When Stellan comes, his essence explodes outward in a burst of white-gold fire that would incinerate anyone else. But I'm a demon, and I drink it all down, transforming his release into fuel for my own climax. I follow him over the edge with a roar that's more monster than human, my hunger finally satisfied in a way that only my mates can provide.
We collapse together in a tangle of limbs and cooling fire, both of us breathing hard, both of us glowing faintly with residual essence. Our other mates' satisfaction washes over us, their love an additional embrace.
"We're going to be okay," Stellan murmurs sleepily, his head pillowed on my chest. "Whatever Liz is planning, whatever Dmitri throws at us, whatever the Council decides. We're going to be okay because we have each other."
I want to share his phoenix certainty that we'll rise from whatever ashes the future holds.
But my demon instincts are still whispering warnings about calculated glances and unstable futures and daughters who might be exactly where their fathers want them to be.
So I hold Stellan closer, feed on the warmth of his presence, and promise myself that I'll protect my mates from whatever's coming.
Even if I don't know what that is yet.
25
RUMI
Severaldaysafterthestudent council elections, Ambrose finds me in the hallway outside the training rooms. "We found him."
His words stop me mid-stride. I turn slowly, my power already reaching out to confirm what he's saying, to make sure this isn't a cruel joke or a trick of my desperate imagination.
His certainty washes over me, mixed with nervous excitement. He's been working on this for weeks, burning through contracts and prices I don't want to think about, all because I mentioned once that I'd spent my whole life wondering about my father.
"Found who?" I ask, even though I already know. Have been hoping for so long that hope itself has become a kind of prayer.
"Your father. Dante." Ambrose pulls out a document covered in his distinctive contract markings, green ink that seems toshimmer with contained power. "He's at a sanctuary in the northern mountains. Has been for nearly a century, hiding from Dmitri under protections that kept him off everyone's radar. But my contracts found him."
My wings manifest involuntarily, spreading wide enough to touch both walls of the corridor. Power explodes outward in pure joy before I can control it, making the air shimmer with golden light that reflects off the stone walls and floor. Somewhere in the depths of my power, the black threads that have been growing stronger lately pulse, but even they seem muted by the sheer force of my emotions.
"He's alive. He's really alive."
"He's alive," Ambrose confirms, and satisfaction radiates from him at giving me this gift. The cost was worth it to him. Whatever price he paid for this information, he considers it well spent. "And according to my sources, he's been watching you from a distance. Knew you were at Grimrose, knew you manifested your full power, knew you found your mates. He's proud of you, Rumi."
The emotions hit me all at once. Relief that my father didn't abandon me by choice. Anger that he stayed away so long, that I grew up alone and confused and terrified of my own power. Joy that I'll finally get answers about my mother and my demigod heritage. Fear that our reunion won't live up to hundred years of imagining it, that he'll be disappointed in who I've become.
The emotional surge is too powerful to contain, bleeding through our connections like light through cracks in a door. Within minutes, all five of my mates have found me in the hallway, appearing from various parts of the sanctuary with varying levels of alarm.
Stellan gets to me first, pulling me into a hug, his warmth a shield. Jade is right behind him, demon form partially manifested, purple eyes scanning for threats before he realizesI'm not in danger. Skye arrives with power already surging, ready to defend me from whatever caused such an emotional explosion. And Harlow phases through the wall itself, his death-sight flickering as he reads the futures branching from this moment.
"What happened?" Skye demands, his hands cupping my face, searching my expression for clues. "Rumi, we felt you. Are you okay?"
"Ambrose found my father." The words tumble out, shaky and overwhelmed. "He's alive. He's been hiding in the northern mountains for nearly a century, and I want to see him."
Understanding dawns across their faces. Their reactions shift from alarm to joy on my behalf, love surrounding me.
"When do we leave?" Stellan asks, because of course he assumes we're all going. That's what mates do. They don't let each other face difficult things alone.
"Tomorrow at dawn," Ambrose says. He looks tired, the cost of his contracts visible in the deepened lines around his eyes, but his satisfaction at finding Dante outweighs whatever price he paid. "The sanctuary isn't as far as the old maps suggest. My contracts can speed our travel. We can be there by tomorrow night if we leave early."
"Wait." I process that, my understanding finally catching up to the implications. "You've been in contact with him? You've talked to my father?"
Ambrose has the grace to look slightly embarrassed, a flush creeping across his pale features. "I reached out through contracts after I located him. I wanted to make sure he actually wanted to see you before I got your hopes up. I've seen too many reunions go badly because one party was more invested than the other." He pauses, his green eyes soft with emotion. "He does want to see you, Rumi. He wants it so badly he's been crying through most of our correspondence."
A wall cracks open inside me, a defense I didn't know I'd built against the abandonment I thought I'd experienced. My father, who I've spent nearly a century thinking didn't care, thinking left me to face my terrifying powers alone, has been crying because he wants to see me.
"I need to sit down," I manage, and Harlow immediately guides me to a bench against the corridor wall. My legs won't quite hold my weight anymore, my divine balance thrown completely off by the sheer emotional overload. The black threads in my essence writhe with agitation, responding to my turmoil in ways I still don't fully understand.
Skye kneels in front of me, his power steadying me. "This is good news, Rumi. This is what you've been hoping for since you first learned about your heritage."
