“Besides,” Jack continues, glancing over at me with warm eyes, “I want to see you somewhere peaceful, so you can be the real you, not the careful political version.”
The thought sends another flutter of nerves through my stomach. Selwyn has never seen me happy before. Has never seen me in love. I’m not sure I know how to be those things around him. Nevermind all the people he lives with. An eclectic mix of paranormal beings that I’ve only met once before, on that golden afternoon.
“What if the community hates me?” I whisper, voicing my deepest fear.
Jack’s hand tightens around mine. “Then they’re fools, and we’ll come home and build our own family.”
The simple conviction in his voice nearly undoes me.
The car turns down a narrow lane lined with ancient stone walls. In the distance, I can see the house rising from the landscape. All golden stone and climbing ivy,set in gardens that seem to merge seamlessly with the surrounding countryside.
My heart begins to pound as we draw closer. Through the windows, I can see figures moving about, preparing for our arrival. This is it. This is the moment that will determine whether I’ve gained a new family or simply lost the one I was born into.
The car pulls to a stop in front of the house, gravel crunching under the tires. Jack squeezes my hand one more time before we get out, and I draw strength from his steady presence beside me.
Selwyn and Laurie emerge from the front door first, their faces bright with genuine welcome. Selwyn looks more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him, his usual worried expression replaced by something approaching contentment. Laurie moves with an easy grace that speaks of someone completely at peace with themselves and their world.
“Dyfri!” Selwyn calls out, his voice warm with affection. “You made it!”
He greets me without hesitation, and I’m struck by how natural it feels. No political calculation, no careful distance. Just a brother greeting a brother.
Laurie shakes Jack’s hand with obvious fondness, then turns to me with a smile that reaches his eyes. “Welcome to our home. Both of you.”
As we walk toward the house, I spot other familiar faces. Ninian is working in the garden with Jamie’s mother, both of them looking up from their digging to wave. The sight of them here, safe and settled, makes something tight in my chest loosen slightly.
We step through the front door into a hallway and then into a large reception room filled with warmth and light, and then everything changes.
Jamie throws himself into my arms with such enthusiasm that I nearly stumble backwards. For a moment, I’m too shocked to respond, but then the reality hits me. He’s here. He chose to stay.
“Dyfri!” he exclaims, hugging me tight. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
I’m shocked and ecstatic, my arms coming around him automatically. Before I can fully process this revelation, Rhydian glides into the room with that familiar elegant grace.
My heart thumps. Low and heavy.
I had no idea he had stayed. When the portals closed, I assumed everyone had fled back to the realm. The thought that any of my brothers might choose exile over separation from their human lovers, or taking their humans into our dangerous world, hadn’t even occurred to me.
But not only is Rhydian here, something is different about him. Gone is the weight of responsibility that always sat on his shoulders like a physical burden. Gone is the careful calculation behind every expression. He looks... content. Happy, even.
“I always knew you would defeat us all,” he says with a wry smile that transforms his entire face.
The words hit me like a physical blow. Not accusation or anger, but something approaching admiration. Rhydian, who I’ve spent my entire life trying to measure up to, is looking at me with pride.
The tears start before I can stop them, silent tracks down my cheeks that speak of relief and joy and a hundredemotions I don’t have names for. My oldest brother, my former crown prince, is here, and he’s offering forgiveness and acceptance and something that looks remarkably like love.
“Don’t cry,” Rhydian says softly. “You saved us all, little brother. Saved us from ourselves.”
Before I can respond, Mabon’s voice rings out from across the room, and my heartbeat grows truly frantic.
Mabon is here too? Mabon also chose to stay? Mabon, who for years was my closest friend?
“I’m giving you one of those human hug things!” he declares, striding toward us with determination written across his face.
Jamie barely has time to duck out of the way before Mabon wraps me in an enthusiastic embrace that’s so thoroughly un-fey in its enthusiasm that I start laughing through my tears. Mabon, who used to be terrified of showing any affection at court, is hugging me like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Blake taught me,” he says proudly when he pulls back. “And I’m extremely good at it.”
The laughter bubbles up from somewhere deep in my chest, bright and incredulous and full of joy. This is my family. Not the cold, calculating politicians I remember from court, but these warm, changed men who’ve discovered what it means to love and be loved in return.
