Kit stepped aside, and Bellina appeared. She and Rory stared at each other before throwing their arms around one another in a tight embrace. “I missed you,” her friend said with a sniffle.
Rory nodded. “Me too.” When they separated, she pulled Bellina’s note from her pocket. “You helped more than you know.”
Bellina unfolded the note and read it, smiling. “You still have this?”
Cat plucked the paper from Bellina’s hands, scanning the note with a snort. “If Lauren finds out you called her an overgrown buzzard, she’ll kill you.” She handed the note back to Rory. “Burn it if you value Bellina’s life.”
Rory squeezed the note. Sam didn’t deserve to be erased, and she hated Aemas for doing so.
“I was mad,” Bellina said defensively. “But maybe you should burn it. Just in case.”
“Oh, I saw Max and met his wife,” she told them excitedly. “She’s hilarious and Max’s polar opposite.”
The three looked at each other and back at her. “He remembered you?”
Caius lightly pinched Rory’s back, his message clear.They can’t know.“No, but Lauren and I convinced him to help with my memories. She gave him a little power boost, and it worked.”Not a lie.“We’re friends now.” Also, not a lie.
“Did you know your mom can drink like a fish?” Cat asked. “She might be more fun than you.”
Rory held her chest in mock offense. “How dare you!”
“They’re right, dear,” Lenora said from behind Rory, and she spun around to face her mother with a racing heart. “You have your father’s alcohol tolerance, I’m afraid.”
Rory couldn’t hold back the emotions welling inside her, and when her mother opened her arms, she lost it. “Shh,” her mother soothed as she rubbed her back.
Rory extracted herself from her mother’s embrace and swiped her nose with her sleeve. “Gross,” Cat mumbled. “Ouch.”
“It’s not the time,” Bellina scolded, making Lenora laugh.
“I see why they’re your friends,” her mother remarked affectionately. “They remind me of you.”
She turned to Caius, who stood back, letting Rory have her reunion. “You aren’t going to greet your mother-in-law after almost dying? Shame on you.”
He looked at Lenora with a vast fondness, and Rory felt her love for him grow.
Lenora opened her arms for him, and he walked into her embrace, resting his chin on her head. “I told you I would save her, no matter what.”
Rory’s mother patted his back. “I know you did, but losing a son hurts just as much as losing a daughter. Don’t do that to an old woman.”
Caius smirked. “I’m older than you.”
“What did I tell you about using that tone with me?” she chided, swatting his arm.
Rory bit her tongue to keep from laughing, wishing she’d been able to watch their relationship grow.
“When is the wedding?” Kit asked.
Caius stuck his right hand in his pocket, and Rory tucked hers behind her back. They were going to lie, but Lenora beat them to it.
“I’m afraid we missed it,” Rory’s mother told the others. “But we’ll celebrate at the next Plenilune ball.”
Caius and Rory stared at her. “How did you know?”
She raised a brow at the two. “A mother always knows. Now, come, we have much to talk about.”
“Yeah, you promised us the details,” Cat piped up.
Caius stood at Rory’s side and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “I’ll let you four catch up. I need to find Lauren.”
