“That’s not true.”
“You all worried more about Lee, and in a child’s world that translates to love,” he explained. “You think back to how you felt about me and Danny after he turned. How I worried about him and took his side in most things. You were an adult and you were still wounded by it. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I did. In Evan’s mind you were Lee’s, Dev belonged to Rhys, and Daniel was hers. Now you’ve told her she’s got a rival. She lost twelve years with you because you were with Summer, Daniel’s child. Now you’re giving him a biological child who will likely replace her.”
“That’s not true.” Had I favored Lee? I hadn’t meant to. I loved them all.
“Of course it’s not, but it feels that way to her. Part of this is Shy talking. She’s close to Evan. We’re both worried about her. Not because of Fen. I know Evan will talk about how reckless Fenrir is and how she’s got to keep him in check, but she’s every bit as brash as he is. She’s not wrong about Rhys trying to take her father’s place. They’ve fallen into roles as they’ve gotten older. Rhys has gotten more serious. Lee is Devinshea’s near twin, from what I can tell, and Evan, well, Evan’s had to fight for her place. She’s the only girl here, and the boys are overly protective, to say the least. It was good when Shy showed up and she had someone to talk to.”
She should have had a mother figure with her. And a sister. “What happened to Sarah? I can’t believe she would leave my kids.”
Shy’s shoulder shrugged. “I don’t know. I wish I did. Like I said, I died and by the time I came back to consciousness, most of it was done. Sarah and Felix and Mia were gone, and Christine doesn’t know where they went. She believes they found a way to flee the plane. She thinks if Myrddin had killed them he would have made a show of it. I wish I had a better answer for you. Now ask me what you’ve been afraid to ask.”
Tears sprang to my eyes because he was right. I was afraid to ask, terrified at what I could have lost. “Is Neil dead?”
Neil, my best friend. He’d been at my side through everything. I didn’t think he would leave my kids.
My father stood and sat beside me. “No. He’s alive and well. He still works with us whenever we need him, but after the Council fell, some of the wolf packs went back to their old ways. The worst of the packs turned on what they considered weak members.”
Weak meaning any member who didn’t hold the reproduction line. With Dev gone, they would have spent years struggling with fertility again, and that meant attempting to force mating within their packs. “He’s really okay? Chad’s okay? What about Zack?”
Chad was Neil’s vampire husband. Zack had been a part of our family since almost the beginning. He was Daniel’s “servant” and had been for years. He was Kelsey’s uncle, and I trusted Zack with my life and my family.
“Chad is with Neil, and so is Zack and his family. They’re a few miles away in a small town on the coast. They welcome all wolves who’ve been abused by their packs. Neil and Chad have two children now. They adopted two wolves who’d been shunned by their families.”
My tears were for another reason now because all Neil had ever wanted in life was to have a family, to love and be loved without conditions. “I can see him.”
“Yes,” my father said. “You should go tomorrow because Zack needs to see Daniel. He’s…unwell.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “Unwell?”
“He hasn’t had vampire blood in years. You remember how much weaker Neil was when he stopped taking Danny’s blood? Well, Zack was on it for far longer. He’s never gotten his strength back, and it’s gotten worse.”
“We can go now.” I started to stand.
Shy’s hand reached out and stopped me. “Tomorrow is soon enough. I assure you they’ve been informed that the royals have returned. They’ll be here in the morning. You need to stay in Frelsi. It’s safe. You need to work on your relationship with the kids. Now that you’re back, things will heat up, and we’ll have that all-out war I’ve feared for so long. You know what we need to do, right?”
“Yes, I need to find someone who can get me back to the day we went missing.”
“Why would you do that?” my father asked.
“This is wrong. This whole place is wrong, and we can fix it.” I already knew who I needed to talk to. “Summer can help. She’s so powerful, and she can find a way to get me back to that moment. I’ll change everything. I’ll save you.”
My father stared at me. “I don’t think that’s possible, and even if it was, it wouldn’t turn out the way you want.”
“I’m the nexus point. I make reality.” I’d learned long ago that I was different. I am the odd being who has no written fate. I can change the fate of the people around me. I intended to change all of our fates.
“No. You don’t make reality.” My father’s tone had gone harsh. “You make choices, and this one could have hard consequences. You don’t know that you wouldn’t fuck things up more.”
“I’m willing to take that chance. Can’t you see that the kids shouldn’t have had to go through this? I have to try.”
“No. What you have to do is find a way into the Council building and take what we stole all those years ago,” my father said. “Myrddin’s grimoire is still missing, but he comes closer to finding it every single day. When he does, he’ll have more power than you can imagine. He’ll have his book of spells and he’ll have the Sword of Light, and he’ll be able to do what he’s been planning for over a decade, maybe longer.”
“And what is that?”
“He’s going to permanently close all doors between the Earth plane and all Heavenly planes. He’s going to give Earth to Hell.”
Well, it looked like I had a job to do.
Chapter Seven
I sat at the big table in the house my children had lived in for the last several years, Devinshea at my side, while Daniel had taken the seat at the head of the table. Sasha sat at the other end, the king and his loyal general leading the discussion.
Kelsey had joined us, though she’d explained Dean was sleeping. Apparently fighting off a bunch of witches had tired him out. Fen sat next to his mom, practically glowing when he looked at her, while Evan had chosen the place next to Fen and would barely look at me.
Kelsey talked with Casey and ate at least fifteen sandwiches. Eddie kept bringing them one after another.
I’d barely touched the stew Albert had brought me. There were kind-eyed trolls serving the food this evening and making sure glasses were kept full. The home was warm thanks to the fire in the hearth. It was a cozy place to be, and I still felt numb.
Kelsey was doing so much better than I was, and I had no idea how she was holding it together when she didn’t even know where Gray was.
Or maybe she was doing it for Fen, who was smiling like he’d won the lottery. My kids were treating me like I would break if they touched me. Probably because I’d acted that way. I’d noted they were all laughing with Daniel and Dev as I’d walked in, though Evan was still standoffish. She’d kept close to Fen.