Rune’s smile turned soft and a little sad. “She’s been drowning in grief ever since Darian was executed.”
“I was just thinking that.” I looked down at the baby again. He blinked sleepily and wrapped his hand around my thumb with surprising strength. My instincts had calmed since finding him. “Feels like fate.”
Behind us, everyone slipped back into their roles.
“Koa,” I called, not taking my eyes off the baby. “How’s Tobias?”
“Stable,” Koa said. “We’ll take him back to HQ infirmary to monitor, but like I said, he’s out of danger.”
“Good,” I said. “You and Sylver escort him. He doesn’t leave your sight.”
“Got it,” he replied.
“Rhyse, Zuko,” I said. “Get information.”
Rhyse glanced up from their kneeling captive, shadows still flickering around his shoulders.
Zuko raised a brow. “Don’t worry, boss. We’re going to keep playing with this one. He knows something about where that facility is. We’ll get it.”
I nodded. “Don’t kill him until you wring him dry.”
“We know,” Rhyse chuckled.
Arban stepped forward, Eleanor at her shoulder.
“We’ll contact the Human Council,” Arban said. “They need to know what their opposing faction just did on our soil.”
“And what we’re going to do about it,” Eleanor added, eyes hard as she stared at the baby.
Corin and Slater were already moving through the wreckage, scanning bodies, pulling files from human devices, and collecting evidence of exactly what had been done here.
Lysa drifted after them, inputting every detail into her tablet.
Kane started a slow, methodical circuit of the village, documenting the dead, checking for survivors, and anchoring protection wards so nothing else tried to scavenge what was left.
Everyone knew what to do here.
The spies and the enforcers were looking for survivors as well, moving all the bodies into one place.
“I’m taking him,” I said quietly, looking at Rune. “Do you want to come?”
Her eyes glistened. “Like you have to ask.”
Rune said a quick goodbye to the rest of her mates before we walked toward the wayfaer teleporter near the fae portal, the baby tucked securely against my chest.
I pushed my intent for home through it as we stepped onto it.
Light flared around us, white and cold, swallowing us. We teleported away from the ruined village, the bodies, and the smell of blood.
When it cleared, I was standing in my aunt’s and mother’s living room.
“Jesper?” Mom asked from where her back was turned as she washed dishes in the sink. “Is that you?”
“It’s me,” I called. “And…I brought someone.”
Mom turned, wiping her hands on a towel. Her white hair was pinned up in its usual twist, brown eyes sharp and curious, before she saw the bundle in my arms.
“Oh my Fates,” she gasped. “Is that a baby?”
