“I haven’t travelled via portal in a while,” she murmurs, and I smile.
“I know, but it will be worth it, I promise.”
She laces her fingers with Kael’s, an adjustment we’ve made when it comes to portal traveling, one we should have made a hell of a lot sooner, but we got there in the end.
Elodie doesn’t travel alone. I’m pretty sure that, unless we’re in our home, she doesn’t step over a damn threshold without touching someone. We’re all scared by how easily she was able to slip through our fingers two years ago, and we’re silently determined to ensure it doesn’t happen again, even if there isn’t a greater threat.
Peace of mind wins every time.
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I nod a silent thanks to Ocean before. Stepping through theportal first, I lead the way, and what greets me has changed even more since even yesterday.
I gulp, trying to contain my emotions. Due to how much effort and energy I’ve been putting into this place, one simple seed gets planted and it effortlessly flourishes.
Lush green trees dance in the distance, flower beds growing in a riot of color in every direction, while the sound of the flowing river threatens to bring me to my knees. But it’s the elegance of the castle that takes my breath away. The cracks are gone, the haunting memories along with it as it stands tall and proud.
It’s hardly recognizable.
“What is all of this?” Elodie blurts, hand leaping to cover her mouth. I relish in the unshed tears that tremble across her lower lashes and the way the pink hue dances over her cheeks, teasing at the corners of her eyes. “How are we here while we’re awake? And with…” She waves frantically at Rion and Kael, and I smile, eliminating the distance between us as I place my hand on her stomach.
Her gaze darts to mine, alert and wide.
“I know,” I rasp, and she blinks at me as her hand falls over mine.
“You know?” she breathes, a single tear tracking down her face, and I nod as Kael clears his throat.
“What do we know?” he asks, eyebrows furrowed as he glances between us in confusion.
“Listen. You’ll hear it,” I murmur, and a second later, Rion gasps.
“She’s pregnant,” he blurts, and Elodie loses the pretty glow to her cheeks as panic takes over.
“I… how did you know?”
I beam at her, cupping her cheeks in my hands as I stare deep into her eyes. “Because you, Elodie Silverthorne, aretheprincess shadow fae. Odie told me something a while ago. I thought he was bonkers, but then all of this appeared before me and it seems he was right after all.”
“You’re talking in riddles,” Kael grunts, and I roll my eyes, making Elodie smother a giggle.
“He said, ‘with the next heir the shadow realm will be restored.’” My words take root, settling in the air around us before Elodie takes a nervous breath.
“So you’re not mad?”
“At what?” I reply, confused as hell as she waves her hands at her stomach.
“Well, we weren’t trying,” she grumbles, andRion scoffs, his head tilting back as the sound comes all the way from his gut.
“Oh, I was definitely trying,” he declares, and I snicker before taking a step back.
“Try your magic, just like we were practicing in our dreams,” I insist, and with a wary nod, she does just that, and the three of us bear witness to the purple tendrils that collect at her hands.
A scythe and a shadow fae.
“I’m home,” she breathes, and Kael runs his hand over her arm when she lets her magic fall away.
“We’rehome,” he clarifies, and she beams at him.
“You were always our home, Petal,” Rion adds, and my heart aches with the possibilities the future holds for us.
“We love you, Echo,” I croak, and she rubs her lips together nervously.
