AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Finally, Gabe whispers into my ear, “Teddy, someone wants to say goodbye. I don’t think he has much longer.”
“What?” I lift my head out of the pillow of Charlie’s collar.
Gabe takes my chin and gently turns my head to where a ghostly figure stands on the edge of the ring of cracked and blackened cobblestones. He’s framed by tendrils of mist that have wrapped around him, but he’s fighting them, straining against them until every thick muscle’s taut, while he watches me.
I tear free of my boys and run to my husband.
His arms are insubstantial, the barest weight, like being grabbed by blankets. His lips brush a phantom kiss across my lips.
“Gabe, Gabe,” I babble.
“I’m happy for you, Teddy,” he murmurs. “So happy. So proud of you, baby girl.”
“Please don’t go,” I beg, fresh tears streaming. “Please, I’ll find a way. Please stay.”
“No, baby. My Time’s run. It’s okay. I’m ready. I got to help you fix the future. I got to say goodbye to you. I couldn’t ask for more. Live our wonderful life, baby girl. Live every moment. I’m with you. Right here. Right in your heart. I’ll always be with you, Teddy. Every second.”
“Please, Gabe.”
“Say goodbye, baby girl. Close your eyes and let go.”
I clutch him, feeling his substance thin in my arms. “Gabe, no, please.”
“Sh, say goodbye. Don’t deny me that.”
I’ve never been able to deny him anything.
“Bye,” I whisper brokenly. “I love you. I love you. I love you forever.”
His kiss ghosts across my forehead. “Bye, baby girl.”
I close my eyes. I open my arms.
Time brushes its cold fingers across my cheeks.
When I open my eyes, there’s nothing but the distant gray walls of the court. Someone I don’t recognize rushes by. I blink, trying to process all the emotions crowding my chest.
A warm hand touches my shoulder. I turn into it. A strong arm folds me into a firm chest. Cloves and linen and the stink of smoke. No dusty edge of grief.
I wrap my arms around Gabe.
He holds me wordlessly until I begin to shiver in the biting December air. Then he turns me under his arm and gently leads me into the Ember Palace.
* * *
I’m showeredand in clean trackies by the time Callan wakes and summons me to his bedside. The Winter Prince’s bedchamber is what you’d expect from a fae prince. It wouldn’t be out of place at Buckingham Palace. Or even Versailles. All the gilt’s a little blinding I gotta say. Not sure how he sleeps in here.
Darwin’s sitting on the edge of his father’s bed. Dark and the Liusaidh are in chairs on the other side of the four-poster, like ancient sentinels.
When Gabe, Charlie, and I enter, Darwin holds his hand out to us. I stand beside him uncertainly but he draws me down into his lap without hesitation. Callan reaches out his hand and I take it.
“I hear you had to do some hard things,” Callan says, squeezing my fingers. “And you did them unflinchingly. Thank you, princess.”
I manage a wan smile. “You really don’t want me as a princess.”
“You’re wrong about that, but I know you don’t want to be a princess. The Thistlemist Court owes you a great debt, Teddy. And you know how dangerous it is for the fae to become indebted. A whole court owing you such a debt.” Callan shakes his head against the pile of pillows propping him up. “A very serious matter. It could unroot the Court from the mortal realm. So I will ask you this once, Princess Teddy, what boon do you require to discharge this debt?”
My breath catches. Is he asking what I think he’s asking?
