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She shakes her head softly, her gaze dropping to the floor for a moment before she seeks out her son once again. “Brax, I wish all of this was as easy as that, but it’s not.”
“Then explain it to us. Please,” I beg, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t know where to even begin,” she replies, the weight of the words tightening my chest.
“Anywhere, please, just help us.”
She glances to her side, presumably looking at Brax’s father for reassurance, but I can’t quite see him. “The gate only opens to those it deems worthy. It touches the magic of all those in its vicinity, and if it doesn’t like what it senses, it will tighten the veil or disappear entirely.”
“How does it exist?” Brax asks as I simply gape at his mother.
“I’m not sure of its exact origins, but there’s so much to this life I don’t have the answers to, son, and I’ve been searching for a long time.”
“What does that mean?” he snaps back, his eyebrows furrowing as he plants a hand on my waist, pinning me to him in a protective stance.
“That’s what our assignment has always been at The Monarchy, Brax. Even now, on the other side of the veil, hidden in the Realm of Shadows. There’s information everywhere, and we are researchers.”
Something in her words makes me pause.
“Researchers?” I blurt, staring into her eyes.
“I’m sorry?”
“You said you are researchers, not past tense, not previously: are. What are we missing? What aren’t you saying?” I feel Brax stiffen behind me, tension building to new heights as his mother once again looks to her husband for reassurance.
“We were researching the gateway to the Realm of Shadows.”
Her words hang in the air, dancing over my body like the feel of the sun beating down on me while a light drizzle peppers my skin, but I know this time there’s no rainbow coming.
“You’re not dead. You’re trapped too.”
Her gaze drops to the floor, and to my surprise, Zane turns to look at her, rubbing a hand between her shoulder blades in comfort as reality continues to set in.
“Mother,” Brax whispers, completely breathless, and my heart aches for him.
“We’ve been trapped in here this entire time, trying to find a way back to you,” she admits, her voice cracking at the end as her emotions get the better of her.
“Fuck,” Brax rasps, and I blindly grab his hand as he remains behind me. I squeeze as tight as I can, letting him know that I’m here, sure that this is hard for him to swallow right now.
A long time has passed. A long time without his parents, and I can’t bear to think about the possibility of being away from Creed, Eldon, and Zane for that long.
“So, they can’t get back in here because the magic in the veil senses something in its surroundings that it doesn’t like,” Zane reiterates, and Brax’s mother nods, confirming another painful truth.
“Why were they able to pass back through then?” Eldon asks, while I glance around Brax to check if anyone is with us, but there’s nothing but shimmering rubies and dripping water in the depths of the Ashdale caves.
“Brax has been before, as if he died and…” His mother slaps a hand over her mouth, choking on the reality of what she just said.
“I did,” Brax murmurs, digging his fingers deeper into my waist. “I died and Raven brought me back.”
Her eyes widen in surprise before she nods in understanding. “That explains it then,” she manages, swiping at the tears tracking down her face. “If Raven is a necromancer, then her connection with the shadows is strong, and the fact that you’ve crossed the veil before makes it easier for you, too,” she adds.
My instant thought guts me as I consider how much easier life would be in this very moment if all four of my men had fallen at some point leading up to now, then I could have brought them all back. This would no longer be an issue then.
“Can she come to revive us on this side?” Eldon asks, taking my thoughts to the next level. We all spin in unison to look at Brax’s mother, but the solemn look on her face already gives us our answer.
“We’ve tried a thousand different ways to find death on this side, but it’s impossible. Besides, she can’t get back through again right now. The veil isn’t safe.”
The ground beneath my feet rumbles at her words and murmurs in the distance mix with footsteps that begin to get louder as they head our way.
