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One lumpy figure, shadowed by the flickering light show, ran out of the building towards us. Ness paused and followed my gaze to the figure, too. We both tensed. Janessa, still in her wolf form, lowered herself and snarled at the figure.
“Quiet,” Ness commanded.
Janessa’s growl died in her throat.
Laughter drifted towards us. The tightness around my heart eased. I let out a breath and almost laughed along with the two fools jogging towards us. Once they came closer, I realized that the silhouette was odd not because it was an Unseelie fae heading towards us, but because Hilda had perched herself on Vi’s already tall and broad shoulders.
They caught up to us, and we all turned and ran.
4
CERRI
The moment I knew we were all safe back at Ness’s house, I turned and prepared myself to step in-between. There wasn’t a moment to waste. Beryl had planned this. It had to be a distraction while she destroyed my court all over again.
But Mom caught me before I could step away. She gave me wide, concerned eyes.
“Cerridwen,” she whispered.
I swallowed hard. Here was the conversation that I wasn’t ready to have. Mom and I both knew that I wasn’t her real daughter anymore. Though I was the child that she’d raised, her flesh and blood was someone else entirely.
And I didn’t know how to tell her that her real daughter was dead and gone. She would never be coming back. If…if Mom wanted to talk to her, then maybe I could ask Addie for help with communicating with the girl’s spirit, but that was all I could think to do.
But Mom surprised me. “Are you all right? Where’s that boyfriend of yours? You take him everywhere with you. You hear me?”
My lower lip trembled. Tears filled my eyes. Mom should have been asking about what I’d become, about her missing daughter, about any of the hundred other things happening around her right now. Instead, she just wanted to know that I was safe.
I yanked her close so I could hug her tight—and hide my tears in her shoulder because I couldn’t help but cry. Mom held me tight in return.
“I always knew you weren’t my blood,” Mom whispered into my hair. She hugged me closer. “But that never changed how I felt about you. If fate wanted you to be my daughter, then I was more than happy to call you mine.”
I pulled back, though I couldn’t lift my gaze from the floor. “But…your real daughter…”
A moment of silence hung between us. I wanted to believe it was reverent, but I knew Mom was trying to pull herself together. I almost stepped away because I couldn’t handle the guilt.
Mom cupped my cheek and lifted my chin. “I grieve the loss of her, but that was never your fault. If I had the chance, I would have loved you both as my own.”
I couldn’t stay here, but I needed to hold Mom a little longer. Love gripped my heart so tight I thought it might burst. I wanted to scream, to cry, and throw my hands in the air in rage. There was nothing we could do about the past.
I couldn’t get my fae parents back. Mom couldn’t get her shifter daughter back. All we had now was each other.
“Now, you go get that man of yours and you keep him on you at all times.”
“Mom,” I said, laughing nervously as my cheeks heated. “You know how that sounds, right?”
She laughed. “I do, and I mean it. He’s a pretty one. Don’t let him slip away.”
I thought of the beast I’d left back at the castle. Inside him was the man that I loved more than anything. Guilt tried to gnaw at me, because I knew that I’d give up my crown and court for him, but the sneaking emotion couldn’t quite get a hold of me through my intense feelings.
Ness sat on the couch with Janessa still in her wolf form. She stroked the wolf’s head and kept telling her that all was right again. I swallowed hard. If I left and couldn’t protect them, then Beryl might try to take them all from us a second time.
Ness turned to me. From her spot on the couch, she said, “Go check on your people. You helped mine. I just wish I could help you, too.”
“You keep your ass planted right there,” Vi said. She wiped her hands together as if dusting off the last fight.
Behind her, Hilda toddled along to stand between us. I swallowed, nodded, and opened a path in-between. My skin stretched taut with nervousness as we all stepped through and back into the castle realm.
And my foot sank right into water. I windmilled my arms wildly as I tumbled headlong into the lake. Vi shouted and grabbed for me, but I sank before she could get ahold of me. The water closed around my head and turned the world blue.
