Lee’s expression shuttered. “Mia died along with her parents. Myrddin killed them, and I shall have his head for it. Grandfather is dead as well, and at the wizard’s hand. Though Grandad still manages to be a pain in my ass. Welcome home, Mother.”
Chapter Four
“Lee!” Evan strode up to her brother in the torchlight. “How could you tell her that way?”
My world seemed to be reeling.
My father was gone?
Dev had moved me into his arms, giving me his strength.
“Yes, I would like to know the answer to that question as well, son,” Daniel said, his voice cold as the snow outside.
Even in the gloom I could see my son had paled. “I’m sorry, Momma. I…I’m rattled and I didn’t think I would be. You asked me about Mia. She’s a sore subject for me. I’m sorry I said it that way.”
“We don’t know Mia’s dead.” Rhys looked like a ghost in the torchlight. The shadows played over his face. “We never found a body. Any of their bodies.”
“They told us,” Lee replied quietly.
“Olivia told us, and Liv lies now. If Myrddin killed them, he would have made sure we saw the bodies.” Evan moved in front of me. “Momma, we don’t know that Aunt Sarah and Uncle Felix didn’t get out. And Granddad wants to see you. He’s been waiting so long.”
I breathed a deep sigh of relief. He wasn’t dead. Lee must have been using a euphemism. Like my going missing killed my dad. “I need to see him.”
I heard Dean saying something in Latin and then the torches flared, and I could suddenly make out where I was far better than I could before. It was warmer, too. Dean stood near where Kelsey held Eddie’s small hand in her own. The butler looked up to Dean and nodded.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “The cold gets to me when I’m tired. It is warmer inside.”
“I’ll leave you to explain to our mother,” Evan said to her brothers. “I’m going to take my punishment and get it out of the way.”
“Like Sasha punishes her.” Fen rolled his eyes as he started down the long tunnel after Evan. “She starts to cry and then he’s the one apologizing. Meanwhile, when I screw up, I end up running laps and chopping wood for hours. It’s better to be a girl.” Fen turned, walking backward with no effort at all. He pointed to Dean. “If you’re responsible for the light and warmth, thanks, man. You’ll have to come by our place. No matter how well I get the fire going it’s still chilly.”
Dean nodded his way. “It’s nothing more than a warming spell.”
“It works and I’m grateful.” Fen turned and jogged after Evan.
“Rhys, it looks like the whole village is waiting on us,” Evan shouted from the end of the tunnel.
“Our place?” Dev asked. “Tell me he isn’t living with Evan.”
“We’ve all lived together for years,” Rhys said. “And you should go easy on Fen. He protects Evan with his life. He would give it for her. I promise they’re good together or I wouldn’t have allowed the relationship at all.”
Lee snorted. “Like you could have stopped it.”
“If I thought the relationship wasn’t good for her, I would have found a way. Like I did with you and the barmaid in Oslo.” Rhys walked along and I found myself walking after him.
So no one was one hundred percent sure dead. It was good. I clung to that as we made our way toward the light at the end of the tunnel. I could see it now, light and green grass. Fen reached Evan, and his hand found hers as they walked into that light.
“I wasn’t serious about her,” Lee argued.
“You said you were going to marry her,” Rhys shot back.
“Well, she served stout mead and had very large breasts. I was distracted by them,” Lee replied. “I say crazy things when I’m drunk.”
He shouldn’t be drunk because he was eleven.
“Well, that answers one question. Lee turned into me,” Dev said with a grin.
Daniel’s eyes had that glow that let me know his vampire senses were open. “Oh, don’t think he’s not my son, too.”
Daniel moved ahead of us, not bothering to explain what he meant.
“I want to see my dad.” I felt Dev’s hand squeeze mine. “Lee was joking, right?”
“I assume something’s happened, but he also said your father was still a pain in his ass. So it sounds to me like Harry is fine.” Dev stopped, allowing Kelsey and Dean to move ahead. “Are you all right, my goddess?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m horrified. We left them for twelve years.”
“And now we’re here,” Dev replied. “I know it’s a shock, but we have to remember that they’re still our children. They still need us, and they’ve missed us. You hurt Lee when you wouldn’t hug him.”
“I hugged him.” I had. Hadn’t I?
Daniel had stopped up ahead, staring toward the entrance.
“He felt your lack of enthusiasm,” Dev told me. “I know you want to get out of this timeline, but we’re here now, and we must make the best of it. We’re about to walk through that door and into whatever coalition our kids and Trent have built. For now this is our army. They cannot see the depressed and horrified mother. They have to see Daniel’s queen. Do you understand me?”
It wasn’t fair. “I don’t get an hour to mourn?”
“I’ll give you many hours to mourn, my goddess, but this will not be one of them. Our mourning must be done in private.” Dev smoothed back my hair. “This is our return. This is history.”
“It won’t be when I find a way back,” I vowed.
“Then it shouldn’t be hard for you to put your chin up and be the queen we need you to be.” Dev was excellent at turning a situation around. “Our children have worked hard. They’ve been at war for years, preparing for this time. We must give this moment every bit of attention it needs. Pomp and circumstance have their place.”
As it had in the beginning. I did know this game. We’d been forced to play it before, and Devinshea had been the one to guide us through.
“Hey, are you two coming? Z, you need a moment?” Daniel had made his way back to us.
Dev looked to him. “I was explaining that we need to go into royal mode. I know that the two of you are processing…”
“Processing the fact that Myrddin stole twelve years of time with my children?” Daniel’s tone had gone glacial. “That he stuck a stone in my head so he could control me? That he took my crown and our home? I do not need to process that, Devinshea. I understand there is some prophecy out there that claims Lee or Dean will kill the wizard, but I’ll make that bastard wish for death. I will make him beg my son for the killing blow. Make no mistake of that. You’re going to ask me to hold my head high and walk into whatever we’re walking into like the King of All Vampire should. I am more. This is my plane. He might hold it for now, but his time is running out. I remember how to play this game. You taught me well. When I walk out there, they will see a king.”
Dev was practically drooling. “Is it wrong to say I find you extremely sexy right now, my king?”