Ella
Everybody loves Kenna.
We have been endlessly showered in praise and gifts over the last few days. Word spread about her birth, and every village we’ve passed through on our way home has been the same–lit up like a bonfire with music and revelry in her honor.
Granger grunts under the weight of the heavy leather sack he’s lugging behind us as we walk out of the village proper. I don’t even know the name of this place, but everyone knew us, that’s for sure.
“This is going to be you in a few weeks,” I tell him over my shoulder as I follow Ryatt into a moonlit clearing. He meets my gaze with a smile and looks lighter than he has in weeks.
One more jump and we’re home.
“Is everyone ready?” Ryatt says, a little breathlessly.
I adjust the sling across my chest that someone fashioned for me and Kenna. She’s sleeping right now, gathered against my breasts with a little fist clutching my sweater. It’s chilly for a midsummer night and currently sprinkling a misty kind of rain that sticks to everything it touches.
“I’m ready,” I tell him. My chest is tight for a number of reasons. One, the idea of returning home doesn’t feel real yet, and I doubt it will until I feel the embrace of our magical house all around me. Two, seeing Amanda again and spending the next few days telling her about everything that happened is something I’ve been greatly looking forward to. And three, my idiot brother is waiting for us in Veiled Valley, and I need to send him home to his wife–immediately.
I glance over my shoulder where the witch is waiting patiently for Ryatt’s instruction. She looks regal and drop dead gorgeous in a pale silver cloak nearly the same color as her hair, which is loose and pin straight, falling all the way to her hips.
Cressendra is her name, but she doesn’t know it. She doesn’t know that the man standing beside her is her mate. She has no idea that the baby in my arms is her granddaughter.
And, apparently, Westfall wants to keep it that way.
I huff out a breath as I meet his eyes. He’s looking forward, refusing to make eye contact with me. One day we’ll all be one big, happy family.
I hope.
Sighing, I turn back to Ryatt, who looks like he’s been through hell and back. He’s exhausted and depleted, but this is it. One more jump, one more excessive use of his strained powers, and we’ll be home.
I edge toward him, roping my arm through his. “Let’s go home. I want to sleep in our own bed tonight, and I think Granger will kill us all in our sleep if we wait any longer to reunite him with Amanda.”
Granger makes a noise in his throat that borders on confirmation of that idea, and I chuckle. Ryatt cracks a smile and exhales deeply, motioning for Granger to come forward.
Westfall and Cressendra walk up next, our group forming an odd semi-circle. Above us, the full moon casts the clearing in silver light that thrums with power. Ryatt planned this last jump perfectly. We’re both at our most powerful right now.
“Do not try to help me,” he says to me gruffly. “You almost wrecked the entire castle last time.”
“Fine,” I grumble, adjusting Kenna once more.
I watch as Westfall offers his hand to Cressendra. She smiles up at him–a kind, oblivious smile–and it cuts through my soul when I notice Westfall goes rigid when she knits her fingers between his.
The grief in his eyes is the last thing I see before the world goes black.
The metallic taste of magic fills my mouth. My ears ring. I’m pulled apart and gently put back together again as space and time collide. But just as suddenly as it began, the jump ends, and my feet land on solid, stone ground.
An excitable whoosh of warm air rushes around me like a comforting hug, and I open my eyes, my cheeks straining from how big I’m smiling.
Home. We’re home.
Ryatt stumbles forward, his hands braced on his knees as he fights to catch his breath.
I barely have a moment to react before a flash of coppery blonde hair zooms past. A squeal follows in its wake, and then Granger is on the ground, and Amanda is on top of him, peppering his cheeks in kisses.
“I thought you’d never come home!” Amanda cries, then kisses Granger firmly on the lips.
Westfall clears his throat and steps away from Cressendra, running his fingers through his hair as he murmurs something about checking in with the guards. I watch him walk away while Cressendra gazes up at the domed onyx ceilings, her profile shimmering with the multicolored light spilling through the stained glass windows that surround us. “What a beautiful home,” she whispers, and a flurry of air ruffles her cloak in answer.
Then the magic of the house is honed on me and the baby snoozing against my chest. The air stills, then erupts in flower petals that fall from the ceiling like confetti.
“Thanks,” I smile. “We missed you, too.”
My heart couldn’t be more full, but Ryatt is obviously struggling to get his bearings. I lay a hand on his back as I gaze around the room.
It feels impossible that we’re really here.
“Are you going to survive?” I ask my mate while giving him a little pat on the shoulder.
He grunts, then straightens, waving a hand toward the corridor that leads to our suite. “I’m going to go lay down for a while.”
I don’t blame him. What I really want is a long, hot shower and a fresh pair of pajamas, then a big dinner and a long, long nap.
Later, though. Right now….
“Let me see that baby,” Amanda says as she launches herself at me. She’s still spry for being so pregnant.
I catch her in a tight embrace, both of us on the verge of tears. I pull back and loosen the sling, and Amanda hoists Kenna out of my arms. Her eyes are glassy with tears as she cradles my daughter like she’s the most precious thing in the world.
“How are you?” I ask, roping my arm over Amanda’s shoulder. I glance over at Granger who’s leading Cressendra out of the great room and down a narrow hallway, probably toward whatever room she’ll be staying in.
“I’m done being pregnant, that’s for sure,” Amanda sniffles as she strokes Kenna’s perfectly round cheek. “Gods, Ella. She’s perfect. I heard what happened and I–I can’t–I am so happy you are both okay.”
“Me too,” I say, trying not to burst into tears out of sheer happiness. “I’m just happy to be home.”
“You can’t leave again for a long time, okay? Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She nods, blinking back tears. “Okay, great. No leaving, no more battles, no more getting kidnapped. I’m serious, Ella.”
“So am I. I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime!”
The house around us groans as a draft of air laced with what feels like impatience, if that’s possible, ripples around us.
“We’ve been working on something. Come on,” Amanda whispers, giving me a playful smile. She trots off with Kenna in her arms, resting over the enormous swell of her belly. Amanda is perfectly round and glowing in a way I’m sure I never glowed while pregnant with Kenna. I’ve never seen her more beautiful.
I follow my friend through the network of hallways and stairwells toward our suites, which are thankfully close enough together that it doesn’t take more than a minute or two to reach our respective wings of the castle.
A set of doors along one hallway open, two rooms on either side. She steps into the one on the left, and a crystal chandelier glimmers to life.
The walls are a creamy white. The ceiling height windows offer a sweeping view of the mountainous city scape below. Built-in bookshelves are full of children's books and fluffy stuffed animals. A crib along the wall is shielded by a pale pink canopy.
Fresh flowers sit in vases sit on every surface. The air smells like lilacs and fresh linen.
“Do you like it?” Amanda asks. She shifts her weight, her cheeks turning pink. “I–I maybe overstepped. I didn’t have much else to do while you were gone–”
“This is Kenna’s room?” My heart is about to explode out of my chest as I turn in a circle to drink it all in. “Amanda, it’s perfect.”
“You think so?” Amanda bites back as smile. “It’s not too much pink?”
“No,” I laugh, tears rolling down my cheeks. “No, it’s perfect. I didn’t even think–I didn’t think about a nursery. I–” I’m at a loss for words, truly.
“Do you want to see Evander’s room?”
I turn to her, momentarily in shock. “Is that his name?”
She nods, her lips curving into a smile. “It was Granger’s father’s name.”
“I know,” I say, my mind drifting back to that vision I had of the little boy in that clearing. My lips part in preparation to tell Amanda everything I saw when someone clears their throat in the doorway.
Amanda and I turn at the same time.
“Is this my niece?” Isaac says. His eyes are locked on mine, eyes so like our mom’s it almost brings me to my knees. He looks… conflicted. Excited, relieved, yes. But also very unsure.
I nod, unable to form a single word to say to him as he takes another step into the room.
Amanda looks at me, her expression shifting to one lined with uncertainty and concern as Isaac edges closer to get a better look at Kenna.
“Would you like to hold her?” I say, but my voice trembles over the words.
Isaac looks at me again, and the raw emotion behind his eyes makes a sob work its way up my throat as he nods.
Amanda carefully sets Kenna into my brother’s arms, and quietly leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.
Silence swells. Even the magic presence in the house is leaving us alone, giving us the privacy we need right now.
Kenna wraps her tiny hand around Isaac’s pointer finger, and my brother’s chest heaves with a silent sob.
“You came,” I say. It’s the only words that come to mind.
He nods, his eyes still on Kenna as he replies, “I had to. You were in–you were in trouble.”
I take a few steps toward him.
Isaac and I used to be close. Thick as thieves. But nothing has been the same since the war between Crescent Falls and Eastonia.
The rift between us is my fault. I lied. I kept my powers from him. I stabbed him.
Also, my mate was his enemy.
I reach his side. Together, we watch Kenna slowly start to wake up, blinking into the soft daylight drifting through the lace curtains.
“She has Ryatt’s eyes,” Isaac whispers, a smile touching his lips.
“I know,” I smile. “My hair, I think.”
“Time will tell,” Isaac says. “Ryan and Syd–” He sniffs like he’s holding back tears. “They still have red hair like Maddy.”
Tears blur my vision. “How are they?”
“They miss you. We all do. I’m so glad–Goddess, Ella, I am so glad you’re okay–”
The tension between us snaps, and then I’m in his arms, Kenna tucked between us as my brother and I hug it out like we used to do when we were kids.
“You shouldn’t be here, Isaac! Maddy is going to kill you.”
“I know,” he laughs, pulling away and laying Kenna in my arms. “I know. I didn’t really think before I did it; I just did. It was easier than I thought it would be.”
“Then why haven’t you gone home?”
“I needed to see you first. I needed to make sure everything was fine. And…”
“And you wanted to see Eastonia?”
“Yeah,” he admits, looking more than guilty about it.
“What do you think?”
He cuts me off abruptly, his expression turning serious. “We need to talk about the veil.”
“What? Why?”
“I think there’s more to it. I think–I think it’s doing something to our powers in Crescent Falls.”
“I know, I feel that way about it too.”
“I think we need to take it down. We need to destroy it.”