They switched sides. Instantly, a flood of heat flowed through Raven’s body.
“Ugh,” Raven said. “My mouth tastes like basil, and my veins feel like they’re sprouting leaves!”
“Mine feels cold, like dark ice.” Clarissa smiled.
Avery looked between them excitedly. “Mine feels hot and bubbly.”
“I think… Try to pull. I think mine is slipping! Maybe we can pull them apart!” Avery said.
“Careful. They’re so old. We don’t want them to snap,” Clarissa added.
But Raven could see a faint light growing between the coiled branches. “It won’t snap. Slow and steady. One… Two… Three…”
Raven pulled evenly on her wand. The light grew brighter, and then the wood untangled, one from another. She grasped her piece tighter as wind rushed up between them. Hers was six inches in length, polished smooth, and twisted naturally from its base to a slightly upturned tip. Through a column of light, she stared at her sisters, their hair blowing back from their faces. Clarissa held up a sleek and dark wand slightly longer than Raven’s with an elongated knot in the wood of one side. Avery’s was crooked and held a hint of bark.
For a second, Raven smelled something sweet, like blossoming fruit trees. And then a flood of power surged between them. It knocked the air from her lungs before crashing to the ground and flowing across her toes. Once she could draw breath again, she locked eyes with her sisters. She could hear their hearts beating. Without a shadow of a doubt, something important had just happened. They were even closer now than before. Bound. Before by blood, now by an even stronger magic.
“Oh my god,” David said incredulously. “It’s all true. Your crazy family. This damn bar. All true.”
The wind and the light faded away, and Raven drew in a deep, cleansing breath. “It’s true. You have no idea how much you’ve helped us, Mom.” Tears filled her eyes as she stared at her beautiful mother, her father’s hands supporting her shoulders. “This… this means everything to me.”
Sarah placed a hand over David’s on her shoulder. “That’s all we ever wanted for you. For each of you.” She met Raven’s eyes, then Avery’s, and finally Clarissa’s. “Every choice we ever made was meant to give you everything. Everything you needed.”
Raven leaned forward and kissed her mother on the cheek, and then, because the feeling gripped her, she kissed her father too. She’d carried so much anger toward him for so long. He’d skipped out on her and her mother at the darkest point of her illness. But somehow, if her mother could forgive him, so could she. Tonight, she’d challenged both of them in ways they’d never been challenged before. And here they both were, looking as though either of them would cut off their own pinkies to help.
Behind her, Charlie started to fuss in Gabriel’s arms. There was a loud pop, and Nathaniel and Xavier appeared behind them.
“Clarissa, I felt a charge down the bond,” Nathaniel said.
Raven noticed her parents’ faces turn ashen. “Mom, Dad, this is Clarissa’s… Well, Mom, you’ve met Nathaniel, and this is Avery’s husband, Xavier.”
“Yes, we’ve met,” Sarah said absently, gaping at Nathaniel. Then her face morphed from surprise to anger as she took in Xavier. “Wait… Avery, you got married?Without telling me?”
David’s eyes raked down Xavier to his kilt. A muscle in his jaw worked wildly until he blurted, “I need a beer.”
“’Tis a fine idea,” Xavier said. “And a pleasure to meet ye both!”
Gabriel raised his chin. “May I suggest we continue introductions upstairs? Charlie needs to finish dinner… and there are gifts.”
Thankfully, after drinks were poured, everyone agreed, and Raven thought perhaps the truth really had set them free.
Chapter Fifteen
Obsidian Palace
Paragon
Eleanor closed her eyes and opened them again, coming back into her own head. She’d been in and out of Grigori’s mind for days, following her children and their mates in the earthly realm, listening through windows and air vents. And still, she wasn’t certain any of it would be of use to her. She dug her nails into the arms of her throne, her teeth gnashing. What she needed was a plan.
Ransom charged into the room, looking as if he might be sick. “My empress.”
“What is it now, Ransom? I’m in the middle of something.”
“I’m sorry to disturb you. It’s Rogos. I have word from our spies that Lord Niall announced tonight his intention to declare war on Paragon.”
The arm of her throne cracked beneath Eleanor’s grip, the wood splintering angrily up to her elbow. She tossed it aside. “Are you certain of this?” she asked through her teeth.
“Our informant has always been accurate in the past.” Ransom inched backward, his gaze darting away from her. “There’s more.”
