Isaac
I’m not sure what I was expecting to find, but it isn’t this.
Instead of simply walking through a wall of mist and magic, coming out the other side and coming face to face with Ryatt and Ella, I feel like I’ve been dropped on my head after having every nerve in my body pulled apart and thrust back together again.
I never gave much thought to what Ryatt and Ella went through, twice now, while crossing the veil. It’s nothing like spiriting myself from room to room, or from the castle to the rolling fields beyond the woods, no.
My powers are useless. Even my wolf powers are whimpering in my veins as I shift my weight on the stool I’m sitting on with my hands bound behind my back.
How many days has it been since I came through the veil? Four? Maybe five?
The man seated in front of me hasn’t said a word in a long time. I can only see his jaw, the rest of his face shielded by a hood. He has dark skin, and his hands are covered in a tangle of scars and tattoos.
Other than tying me up, he hasn’t laid a hand on me.
I came through the veil and found myself underground, in some kind of buried temple. Ryatt and Ella were nowhere to be found. I spent a day trying to find my way to the surface, and when I did, I realized why I’d come through the veil at that very spot, and my blood goes cold at the memory.
I climbed up a set of stone stairs toward the first hints of sunlight I’d seen and found myself at a cave mouth.
And carved into the walls on either side of the entrance were giant depictions of the two beasts of the Moon Goddess.
My skin prickles as I think about the statues that are now scarred into my memory.
My captor notices, tilting his chin so I have a better view of his face. Glacier blue eyes meet mine only briefly.
I shake my head with impatience and look down at my filthy khaki pants and what was once a light blue button down shirt. Now, it’s stained with dirt and a bit of blood. A group of wolves came upon me when I tried to make my way out of the forest that surrounded the buried temple within a day, and without being able to shift, I had no choice but to surrender.
So far, no one seems to believe that I am truly the Alpha King of Crescent Falls.
So, I’m tied up in the back of some tavern.
Maddy is going to be absolutely livid when I get home… whenever that’ll be.
I clear my throat and let out a soft, impatient sigh. My captor rolls his neck and stands, pulling a dagger from his belt.
I try not to flinch, but he holds the blade up in surrender before approaching me, cutting through the ropes entwining my wrists.
“Thanks,” I murmur, rubbing my raw skin.
He sits back down but keeps his blade on his thigh. He reaches up with one hand and pulls his hood down, revealing coarse, black hair braided into cornrows.
Handsome, but roughened. Young, I imagine. He’s probably my age, and as I sit roughly three feet away from him, I can tell he’s powerful as well. His energy thrums around him like a current of electricity.
I flex my jaw. He motions to my smartwatch, which died several days ago.
“What, do you want my watch or something?”
His mouth ticks into a smile. “What good is it to me if it doesn’t even tell time?”
“Are you letting me go or not?” When I was first captured, I explained who I was and why I came here, who I was searching for.
I even, at one point, begged on my knees to be let go, telling this man and his band of leather-clad roughens that my sister was dying.
“You’re no longer our prisoner.”
“Well, thank fuck for that,” I sneer. I rise, and he follows, blocking my path to the flimsy wooden door on the far side of the room. “Move.”
“You have no idea where you’re going.”
“I came here to find my sister and her mate–your king. She’s in danger, and you’ve already hampered my progress–”
“Luna Ella survived the birth of the princess,” he cuts in quickly.
I feel the writhing pressure in my chest ease a touch. “And the baby?”
He nods, and a ghost of a smile touches his lips.
I need to sit down, so I do, the tension I’ve held in my bones since the moment Ryatt told me what was happening finally snapping and leaving me at ease. Kind of.
“Where are they now?”
“Not nearby.”
I roll my lip between my teeth and fix this stranger with a glare. What am I supposed to do now?
“How far away are they?”
“It’ll be at least a week before they reach Rifthold. I’ve been asked to bring you to Veiled Valley.”
I have no idea what Rifthold is, but Veiled Valley is familiar. Ella must have mentioned it at some point when we were all in Maatua. Actually, it was Cassian. He’d been in Veiled Valley–and that magic castle….“Then you’ve talked to them?”
“Granger, my Alpha’s Beta, has been keeping me in the loop.”
“And what are you to your Alpha?”
His eyes fill with amusement as he sits down across from me again. “My name is Artyom. Commander Artyom. You’re safe. No harm shall come to you as long as you remain in my care. I will see you to Veiled Valley myself, and once there, you’ll be treated as an esteemed guest.”
I don’t have much choice. My mangled powers aren’t strong enough to break back through the veil yet, and I obviously underestimated the strength of the magic keeping our kingdoms apart.
“How far is it to Veiled Valley from… here?” Wherever the hell we are.
“Two days on foot,” he says. “Can you shift?”
“Possibly,” I tell him, then pause, looking down at my hands as guilt starts to creep through my veins. “I need to contact someone beyond the veil. Is that possible from here?”
“Not until we reach Veiled Valley,” he says.
I’m sorry, Maddy, I think, picturing my sons, whom I miss terribly, and wringing my hands before rising and stuffing them in my pants pockets.
“Fine. Let’s go, then.”
Artyom inhales deeply and nods, and I follow him through the door. The tavern below is nearly empty save for a few dust-covered drifters dressed in leather and plain, likely homespun, fabric. The smell of roasting meat and sour, bitter beer is thick as we pass through the dining area and out into a cool, crisp summer night.
Men dressed in leather armor are milling around a fire pit. No one even looks in my direction.
This place feels like it was lost to time.
And Ella was right about how magical this place feels. Even my own recovering powers feel different…. Stronger. More precise.
I look up at the stars like I’ll be able to see the veil. I think about the conversation I had several months ago with my Uncle Ben. Had he been right about the veil’s purpose? Was it meant to keep the people of Eastonia out of Crescent Falls or to keep their powers contained?
Does this mean that in Crescent Falls, our powers–our wolves and special gifts–are… restrained?
I lick my lips and follow Artyom toward the forest surrounding the sleepy village, itching to shift to test my theory.
* * *
Maddy
It’s been four days.
I stare at the moonstone dog bowl for the thousandth time. Isaac is alive. He’d better be, at least. I’ve never been more angry at him than I am now.
I shouldn’t be. I have everything handled here, and after hearing that Ella’s life was in danger and she was in early labor, I… I simply don’t know how to feel.
I just miss him, and I’m worried. Worried about him, and Ella, and the baby. I’m even worried about Ryatt who looked so broken when I interrupted his conversation with Isaac from beyond the veil.
It’s been four days. Did Ella survive? Did her baby?
I leave the observatory feeling worse than when I climbed up here to begin with.
The library is quiet and empty. It’s the middle of the night, my only true downtime from the hustle and bustle of my life as Luna, and as a new mother.
But as I walk to our room, I hear a door gently close, then brisk footsteps.
I turn toward the sound, expecting to find a maid working late for some reason, but Isla turns the corner.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were still awake.” She tries to give me a smile but it falls flat. “You were in the observatory, weren’t you?”
I let out my breath. “Yes. I can’t sleep.”
Isla sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. It’s loose and falling over her shoulders in a sheet of golden, softly curling at the ends. “Any news?”
I shake my head. I told my in-laws everything, of course. They’re supposed to travel back to Maatua at the end of the week to see to the reconstruction of their new house, since Ella wrecked their old one, but now there’s no telling when they’ll be able to leave.
Because none of us have any idea when Isaac will return.
I try to not think about the what ifs, especially… What if he doesn’t come back?
“He will come back,” Isla says like she’s reading my mind. “Once he knows Ella is safe, he’ll return.”
I nod. It’s all I can do.
“You should try to sleep, Maddy. You’ve been up for days.”
“I know,” I whisper, nodding. She’s right, but every time I close my eyes, I envision the moment Isaac dissolved into streams of light and simply vanished.
My world has been cold without him. It’s like I’m back in the freezing chateau in Celestoria again, alone. So desperately alone.
I hear a distant whimper. One of the babies must have just woken up.
“Goodnight,” I tell Isla and turn, but she stops me with a hand on my forearm.
She squeezes my arm with a soft, knowing smile on her face. “Everyone is okay, Maddy. I can feel it.”
“I hope you’re right,” I whisper back, then walk to my room and shut myself inside.
Ryan is fussing. Sydney remains warm and cozy in his swaddle, fast asleep. I gently pick Ryan up and cradle him against my shoulder, walking to look out the windows at the moon drenched back garden.
Ryan settles in my arms. I look down at him. He looks like Isaac, at least I think so. He has the same chin and nose as his dad, but his hair is red like mine.
And his eyes… They favor my coloring. That dark, stormy blue Isaac says he loves most of all.
I swallow hard and force my mouth into a smile before kissing Ryan’s forehead, breathing in his baby scent.
“Daddy will come back,” I whisper. It’s a prayer. The same prayer I say on my knees several times a day.
Come back, Isaac. Please, come back.