Page 172 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

That angered my sister worse. “Get off me, you fucking bastard!”

“Alright, my love,” he murmured to her, kissing her lips before standing.

“You’re not staying?” I asked, shifting from one foot to another. I’d never done this before. She’d never called for me before. She had never let anyone with her in her room the two times before.

“She didn’t let me stay with Rain or Sam either. I will be right by the door. If anything—”

“She will be fine,” Visha assured boredly, pushing him out. “Now go so we can get your child out of her before she murders us all.” Once the witch had him out, she turned to me. “You did what no Isjordian ruler has ever done, merited the praise of gods, at least act a little happier.”

“You’re telling me to act happier? Visha, you haven’t smiled a day in your life.”

“If someone had said something funny, I would have.”

“Marry Elias.”

She snorted and then threw her head back, laughing.

It was rather scary.

“He’s going to ask you. I helped him pick the ring,” I said.

She laughed harder, tears coming out of her eyes.

When I just blinked at her, her laughter died off, realisation setting in her strange but very beautiful face.

“He is?”

I nodded, grabbing the towels from her hands and heading to join my sister’s side and save the healers who were hearing a pretty rough piece of her mind.

Chapter forty-one

Golden Lilies

Malik

My brother stood facing the door long after it was shut, his shoulders rising fast, but not faster than the shadows of fear that he was suddenly not able to hide. They enshrouded the world entirely, doom dripping from his fingertips.

“She will be fine,” he muttered to himself.

“They both will,” I said, willing every shadow within a ten-mile radius to hold very, very still while I watched for the signs of life beyond the door before us, listening to my little nephew's strong heartbeat as well as his mother’s. Kilian had not caught me far into my journey to Hellas. Thankfully, I had not made it far. Considering how distressed he was, he would have probably been caught inside the dark sea.

“Papa,” Rain called from the other side of the corridor, running while clutching another of her ugly cloth dolls. My niece had an eye for horror.

Immediately, Kil’s shadows pulled back and he turned to his children, giving them a bright smile. “Little princess.”

I blew out a long sigh and dropped to the ground, resting my head against the wall. Sam followed suit, sitting beside me while his cold eyes remained fixed by the doors. “He will be like Rain,” he said, blinking slowly.

“He will be,” I agreed, making sure all my tethers attached to my nephew were strong and intact, holding his magic steady until he’d breathe with his own lungs.

Kilian sat on my other side, holding Rain on his lap and nervously rocking her.

“Dramatic bastard,” I muttered.

He chuckled, his head dropping back on the wall. “One day,” he said, kissing the top of his daughter’s head. “Your heart will walk out of your chest, too. And you’ll be left wondering if you ever were this weak and never noticed.” His head turned to me and he wore a shit eating grin. “Oh, I forgot.”

I only shook my head. Because he was right.

Rain stared between the both of us with beady grey eyes, wondering how our hearts could have possibly walked out of our chests considering the way she then narrowed them where our hearts had once been.