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Aurora pulled her thumb out of her mouth. “I hope they’re as nice as our uncles.”
“Me, too!” Ember said as she clutched her doll to her chest.
My nieces’ love for my mates warmed my heart. My mates beamed at the girls, and Aurora giggled when Drae tickled her shoulder with the tip of his wing.
I sat by Ember, stroking her hair and kissing her temple. “I’m sure they are. How can anyone not be nice to my sweet cherubs?” Then I gave Drae a pointed look. “I still refuse to believe Tari would side with Fachnan. Not after what he did to all the other shifters. You saw Adrean.”
Nikkos crossed his arms, scowling. “She might have no choice but to choose the lesser evil if Malvolia’s mages keep pursuing her.”
I held my breath, waiting for my other mates to scold Nikkos. Their younger brother had called their queen evil, and yet they said nothing in her defense. Had my mates finally accepted that she could be evil? That she might have been the reason for their parents’ deaths?
“So what you’re saying is, in an attempt to stop the prophecy from happening, Malvolia will force it?” I asked them.
Drae’s features hardened as he grimly nodded. His brothers nodded, too.
This was huge that they’d acknowledge their queen was at fault. That they would believe my sister and I were innocents caught in the middle of a war that others had created.
I squeezed Ember’s side. “Did you see anything else, sweetheart?”
She frowned. “No.”
Nikkos knelt beside her, offering her a kind smile. “Could you tell us more about your friends?”
She ran her fingers through her doll’s silky hair. “Like what?”
He visibly swallowed before sharing a look with his brothers. “What are their names?”
“I don’t know all their names,” she said softly, her cheeks coloring, “but they’re nice.”
I stroked her cheek, feeling to blame that she was being so shy now. This was my fault for dismissing her imaginary friends all these years. “You don’t have to feel embarrassed, Em. You told me their names were Kylar and Isabeau.”
“Yes, but those are my old friends.” She rested her head against my side, batting her lashes. “I don’t know my new friends’ names yet.”
“Are they spirits?” I pressed.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
What if they’re our parents?Nikkos’s question reverberated in my mind.
That’s what I’m thinking,I answered.They might be able to tell her who killed them.
“Are they dead?” I asked her sweetly, trying not to push her too hard for fear she’d refuse to answer my questions.
She blinked up at me. “They didn’t tell me.”
I forced a smile, trying to sound as unaffected as possible. “Ember, if you come across Lord and Lady Inferni, ask them who killed them.”
“Okay,” she said, stroking her doll’s hair again. “There’s a pretty lady with a ruby necklace.”
Blaze shared a quizzical look with Drae. “I don’t remember our mother wearing a ruby necklace.”
“Neither do I,” Drae said as he set Aurora back down when she began to squirm. “We have no ruby necklaces in our vault. Our mother preferred emeralds.”
“And by the way, Shiri”—Blaze winked at me—“all the jewelry is yours now.”
His brothers voiced their agreement.
All what jewelry?I wanted to ask, though I supposed it didn’t matter, anyway. All I cared for was a safe home for the girls and me.
