*Maddy*
I curl my toes in the hot sand and shiver with warmth. The sun beats down on my bare shoulders, and a cool ocean breeze touches my cheeks. My lips taste like saltwater, and I squint up into the sun, shielding my eyes with my hand.
I’ve never been anywhere more beautiful in my life, and I’m not sure I ever want to leave.
“Two boys,” Maddox says, followed by the sound of him clapping Isaac hard on the shoulder as they walk ahead of me along the beach. “It’s a true blessing of the Goddess, Isaac.”
“I know,” Isaac replies, his voice fading as he continues, “but I’m worried about succession…”
My stomach does a little flip. Whether it’s from the nerves I’ve felt coming off my mate since we found out about our boys, or from one of those boys doing a little twirl, I’m not sure. I ignore the former and rest my hand on my belly as I let the gentle, turquoise waves brush over my toes and ankles.
Isla comes to stand next to me in her wide-brim hat and sunglasses. She gives me a smug smile. “Great, isn’t it?”
“I can see why you live here.” I reach down as best I can with my belly in the way to grab a seashell out of the sand, rolling it over in the palm of my hand.
“That’s a nice one,” she says, leaning in to see the shell.
We stand for a moment in each other’s company, and I toss the shell into the little basket I’ve been carrying with me during our walk.
But Isla has to return to the castle where Alpha Anthony and Luna Poppy live and rule soon. She has a meeting with a group of priestesses from KiloKilo in a bit.
“Look at them,” she says, pointing toward the fading forms of Isaac and Maddox. “They’ve completely left us behind.”
I sigh heavily and dust sand from my fingertips on the breezy yellow sundress I’m wearing. “Isaac is incredibly stressed out right now. I thought coming here would make him feel better, honestly.”
Isla and I watch the men walk out of sight, disappearing in the golden haze cast by the setting sun. “The twins were a surprise.”
I run my tongue along my lower teeth. “I understand his hesitation in feeling… joy, right now. He’s worried for my health, and he’s worried for their future.”
Isla nods as she adjusts her hat. “Walk with me back to the castle?”
I turn with her and watch our footprints disappear in the waves as the tide rolls in. Neither of us say anything for several minutes, both lost in our own crushing thoughts.
“Your first born son will be the heir,” Isla says lightly. “That’s just how it’s done. Isaac shouldn’t fret over it.”
“Well, he is, and he’s dragging me down with him. That, and the fact Cassian is a ticking time bomb isn’t helping matters much.”
Isla toys with the beads on her dress. “Her paintings…” She lets out her breath in a pained sigh. “Has anyone been able to access her studio yet?”
“No, and we’ve tried everything. Did you know what she could do, Isla? How she could–could create portals with her paintings?”
“I did.”
I stop dead in my tracks. Isla sighs again and turns to me, her palms extended in surrender.
“Not until recently,” she amends, and clears her throat.
The wide beach around us is silent save for the gentle lapping of the waves on the sand, but I can hear my heartbeat beginning to race as I ask, “Did you know about her powers at all?”
Isla takes her sunglasses off and puts them in the canvas bag slung over her shoulders. She fixes me with a look I’ve never seen from her before. It’s painful and dripping with guilt.
“I knew she’d have a choice to make, but I never understood why, or how, or when it would happen.” She points to the castle. “There was a battle here–”
“The wizard from KiloKilo?”
“Yes.” Isla rolls her lower lip between her teeth. “I was pregnant with her when the battle took place. The wizard offered to stop ransacking this island if I promised Ella to him, but I refused. Later, when we’d won the war, and peace had been restored to the island, a priestess from KiloKilo visited and told me Ella would be powerful, but fate had something in store for her that would mean a choice must be made. As she grew up, I waited for those powers to show themselves. I was not born with my powers like my children were. They manifested in Isaac as a child, but Ella….” She turns toward the castle, shaking her head. “I thought the priestess had been mistaken. I stopped watching her like I should have. I didn’t see the signs of her powers until it was too late, and she was gone.”
“This wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m her mother, Maddy,” Isla says sadly. “I should have known. I should have known there was more to her nightmares.”
We begin to walk again, side by side.
“KiloKilo used to be veiled,” Isla says softly as we reach the stone staircase leading back up to the castle. “It was enveloped by a dense mist no one could cross, but now the mist is gone, and these Islands are united.”
“Veiled like Eastonia from Crescent Falls?”
“That’s my theory,” Isla says. She wraps her arm around mine and takes my basket of shells for me as I huff and puff to the top of the stairs. “We’re trying to find a way to send communications across the veil between our lands like KiloKilo and Maatua, but so far, we’ve been unsuccessful.”
Another piece of the puzzle falls into place, but there’s still so many to sort.
We reach the terrace and are immediately met by a maid who tells Isla the priestesses have arrived.
Isla turns to me, smiling lovingly. “We’re close to finding her, I believe. For some reason, being back in Maatua makes me feel closer to Ella, like she’s here, somewhere nearby. Like the water that brushes our shores spans to the shores of Eastonia.”
It’s a beautiful thought, and as I watch Isla walk away, I turn to look back over the ocean now shimmering a deep gold in the fading sunset. Below, I see Maddox and Isaac walking back toward the castle, and I let out my breath in relief that Isaac is smiling as the two of them reach the stairs.
That heavy feeling in my chest eases a bit as I watch them approach. Isaac tans so quickly, which I think is a little unfair given that I’m nursing a Goddess-awful sunburn right now. Maddox, too, is bronzed to a heavy golden glow as they reach the terrace.
“Isla went to her meeting,” I say, smiling at them both.
“Dinner, then? I’m sure Poppy has something planned for us tonight.” Maddox shoves his hands in his pockets, looking incredibly casual in shorts and a button down T-shirt.
Isaac looks between me and Maddox, then settles his gaze on me. “Maddy and I have plans, actually. We’ll see you back at the house later tonight, but don’t wait up for us.”
“We do?” I ask, noticing the mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“We’re on vacation, aren’t we?”
I grin as anticipation bubbles to life in my heart. Maddox, sensing it’s time for him to take his leave, says goodbye and disappears down one of the long, winding corridors.
“Where to first?” I ask as Isaac takes my hand.
“Dinner,” my mate smiles, “and after that, a very long walk if you’re up to it.”
* * *
I steady myself on a palm tree as I huff and puff out each breath. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I get any bigger than this, Isaac,” I whine.
“I’ll buy a wagon and cart you around it in,” he jokes, and I scowl at him.
“It’s not funny!”
“I don’t think you’ve ever been more beautiful, sweetheart.”
“Where exactly are we going?” I ask, ignoring his compliment.
After we left the castle of Maatua, we returned to Isla and Maddox’s sprawling beach mansion to change and get ready for dinner, which took place at a restaurant on the beach. We’d watched the stars fill the sky while eating the finest seafood I’d ever tasted, fulfilling every craving I hadn’t known I’d had.
But now, full and tired with swollen feet and an aching back, we are trekking through the jungle under a cloak of darkness.
“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” I complain.
“You’ve been hurting for a while,” he says, glancing over his shoulder at me. “This is going to help, I promise. I can carry you–”
“No, I can walk,” I argue, waving him away. He’s already asked if he can just pick me up and carry me through the jungle, but I’ve refused him thus far, and continue to do so until we reach wherever it is we’re going. Hopefully there’s a bench, and if I’m really lucky, a snack.
We crest a small rise, and Isaac comes to a stop at the top. The once dense palm trees fan out overhead, blocking our view of the stars.
But then I hear it, the sound of rushing water. It’s a quiet hum that fills the air as we close in on a small body of sparkling water surrounded by soft grass and tropical flowers.
I look up for the first time now that we’re out of the trees and notice the full moon which is a startling reddish-orange color I’ve never seen before.
“Tonight’s a lunar eclipse,” Isaac says as we reach the edge of the pool. He points to the sky where a golden haze hugs the moon, blurring it slightly. “We’re too far south to see the full eclipse, but back home… Goddess, it would’ve been an incredible night to use my telescope.”
“It’s beautiful,” I say in awe, unable to tear my eyes away from it.
Isaac takes off his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Get undressed. We’re going for a swim.”
I watch him skeptically as he strips down to his boxers and looks down at me expectantly, but then it dawns on me. “This is the waterfall, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he grins. “Come on. It feels great, I promise.”
I look around.
Isaac chuckles and says, “There’s no one else here, Maddy. I’d sense it if anyone came our way. We’re alone.”
“You just want to see me naked, don’t you, Alpha King?”
“Always,” he rasps, cocking his brow. “Now take off your dress.”
I undress, standing in only my panties and a bra four times larger that I’d worn before, and feel a wave of self-consciousness wash over me like the waves that lap the beach near the castle.
Isaac looks absolutely ravenous, however, as he motions me over.
I slide my hand into his and allow him to guide me into the water. It’s cold at first, but quickly becomes a welcome relief from the stifling humidity that makes me feel damp and sticky all day long.
I sigh with relief as he pulls me into the deeper part of the pool. He can still touch the ground, but he has to hold me up. Otherwise, the water would be a foot or more over the top of my head.
The spray of the falls dusts over us like little beads of diamonds illuminated by starlight.
I brush moisture from Isaac’s cheek and smile into my mates eyes.
“So…?” he says, arching a brow.
“So… you were right, this is heaven.”
His laugh echoes over the water. It’s an unearthly feeling in truth. I feel like every ache in my body has evaporated. He walks us closer to the falls and gently turns us in a circle. Overhead, the moon darkens to a deep crimson as the eclipse begins.
“Some packs celebrate events like these,” he says, his eyes on the moon. “It’s a time of worship.”
“In the book about myths and legends from my childhood,” I tell him, “there was a myth that said lunar eclipses were the only time the Moon Goddess slept, and her followers spent the night dancing and singing and offering tithes at her temples so she’d awaken again and bless them with her light.”
We stand in silence and watch the eclipse reach its peak.
“Do you think Ella can see this where she is?” Isaac asks.
I don’t let my surprise, and relief, at the mention of her name show. He’s barely spoken of her since she left.
“I’d like to think so.”
There’s so much pain in his voice. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and look back up at the moon as moonlight begins to cut through the eclipse.
“Good morning, Moon Goddess,” I say with a smile.
“Welcome back,” Isaac whispers.
“Isaac…”
I whip my head toward the falls at the same moment Isaac goes rigid. I hadn’t been the only one to hear Ella’s voice drift over the sound of rushing water.
“I made it. I’m happy. I need you to know…”
“Isaac?” I croak.
“Cassian…” the voice tapers off as a shimmer of light coasts over the surface of the water. “Cassian must come here. I’ll find a way. Give my love to Mom and Dad, and Maddy. I love you all.”