Ella
Sunlight filters through a large window and plays over a cozy bistro table stacked high with food. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, bagels, bowls of tropical fruit, and pitchers of juice.
I smear butter and jam on my third piece of toast and bite into it, trying not to groan. How long has it been since I’ve eaten?
I open my eyes to find Hannah loading up another plate for Maddy, who is lounging nearby on the couch overlooking the sweeping view of the white sand beach below. Maddy’s bare feet are propped on an ottoman, and she’s wearing an airy cream colored dress. Her red hair is pinned away from her face, which has turned a ruddy shade of pink from the sunlight.
She looks beautiful. They both do, actually. Hannah looks fresh, new, and bright-eyed. She doesn’t have a single scratch on her, and the gray pallor of her skin has shifted back to a creamy peach.
Pregnancy suits Maddy. She’s glowing, her hair thick and radiating as it brushes over her cheeks while she smiles up at Hannah. She’s much softer now, rounder. I remember vividly what she’d looked like when we first met. Hannah and I had been able to see every bone in her body.
But now the hollows of cheeks are rounded and bursting with color as she squints against the sun and does her best to reach for the pitcher of orange juice on the table beside her.
Hannah sits back down across from me at the table and arches a brow in my direction as she lifts a pitcher of iced coffee.
“No, thanks. I’m off coffee.”
“You should try it with chocolate milk instead of creamer, Hannah,” Maddy suggests.
Hannah’s eyes brighten as a maid walks over and takes the pitcher of coffee for a moment, returning with an iced mocha. Hannah sips, and her mouth stretches into a beaming smile. “It’s delicious!”
“I’m so happy you're home,” Maddy laughs. “The chocolatier in Crescent Falls has been hurting for business with you gone.”
Hannah playfully rolls her eyes.
I find this entire morning odd, honestly. Maddy had simply whisked me away to the main house and sat me down for breakfast. Hannah joined us, peppy and back to her sweet, amiable self. None of us have mentioned what happened yet. In fact, we’ve been talking about Maddy, and her twins, and the fine weather and the idea of going down to lie out on the beach or for a swim.
I meet Maddy’s eyes for a moment–that dark, stormy blue that is so unique. I wonder if one or both of her sons will inherit her eyes. I hope so. I’ve missed seeing them.
Hannah looks between us as she shifts in her seat, her cheeks going pink. “I suppose you want to know what happened, Ella.”
I meet her eyes. “Yes.”
I didn’t want to ruin this reunion by grabbing her and shaking her by the shoulders, asking what she remembered and how she survived the journey through the veil. I’d wondered if it had been traumatic for her, but she just gives me a soft smile, tilting her head toward the sun as she closes her eyes. A silver-white scar on her neck shimmers in the golden sunlight. Cassian’s mark.
“I don’t remember much about before. I remember some moments from the coven, and that beautiful crystal palace. They were kind to me there, especially Ravenna. But I didn’t like Petra.” Her face drains of color, and she grimaces like she has a bad taste in her mouth. She sips from her iced mocha to wash it away before continuing. “She came into my room one night and replaced my healers with three other people I didn’t know. They gave me my usual medicine, but it tasted different, and then I just… blacked out.”
I remember spiriting Amanda and myself into her room at the coven and finding three healers force feeding her an inky, black, thick substance. I find it hard to swallow, so I gently set my fork down on my plate and reach for my grapefruit juice instead.
Hannah shifts in her seat again. “Then everything just felt–well, blurry. Then I heard Cassian’s voice in my ear. He told me he was so sorry, that he was sorry for everything, that he couldn’t save me, that it took so long to find me. I remember a pinch on my neck.” She reaches up to stroke her fingers over the scar, her eyes darkening. “Then I felt like I was being pulled apart. Everything was black, then my vision burst with light before it faded again.”
She explains how she tried to take a breath, but there was no air. Water filled her lungs instead, but before she could react, she was pulled from the water by Cassian, who hauled them out of what she recognized as the falls.
“It was the middle of night, and there was pounding rain. I’ve never seen it storm so violently here,” she says, twisting a bouncy blonde curl around her finger. She looks over at Maddy. “I’ve only been to Maatua a few times and had only been to the falls once. Even Cassian was struggling to make sense of where we were in the storm, and we took shelter instead of trying to find the capitol. When morning came, a trio of wolves found us. Cassian’s metal arm was totally fried,” she says with a little laugh. “He wasn’t confident he could shift with it anymore, so we followed them on foot thinking they were taking us to the capitol, but we ended up on the opposite side of Maatua in a fishing village.”
“Starfall Cove is very far away,” Maddy sighed, shaking her head.
“It took us a full day to get someone to put us on a boat and take us to the capitol. We couldn’t find a phone, either. But we made it to the castle and were taken to Poppy. That’s when we found out you and Ryatt were here.” Hannah’s eyes meet mine. “Cassian told me what happened at the coven, Ella.”
I give her a tight smile. Everytime I blink, I imagine the crystal palace falling away and rolling down the mountain side toward the village–and all of the people that lived there.
“You saved us by sending us to the falls,” Hannah continues, reaching for my hand. “It healed us. I feel–”
“Ella!” Mom’s voice rings through the parlor we’ve been having breakfast in.
All three of us turn our heads as she briskly walks into view, followed by Jane, my healer.
I stand up so abruptly I nearly knock over the bistro table. “Mom–”
“We need to go to the infirmary right now,” Mom says sharply.
“What happened? Is Ryatt okay?”
Hannah helps Maddy to her feet somewhere behind me.
“He’s fine,” she says breathlessly, searching my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you tell me?”
My heart does a little flip. “Tell you what?”
“The baby, Ella. No one has checked on the baby.”
***
“Where’s Ryatt?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest as I roughly pull up my shirt. The infirmary in the main house–nothing more than a wide room with a few hospital style beds and cabinets lining the wall–is dim and humming with a soft electric pulse as Jane swivels on a stool to face where I lie, one hand holding a doppler while the other punches a few commands into an ultrasound machine.
“He’s with your dad and Isaac.”
My head snaps in Mom’s direction. Hannah and Maddy wait in silence beside me, Maddy’s eyes locked on the screen.
“Why is he with Dad and Isaac?”
“They needed to get whatever conversation they’re having right now over with so we can all move on.” Mom’s eyes are laser focused on Jane as she swipes the doppler over my lower belly.
I glance around at the faces in the room. All of them look stressed and concerned.
“I’m fine,” I tell them for the hundredth time. “She’s fine, too. I swear.”
“You should have told someone,” Mom says with force, her eyes shining with sudden tears.
“Mom, I–I didn’t even think about it. Not with Ryatt in such rough shape–”
“How long have you known?”
“A few weeks,” I tell her, swallowing hard. I have a sudden jolt of fear as I go over the last few days in my head. I’d been terribly sick during the first weeks of my pregnancy, plagued by headaches and crippling nausea. But ever since coming through the veil, I’ve felt… fine. Normal. No symptoms whatsoever…
My hands nearly fly to my stomach, but Jane is in the way, swiping left then right, looking for my baby.
“Where is she?” I whisper, dread sinking deep into my bones. “Jane, where is the baby?”
How could I have been so stupid? I would have known something was wrong, right? I would have bled, I would have felt myself losing the baby if…
A steady, rhythmic thump fills the room. Jane takes an audible breath, her hazel eyes meeting mine as she nods.
Mom’s face flushes as she nods to herself, counting the beats. I watch her, the ultrasound screen illuminated behind her eyes. Mom used to take me to the hospital in Crescent Falls. She used to drag me from healer to healer in the small villages surrounding the castle. All of her close friends were midwives, healers, artists, and teachers. Normal people who led normal lives. She’d assisted numerous births. She would know immediately if anything was wrong.
“Is she okay?” I ask Mom.
“You’re confident you’re having a girl, huh?” Jane says with a smile. “Some people just know.”
“It’s far too early to tell for sure,” Maddy cuts in. She cranes her neck to get a view of the screen I haven’t brought myself to look at yet. “Looks like there’s just one, lucky you.” She gives me a smile while she pats her swollen belly.
I glance at Mom, whose eyes are still on the screen. Her brow furrows slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she says softly, reaching out to lay a hand over my shoulder.
But the look behind her eyes makes me wonder what exactly she’s seen. I can tell that it’s bothering her, whatever it is. “Mom?”
“Maddy, you should be resting. You’ve been on your feet all morning,” Mom says, turning from us.
Maddy rolls her eyes and huffs, “The sooner the princes come, the better.”
Mom gives her a motherly smile. “You need your strength, Maddy.”
“Cassian should be back from his meeting with the warriors,” Hannah says, glancing down at her watch. “I’ll walk with you.”
Maddy meets my eyes. The look behind her eyes tells me everything I need to know–no mind-link necessary.. We’ll talk soon. She’s happy I’m here. My baby is just fine, don’t worry about it.
I weakly smile back. She turns to leave, Hannah guiding her away.
Jane turns from us. “I’m going to take some quick measurements. A blood test, too, I think.”
Mom nods, but her eyes are still on the screen.
Neither of us say anything. Jane prints out a strip of glossy pictures from the ultrasound and hands it to me. My hands tremble as I take it and look down at the little bean nestled deep inside my belly. Little arms and legs are visible.
“She has such a big head,” I say to myself.
“She’ll grow into it,” Mom laughs, settling down on a stool.
“I’ll be right back,” Jane says before leaving the room.
I sit up, smoothing my shirt back over my belly. “What's wrong, Mom?”
“Are you going to leave again?”
I look at her. She’s looking down at her hands, inspecting her nails. Her blue eyes shine, but refuse to meet my gaze.
“I have to.”
She nods, sniffling a bit, but her face relaxes into a mask of calm resignation. “Everything is fine with the baby. She’s strong, and growing just like she should.”
“Why did you look so concerned, then?”
She grits her teeth for a moment. “Childbearing for our kind is never easy, Ella. I had such a hard time. I worry about you and the baby going back to Eastonia. Are things… like here?”
“It’s far less modern,” I admit. “It’s hard to explain.” It truly is, but I take a breath, telling her how Ryatt powered his entire territory using the powers roiling through his veins. I tell her about the witches, and the magic that seems to drift in the air. Eastonia is magic, plain and simple, and for a moment I find myself missing it.
“I’m strong,” I tell her. “I have powers, Mom. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll never know you as a mother, will I? Once you go, you can’t come back. She can’t return here–at least for a long time.”
My heart lurches in my chest. The idea of taking a baby through the veil… Goddess, I can’t even think about it.
“You’ll need to go before you get too far along in your pregnancy,” she says absently.
“Mom?”
She wipes her eyes, smiling down at me. “We’d better go find your mate. He was pretty upset earlier when he found out none of us even checked for a pregnancy.”
I open my mouth, dead set on telling her to wait, to stop, but she stands and offers me her hand.
“Will Ryatt even still be alive after being thrust into a room with Isaac and Maddox?”
“We’re about to find out.”