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“She wanted to do it kindly, if that helps. She wanted to put you out of your misery.”
“It does not help. Not even a little bit.”
I am not sure I believe that, not that I think Order would lie to me. I just don’t think Sally would betray me that way. We are partners. She does not want me dead.
“She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t…”
“She wanted her children to be safe. People choose their children over everything, including friendship. You were a threat, and she was a mother defending her young.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t need to believe him,” the monarch says, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Well, now I sort of believe you,” I tell Order. “I thought we were running away to get away from Chief Connor… but…”
“We needed to get away from them all,” Order says. “We still do.”
“There’s no escape,” Fury says patiently. “That’s why I am here. If I can find you, anybody can find you. I have come to attempt to weave you back into our alliance, to give you the chance to belong. But if you insist on staying independent, you will be hunted by both sides from now until one of us wins.”
“And there it is,” Order says. “The inevitable threat.”
“I didn’t want to threaten you,” Fury says. “I wanted you to choose to help, because your family needs you.”
“Tessie is my family now.”
Fury sighs, his wings spreading wide for a brief moment, then closing again with an elegant slow motion. “We need to rebuild strongholds. We need to create defenses. We need you.”
It’s a short, but stirring speech, and Order is not unaffected. It’s almost as if he too has been thinking about these matters. I know he misses his family and feels obligation toward them, no matter what he says.
“Simply act as a refuge? That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“There are many abandoned mines in this region of the world. Their subterranean reaches are potentially very useful for us, and secure besides,” Order says.
“Exactly. These are places we can lurk and breed. We need to establish satellite bases for those of us who are choosing to create families. You know Justice and his human mate are now proud parents of twelve.”
“Awesome,” I deadpan to myself. I don’t really want to hear more about that. I’m glad she’s happy, and safe. That really is all that matters, but I will forever be sad at the way our lives suddenly diverged. I have to hope that one day we will be reunited in friendship. I hope one day she’ll be happy I am still alive.
“I want a guarantee of Tessie’s safety,” Order says. “More than that. I want her respected as my mate. And I want an apology. A proper apology.”
“I thought you might,” Fury says. We watch as he pulls out a phone, dials a number, and barely waits for the person on the other end to pick up before giving his royal order. “Come on in.”
A moment later, we hear the sound of an engine. It’s coming from what I’m going to call a safe distance. Almost as if the monarch had this staged. Almost as if we’ve been staked out this entire time. Order and I exchange looks. Is this a trap? What will we do if it is? Run again? Hide again?
I squint at the vehicle as it draws closer. I see a flash of red hair in the passenger seat. It belongs to a woman. A really familiar looking woman.
“Sally?” I say her name in disbelief. I really never thought I’d see her again, and after the revelations recently about wanting to have me put down like a rabid dog, I have very mixed feelings right now.
The back of the ute is stacked with cocoons. I’m going to guess about twelve of them. They’ve been wrapped in bubble wrap and covered in a big blue tarp, but I know cocoons when I see them.
This strange single car cavalcade drives up and stops outside our caravan. Sally gets out, a shamefaced smile on her lips, and an expression of quiet devastation on her face. I don’t know what Justice does, because I am not paying any attention to him.
“I’m sorry,” she says. It’s good that those are the first two words out of her mouth because they’re the only two words that would make this even a little acceptable.
“Sorry for what, exactly? Trying to get me killed?”
“Listen,” she says. “I got carried away. I wasn’t thinking right. I was, honestly, kind of obsessed. And not in like a healthy way. But Justice and I have been talking and you were my friend long before I started laying eggs. We both missed you guys. A lot. You’re not just my partner. You’re my family, as much as anything that emerges from me, hatches, consumes wildly, and then cocoons itself is family.”
