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“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Milly asked.
I smiled, opening my arms for her. As she reached past Jeremy for me, I brought her into my chest and held her close, breathing in the floral smell of her hair from last night’s bath. “Not a thing.”
“But is that a yes? We’re going to the Fae Realm?”
“How about we eat breakfast, and we get your brothers and sister ready for the day, andthenwe talk about going to the Fae Realm.”
“But Daddy promised.” Her big green eyes were wide, serious. “If you don’t wanna go, Daddy can take me.”
“We’ll go to the Fae Realm, kid.” I kissed her forehead, starting back to the kitchen. “But I want to see my f—”
“Mommy!” Micah called, trekking down the rear steps. “Mommy, guess what!”
Before I had time to respond, Jeremy bolted past me down the hall and into the living room. A squeal of laughter sounded half a second later.
Jeremy came back into the hallway, holding our six-year-old like an infant, smiling as big as the child. “What do you think, Mills? Should I tickle him too?”
Giggling, she nodded fast.
Struggling to hold him in place with one arm, Jeremy tickled his armpits, then his neck, laughing when Micah tickled him too, until they’d both stumbled to the hardwoods hyperventilating.
As Milly teleported from my arms to the puddle of people on the ground, joining in the tickle-fest, a lump solidified in my throat, and my eyes overflowed with tears.
There was nothing in the universe that I loved more than moments like this. Watching my husband be the most doting, adoring father I’d ever met. Watching my children collapse into his chest and hug him tighter than they held anything. Watching Tink run to them and playfully wrestle with Jeremy each time he attacked one of the kids with tickles.
Fucking stars, this was all we wanted. This was all we’deverwanted.
And it was ripped away from us forpower. For influence. For a stupid fucking title.
This man had been alone for a millennium. All because the archangels wantedpower.
“Lai,” Jeremy said.
I wiped my eyes, hoping the kids didn’t notice. “Hmm?”
“I’m gonna go wake everybody up. There’s enough breakfast for everyone, right?”
There always was.
* * *
It was so hard to call him Kai.
The man sitting across from me at the dining room table was Venark. He was my twin in both lives, but we’d been separated at birth in this one. I hadn’t even met him until I was twenty. I’d never had hard feelings about that before, but now, it made me so angry. For a moment, watching him sip his tea, hearing him utter a curse in Elvan when it spilled onto his shirt, I mourned the childhood we’d missed together in this life. But I supposed when he took on the memories, he’d recall everything I had, and we’d be as close as we’d once been.
When I watched Celena snatch a piece of bacon off Wyatt’s plate, I saw them dancing on Morduaine at my wedding. They were Luna and Rion then, and they’d hardly changed a bit. Everything from their appearances, to Celena’s smart ass remarks and Wyatt’s cheeky retorts.
Seeing Hya rest his head on Chris’s shoulder when he finished eating, meeting his gaze across the table, a wave of comfort washed over me. Stars, I loved that man. I’d loved him then, and I loved him now. I loved him for casting the spell that gave me access to those memories, and I loved him for being my friend for hundreds of thousands of years.
Looking to the end of the table, I saw a face I hadn’t seen in so long.
Before we’d gone into the dreams, Jeremy told me he believed his mother in this life had been his mother in his first life as well. Now, I had no doubt of that.
Aside from my children, she was the one in this room I was most excited to see.
She looked different then than she did now. Her jaw was softer, her eyes a duller shade of blue, her stature shorter, curvier. But that expression was the same it’d been all those years ago.
Strong.
