Rosalie
I watched them come up the drive, their fingers intertwined as Randy, one of our warriors, dragged two trunks behind him. Georgia was pointing up to the house, leaning into Talon as she talked, her dark hair falling long across her shoulders. For a moment, she looked like Maeve, although much smaller and darker, but her facial expressions were so similar to that of Ethan and our daughter.
Strong genes, I thought with a little laugh, crossing my arms over my chest as I turned to walk back into the house from my perch on the deck.
I heard Randy in the lower stairway leading up from the large garage. He was asking if he could take their things up to the White Queen’s castle, which was now used mostly for community events and housed the secondary school for the older children of Winter Forest, the old school too small for the sudden boom in population.
CD
“No, I want to stay here! Talon, how cute is this place? It’s cuter every time I see it. See, this is what we should have built-“Georgia’s voice was drifting up the stairs as I walked out of the living room and into the front hallway.
“Rosalie!” Georgia cried, throwing her arms around me as she walked around the corner of the stairwell.
“Hey!” I said, squeezing her. Talon came up behind her, nodding his typical, hands-off hello.
I was expecting them, knowing full well Georgia would want to stay at our house other than the more immaculate rooms at the White Queen’s castle just up the bluff. She always stayed in the house, even if that meant sleeping on the couch with Talon on the floor beside her. The guest room upstairs was already taken up by Kacidra and Hanna, so Gretchen, our housekeeper, and I had made up Maeve’s room for them upstairs.
I had seen them a few months ago when Ethan and I traveled to Mirage to drop Maeve off. They had been making their yearly trip to Mirage at the time, planning it so we could all be together for an entire week, enjoying the company of family before we went our separate ways again.
lill
Our reunions had always been met with joy.
But this time was different.
Georgia’s initial elation faded within moments of their arrival, and with good reason. I was hiding my panic at the fact that the seaplane had returned without Ethan and Rowan, deciding to not mention it when their journey was inevitably brought up. Ethan had gone to find Maeve and Ernest, after all. Now all four of them were missing.
I left Georgia and Talon to settle in, touching Gretchen lightly on the shoulder as she passed me in the hallway with a tray of cookies and lemonade for our guests.
“I’m going to go get some fresh air,” I said quietly, my eyes telling Gretchen I needed a moment to think, to panic, to let myself be totally overwhelmed. She nodded sweetly like she always did.
‘The girls went for a walk. Miss Hanna wasn’t feeling well, I’m afraid.”
‘Where did they go?” | asked, trying to keep my voice level. Was Hanna having another one of her visions?
“Miss Kacidra said they were going to do a loop around the castle grounds but would be back in time for supper.”
I gave her a quick smile and nod in reply, trying not to run down the hallway toward the backdoor that led out into the slightly overgrown back lawn.
The gate, situated right behind Rowan and Maeve’s old wooden playset, was open when I approached, leading out into the trail systems that wove through the woods to the grounds of the castle. I closed the gate behind me as I left our yard, breaking into a run as I was swallowed by the towering spruce trees and spindly birch that covered the grounds.
The castle was quiet now. School wasn’t in session, and it was the weekend, so none of the warriors were running drills on the open field with a dirt track around it. I spotted the girls right away, Kacidra’s blonde hair falling over her face as she held Hanna’s head in her hands.
Hanna was lying flat on her back in the field, her clothes wet and hanging from her body as she convulsed.
“Something’s wrong this time!” Kacidra cried, her face stained with tears as she saw me approach.
I fell to my knees beside them, taking Hanna’s face in my hands.
“Wake up, sweetheart!” I begged, gently patting her cheeks.
Hanna’s eyes were moving side to side under her eyelids, her chest heaving with effort, lifting her back off the ground.
“She’s never trembled like this before!” Kacidra cried, grabbing her sister’s hand and squeezing it tightly.
It went on like this for several minutes, the ground around us growing damp and the grass glistening with water, soaking our knees.
“S-S-S-” Hanna choked, water spilling from her mouth.
I struggled to turn her head to the side. She was fighting me, the muscles of her neck rigid as she fought whatever demon was on the other side of the dream.
“Find the door, sweetheart,” I said loudly, bending close to her ear.
She’d had two episodes since Rowan left, but neither had lasted more than a few minutes. One had happened overnight, Kacidra appearing at my bedside to ask where I kept the spare sheets, her nightgown soaked on one side and clinging to her skin where the water had traveled to her side of the bed. Hanna didn’t talk much, but I was able to get her alone long enough to have her explain her dreams. All she said was she had to look for a way out; otherwise, she’d dream again, and again, and again with growing frequency
This looked like much more than a dream, however.
“S-S,” she sputtered.
“What is she trying to say?” I said, looking up at Kacidra, who shook her head frantically.
“I don’t know-”
“Soren?”
I froze. Hanna suddenly went limp, her eyes opening up wide but unseeing. Her right arm straightened, lifting into the air with her hand in a fist. She unfurled her fingers, one by one.
“This was missing,” Hanna said, her voice calm and reassuring. Then her arm fell, and she gasped.
Chapter 59 The Rings
I looked at Kacidra, her brow knitted in concern as Hanna began to wake up, spitting water as she rolled onto her side. I patted her back, making shushing sounds like I was trying to soothe an infant.
“Kacidra,” I said firmly. “Do you know who Soren is?”
Kacidra shook her head, looking back down at Hanna and smoothing a lock of hair from her face. I sucked in my lower lip, biting it as I watched the sisters. All I could do was wait for Hanna to be lucid enough to tell me what she saw. And she would.
***
“I saw…” Hanna blinked, sitting in nothing but a bra and underwear on the field as Kacidra and I passed her cotton dress back and forth, taking turns twisting up the fabric and wringing out the water. Hanna shivered, her teeth chattering as we worked, but the sun was drying her skin and her hair, the black strands beginning to curl along her back as they dried. “I saw two rings. But one of them was in the water. Someone was missing it.”
“Rings? You didn’t dream about the building again?” Kacidra asked, shaking out the half-dried dress and laying it flat on the grass to let the sun do the rest of the work.
I shrugged out of my light denim jacket, draping it over her shoulders. She looked up at me, a look of gratitude in her eyes.
“No. I was far away. The water was cold, and then it was warm. And then I was stuck, and everything was… light.”
It didn’t make sense, but I kept my lips closed, waiting for her to continue.
“Maeve is alright. She has to make a choice. I gave her the ring. The red ring. But she needs the necklace.”
| gaped at her, my brow furrowed. “What ring? What necklace?” Maeve never wore jewelry. She had never shown interest in it, never once asking to rummage through my jewelry box….
“Oh, my Goddess. Soren’s rings.” I said aloud, the memory of the gift bounding into view as the pieces of the puzzle came together. He had given rings to me and Ethan long ago, one with a clear, brilliant stone set on a dainty gold band and another large ring with a red stone, a dense stone, something that looked like it had been carved out of the side of a mountain and polished to a crimson gleam. Ethan never wore it, saying something to the effect of it made his finger itch, but Maeve had been obsessed with it.
She had lost it one day tripping over the rocks on the beach at low tide. She had been desperate to find it, running along the surf as the tide came in. Ethan had to pick her up and carry her home, Maeve kicking and screaming the entire way. She would have been five or six at the time.
“Did you see him? Soren?” I asked, kneeling in front of Hanna.
She looked at me quizzically. “Who?”
“You said Soren when you were dreaming,” I said, gripping the grass to stop myself from wringing my hands together. We hadn’t seen or heard from Soren in years.
“I don’t know. Someone was there, but it wasn’t a man.” Hanna bit her lip. “Seraphine has something Maeve needs.”
I shook my head. I had told Hanna about Seraphine, and about Gayla. Seraphine, the ever-mysterious adventurer, and Gayla, a powerful seer. They were both gone, but Hanna talked about Seraphine endlessly. She had wanted to see pictures, to listen to stories about her. She had once said that Seraphine was the “Keeper,” but when asked about what that meant, Hanna couldn’t remember why she had said it.
“What was Maeve doing in your dream?” I asked, thankful to know Maeve was alive but desperate for information about her whereabouts.
“She was in the temple of the White Queen. She was returning something that was lost.”
“The ring,”
“No, not the ring. The necklace. But it wasn’t enough. A piece was missing,”
Suddenly, Hanna turned her head in the direction of the house, her body going totally still. Kacidra and I followed her gaze. The trees between the castle grounds and the house were moving in the breeze, but that was it.
“They’re back,” she said under her breath as she stood, grabbing the dress on her way up and letting my jacket fall to the grass. She pulled the dress over her head, the last confused remnants of her dream slipped away as she snapped back to reality. Knowing Hanna was like knowing two totally different people. At one moment she was normal, kind and shy. And the next, she was simply… gone. A ghost. A shell of a person.
“Who?” Kacidra said, but Hanna was already halfway across the field.
“Rowan!” Hanna said over her shoulder, a wide smile on her face.
Rowan
I saw her standing at the edge of the tree line, her dress lifting in the breeze around her knees. She was smiling at me, and the sight sent a warm rush through my core. She looked different, somewhat more at peace.
Thad reservations about leaving so soon after we came from Red Lakes. I didn’t know Hanna very well at the time, and honestly, I still didn’t, but seeing her now cemented what I knew to be true. She was my mate. I loved her. She was the most beautiful thing Thad ever seen in my life.
And she was changed. The bond between us was more defined. I could feel the pull, smell the sweet, home-like scent of her more clearly.
Whatever had happened in my absence, well, I would probably have to thank my mom for it.
Speaking of my mom…
“What the hell happened!” Mom said, her voice lifted in mingled elation and annoyance. Dad was walking behind me, keeping in step with Otto and Shelly. Mom’s jaw dropped in utter disbelief as Otto approached, her gaze moving from Otto, to his wife, and then to each of their many children.
It was a beautiful thing to witness, Mom seeing Otto again for the first time in fifteen years. But it was ruined for me in an instant as Otis ran up behind me, yelling “Tag!” as he smacked me firmly in the back of the knee with a large stick.
My knee gave way and I almost lost my balance, right in front of Hanna, of course.
“We have a lot to discuss,” Dad said briskly to Mom.
I could tell he was hiding his true feelings in front of Otto. I could see the look of longing in his eyes as he wrapped his hands around her, pulling her into his chest. I was too young to remember their early relationship. I had only known them as loving and committed. But I knew they had struggled, even though they were mates.
I glanced at Hanna, who was standing next to Kacidra, and met her gaze.
Maybe we had a chance, her and I.
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