“Daughter of Assholes,” I whisper, arching an eyebrow at him. “Have I changed so much?”
He nods, and his focus falls to my wrist, where I wear my crown. “I’m afraid so.”
I exhale a soft, resigned breath. “I suppose that’s true.”
Before I can say more, the sound of children’s laughter startles me.
I swing toward the strip of beach behind me, surprised when a boy and a girl exit the trees a little farther along.
They’re only fifty paces away and appear completely oblivious to our presence as they head toward the wet sand nearer to the water, each of them lugging a gauzy sack that appears to contain plastic buckets and little shovels.
I spin back to Ryuji.
“Sandcastles,” he says with a smile. “My daughter loves making them.”
I peer back at the children. I’ve never seen the girl before, but I’m surprised to realize that I recognize the boy.
He’s grown much taller over the year since I last saw him, although he’s still wearing sunglasses that are shaped to fit the contours of his face, and it looks like… if I harness my eyesight to its fullest extent… he’s using less conspicuous earbuds than the headphones he was wearing when I first met him.
I gasp. “That’s Elijah.”
Ryuji nods. “His mother is here, but I hope you understand that she will need to keep her distance from you now.”
“Of course.”
There’s a lot more blood on my hands since I first met Rebella, no matter how justified I’ve been in spilling it.
I consider the little girl. She would be about two years older than Elijah. She has straight, black hair cut short at her shoulders, a perfect rosebud mouth, and large, angular eyes. Her skin is light brown and her irises could be cinnamon brown, but I can’t be certain in the light.
“You took my advice,” I say to Ryuji, unable to stop my smile.
When I was last on this island, he told me that he had a daughter, six years old at the time, whom he’d never met. He’d bonded with her mother, but she’d had to return home to the United States when she’d become pregnant.
He hadn’t seen her since. I told him to go to her already and tell her how much he loved her because, dammit, he was a light magic creature, and he had the freedom to love with his whole heart.
“I took your advice,” he says, giving me a small smile. “Emika and her mother are part of my life now.”
“Good.” I clear my throat. “That’s good.”
Up ahead, the children settle onto the sand, Emika handing Elijah her ‘favorite’ spade to use.
Even as they play so innocently, I’m conscious of the power I sense within them.
Enough power to change the world…
My wariness only increases when another child appears at the edge of the trees.
Oh, I know this child, too.
He has raven-black hair and such crisp, green eyes that I can see them clearly across the distance. He would be about Emika’s age, although he’s taller. He’s also as quiet as she and Elijah are. He carries himself with a quiet confidence that sends a shiver down my spine, just as it did the first time I saw him.
“That’s Theo,” I murmur.
“I believe you met the crimson wolves in Portland,” Ryuji says, his tone careful now.
In some ways, I owe that boy my life. His mother was erring on the side of killing me, but he didn’t want her to.
I look for her now, but like the other parents, she must be keeping to the shadows within the trees.
