Rory heard Caius enter the room behind her and said, “I vote forking.”
“Nice try,” Caius replied, holding her against his chest as he lowered his voice. “If anyone hears that word leave your lips again, I will slaughter them where they stand.”
Sera raised a brow and looked between the two. “Is there something we should know?”
“No,” they said at the same time.
“We will figure out a word later,” Dume said. “I’m starving.”
Rory redirected them to the living room. “Not yet. I invited Max and his wife, Tammy.”
A knock at the door filled her with nervous excitement, and Caius moved around her. “I’ll answer it.”
He opened the door and smiled kindly at the older couple on the porch. “It’s good to see you again, Max. Please, come in.”
“You as well, Your Grace,” Max replied, and in true fashion, didn’t give the veins on Caius’ arms a second glance. “This is my wife, Tammy.”
“Call me Caius. We’re friends now, not warden and inmate.” He turned to Tammy. “It’s lovely to meet you. Let me introduce you to my wife.”
Rory smiled at the couple, and Max’s eyes wrinkled as he returned the gesture. “Wife? I guess queenisa more appropriate job for you than a gardener.”
She laughed and hugged him before holding her hand out to his wife. “I’m Rory.”
The old woman hauled her into a hug with surprising strength. “None of that, now. I’m Tammy. This old geezer told me all about you.”
Rory tried not to laugh but failed. “I’m glad you two came,” she said, sweeping her arm toward the living room. “I’d like to introduce you to my friends.”
58
VINCULA
Sayinggoodbye to her friends and father in Erdikoa wasn’t an emotional experience this time because Rory and Caius could pass between realms as they wished.
She didn’t understand how he broke himself out of Vincula without breaking the barrier’s hold on everyone else in the realms. When she asked him about it, he said he ‘becameone’with his power and that the immeasurable amount of power flowing through him broke the bonds placed by his sister.
Whatever that meant.
Her nerves were live wires when she and her mate returned from Erdikoa. It’d been months since seeing her mother and years since having more than a day with her mother clear-minded.
Someone barreled into Rory from behind, wrapping her in a hug. “I’m sorry your boyfriend is a dumbass,” Cat said, releasing Rory from her death grip.
Rory spun around with a loud laugh. “I didn’t take you as a hugger,” she teased.
Cat waved her off and motioned up and down Rory’s body. “Imake an exception when someone narrowly escapes death. I like your hair,” she commented, inspecting Rory from head to toe. “We tried asking the commander for details, but that didn’t work.”
Rory’s heart stopped.When did they see Sam?“Commander?”
Cat shot her a strange look. “Did they wipe your memory again? Lauren arrived before you two but wouldn’t tell us anything.”
Rory’s heart restarted long enough to plummet to the ground. “Right. My brain is mush after the last few days. I promise to tell you all the gory details.”
Kit skirted around Cat and side-hugged Rory uncomfortably. “You should tell my parents, too,” she suggested. “They’ll record it for the history books.”
“They’re great,” Rory replied. “Your mother is something else.”
Kit grinned widely. “I know. I heard they helped you.”
She nodded and wondered how the Coopers remembered their encounter with their memory wiped of Sam. Rory thought it was unnecessary to wipe every lesser mystic’s memory of him. She understood people in The Capital, buteveryoneseemed excessive.
