Sarah
My heart pounds over Sydney's voice, his words clear and steady.
“My mate,” he says proudly, and the rest of his words are drowned out by the thrum in the room. Some people stand in shock, but everyone is smiling, everyone is turning from us to Sydney’s parents, who are beaming with pride and I’m…
In a dream. This has to be a dream because, suddenly, I’m on my feet and people I don’t know are hugging me, shaking my hand, raining blessings upon blessing on us.
I look through a part in the fray and find Ella turning ever so slightly to Maddy, her dark brows arched as Maddy mouths something that can only be, “I told you so.”
They disappear as more people come up to us, the dinner forgotten entirely.
This goes on for at least another twenty minutes. Eventually, Sydney sits me back down at our snug table, shoulder to shoulder with Kenna and Misty, and piles my plate high before walking off and dipping into conversations with excited family members whose names I still don’t know.
Misty giggles beside me, leaning over her plate to tell Kenna she expects to be a bridesmaid and asks Kenna to invite all of Evander’s friends from the Ghosts.
Kenna just rolls her eyes and tells Misty to butt out.
I smile like I’ve never smiled before and find it impossible to get a bite in as an hour passes, and our table is visited by family coming to introduce themselves.
But the festivities wane as dessert is brought and served buffet style. The younger family’s–distant cousins on Isla’s side–funnel out of the castle to put their young to bed on time. Soon, it’s just the immediate family. Even Ben and his family have taken their leave, meaning to visit some friends in Moorn in the morning and needing to start the hours long drive now to make it in time.
The ballroom is suddenly ten times bigger than before without so many people crowding the tables.
“Goddess, I can’t sit in this chair any longer,” Kenna groans, shaking a bit as she tries to rise.
“We’ll help,” I tell her, motioning to Misty to take Kenna’s other arm.
Misty groans enthusiastically, giving Kenna a teasing grin. Kenna huffs a breath. “Misty, one day you’ll be pregnant, and I’ll give you endless shit for it.”
“I’ll probably deserve it,” she laughs. “Let’s go to the sitting room upstairs before the guys take it over talking about politics and what-not. Boring!”
But as we’re leading Kenna out of the room, Sydney comes up to me followed by Evander, who gives his mate a critical once over before taking her by the waist. “You’re going to bed,” he says dryly.
“I’m fine, I swear.”
“Your wrists and ankles are swollen, Kenna. This was too much.” Evander tries leading her away, but she digs in her heels, turning to me.
“I have to leave tomorrow with my parents. I’d like to stay longer, but I’m due two weeks from now, so I should really be home preparing.”
“We’ll come visit soon,” Sydney says. “Go get some sleep.” His eyes slide to Evander’s and he gives him a quick nod. I wonder what’s passing between them through the mind-link, but Sydney whisks me and Misty toward the formal sitting room on the first floor while Kenna is led upstairs and out of sight.
“Where’s Blake?” I ask, looking back toward the ballroom.
Misty plops onto the fine, antique couch with her heels propped up, whipping out her phone faster than lightning.
“With Mom. How do you feel about staying the night here? I’ve had a bit to drink after all of the toasts made in our honor. Mom won’t let Blake go.” He smiles softly. “He’s pretty tired, and I think he’ll sleep fine in the nursery upstairs with Brie.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” I smile back. To be honest, the idea of stuffing ourselves in his truck and driving all the way back to Shadowcrest sounds awful, and the quiet solitude of the sitting room beckons to me as I sit on the couch next to Misty and lean my head back on the headrest.
Sydney tucks his hands in his pockets and looks like he’s about to say something when two shadows ghost through the room.
I immediately straighten. I can taste the power around us. It feels… familiar. Like a walking, talking reminder of a home I once knew and lost before I had a chance to figure out who, and what, I was.
Alpha King Ryatt of Eastonia, Shadowking of the Roguelands and Veiled Valley, stands in the doorway beside his wife.
They were the only people who didn’t come congratulate us, and based on the looks on their faces right now, they’re not here to do that now, either.
“Misty, honey, we need the room,” Ella says softly to her niece.
“I don’t want to listen to boring kingdom business anyway,” she says, rolling gracefully off the couch and practically floating to the doorway.
I watch her go and wish fervently that she’d stay, put up more a fuss about it, especially as King Isaac walks behind her and shuts the giant doors to seal the room closed.
Sydney stiffens and steps to stand beside me. He places a hand on my shoulder, preventing me from rising.
“Your mother is upstairs putting her grandchild to bed,” Isaac says with a bit of a smile he can’t hide touching his lips.
Goddess, Sydney looks like him. I feel like I’m staring at a future version of my mate as his face comes into the muted chandelier light. Having met Maddox, however, I can say Isaac and Sydney closely resemble Isla’s side of the family. They have her delicate beauty and Maddox’s sharp, masculinity.
Ella… she looks nothing like her brother. She is all fire and brimstone as she gracefully sits in one of the armchairs across from me, folding her hands in her lap. Sea-green eyes the color of tropical waters meet mine, but there’s nothing harsh or cold about her expression. Curiosity blooms behind those wells of blue-green, and I suck in a breath as my gaze sweep upward to her hairline where tiny symbols dot her forehead, silver scars in the shape of an ancient language long lost to time.
I don’t remember my shifter mother. Her face is blurred in my memory. Her voice is a soft whisper lifted in a song. A lullaby about the return of the Firestone witches to lead our kind to the promised land. She is a reminder of all I’ve lost.
I swallow hard, breaking from Ella’s gaze.
“So this is why you threatened to duel with your own uncle when we mentioned needing to dig up that grave on Mononoke Island,” Ryatt says dryly, casually, his voice smoky and deep. It rattles through me in a wave of power that nearly chokes the air from my lungs.
Sydney shifts his weight from foot to foot. “Are you at all surprised at the lengths I would go to protect what’s mine?”
“Not at all,” Ryatt replies, sitting on the armrest of Ella’s chair. “You forget our trials and those of your parents when it comes to our own mates. I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’d be disappointed, actually, if you hadn’t threatened to kill me to protect her. You were raised to be like this. Obviously, we did something right, wouldn’t you say?” Ryatt looks at Isaac, who nods.
I realize with a start they know exactly who I am. I want to turn inward, to shrivel into nothing and disappear in a puff of mist, but I can’t.
“You were fooled, Sydney,” Ella says, and a hush whispers through the room.
Sydney’s grip on my shoulder tightens. “What?”
“You were told we needed Sasha, that she was a criminal, and dangerous, someone who needed to be brought to justice. I knew different, but we couldn’t find her without our allied kingdoms believing she was something terrifying and dangerous, so I spun a story.”
Her eyes meet mine, soft and apologetic. “Your father was the only person who showed me an ounce of comfort during a horrific time in my life. I returned the favor recently. You are alive because he made an incredible sacrifice to keep you safe, and when Ryatt and I called for you to be hunted, we had to do so delicately to ensure you’d be found by the right people.”
“By the right person,” Isaac says, and Sydney looks like someone has just smacked him across the face.
“You sent me because you knew I didn’t agree with bringing Sasha back to be tried for Gabriel’s crimes?”
“We knew you’d protect her, protect what you knew about her, even from us. It was a difficult decision to make–”
“You lied,” he says, looking around the room.
“We had to do what needed to be done to ensure her safety. With a call from both kingdoms for her capture, which meant manpower on the ground, we believed Gabriel would be less likely to continue his hunt for you. We had other’s out looking, giving them false leads to follow in the event Gabriel was watching. It worked. You found Sasha first, saved her, protected her.”
“Did you know we were mates?” I ask Ella before I stop myself.
Ella shakes her head. “No, honey. I didn’t.” She looks at Sydney then, saying, “But I can’t believe I missed it. You told me that Gabriel told you that you wouldn’t be able to protect them. He meant Sarah and Blake, didn’t he?”
“I didn’t know at the time,” Sydney says, a bit choked up. He’s in actual shock right now.
I reach up and lay my hand over his.
Ella nods, her eyes a bit glassy. “This is a serious situation, but I think you know that.” She turns her attention back to me. “You are as safe as you can possibly be now.”
Isaac nods, but there’s a grim shadow hanging in the room. “The other thing, Ella,” Ryatt nudges softly. He grimaces as he meets Isaac’s eye, as if neither of them agree with what Ella’s about to say.
“Do you remember your father?”
“Barely,” I admit. A pang resounds in my chest, and Sydney, feeling it through the bond, steps closer so the top my head brushes against his belt, his hand continuing to rest on my shoulder, grounding me.
“He wouldn’t tell me what he had to do in order to get you out of Eastonia, but it must have been a very complicated task because you were able to skirt the border. You weren’t listed on any immigration paperwork.”
“Gabriel…” I lick my lips. I haven’t told anyone this. Not even Sydney. I showed him bits of those memories, yes, but that’s it. “When it was sensed that I wasn’t just a shifter, and that whatever powers I possessed would be useful to him, I was taken away from my father and placed in the care of Gabriel’s old regent, Morticus. His handler, really. Gabriel was maybe twelve, I’m not sure, but he held me down one day and cut me with a knife that… It sang to me. Like it was drawn to me somehow, and he used it to drown out my powers. I could feel that happening. He did it over and over again, and he was so excited at the result. Then he marked me so that everyone would know who I belonged to. He told me I was the one he was waiting for. I don’t know why.”
“The knife is a relic,” Ryatt says, standing. “Can you describe it?”
I shake my head. “I kept my eyes closed.”
Sydney thrums with rage. I can feel it echoing through our bond.
“That’s enough for tonight,” Ella says, rising. “We should get some sleep.” She turns with Ryatt for the door but turns back, saying, “When this settles, there is someone who desperately wants to see you again.”
“Who?”
“Your father, of course,” she says with a soft, melancholy smile.
I hadn’t realized he was still alive.
“Your old room is made up,” Isaac says to Sydney. “I’m going to go drag your mother out of the nursery. Goodnight and congratulations.”
The three royals leave.
Sydney runs his fingers through his hair. “There’s something I want to show you before we go to bed.”
“What is it?”