He leans back, and his eyelids flutter closed, his exhaustion weighing him down. I move out from between the beds, and Fiona’s eyes follow me the whole way. When I get to the doorway, I turn to look at her. She mouths, “Thank you,” before she also closes her eyes. I sigh and make my way out of the room, my grandpas trailing behind.
I lean against the wall outside their room, closing my eyes as I ponder another problem that has been added to our shoulders.
“Lila?” The voice has me cracking one eye open to find Zeydan looking at me from the doorway of my grandmother’s room. “Are you okay?” he asks, but he obviously knows the answer, because I see sympathy in his eyes. I shake my head but push off the wall and walk toward him.
“No, but I will be.” He opens his arms, and I walk straight into them and sag against him. He holds me tightly, and I feel a small amount of my worries ease just from his touch.
“Lilessa… Sorry, Liliana would like to see you now,” he says quietly, and just like that, all my nerves come back to me with a vengeance, and my body stiffens as I pull away from him.
I nod and brace myself for the next emotional kick in the teeth. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Zeydan
My mate stiffens in my arms and pulls away. I would love to spirit her away and hide her from all her problems. My planet would be the perfect place to hide, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. I’ve lived away from company for a long time, and it is taking me a little bit of effort to adjust to all that my life has become. I yearn for when life was simple, but I was hiding, not wanting to face the fact that all is not right in the galaxy and the planets my brothers and sisters crafted with such love. Even when they forgot about their creators, we still watched over them despite being limited in power. I feel like we’re on the verge of something big, and this is exactly where I need to be for now.
After my conversation with my sister, I’m even more sure of this. When Lilessa told me her story, the fury I felt was all encompassing. Being betrayed by one of our own is a kick in the gut I never saw coming, but my anger is not the focus at the moment. I shove it down and move out of the way to allow my mate to enter the room and meet her grandmother for the firsttime. I need to put aside my own emotions so I can support my mate while she copes with her own. I can feel how fragile she is at the moment, despite the brave face she wears.
“We’re going to leave you to it. We heard her story, and I think she would like to tell you it herself,” John says to Lila as she pauses to see if they are coming.
“Yes, I need to make a call or two and get Brannock back here to make a plan to deal with Vivian,” William says.
“Are we going to kill her?” Eric asks, and I frown.
“Despite our lack of power, killing her will not be easy,” I tell them, and Lila frowns, her confusion evident. “Even if you succeed, she will eventually reincarnate.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” a steely voice calls from inside the room, and Lila and I turn to face the owner of that voice. “Come closer so I can see you,” my sister calls to my mate. The Adams brothers send her away with encouraging nods, and I follow my mate into the room, closing the door behind us.
My soul sister is reclined on the bed, looking paler than I remember, and there’s a certain fragility about her that shocked me to the core. I may be half the deity I used to be, but she barely has a spark of her previous power. She smiles that same serene gentle smile that I remember, though, as her eyes roam over my gorgeous mate, taking in everything.
“Come closer, sweetheart, I don’t bite. We were just discussing the possible whereabouts of our brothers and sister. We are going to need them if we are going to get our powers back.” She pats the bed next to her when Lila hesitates. I watch as my mate steels her spine and goes over to the bed, lowering herself into the spot my sister pointed out. “Look at you, you’re just as gorgeous as your mother.” She looks between the two of us and rolls her eyes.
“For god’s sake, Z, sit down and stop hovering. We’re both big girls and will be fine. She might not remember me, but we were very good friends once upon a time.”
I huff at my sister’s attitude but do as she says and take the seat I previously sat in, pressing my knee to my mate’s in silent support as my sister continues talking, reaching for Lila’s hand and taking it in hers.
“Imagine my surprise when I finally woke up and found my soul brother patiently waiting for me to wake with my own mates.” She doesn’t peel her eyes away from her granddaughter, and Lila squirms under her scrutiny. A small grin kicks her lips up, and her eyes sparkle. “Still can’t sit still, I see. Now forgive me, but my story is a long and tedious one, so I hope you don’t have somewhere you need to be.”
Lila shakes her head. “No, Gigi, I don’t.” That small grin on my sister’s face turns into a blinding smile, and her eyes glitter with unshed tears.
“You remember?” she asks, and Lila shrugs.
“A little. I remember calling you Gigi, and mostly, I remember feeling loved and safe with you. My memories are so foggy from that time. Xavier’s parents said they may eventually return but not to force it. Every now and then, I get snippets of a feeling, but that’s it, nothing substantial.”
My sister’s blinding smile drops, and I can’t help feeling sorry for her. “Your parents?” she asks, and Lila shrugs like it’s not a big deal, but I know that isn’t how she feels.
“Same.”
Liliana sighs and nods decisively. “Well, I guess I should start at the very beginning, and eventually, we will get to your parents. Does that sound okay?” Lila nods, and Liliana’s brows dip into a frown.
“My story starts a short time before the war between the Una’s and Aza’axians. You know about that, right?”
Lila nods. “Yes. Over the orb of power of which the Galaxy Circus now guards.”
Liliana’s eyes turn a little unfocused, like she’s remembering a time long past, and nods. “Yes. I believe fate had a hand in the Adams’ ancestors becoming the guardians of the orb and your grandfathers being my mates, but that happens a little later in the narrative. When my brothers and sisters created the galaxy, we were worshiped, as was our right. We created planets and filled them with life, both sentient and non-sentient. We spent time on each of the planets, gifting our worshipers with good fortune and luck as well as granting favors and basically being benevolent benefactors. Each of us was a master of our domain—life, death, water, fire, air, and earth.”
She gestures to me, acknowledging my element. I think back to that time and remember I was happy, but nothing like I am now. Something was always missing in my life, and now that I have met my mate, I know it was her. My happiness then was but a small meteor in the sky compared to what I now feel.
