I ran a hand through her damp hair filled with sticks and leaves, and she wrapped her arms around me, staring up at me like I was her world—just as much as she was mine.
“I’ll always catch you.”
Her smile faded as worry replaced her expression. “I'm sorry about Lily.”
“The only thing I’m worried about is my parents’ reactions.” I let out a deep sigh, shifting back on my ass and pulling her into my chest as she lost balance and fell on top of me.
“Our parents always put Lily on a pedestal. I don't want to say that she was their favorite, but she kind of was. My parents hung all of Lily’s accomplishments around the house and bragged about her. They never really did that for me. So when the humans captured her and not me, I knew that they wished it was me they took, even if they never said it. How would they respond to knowing that Lily took the side of the humans? How would they respond to knowing that I wouldn't give up my mate to save my sister?”
My heart ached, but Wren’s hand went straight to my chest, rubbing it like she knew where it hurt—and it eased the pain. “Lachlan, they’re your parents, and whether they side with you or Lily, it's going to mean something to you. No matter what side they take, I'll always be on your side. I’ll help you through everything I can for the rest of my life.”
“For the rest of our lives,” I corrected her with a low hum in the back of my throat.
“Absolutely, and when you face her in battle, you're going to do so with confidence, knowing that you are doing the right thing. But you're also going to give your sister a chance to explain herself.”
My head snapped down to her, and she shot me a reassuring smile. “She might just want her brother back, and while I am your mate, she’s seeing me as an obstacle.”
I growled, gripping her face with my hand and dropping a punishing kiss on her lips. “You arenota fucking obstacle.” Anger flared inside of me, and she gasped. I took that little gasp as a chance to slip my tongue inside of her mouth and massaged her tongue with mine. “You’re mine, tiny fox. Not a fucking obstacle. If my sister wanted a relationship with me, then she has to have a fucking relationship with you. Non negotiable.”
“Thank you…”
Acceptance thrummed through the bond, and my chest tightened more. Ihatedthat she had so little acceptance in her life, but the others and I would never let her forget how accepted she was with us.
“Have you talked to your father?”
She nodded her head with a small smile quirking her lips up. “I have. It’s beenreallyamazing catching up with him. I really like his mate, even though she’s a human.” She shifted in my arms, and I could feel the hesitation, but I didn't push. She had feared humans for so long. It was honestly surreal knowing that we had humans who didn't hate us.
“Once this war is over, we are going to take a whole fucking month of doing absolutely nothing but each other,” I promised her, staring into her beautiful blue eyes and feeling my heart skip a beat.
Her smile widened. “I'd like nothing more.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Kian
Idrewinalong breath, plucking at the cuff of my shirt. “I don't know. It just scares me. You know, I never really cared about many people the way that I care about her. I mean, obviously, I love Lachlan like a brother, and we watched out for each other when I was in that cursed village. But with Wren, Iloveher. It’s an all consuming love, and the thought of her going on her own to destroy that relic terrifiesme.”My heart throbbed painfully as the memory of the vision slipped in front of my eyes. “Ihateit. I absolutely hate it. I don't know what I can do, but every vision that we've had says that I can't do anything. That helpless feeling is the worst feeling I've ever had in my entire life.”
Blair blinked, her glowing white eyes softening as she nodded. “Kian, we have had many visions about this war. Some similar, and some different. We have forced visions, and we have not seen a vision where any of Wren’s mates accompanying her would have a good outcome. I know that you're worried about her, but you also need to think about her and her feelings. If something happened to one of her mates…” Blair adjusted her hood over her face as I saw a hint of her nose. “She would be devastated. Every vision I've had about one of you dying has been brutal. You all mean the same to her, and she would give up her life for any of yours. I don't think you understand that.”
“Idounderstand.” I forced my hands through my hair as panic welled up inside me, threatening to swallow me belly first. “I would do the same for her. I would always do the same for her. I don’t want her to lose any of us. I just feelhelpless.”
“Youarehelpless right now,” Blair stated, not sugarcoating a thing. She was brutally honest since I'd met her, but there was a protective sense about her that I loved and sought comfort in. She reminded me of my mom, fiercely loyal, protective, and valued life.
I let my hands fall to my sides as I paced her office. “But we didn't evenseethe dragons attacking that one day Roak showed up. And a dragon in his normal form tried to abduct Wren! We didn't see a thing about it, and we were caught completely off guard.”
Blair stood, smoothing out her black gown and practically gliding over to me, placing her hand on my shoulder and squeezing tenderly. “Being a seer and having the gift of visions is a blessing from the Fates. However, our power is not omniscient. We don't always see the dangers coming at us. I don't know why. I don’t have that answer, but I think it's a way of the Fates keeping balance. If we knew absolutely everything, it wouldn't be fair. It would throw balance off scale. Do you understand balance?”
“Balance is something that I had been taught my entire life, but not to keep it.No. Claude taught us keeping balance in the form of resurrection was to keep everything alive. He taught us how to tip the scale of balance off. He's the reason that village was so warped, but I’m sure that the leader before him, his father, was just as bad.” I looked away and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes and nodded. “I understand balance. It doesn't mean I like it, but I do understand it.”
“I knew you would.” Blair let her hand drop. “I see how much you love your mate, and I see how much she loves you. I also see a future just like you, where you, Wren, and the rest of her mates live through this war and find your peace.”
My heart felt like wild magic in my throat as I nodded. “Now go to your mate. I have a feeling she needs you right now.”
“Thanks, Blair.” I smiled at her before I turned on my feet and left her office, letting the bond tug me toward my mate.
I entered Rowan’s office to see him buried in paperwork as usual. I cleared my throat. “You would think paperwork wouldn’t be necessary when you're in the middle of a war.”
He groaned, leaning back in his chair as he glanced up at me. “I've always had paperwork, and it was rather a surprise to me that war makes for evenmorepaperwork.”
