The moment she set foot in the castle, the ground trembled beneath me. The whole realm had shifted off its axis when she left, and now it was righting itself again.
Her essence of roses, peaches, and sunshine beckoned me to the ground floor. I leapt from my chair, scattering documents across the desk as I ran like my life depended on it. It did. Everything good in me left with her.
For the past fortnight I’d spent every waking minute searching for a sign that she was alive and a way to bring her home.
How could I have let it happen?
That idiot took her from me, but the fault was mine. I signed her away the very day I met her. How could I have been so blind?
By the time I reached the stairs, my brothers were already there, pale-faced, their boots thundering ahead of me as we sprinted for the conference room.
And then I stopped breathing. My mother stood there.
Alive.
Chills rippled down my body as I took in the scene before me. It was really her, her scent the same as I remembered. Instinct screamed to ask questions, to demand answers, but none of that mattered at the moment.
I pulled her into my arms, buried my face against her neck, inhaled that familiar scent and still couldn’t believe it was real.
She was dead. Father had claimed so. Yet here she was, heart beating, alive and whole.
Father yanked her from my hold, crushing her to him, and I couldn’t blame him. Across the room another heartbeat drew me in—the girl glaring at me like she wished I would burn.
Our reunion wouldn’t be as loving.
I had betrayed her, and it was unforgivable. She shouldn’t forgive me; I didn’t deserve it, but I needed her like I needed air. Her laugh, her sarcasm, the way she looked at me like I wasn’t the monster I am… I would beg until my knees bled if it meant she would look at me again.
Someone like her deserved someone good and selfless. That wasn’t me. But no one had ever hollowed me out the way her absence did.
Fears of the worst battered me every single day. I never even asked why they wanted her; it hadn’t been my concern at the time.
But as she stood there, healthy and radiant, I wanted to drop to my knees and kiss the soil beneath her feet for keeping her safe. I would give my thanks to the universe if it listened.
And when her sinful eyes finally met mine, instinct took over. I had to be near my mate.
Avari
Pressing a hand to her chest, River’s mother collapsed as one after another barged into the room. A knot in my stomach unravelled at the sight of their reunion. Their soft cries and longing embraces only quivered once the former King of Fogoya rushed to her side and pulled her to himself.
Tears slid down Michael’s and Blaze’s faces as their father kept breathing her in, pressing her into him hard enough that it looked as though they might fuse together.
Though Blaze still wore a pendant with the cleansing stone, he had been cured. Another heart-warming piece of information that did nothing to disturb the chill that threatened to take me down.
The freezing sensation only deepened the moment River’s eyes turned to me.
He looked older. There were creases under his eyes I hadn’t noticed before. Despite the anger twisting in my chest, a part of me ached for him. The usual confidence was nowhere in sight, and his steps were unsteady as he neared the corner where I leaned against a cupboard.
Blinking rapidly, he whispered, ‘You’re here.’
‘Yes. I know it’s uncanny for an object to return once it’s been traded off. Don’t worry, I’m only here for a moment,’ I barked, ignoring the confused glares from his brothers.
‘Please… let me explain,’ he begged, his lips trembling and voice breaking. ‘It wasn’t like that. Please.’
‘Did you not exchange me for a cleanse for your brother?’ The question landed us the attention of everyone in theroom. And though it felt like the walls were closing in, I needed to speak my mind.
‘I didn’t know you back then. I tried to track them down to break it off.’ River gestured towards my family, who stood on the other side and watched intently. ‘You have to believe me, I would never have traded you for anything if I’d known who you were back then.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ I demanded, anger pushing past the tipping point. ‘A witch to kill, or a halfling to possess?’
