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NINETEEN
Ann
I can’t believeI’m even thinking this. “Is it you?”
He nods, watching me. “Of course, it’s me.” His chuckle is like music to me, a symphony, rich and wondrous, and my heart is in my throat.
“This can’t be possible. It can’t be you.” The words come out strangely hurt.
Or maybe it isn’t strange. Having someone claiming to be my dead mate doesn’t happen every damn day.
“But it is,” he says with a little shrug of his shoulders.
“No,” I say, shaking my head, fighting my panic and confusion.
He frowns, but it’s quickly replaced by a smile. “So, were you as surprised as I was that it was Professor Windrawl behind my death and the attack on the dark fae?”
My jaw drops open.
“I mean, that guy seemed like a bumbling idiot. Sweet and totally harmless. I thought I was so clever, discovering all the secrets beneath the tunnels. But apparently, it was the one truth I couldn’t figure out until it was too late.” And then, he rolls his eyes. “And then telling everyone my death was an accident because I played with that sword… How insulting.”
I realize my mouth is hanging open, and I close it.
“How?” I don’t need all the details, just enough to make sense of what I’m seeing, what I know is true.
“I…don’t really know. I was a ghost, watching you, following.” His words are punctuated by breaths and half-smiles. “I couldn’t leave the earth until I knew you were safe. But I don’t know, it was more than that. When they murdered me, I didn’t feel like I was dead. I felt…like I was waiting. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I just had this deep sense that I wasn't done yet. Especially since I didn’t awaken until just before the shadow beasts took you. Before that, I was just…nowhere.”
“So,” my mind is trying to untangle this unbelievable turn of events, “when I healed the warrior, it might have created some kind of…opening for a mind.” That sounds dumb.
He shrugs.
The truth is that I’m only guessing. How he ended up in Adrik’s body might just be one of life’s many mysteries. But there’s no way this warrior would know everything he just said if he wasn’t Rayne.
I stare. “So, you’re really him?”
He smiles. “Even though this body feels a little weird. Definitely bigger than my last one.”
Rayne is right about that. He was never a huge guy. Being half light fae and half dark, he had the nimble body of most fae. His buddies always towered over him, but he was still more than tall enough for me.
Perfect, I had thought.
Now, he’s like my giant shadow beasts. He looks like a warrior, every inch of him. But despite the slight difference, I don’t know how I didn’t see it. Or maybe because he was unconscious, I didn’t recognize him. None of it really made sense to me yet.
I can’t believe it’s him, but on the other hand, I can’t believe I didn’t know it immediately when he followed me out of the tunnel, the second his hand touched mine. My mate is like my soul. I shouldn’t have just had an instinct that he felt familiar. I should have known.
Shouldn’t I have?
A strange thought comes to me.Maybe since I met my shadow beasts I’m not as connected to Rayne.My chest aches. Part of me had said goodbye to him. Part of me had accepted that he was gone. And maybe, just maybe, I’d given that part of myself to Dusk, Onyx, and Phantom.
What does this mean? For them? For us?
Suddenly, the sounds of the battle are loud--metal clanking against metal, grunting, a random burst of gunfire every once in a while. It surprises me how close it is. It’s as if the entire forest is under attack.
How big is the Shadow King’s army?
A chill rolls down my spine.Too big.I can’t bear to think of Phantom, Dusk, and Onyx in danger, and I shiver. They’re good men. Men who were prisoners of my people. Men who have been fighting, in secret, to save a world that doesn’t know they exist.
And now, they’re fighting for me too. Because there’s no doubt in my mind. This army wouldn’t have come if not for me. If the Shadow King didn’t want me for his own.
