“In hiding,” the king replies. “Because your mother discovered what had happened.”
There it is. The Queen.
“She does not yet understand the rifts,” he continues. “But she understands enough to want control. She searches for her fated mate through them.”
Ice floods my veins.Jamie.The thought hits hard and fast, but just as quickly, relief follows.
He’s gone. He’s safe back on Earth.
Thank fuck.
Voices start up all around us.
Questions.
Too many.
Too loud.
Varek doesn’t raise his voice, but when he speaks, everything stops. “You will answer them,” he says. “All of them.”
The king inclines his head slightly. “I will.” He tilts his head, gaze assessing. “But first, I require entry.”
That stills everything again.
Varek’s gaze narrows. “Entry?”
“My mate is with me,” the king says. “I will not leave her unprotected beyond your boundary.”
His words land like a stone dropped into still water.
“She’s here?” I ask, because apparently my mouth is just doing whatever it wants today.
The king’s gaze flicks to me briefly, then back to Varek. “I will not bring harm to your people… your mate,” he says.
Varek steps forward, just enough. “And if you did?”
“I would not,” the king replies.
There’s no hesitation, no doubt. Nothing in the bond shifts or twists.
Nothing lies. My eyes widen at the thought.
Holy shit. Do I now have Varek’s truth-telling mojo?
Varek holds his gaze for a long second, reading him in that way he does that cuts through everything. Finally, he nods. “You have safe passage,” he says.
The king turns slightly, just enough to look back towards the tree line. “You may come forward,” he says.
For a heartbeat, nothing happens. Another figure steps out from the forest.
I blink and blink again. She’s human.
Fully, unmistakably human.
She doesn’t look older than thirty, maybe a bit younger, but there’s something in her that feels… older. Not aged—settled. Like she’s lived more than her face should show. Her hair is loose, threaded with small flowers that definitely shouldn’t survive in this world but somehow do anyway. She’s barefoot, which seems like a terrible life choice given literally everything about this place, and her clothes look like they belong at a music festival in the ’70s rather than the middle of a war-torn rebel settlement.
And she’s smiling.
