My stomach dropped at that. I hadn’t realised how badly I’d hoped they would have found a way to get this thing off me, how badly I’d hoped they would be able to save me.
“I’m so sorry, Angel,” he murmured, dropping his forehead to mine. “I am so sorry.”
Pressure built in my chest as my breaths came harsher. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, but I couldn’t make the words appear.
“Take the babies,” Maeve murmured. “She can’t hold them for much longer.”
I wanted to fight Elias for taking the little girl away from me. Her weight disappearing, which had kept me steady for the long hours following the tunnel, made the exhaustion and pain more real.
Buzzing started in my ears when the second baby was taken away from me. The newborn, no older than a month I’d guessed when Ya’Dahir handed him to me, slept so soundly I’d worried he was dead. That he couldn’t possibly survive all of that.
But both were given to the waiting demons, and suddenly I had nothing left to hold me up.
Suddenly, all my strength was gone.
When I collapsed this time, I cried again. Silently this time. Elias was there, cocooning me on one side, Maeve at my back. Rowan and Adrian appeared a second later, creating a wall between me and the others.
I should have felt guilty for falling apart. Should have felt bad for letting them pick up the pieces of me.
I maybe should have tried a little harder to be the person they all thought I could be.
But I was exhausted. I was in pain. Every single part of mehurtand there was no amount of soft touches and gentle words that could heal the bone-deep ache settling within me.
I doubted anything could really heal what Dante had broken.
55
Ivy
Iwasn’t sure when I finally passed out. Couldn’t remember letting my eyes finally close and sleep claim me. But I knew I wasn’t awake anymore, surrounded by the warmth of my mates.
I was standing in a field of wildflowers in the place that’d become my safe haven with Orion. I breathed in the mixture of flowers and grass as I turned towards the familiar pavilion standing against the trees.
And already within was my Fae prince.
I took a hesitant step towards him, toes curling in the tall grass as he took one towards me. Today, he wasn’t in any elegant finery. He wore a simple black sweater and slacks, still looking like a prince but more casual than he usually was when he appeared in my dreams.
A serene smile played at his lips as he left the safety of the pavilion, moving towards me. “There you are, my flower. I’ve missed you.”
I somehow stopped myself from crying, instead letting myself smile. “I missed you, too.”
He met me in the grass, hands going to my waist as he pulled me against him. “You feel different,” he murmured, the smile faltering. “What happened?”
“I’ve been rescued,” I whispered, heart racing. “The others. They found me.”
His forehead met mine as he shook his head. “No, not that.” His hands skimmed my sides, brushing my stomach lightly.
I shuddered, eyes fluttering. “I’m pregnant.”
Orion pulled back sharply, eyes widening with fear and rage. “What?”
“I didn’t know until Dante told me.”
My Fae mate clenched his jaw, looking over my head into the field, like someone was there. I glanced over my shoulder, expecting just that. Like maybe Dante would be standing there, ready to tell me that all of it—the escape, my mates, the island—had been a dream, and I was back in my isolation cell, taken away from Hawk, Xerxes, and Thor completely.
But there was nothing but the fields and lake.
“Ivy,” Orion said, his voice hard. I looked back, only to find him staring down at my stomach. “Are you certain?”
