Chapter forty
HEART OF THE WILD HUNT
Ornella
The Sylvan lay in motionless heaps. I was tempted to go over and uncover them just to see what the hell they were hiding under those veils, but I refrained. Something told me that I would regret seeing the true faces of the stars.
So I turned my back on them and walked quickly past Amira to where Sage was sitting with Nuala. The witch was still unconscious and laid with her head in the crook of his arm. Rian had beaten me to them and gently picked up his mate to carry her to the portal. He stopped there and stood waiting for the rest of us with a clear intention to be the last rider to go through to safety.
The sight of him still in his mask and holding Nuala reminded me of how he had carried Aodhan’s body back to the altar. And I felt an immense relief that this time he had been able to prevent his lover from succumbing to their injuries with the use of my magic.
My rage seemed to finally deplete once I had reached Sage again and let him pull me down so he could hug me. All I wanted was to crawl into his lap, but I knew that we needed to get home before I unravelled too completely.
“Can you walk?” Ciaran asked from behind me.
Sage attempted to move his legs under him but quicklywinced and shook his head. I reached for him to offer the last of my magic, but I was too depleted to do much more than ease some of his discomfort. At least, not without hurting myself even more in the process, and I knew Sage would not want me to do that.
“I am so sorry. I should have reserved some strength to heal you,” I whispered in bitter regret.
“I’ll be alright,” he insisted, his deep voice a soothing caress on my fraying nerves.
Ciaran bent down to hook his arm around my mate and then hitched his shoulder under Sage’s arm. I scrambled to the other side to help, and we lifted Sage up together. He was so weak he could barely stay on his feet, which made me seriously reconsider punishing the elves more. But I managed to breathe through the impulse and kept my focus on getting back through the portal.
I was only vaguely aware of Darragh ushering Amira along behind us, and then Rian brought up the rear with Nuala still unconscious in his arms. I felt him using his magic to kill the second portal tree so the elves could not use it in future. Then he used my magic to power down our portal in Autumn once we were through it.
There was a brief silence in the mess hall while we all seemed to realize we had done it. We were home.
“Sage!” cried Asha. The Sua seemed to appear from thin air in front of us and threw her arms around her son. Sage flinched as she slumped against him, forcing Ciaran and I to keep them both upright. But Sage did not have the heart to tell his aggrieved mother that he was in pain. And although I would have done it for him, I could sense that he would not have preferred that.
“I am alright,” he tried to reassure her, but his hoarse voiceonly made her cry harder.
There were tears streaming down my face as I looked away from them and up at Carrick who came to stand in front of me. He raised both hands slowly as if to ensure that I would not object as he removed my helmet for me. His eyes filled with sorrow as he took in my tears before he reached up to smear them off my cheeks.
“Thank you,” he whispered and then leaned forward to press a tender kiss against my forehead the way he often did to Shay. My eyes squeezed shut when a sharp ache of relief lanced through me. One that did not just stem from Sage’s return, but from the reunification of his family.
The reunification ofmyfamily.
Carrick straightened once Asha had released their son. She stepped back, covering her face as she regained her composure, and let Carrick have his turn greeting Sage.
“Be gentle with him. Please. He is in pain,” I could not help whispering. I did not wish to hurt anyone’s feelings or deny them their right to a heartfelt reunion, but my first duty was to protect my mate. Always.
Thankfully, Carrick took absolutely no offense to the request and paused the hearty hug that he’d been about to give his son. And the fact that Sage did not protest let me know that he appreciated my intervention, even though he would have never denied his family.
Instead of a hug, Carrick carefully removed my helm from Sage’s head the way he had done for me and tossed them both onto the grass. Then he reached up to ruffle his son’s hair in that playful way that I had seen Sage scowl at him for in the past. This time, my mate was not even remotely annoyed as he smiled at his father.
I became aware of a voice chanting, “Dapa! Dapa!” and turned to see Rory. She was nearly squirming out of her father’s arms as Verin carried her over to her uncle.
“One-Eye,” Sage acknowledged her softly.
“Just give him a gentle kiss, Roar. Like you have to do for your brother,” Verin instructed his daughter, his voice choked with emotion as he looked at Sage.
Verin waited until Rory had calmed down and given him asolemn nod of understanding before he let the child lean toward Sage. Fresh tears stung my eyes watching as she pressed sweet kisses to each of Sage’s cheeks.
“You are prickly,” she said with her usual bright tone, making all the teary-eyed adults around her chortle.
Shay came next, her face blotchy and wet as she eyed her brother in uncertainty of how to greet him without hurting him more. She settled for simply leaning her head against his chest with her baby sleeping in the carrier between them, and Sage bent his head down to hers.
“Would you like to rest for a moment on the grass?” Ciaran suggested once Sage’s family had greeted him.
