his hand resting on my shoulder, looking like the king he is, the king he was born to be.
“A late wedding present, or early Solstice present, whichever you prefer,” Ella says smugly, and her smile is real for the first time in a long time. I rush forward to examine the painting, the exquisite, life-like image of me and my mate staring back at us. It took her months to do this.
I meet her eyes, my own misting with tears. “Thank you,” I croak and step toward her, taking her hands in my own as people begin to gather around to see the work their kingdom’s princess has created.
But her hands are ice cold.
I look up into her eyes and notice a shift in her expression. Pain and a deep sadness I’ve never seen in her before stare back at me. “Ella,” I say slowly, searching her eyes. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m so sorry. Maddy, I want you to know you were like a sister to me. I’m doing this for you, for your baby.”
“What? No–” Fear settles in my chest, bitter and heavy, making it hard to breathe.
A commotion rips through the crowd. Someone screams, and several people yelp and begin to dart around. Maddox pushes forward, followed by Isla, to stand beside us as the crowd parts and a strange, unsettling mist begins to snake between the legs of the partygoers and onto the dance floor in front of us. Ella’s eyes remain locked on mine, her face starting to twist as she holds back tears. “I’m sorry.”
“What the hell is that?” Cassian says somewhere behind us. Hannah squeaks in surprise as he takes her by the arm and pulls her closer to him. They came to the ball together–as a couple. As far as I know, they haven’t made the mate bond they share official, but they’re close.
But my mind isn’t on them, or anyone else for that matter, not when that mist lifts and reveals Ryatt Kane in the center of the dancefloor, dressed in black, his dark hair tousled, and his eyes dark and brooding as he scans the crowd and settles on Ella.
Isaac pushes the canvas out of the way and steps forward, but Ella holds out a hand. “Stop.” The command in her voice gives Isaac pause. It’s a tone neither of us have heard her use before.
“Ella,” Isla says frantically, her eyes wide. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” she says again, looking at her parents. “I’m so sorry.”
Isaac’s chest heaves as he stares from his sister to Ryatt. “What the hell is going on?”
Ella looks up at him, her lips parted as if searching for the words to say, but she can’t find them. She backs up a step, then another, still holding out her hand. “I have to.”
“Ella, wait,” I say, stepping forward, but Isaac grabs my arm and holds me in place. “Please, Ella.”
She takes another step backward, then another, tears beginning to fall from her lashes. “I love you all. I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. I have to make this right.”
“Ella!” Maddox booms, pushing past us, but she holds up her other hand, wincing as she meets her father’s eyes, the palms of her hands glowing with a dark red light that makes Maddox immediately halt, his brow furrow with concern, surprise, and heartbreak.
She stands beside Ryatt, her chin held high, but her eyes betray that confidence she’s trying to exude. She holds out a hand to him without looking at him, struggling to swallow. Her chest heaves with effort like her lungs are refusing to work properly, paralyzed by fear.
Ryatt takes one look at her and closes his eyes, a pained look etched into his handsome face as he raises his hand to meet hers.
It’s as if he’s pained by touching her. Like he doesn’t want to do this either, but he must.
They must.
What the hell is happening?
“ELLA, STOP!” I shout, yanking my arm from Isaac’s grasp.
“He’s my mate,” she says softly, and closes her eyes, laying her hand in Ryatt’s.
Magic so thick I can taste it distorts the room around us. People scream. The lights flicker out.
Ella is suddenly wrapped in mist, her powers shining through it, and something cold and dark splits the air like a rift through space and time.
Someone bumps into me so hard I nearly fall over. Isaac catches me, holding me upright with an arm around my waist. A flash of blonde curls darts past me, followed by Cassian’s anguished shout of alarm.
And then Hannah jumps, her arm outstretched, her fingers grazing Ella’s shoulder just as the void of magic snaps closed, taking all three of them with it.
All the air leaves my lungs. I fight for breath that won’t come, falling to my knees. Isaac kneels beside me, taking my face in his hands. He’s saying something to me, but I can’t hear him over the ringing in my ears and the chaos all around us.
I turn my head to the space where Ella had just been standing and find Cassian desperately looking for Hannah, his eyes wild and brows drawn in terror. I hear Hannah’s name echo from somewhere far away and realize he’s screaming it.
“Oh, Goddess. She’s gone! She went to Eastonia.” I look at Isaac, holding onto his wrists as he continues to hold my face in his hands. I bow my head, resting my forehead against his.
She’s gone.
Ella’s gone.