“I know,” she said, her voice quivering. “But you're not alone.”
Just as she said that, the sound of footsteps hit our ears. We both turned around to see Vesper and Cedar entering the garden. Vesper was holding a bowl of bright red, sparkling blood candies.
I smiled at them, and they smiled back.
Vesper always offered everything to my mother first, and the candies were no exception.
“You're spoiling me,” Mother said as she grabbed a few from the bowl, throwing one into her mouth automatically.
“I can think of no better way to spend my days,” Vesper answered as she watched me. “Spoiling my girls.”
I rolled my eyes, but I knew they could both feel the warmth through the bond. Cedar came closer, but instead of sitting at my side, she moved behind me, her hands running through my hair.
“Maybe we need a handmaiden,” she commented as she gently combed through my hair, breaking up the knots.
I let out a sigh as she began braiding my hair, taken back to another time and another place when she’d done exactly that.
“Hey, that's my job,” Vesper said with a fake pout.
Cedar let out a deep chuckle. “Too slow. Even though you did get better at it!”
“If I knew there was a chance vampires would trip over themselves to braid my hair, I would have never cut it,” Mother said, unaware of what the moment meant, and took off her hat. Her hair fell down around her face in small waves ending right at her chin.
“Short hair suits you.” Vesper gave her a smile and held out the bowl for my mother to grab two more candies.
Cedar finished my braid and gently placed it over my shoulder. I leaned back into her and looked up, meeting her slightly reddening gaze.
She sent me a smile of her own. Relief shot through me for the hundredth time since she woke up as a vampire. It hadn’t changed her. She was still the same cocky witch. Her freckles stayed, and when the redness was gone, her forest green eyes came back.
She kept telling me it was the gods. That they had favored her somehow.
Maybe it was true. Or maybe it was fate paying us back for all the shit it put us through.
“What do you say, Princess?” she asked, her tone gentle. “Are we ever going to leave this place?”
I swallowed the knot in my throat and looked over at Vesper and my mother, both waiting for my answer.
My lovers were trying to hold in their feelings so they wouldn’t make it to the bond, but I could feel them loud and clear.
“We will be with you the entire way,” Vesper said, reaching over to grab my hand.
“And don't worry, we’ll come back to visit. This isn’t goodbye.”
The thought of leaving still felt uncomfortable. Regardless of what happened, this was still my home. This was me.
Maybe it's time to create a new me. I already have a new home in them.
“Just for a few days,” I whispered, then my voice came out stronger. “There's a couple of people we should visit, and then we come back.”
“Promise me something, my love,” my mother said, reaching over to squeeze my thigh. “If there's ever a moment when you want to keep going, just do it, okay? Don't worry about me. I'll be here when you get back.”
“Won't you be lonely?”
She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by vampires coming around the corner, all of them holding big sacks of soil. A few were holding large planters filled with various different flowers.
“Your Majesty, the shipment just came in!”
I couldn't help but smile at them.
