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“Asher, don’t tease.” Raven, who still scanned the crowd, had apparently not seen her parents yet because she appeared a bit less tense. “Onyx, Asher did score the best parents. But politics are big in the packs, and I wasn’t sure how I’d be received. I’m so grateful for how they are treating me.”
“They wouldn’t do anything different,” Asher asserted. “My moms were not exactly the pedigreed princesses my grandmother wanted for Dad, so they know what it’s like to be an outsider. They’ll have to tell you their story someday but to summarize, they both came from a rogue band, and Dad had to threaten to leave with them for Grandmother to relent.”
“You could have fooled me about their being pedigreed,” I marveled. “They look like they were born with silver spoons in their mouths, both of them. Although I did wonder about the gaming.”
“You haven’t played with them yet. My moms hold record scores on any video game they have chosen to play. They even enter tournaments under pseudonyms.”
“So your dad won’t know?”
He shook with quiet laughter. “No, so the other big shots they deal with won’t. Dad liked to play, too, but he can’t compete with them.”
We stayed near the firs for a few minutes, Asher and I talking, Raven looking around with full alertness. She’d just turned to speak with us when a hush fell over the crowd. I didn’t have to look to know what had happened. Near the door stood a very elegant and fashionably dressed middle-aged couple, and Raven was so stiff with tension, I feared she’d crack in two.
“I have to go,” she said, the words strangled in her throat. “My former parents are here, and I thought I could handle it, but I can’t.” And she began to shove through the crowd toward the ballroom doorway.
“Raven, wait!” I was on her heels, Asher on mine, following her. “We need to leave for home now,” I told him. “We can’t put her through this.”
“Yes. But first we have to catch her.”
Chapter Fifteen
Valentina
Once everyone was in bed, I lay there, surrounded by my mates but not sleepy at all. That night seemed to be the perfect one to plead for help. It was the longest of the year, and I would bet that those who had passed over celebrated the night right along with the ones who were still breathing in this life.
A spark in my chest made me think Diana was near. That she would heed my calls if I took advantage of this blessed night.
It had to be worth a try.
Diana’s journals were full of her love for Erik. She expressed concern about their differences but celebrated their connection. She had called him her soul mate and didn’t know why the gods had chosen to make them so different. Worries laced her lines of handwriting. She worried she would continue to grow old while he stayed the same. That he would grow tired of her and she would no longer be attractive to him.
She also said that Erik had hushed those concerns. That their love went beyond time and no matter how she aged, he would be there with her—and long after her.
It was clear from the few snippets that I read that Erik and Diana had been robbed of their chance of happily ever after.
Though I had been invested before, since Erik was my friend, I was more so after seeing her words, my ancestor’s lament of her love and how it would play out.
Whoever murdered Diana ended something beautiful.
I scooted out from under the tangle of arms, legs, and hard torsos of my mates and got up, stretching my legs with my arms above my head.
“Where are you going?” Bishop asked. He had the best sleepy voice, all gruff and yet soft.
“To try and talk to the goddess…” Something like that. “You need something?”
“No. You want me to come with you? Sit in the hallway?” This sweet, brutish man. He would hold my hand as I walked straight into pits of fire and lightning.
“I’m okay. If you hear me scream, come get me.”
“Funny, funny, female. Love you, V.”
“Love you.”
I fished out the candles and turned on the fireplace on the TV again. It seemed fitting. I lit all the candles and noticed the calm about me. Maybe because it was the middle of the night, or maybe there was something about Yule I needed to pay more attention to.
I set up the candles and sat at the table, thinking of the lovely night my mates and I had spent together. My heart swelled with love I wanted everyone to have.
Including Erik and Diana.
