“We helped create this,” I whispered to Ellery.
Ellery looked up at me and smiled. “Now aren’t you glad I robbed you?”
My unexpected bark of laughter caused Lillian to stir before she settled down again. “I am,” I told her. “I really am.”
CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR
Ellery
After leaving the orphanage, the others opened portals to return to their homes, but Ryker and I decided to walk through the Revenant Woods. I was too restless and concerned about Scarlet to return to the manor. I sought the comfort only the forest could provide.
Things had changed a lot over the past year, but my love for the Revenant Woods hadn’t faded. I still craved the solace it provided, even though some of the most monstrous creatures in the realms resided beneath the thick canopy of trees.
None of the trees stirred as we walked, but I suspected they knew we were there and passed the message along in the way only they could. My suspicions were confirmed when, after a few minutes, a shadow swept overhead and Indon landed a few feet away. His wings rustled as they settled against his back.
I smiled at him as we stopped walking. “Good afternoon,” I greeted.
His smile bared all his massive, sharp teeth as he glided closer. When he stopped beside me, he peered down at where Lillian slept, once again bound to my chest. She’d woken earlier, but fell back asleep after being changed and fed.
When he stroked her fingers, there was no spark of light. She hadn’t produced one since that first time, but I didn’t doubt what I’d seen.
“She’s grown so much already,” Indon murmured.
“That she has.”
“What brings you into the forest today?” he asked when we started walking again.
“Scarlet, Callan, and Samael left today, and I was missing this place.”
“Ah, yes, the trees do offer comfort.”
“Yes, they do.” I pulled back a little to look down at Lillian. “Plus, she may be sleeping through it, but she needs to learn the forest too. She’s as much a part of it as the rest of us.”
“The forest will protect her too… as much as it can.”
I smiled at that. “It does work in mysterious ways.”
“It does.”
“How are you and the gargoyles doing?”
Indon grinned again. “Very well. We are happy to be free.”
“You never should have been caged.”
“While that is true, it’s not what fate had planned for us. There is a reason we were all brought together.”
I agreed with his assessment.
“And things are good now,” Indon continued. “That is what matters.”
I gripped his solid arm and squeezed it. “And you will only know freedom from now on.”
His long fingers and lethal claws rested over mine. “I know. I shall leave you to your walk. I will see you soon.”
With that, he brushed a finger over Lillian’s forehead, whispered goodbye, and pushed off the ground. He swept through the woods before disappearing into the trees.
Ryker and I continued our journey past a river and on toward the clearing that was once our home. I hadn’t intended to return to the encampment when we started this journey, but I was inexplicably drawn to the place.
