“Hello?”
Relief poured over her features as she ran toward him and threw herself into his arms. “I knew you weren’t dead! No one believed me, but I knew. You’re stronger than that.”
Gaping, he looked to Kody. “Uh … who is this?”
Kody laughed. “It’s Xenia.”
That caused the girl to stiffen in his embrace. Her gaze narrowing, she stepped back to confront Kody. “Who are you?”
“Neria.”
Her scowl deepened. “Aunt Neria’s older than you.”
“I know. It’s a long story. Suffice it to say that Ambrose and I are back. We’ve come to free Uncle Acheron.”
“You can’t…” Her voice trailed off as she saw Xev. “Uncle XeXe?”
He glanced to Kody. “Maybe?”
Laughing, she went to hug him, too. “I never thought I’d see you again!”
Who is she?he mouthed over her shoulder to Kody.
“She’s Thorn’s youngest daughter.”
Xev gaped. “Thorn has another child?”
“Yep.”
Xenia pulled back to look up at him with a frown. “You don’t know me?”
“He’s a past Xev. Not your current uncle.”
“Oh … That’s what Mom meant. I should have known.”
“Mom?” Nick asked.
Kody quickly made sounds to shush them. “No one needs to know. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned she was Thorn’s. But if you know more than that, you could seriously mess up the future and jeopardize her birth.”
“Don’t do that.” Xenia appeared horrified by the mere thought. “I have to be here.”
“Why?”
Something whistled.
Xenia’s eyes widened. “We have to go. Grim is heading this way.”
Before Nick could ask more, she disappeared into the woods.
He and the others followed while he tried to make sense of this. Thorn had a daughter …
It shouldn’t seem as impossible as it did. After all, he had a son. That made sense.
Nick just couldn’t wrap his head around someone as cold and vicious as Thorn having a little girl. Not that Xenia was little now, but she’d have been little at some point.
It totally messed with his mind.
And as they made their way through the forest, he noticed that everything cut a path for Xenia and then closed the path behind them.
