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When I opened my eyes, I saw Ivory standing a distance away with Atticus at her side. I finally released my daughter and pulled back, looking down into her beautiful face. She was exactly as I remembered, her skin aglow with light, her eyes soft rather than hard, her smile gentle. There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but they wouldn’t come out.
“I’m okay.” She grabbed my forearm, even though she couldn’t feel my skin through the vambrace. “Not a scratch.” Her eyes shifted back and forth between mine, handling me like I was so fragile I would crumble at the slightest touch. She seemed to understand all my pain and suffering, even though she couldn’t possibly understand a parent’s love for their child. But that was my daughter—so damn smart.
I had a million questions to ask, a million things to say, but I was paralyzed by her looking back at me. Trapped in the darkness of my thoughts, the most horrible fears had come to me, fears so strong I’d wanted to take my life just to make them stop. So I just looked at her, seeing my daughter stare back at me with the eyes I gave to her.
She understood I needed another minute to look at her, to let my brain understand that she was truly here, that this wasn’t a dream created by too much scotch. She moved into my chest and hugged me again.
My arms circled her, and I rested my chin on her head, staring at the floor, remembering the days when she used to fit in the crook of my arm. She’d wake up in the middle of the night crying, and to give Ivory a break since she was pregnant with my son, I would take Harlow, hold her in a single arm as I sat at my desk and waited for her to fall asleep. I wished she were that little again…so I could hold her and keep her safe.
When Harlow pulled away, Ivory approached, her eyes swimming with the same emotions. “Our babies are safe.” She said it only to me, speaking quietly so our children wouldn’t know that we still referred to them as infants even though they were grown adults.
I pulled her into me and kissed her on the forehead. “You alright, baby?”
“I was worried.”
“I’m home. Our children are safe. Let your worries fade.”
She moved away so she could reach my gaze. “I would take that advice…if we weren’t at war.”
* * *
I chose to bury my head in the sand when it came to most aspects surrounding Harlow. It was just easier that way. I did my duty in raising her to be a good person, but I also raised her to be smart and strategic, to demand what she wanted rather than settle for an attenuated version of it. I trained her in the sword, to protect herself against her foes, to reign as the greatest queen that ever lived.
But she was also a beautiful woman, and that was something I couldn’t change.
I sat at the head of the dining table, the place where we had breakfast together every morning, Ivory with Atticus beside her, Harlow on my right. I wanted to treasure the fact that she was safe for a moment longer rather than dive into the details of her capture, but I had no other choice. “When I questioned the Teeth about the ship, they lied right to my face about their involvement, and I believed them. When your mother told me you’d been captured, Uncle Ian and I returned to set their kingdom on fire—but the kingdom was abandoned.”
Harlow stiffened at the knowledge, her eyes widening slightly.
Ivory’s expression didn’t change, but I knew the news provoked her. “Then where are they?”
“There’s nowhere to hide on the continent, so I suspect they’ve traveled underground to the east. Since the war ended, they’ve been digging…and digging. The tunnel must now be complete—and they’ve made friends on the other side.”
“What kinds of friends?” Harlow asked.
I gave a curt shake of my head. “No idea, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon…”
“Dragons can reach the east,” Atticus said. “Perhaps they can find a route around or through the mountains. If there is no way, we have the fleet of ships.”
“Why are we certain we’re at war?” Ivory asked. “Perhaps the Teeth have fled from our retribution.”
I looked at my wife. “They took Harlow for a reason, and there’s only one reason they would provoke my wrath.” Now I turned to my daughter, reaching the topic I’d dreaded since the moment I’d returned. “Tell me everything—without details.”
Harlow immediately flicked her eyes away, just as uncomfortable as I was. “Aurelias drugged me and took me to the bottom of the cliffs by wagon. Once we were down there, we rode by horseback to the Teeth—”
“Why didn’t you fight or flee?”
“I did many times,” she said defensively. “But Aurelias isn’t human.”
“He’s one of the Teeth.” I’d already assumed this, although I couldn’t understand how my daughter wouldn’t have realized that.
“No,” she said. “I’m not sure what he is. He’s faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. His sword is made of black steel, something else I’ve never seen. He anticipates moves before they happen…like he knows they’re coming.”
I hung on to every word, unable to identify a being with those distinctive characteristics.
“We arrived at the Teeth, and he handed me over. They put me in a cell, and I was there less than an hour before Aurelias returned and broke me out. We had to climb the cliff to make it to the mountains…and made the return journey that way. Fuck, it was cold.”
“Why would he release you immediately after handing you over?” I asked, the story not making sense.
