He moved as I stepped inside. Della sat on the couch watching me. She must have seen it, the heartbreak in my eyes because she stood up and hugged me tightly.
“I can’t find her,” I muttered. “Where the fuck could she have gone?”
“We’ve been looking too,” she confessed. “Thea and Cassius also went to Akecia to see if she were there, but no luck. We’ll find her though. We will bring her home.”
I pulled back and looked at my sister. Her star-colored eyes filled with pity for me.
“Haden and I were talking, and we realized that we also don’t remember everything about the day Loma came here. Haden remembers things that I don’t and vice versa.” Della sighed.
So it was her. I had pushed her existence from my mind, and it hadn't been difficult when all I could focus on was finding Elowyn.
“Did she show up at your doorstep?” I asked. “It’s odd that she came days after I saw the mating bond and ignored it.”
Della looked confused again, like she couldn’t remember how Loma appeared at their home. She looked at Haden.
“You don’t remember?” he asked her. She shook her head. Haden looked at me. “Ezra brought her.”
“Ezra…” I realized I had forgotten that Ezra had been there at all. “I need to go see him and figure out what is going on.”
“Take us with you,” Haden said as he slipped on his tunic.
My heart was pounding as I wrapped my magic around us and took us to Ezra’s home. My magic disappeared, the star mist falling away to reveal that we now stood in the foyer. I listened for a moment to see if I could hear him, but it was silent.
“Ezra!” I yelled.
Nothing.
“Ezra!”
He appeared a moment later, sweaty with no shirt on and bleeding from a wound on his chest. His eyes were red as he stared at us confused.My eyes fell to the tattoo over his heart—a pink lily.
“Friends, what do I owe this visit to?” he smiled.
He turned around to find something. His back was bleeding too, drops of blood running down the tattoo of a sword running down his spine. The rest of his back was also covered in tattoos, some swords, skulls, and things I couldn't identify. After a moment, he slipped a tunic on.
“Sorry, I was dealing with a dickhead of a soul.” He looked at us slowly before focusing on me. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to talk about Loma and where the hell she came from.”
He watched me oddly. “Okay,” he walked to the sitting room off to the side.
We all sat down, and he sighed heavily.
“There isn’t a lot to say. She showed up at my doorstep saying she was sent by someone in Gilyx to retrieve the location of the three artifacts. She said something about needing them to save the realm.” He leaned back in his chair. “I had no fucking cluewhat she was talking about, but she mentioned Della and you by name so I thought you knew her.”
“Wait, she knew our names?” Della asked. “That’s odd; she acted as if she had never heard of us.”
“She used magic on me.” I looked at Ezra. “She made me forget about Elowyn and fucked up my marriage.”
“Marriage?” Ezra stood up. “What the fuck, man? We’re supposed to be best friends, and I wasn’t even invited?”
I sighed heavily as Ezra looked like a child pouting.
“No one knew, and it happened accidentally. It was all because of a spell that Elowyn had cast, looking for a husband. I don't understand it all. I would’ve told you; that is why I came to Della’s. But then Loma was there, and she fucked with me. I think she knew exactly what she was doing by making me forget Elowyn. Now my wife is gone, and I have to find her.”
Ezra stared at me before he grinned like he was the happiest man on the earth.
“I knew you had a thing for her.” His grin widened when I rolled my eyes. “You are a terrible liar.”
