“You want to introduce me to your family, then,” I replied, smiling.
“They are my family. My friends. My confidants. My people, yes. And I know they will love you. They’d be foolish not to.”
“You’ll have to meet my parents, too. I’m guessing we’re going to do the whole dinner-and-dance thing, while we’re at it,” I said. “Nevertide has gotten really good at throwing parties.”
“Do you think they’ll like me?”
The question came as a bit of a surprise. Nevis was one of the most confident creatures I’d ever met. I hadn’t thought, for one second, that he’d require anyone’s approval—including my parents’. He didn’t seem fazed by Varga, and my brother knew how to intimidate, after all.
“Well, I tolerate you, so they shouldn’t have a problem with you,” I said, grinning.
“What about your brother? What does he think?”
Again, this struck me as strange, as if I didn’t recognize the Dhaxanian prince who’d already claimed my heart. “Varga is… well, he’s a little special.”
“Define ‘special,’” Nevis answered, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
“He won’t have a problem with you. He’ll be your best friend. Your hunting partner. He’ll bleed in the battlefield for you, if he has to. But if you break my heart, Nevis, he will kill you,” I said, quoting my brother almost word for word.
Varga had said it to me before, during our travels, but this time, his statement felt so true and so appropriate. It was as if he’d said it in anticipation of this exact moment. For a second there, I’d forgotten that my brother was a prolific sentry.
He’d already read Nevis. He knew what was in his heart.
Nevis, in turn, didn’t seem surprised by what I’d just said. Instead, he took it in and acknowledged it with great dignity. “That sounds reasonable. I would do the same, if I were him,” he said. “For what it’s worth, Elonora, I think you have been exceptionally fortunate to have Varga as a brother. And something tells me your parents are just as wonderful.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, they are. You’ll love them, I promise.”
“The same can be said about the Dhaxanians. We’re cold and distant by nature, but we tend to love deeply and fiercely, when we indulge in such emotional luxuries,” he replied, tracing an invisible line down my cheek, setting each cell in my skin on fire. “It’s settled, then,” he added with a sharp exhale.
“I meet your people, and you meet my parents,” I said, summarizing the core of this peculiarly intense conversation.
“That means we’re not allowed to lose this fight, Elonora,” Nevis replied.
“Not in a million years,” I murmured, then kissed him again.
We stayed like that for a while, nestled in each other’s arms, savoring this moment for as long as we could. Deep down, I’d already found my resolution. We were going to prevail and do the whole meet-the-parents dance. Nevis’s parents were long gone, but mine were more than enough for the both of us.
My father was going to mess with Nevis’s mind. My brother was going to prank him in some awful way. My mother was going to treat him to a sumptuous feast and interrogate him, like the cunning queen that she was.
Once Ta’Zan gave his last breath, all Nevis and I had to worry about was getting our people to accept us. May that be our biggest problem…
Ben
I took some time to talk to River over the comms system. My cave chamber was on the northeastern side of the mountain—chilly, quiet, and dark, just like I wanted it. I was hours away from getting an electric shock collar around my neck, and I needed to hear my wife’s voice for a bit. If all this went south, it could very well be the last time I’d get to speak to River in private.
“How’s Vita?” I asked, perpetually worried about our little fae granddaughter.
“As well as she can be,” River answered. “She’s stressed about Bijarki being out there, with you, but she does understand why he had to join Draven on this mission. However, she’s still extremely pregnant, so her patience is wearing thin.”
“And her health?”
“She’s good. I mean, we’ve never had a fae-incubus hybrid before, so we’re not sure how the pregnancy will go in the end, until she goes into labor. Her vitals are good. The baby’s vitals are good, and it’s kicking something fierce. Personally, I’m optimistic,” River explained. “Vita’s perpetually tired and hungry, though. I honestly feel sorry for her. I don’t remember having this much work with Grace,” she added, giggling.
I chuckled softly, remembering River’s perfectly round baby bump and the many kisses I’d dropped on it, feeling the soft skin against my lips, as if I was kissing my daughter directly. Grace must’ve felt my love from the womb, and I felt sorry for Bijarki. He was busy saving the world. He couldn’t be there with her right now.
The best I could do was make sure that the incubus came back home alive, ready to be a father to his child.
“Remember when you were still carrying Grace?” I asked her.
River sighed. “My ankles were huge.”
We both laughed hard at this one. Tears snuck out, rolling down my cheeks. As scary as it was, the labor was the most extraordinary moment in my life—the day Grace joined us in this world and brightened my existence in ways I’d never thought possible. And I had River to thank for that.
River. The love of my life. The woman I came back from the dead for.
“But I don’t regret it,” she added. “I don’t think there’s anything that gave me more joy in this life than carrying Grace to term… Oh, wait, there’s one thing that equals it!”
I couldn’t help but smile, the smoothness of her voice warming me up on the inside.
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” I asked, though, deep down, I already knew the answer.
“The day you came back to me,” she replied, and I could almost see her right there in front of me, her lips stretching into a warm smile. If I reached out, maybe I could even touch her.
But all I felt was the cold air against my fingertips.
My River was millions of miles away, on a different planet altogether.
“I remember that,” I muttered. “You were sitting on the shore.”
