I watched Rhys’s jaw tighten as he fought the emotion that had to well inside of him.
My baby was a man and a soldier, and he seemed to have a wonderful teacher.
Sasha turned and the whole village released a collective breath. “Your Highnesses, you have no idea how happy I am to have been wrong. Welcome to our village. We named it Frelsi, which is Icelandic for freedom. I’m more than pleased to turn it all over to you, as well as the primary care of these soldiers of mine. They are the best, the finest I have ever had the pleasure to train.” He turned to the crowd and raised a hand. “The king is not dead. Long live our king!”
A cheer erupted, and the happy chaos began again.
Sasha strode up and held a hand out to Daniel. “My king, tonight we will feast and drink and celebrate. Tonight is for reunions. But in a few hours, we’ll meet in the great house and I will answer all your questions. Our plight is grave, but the war will turn now. Thanks to your children.”
Daniel dragged the vampire in for a manly hug. “I want to know everything, but I cannot thank you enough for taking care of our kids.”
Sasha bowed his head formally. “It was my honor to do this for you, to have the chance to shelter the children as mine has been all these years.”
Sasha’s daughter had found a family to love and care for her, and he’d paid it back by loving mine. I could see it clearly in his expression and in the way my children looked to him. He might have been their general, but they adored him.
Sasha greeted us all with handshakes and hugs as the villagers started to set up tables and the ale began to flow.
“I must go and inform Trent of what has happened.” Sasha turned to Kelsey. “Would you like to come with me? He’s waited all these years to hear your voice again.”
Tears in her eyes, Kelsey nodded and followed after him, Eddie walking with her and promising to make her as comfortable as possible.
Dev put an arm around me as Daniel moved through the crowd, greeting all of them. “It’s going to be all right, my goddess.”
I didn’t know about that. It wouldn’t be all right until I held my children in my arms again and saved them from ever having to become soldiers at all. Still, I leaned against my husband and let his affection soothe me.
Lee approached with a young woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and had dark skin, her hair a curly crown that topped a lovely face with wide warm brown eyes.
Was I about to get another shock? Had Rhys saved Lee from the busty bartender because he had a girlfriend here in the village? I’d lost the chance to see love bloom between Fenrir and Evan.
“Momma, Papa, I want you to meet Shahidi. We call her Shy, though it’s a misnomer. She’s not really shy,” Lee said with a grin.
“I am right now,” the young woman corrected. She was dressed in jeans and an emerald green sweater, boots on her feet. “I’m going to be honest. I didn’t think I was ever going to meet you. Do you prefer Your Highness or Your Grace? I’ve been told you go by both. Rhys teaches a class in royal etiquette. I am not his favorite student.”
Lee snorted. “Yeah, he can’t stand you.”
“He complains often enough,” Shy replied.
“It’s not you he’s complaining about.” Lee turned back our way. “We met Shy when she showed up outside the mountain seven years ago. She camped out until we let her in.”
“I don’t like camping, but your grandfather wouldn’t let me do anything else. Stubborn old man,” Shy complained, but there was affection in her tone.
My dad? Relief poured through me. “Where is he? I would love to see him.”
I missed my dad, and it had only been a few days since we’d talked. He’d been one of the last people I’d seen before we went missing.
“Maybe we should go sit down.” Lee looked around. “This could be a bit of a shock.”
Shy’s eyes changed, going all black, and her whole body seemed to shift, shoulders softening, the expression on her face becoming something oddly familiar to me. “Hello, me darlin’ girl. It’s been so long, and I’ve missed you. Devinshea, you still need a haircut. You look like a girl.”
Her accent had become a deep Irish.
“Harry?” Dev asked.
I barely heard the question because the day had been way too much for me, and my peripheral vision started to fade.
Dev caught me even as I heard Lee sigh.
“Told you we should have eased her into it, Grandad.”
I let the darkness take me and prayed this was all just a dream.
Chapter Five
I came to on an unfamiliar bed, candles lighting the room. Someone had moved me here, covering me in a soft quilt. For a moment I tried to convince myself that it had all been a dream and I was back in Summer’s palace.
But the smallness of the room, the scent of something cooking, all told me I was exactly where I thought I was.
“Hey, Mom. There’s water next to you,” a soft voice said. “Should I go get Papa? Dad is still out talking to the vampires we have here, but Papa is in the kitchen with the boys.”
I sat up and Evan was in a chair by the bed, a fire glowing softly in the hearth. She looked like her sister. Not exactly, of course. She was shorter than Summer, her body more petite and lithe. She wore the same tactical clothing her brothers wore and I could tell she was fit and muscular.
From years of training when she should have been playing.
“I’m sorry Lee hit you with Shy that way,” Evan began. “Lee doesn’t get that you have to be eased into things. He kind of steamrolls his way through life. I should explain.”
“My father is dead and he found a way to stick around.” I forced myself to sit up. “Did Myrddin kill him?”
Evan nodded shortly. “Yes, though we didn’t know exactly what had happened for years. He was there that day. He was there when Myrddin came for us.”
“Tell me about it.”
“You should rest. I’m sure Rhys will give you a full debrief.”
“I want to hear it from you. I think Rhys has become a leader, and he’ll leave emotion out of it. I want to know what it was like. How did my father die? How did you end up with Sasha? He was in Italy at the time. How long was it between when we disappeared and you were forced to flee?”
“It was the morning after you went missing. From what I understand Myrddin waited until the warrior vampires were sleeping before he made his big move. It was early enough that I hadn’t woken up yet. Albert came in and woke me up and handed me a bag. He told me I had to put some clothes in it and I could take one stuffed animal. It’s the only time I can ever remember seeing Albert flustered. Granddad was there, and he came in and helped me. He promised me it would all be okay, and he let me take two stuffed animals. He also slipped a picture in my bag. I didn’t find it until later. It was a picture of our family. He had to fold it up, but I still have it.”
My heart ached with every word she spoke. “Why didn’t he go with you?”
“Because Myrddin showed up before we were ready,” my daughter explained. “He rushed in and we were in our rooms. Granddad held him off. Held all of them off. He bought us time with his life. He’ll have to tell you that part. He doesn’t talk about it past that. Anyway, Eddie managed to get us out of the penthouse. He can only teleport to places he’s been to before, so we ended up in Italy on the island of Poveglia. From there we made our way to Venice and Marcus Vorenus’s townhouse there. Sasha was in residence, and he and Trent took control. For the first several years, we moved around a lot. Even from plane to plane when they found someone who could teach us.”