Ella
I step back just in time to catch the bundle Isaac places in my arms before he rushes to Maddy’s side. He falls to his knees beside the bed, holding her face in his hands as she sobs, her mouth pulled into a delirious smile.
I look down at the baby in my arms, who looks up at me with a scowl. “H-hello there.”
His mouth pinches, and he begins to whine. I bounce him gently, unsure of what to do. I look wildly around for help, but the room is a tangle of healers trying to tend to Maddy and the second, much larger baby now resting on her chest while he’s rubbed down with towels.
Maddy’s hands shake so violently, she’s barely able to lay a hand on her son’s back, and Isaac… oh, Isaac is a blubbering mess, but I’ve never seen him so raw. He only has eyes for his mate. Only for her. His eyes shine with tears as he says, “Thank the Goddess,” over and over again, pressing the words into her gleaming brow.
Mom watches the proceedings like a hawk and then hands Isaac a vial of tears, which he helps his mate drink.
My knees wobble with relief, and shock, and… so many differing emotions all at once. My powers ripple through me, still igniting and burning over my skin. Strong… they’re strong. I could bring us back through the veil…
I barely register Ryatt at my side until his arm locks around my waist. He glances down at the angry baby in my arms before looking into my eyes, his free hand brushing the hair away from my face.
I know what he’s about to ask. It probably goes along the lines of, “What the fuck did you just do?”
“Later,” I tell him, breathless. I look down at my perfect nephew. “I’ll tell you later.”
Ryatt’s gaze leaves my face long enough to look down at the baby. “Red hair,” he says with a soft chuckle. “That means good luck in Eastonia.”
Tears sting my eyes as we look at the baby together.
“How is he?” Mom asks, trying to catch her breath as she appears by our side.
“He’s pissed off,” I laugh, bouncing him. “He knows I’m not his mom.”
“Here, I’ll take him.” She helps guide him out of my arms, and I feel a strange emptiness as my arms go weightless.
I watch my mom’s face as she looks down at the baby. Her eyes widen then crease and fill with tears before meeting mine again.
“Whatever you did,” she whispers so only Ryatt and I can hear, “thank you.”
I fight the creeping sensation building in my chest. How had she known I just used my powers? Did everyone feel it?
Or were some people, like Ryatt, able to break through the yoke of pure energy I’d placed over the room, pulling time to a halt?
Ryatt guides us to the wall as a flurry of maids swoops in, blocking our view of the bed and the babies now resting in their mother’s arms.
“Everyone’s healthy,” Jane says, her voice trembling a bit as she steps back from the bed. “Let’s leave Their Highnesses in peace.” At the snap of her fingers, the maids, nurses, and other healers begin to funnel out of the room.
Clean sheets have been laid out over bed. Isaac and Mom help Maddy onto her feet so the old sheets can be changed.
Ryatt’s fingers trace circles over my spine in an absent motion while his gaze remains locked on the twins, and on Maddy, as she’s helped back into bed.
“I’ll go tell your father,” Isla says to Isaac, her face glistening with tears.
“Would you please call for a dinner service? I’m starving,” Maddy says weakly, her face still ruddy and shimmering with sweat and tears.
“We should go,” Ryatt says, but Maddy’s eyes snap to where we’re standing, like she’s forgotten we’re still in the room.
“Ella–” she says, but Mom rests a hand on her thigh.
“Rest now, Maddy. There will be time to talk about what happened later.”
“Your powers are back,” Maddy says to me. Her face, once bright from pure happiness, twists into sorrow. “You’re leaving now, aren’t you?”
Now everyone is looking at me and Ryatt.
Ryatt’s hand flattens against my lower back, his touch the only thing keeping me from shaking as I look at my mom, then my brother, then Maddy.
“Yes,” I say, and it takes all of my strength.
I glance at Isaac and notice him looking at Ryatt. “There’s a lot we need to discuss before you go back.”
“I understand,” Ryatt says, his voice steady despite the sudden tension in the room. “We will return to Eastonia in two days–”
“Two days?” Maddy’s voice is heartbreakingly quiet. It tears at my soul, forcing me to turn from her and into Ryatt’s arms.
Tears burn my eyes. Behind me, one of the babies starts to whimper.
“We’ll order the dinner service,” Ryatt says before giving me a gentle tug toward the door.
My heart begins to shatter the second the door closes behind us, and I hear Maddy’s murmured protests about us leaving so soon.
“We’ll never see them again, will we?” she says.
“Come on,” Ryatt says gently. “I have no idea who to talk to about ordering food in this place.”
I wordlessly lead him through the house and stop the first maid we find. A huge dinner is ordered with instructions to have it delivered directly to Maddy and Isaac.
Hungry ourselves, we accept a few snacks and sandwiches and sit out in the sun on the terrace, wordlessly eating while watching the sun drift lower, and lower, the sky painted bright fuchsia as golden sunlight fades into velvet hues of violet and navy.
The house behind us is peaceful and quiet.
“Is there any left?”
We turn at the sound of Cassian’s voice. Ryatt stands from the bench we’ve been perched on for the better part of an hour and bristles as Cassian edges closer, one hand outstretched in surrender. Cassian’s other arm… well, his metal arm is nowhere to be found right now.
“Where have you been?” I ask, rising.
The sunset cast his fiery coppery hair aflame in streaks of crimson as he looks from Ryatt to me with a shrug. “Trying to make sense of what happened, just like you guys, I’m sure. Hannah’s upstairs helping Maddy with the babies.”
He edges forward again, stopping short of us by a few feet.
“I’ve been meaning to find you, Ella, and apologize for how things were when I arrived in Eastonia. I… I didn’t know,” he says with effort, his eyes shining in the sunset. “I didn’t know the extent of what you’d gone through to keep my mate safe against all odds. It wasn’t your fault. She told me–she told me everything. She wanted to go with you. You two basically grew up together, and she didn’t want to be parted from you yet.” His jaw goes tight as he looks away from me to scan the water. “I foolishly believed, for months, that you’d killed her, or enslaved her….” He tapers off, watching my face as my brow furrows with shock. “It’s been a rough year. The war, then Isaac’s coma, then you–you left, and we were forced to act like things were normal. I couldn’t, not without Hannah. You took care of her for me, and I am indebted to you–”
“You don’t owe me anything,” I rush out.
He looks to Ryatt then. “Have Isaac and Maddox spoken to you about the treaty?”
My blood heats as I look between the two men.
“No,” Ryatt says, “but I assumed we were headed in that direction.”
“Treaty for what?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
“Peace between our kingdoms. Isaac wants me as an ally,” Ryatt answers, then turns away from us. “I’ll go to Maddox in the morning, once the excitement from the birth has dimmed.” He flexes his hands, then walks away, not even turning to look back at me.
I turn my attention to Cassian, however. “This isn’t just some basic treaty, is it? What do they want from him?”
“I don’t know much,” Cassian breathes, running his fingers through his hair. “I just know your uncle Ben has conferred with Alpha Elijah in Moorn, and the two of them have written something up regarding Ryatt’s… armies.”
“They want Ryatt to be available to fight if there’s ever a threat here in Crescent Falls, don’t they? Cassian, that’s not possible–”
“But it is possible, isn’t it?” He steps toward me. “It’s already happened once. They saw the kind of… kind of tech, the kind of powers your new people possess. We’d be stupid to let such an allegiance slip through our fingers.”
“And what do we get out of it?” I snap.
“Ryatt gets you, Ella. Those are the terms.”
“You’re joking!”
“In Maddox’s eyes, and in Isaac’s, for that matter, Ryatt stole you away. I heard your mate and Isaac had plans to spare. This is a more… diplomatic solution.”
“I’m going home with him regardless,” I grind out.
“None of this is up to me.”
“You men and your–your stupid fucking games of divide and conquer,” I hiss, shoving past him and following Ryatt, who is already out of sight against the glare of the setting sun, back to the guest house on the bluff.
Ryatt’s getting ready to shower when I walk into his room. He meets my eyes as he pulls his shirt over his head, his already tan skin an even deeper shade of bronze from the few days we’ve spent in the tropics so far. Even his night-black hair has softened to a bright shade of onyx flaked with rich brown.
I’ve barely been able to look at myself in the mirror since we arrived.
“Come here,” he rasps, motioning me forward.
I lean on the door of the room to close it and walk toward him, swallowing past the painful lump in my throat. His hands rest on my shoulders for a moment before he nudges me beneath the chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “The treaty means nothing. I would be their ally anyway.”
“I don’t really know why it bothers me.”
“You see it as a trade,” he explains, his closeness bringing me much needed comfort as he brushes his next words over my cheek. “My allegiance to Crescent Falls, in exchange for their princess.”
“It shouldn’t be this way. I left them. I called out to you through our bond, and you came. You didn’t take me, and they know it.”
“But I would have,” he says. “If I’d had to wait any longer to find you again, to have you in my arms… I would have taken you. I would have waged war against your brother just to have a moment longer with you, Princess. This treaty… it's just their acceptance of us.”
“But if there’s another war they’ll force you over the veil. You, and your commanders, and their generals, will be called to fight.”
“Crescent Falls would have to be falling in on itself before your brother would ever lower himself enough to call upon my aid,” he chuckles. “Would you rather I fight with him like we originally planned? A fight to the death as wolves, as the Goddess intended?”
I go to swat him, but he pulls me against his skin, his lips crushing mine.
I melt around him, softening into his fevered warmth and rough caress.
“How are you going to do it?” he whispers.
“Cross the veil again?”
“I have my powers but not my sword.”
His sword of shadows–lost somewhere in the rubble of Rifthold, no doubt. His sword, the conduit of his Shadowsynger powers. Without it to slice through the veil… it’ll take all of the power I have to break through. “The mask.”
“No, Ella–”
“It’s the only way. We’ll say our goodbyes tomorrow night and catch the last ferry to Maatua. Then, we’ll go to the falls.” I close my eyes, resting my cheek against his chest. “And then we go home.”