Is thismyfuneral?
What am I thinking? Of course it is. Didn’t Nolan say he thought I was dead? Everyone else would have believed the same. Kerris, my mother and father. They must be devastated.
I was falling in love in a canyon while everyone in my life has been mourning my loss.
I push my way through the crowd to where a dais has been erected next to the fountain. My mother clings to Kerris, their sobs echoing off the surrounding buildings. Everett looks miserable, patting his wife’s shoulder, while my father sits on the other side of my mother, his expression blank, eyes unseeing as he stares at a large white candle surrounded by flowers.
How does one interrupt her own funeral?
“Sorry I’m late.”
The cello player’s bow screeches across the strings, the music coming to an abrupt halt.
Kerris’s head snaps up, her wide-eyed gaze flying to meet mine. The color drains from her cheeks, leaving her white as the candle still flickering in the night.
A broken screech fills the air, followed by the thud of my mother’s body landing on the dais. My poor father looks as if he’s torn between running to me and helping his wife.
Everett catches Kerris’s hand, helping her to her feet. My cousin sways, but in her husband’s hold, she doesn’t end up face-down on the platform next to Cordelia Quinn’s prone form.
“It can’t be,” Kerris whispers, her hand pressed to her chest, pale against the black silk fabric of her mourning gown. “You’re dead. John said you fell into The Divide.”
The guards part, letting me through to the stairs leading to the platform, while the crowd erupts in shocked whispers and disbelieving scoffs.
Looks like I’m the talk of the town once more.
“I did.” When I reach the top, Kerris extricates herself from Everett’s strong hold, which deepens his frown.
She throws her arms around me, her quiet whimper tangling with my own. “Oh, Nia. I cannot believe you’re alive. We thought for certain you were gone forever.”
There were many points during our journey when I thought the same. Thank heavens we were both wrong.
She draws back, tears streaking silently down her pale cheeks. “How did you survive?”
“Maddox saved me. Saved us both.”
Everett appears behind his wife, his face crushed with concern. “Maddox is alive?” He glances over my head, searching the crowd for signs of his friend.
If only the Unseelie hadn’t stolen this moment of joy from him. “He’s not here. I had to leave him at the bottom of The Divide.”
Everett’s expression darkens. “Is he wounded?”
“It’s a long story, and I promise I’ll tell you everything. But first?—”
“Nia. My daughter is back. It’s a miracle.”
Kerris drops her arms, allowing me to turn and face Cordelia Quinn.
She looks older than before I left, the lines on her face deeper. The skin beneath her eyes is swollen from tears and darkened from exhaustion.
My mother pulls me against her stiff frame, the blunt ends of her short hair tickling my cheek.
When was the last time Cordelia hugged me?
Heavens, I can’t even remember.
“I’ve never been so distraught,” she says.
I should hope not.
