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“Where are they taking her?” I whispered to my mates.
“Who cares?” Helian said aloud.
I cringed at that, hardly believing I was feeling bad for Arabella.
“She must go to the dungeon for our safety as well as hers,” Blaze called over his shoulder as he flew in front of us.
The girls stopped and spun around, gaping at their uncle.
Aurora jutted her hands on her hips, craning her neck to glare at Blaze. “That’s not fair,” she said with a pout.
He landed in front of her, ruffling her hair. “I promise we will do everything to keep her comfortable. She will have warm blankets and food.”
It sounds as if he’s talking about housing a mongrel, I said to my mates through thought.
He is, Helian answered with a snarl. A bitch.
I cut him a sharp look. A bitch who saved Ember and Aurora.
Ash crossed his arms, leering at me. A bitch who once tried to have us killed.
She probably only saved them, because she knew Aurora could teleport, Helian said with a sneer. Whatever you do, don’t trust her.
I didn’t know what to say, mostly because they were right. I still prayed she’d learned her lesson and that she had grown a heart.
The castle was magnificent, and I already understood why the children wanted to return here.
We met the kind satyr nursemaid, Mrs. Euphemia, who was overjoyed to see the girls. She and Shiri helped me bathe the children and dress them in fresh shifts. We then slipped Tau stone leather necklaces that the servants had woven over their heads, instructing them to never take them off without permission.
After we visited the nursery and picked out new dolls for Ember and Aurora, I took the children to our bedchamber and put them to bed with us. I could tell by the looks of longing in Helian’s and Ash’s eyes, they wanted intimacy with me, but I couldn’t stand to part from my girls, not tonight anyway. I pressed kisses to their foreheads and held them in my arms. Then I stared up at the canopy above us, unable to close my eyes while too many worries whirled through my mind.
I had to remind myself over and over that they were safe.
Safe.
Safe.
But for how long?
Shiri
I RETURNED TO MY MATES with a heavy heart while struggling to process everything that had happened over the last few days. I had to keep reminding myself the children were safe, and though I ached to hold them, they were with their parents. All that mattered was they were alive and well, so why did I feel horrible? Could it have been that the darling girls I had raised over the past four years as if they were my own were no longer mine? In fact, they never were mine. The belief that they were had always been an illusion.
Still, Tari wasn’t the only mother who’d sensed the moment the girls had been taken by the demons. I’d felt it, too, so keenly I thought I would die from the pain of losing them. And as much as I longed to hold them in my arms, watching them take their little breaths while snuggled against me, I had to surrender them to their parents. My mended heart was still cracked, a giant fissure going right down the middle.
After using the bathing room, I climbed into the big poster bed. Drae sat propped up against a pile of satin pillows, his wings fanned out behind him, a goblet of wine on the nightstand while he read a ledger by lamplight. A castle Lord’s work was never done.
I looked around for Blaze before giving Drae a questioning look.
“He’ll return soon. He’s handling a few Lordship duties for me,” Drae said as he set the ledger on the nightstand. He turned to me, waggling his brows. “Which means I finally get you to myself.”
I bit my lip. As much as I wanted to cherish this alone time with Drae, and I desperately needed release, my heart was so heavy, I didn’t know how I could give Drae the full attention he deserved. He’d been such a wonderful mate and protector, following me into danger without question.
I crawled beneath the blankets, burying my face against Drae’s chest while he stroked my neck and back, sending shivers down my spine.
He pressed kisses to my temple. “How are the girls?”
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. “They’re sleeping with their parents.”
