Page 130 of By the Flames of Her Fury

I can’t remember if I told you in my last note, but baby Aris is a girl. Clarissa claims she could tell, but Rose did a spell to make sure. Mother and baby are healthy. Nox has already proclaimed himself an uncle, and Leo hates that. I know you didn’t get the chance to really meet them, but I think you’d like Rose and Leo. She reminds me of you a little—you’re both twice as stubborn and fierce as the rest of us.

I’m rambling at this point, and Milo is glaring at me to finish. He doesn’t understand why I keep doing this. They all think you’re either ignoring me or his messages aren’t reaching you. Either way…I hope you get this one. We miss you, Vera.

Please come home to me.

A tear dripped from the tip of my nose and splattered onto the letter. I couldn’t even count how many messages there were. I grabbed more, craving to see what I’d missed. Some messages were longer, him pouring his thoughts or the events of his week on the paper in careful, deliberate handwriting. Others were rushed and scrawled, as if he had been anxious to get the words down.

But they were all for me.

Songbird,

Give me anything. Any word, any sign that you’re alive. I spend every night comforting the kids who have endured so much, and yet, I can’t even get my own nightmares to stop. They were always quieter with you.

Please come home to me.

Songbird,

I don’t have any nice words for you right now. Today, I’m just angry. You left me. After everything we went through together, you left me, and I’m allowed to be angry. You were the one person I needed to stay, and you couldn’t do it.

I want to hate you for it, but it’s like I can hate everything except you. You’re in every breath I take, every stream of sunlight I see, every moment of warmth on my skin. I hear you in the laughter ringing down the halls and in the bird’s song outside my window. I know in my bones I’d sooner rip the heart from my chest than hate you.

Please come home to me.

Songbird,

I’ve been thinking about that beach I never got to take you to. The water is perfect this time of year.

Please come home to me.

I buried my head in my hands, several letters still clutched in my grip. He never gave up. A year of waiting, a year of hoping, and he never stopped trying to reach me.

I thought he would’ve moved on. That was what I wanted—for all of them to realize they were better off without me. What did I add to their lives, besides a burden? But this…this was a man who saw me as more than that. This was a reminder that there were people in my world who didn’t want to use me—they simply wanted me. A sister, a daughter, a friend, a lover. Sides of myself I’d pushed away for longer than I could remember.

I wanted to bring her back. I wanted to find her again.

But first, I had to find him.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and straightened my shoulders. Whoever took him from me was going to feel the wrath of the Lightbringer they so desperately wanted me to be.

As I whirled toward the door, a body burst into the space in front of me. I was so startled, I barely stopped myself from squealing.

It was the maid, Sloane. She smirked at me, and my eyes widened as she ripped off the white apron around her waist and tugged at the collar of her dress.

“I’ve been wanting to take this off for days,” she muttered. Beneath her uniform was a cropped shirt, leather pants, and combat boots.

I stared at her. “You’re not a maid, are you?”

“Nothing gets past you.” She removed the strap keeping her hair in a bun and let the brown locks flow around her face. “Well, come on. Do you want to save your boy, or not?”

61

Vera

FOUR YEARS AGO

Atremendous boom tore through the tunnels.

I woke with a jolt, wincing at the cramp in my neck from laying against the wall. The ground convulsed and sent dust raining from the ceiling.