Chapter 40
To be Loved is to be Known
“Out of all of the stupid, rash, irresponsible things you have done, this one has to take the cake.”
Ember opened her eyes, sunlight pouring in from the mouth of the cavern, and a tall man stood in front of their fire. Ember bolted upright, reaching for the knife still strapped to her thigh.
“Siris!” Maeve squealed, bounding across the cave, and leaping into her brother’s arms.
Osiris held her tight, squeezing her as he closed his eyes. “Hi, Maevie,” he whispered.
“Do you think if we had any other options,” Fen asked, as he kicked out what was left of the fire that they had left burning from the night before, “we wouldn’t have used them? This was time sensitive.”
“You could’ve talked to me,” Osiris said, as he set Maeve back on the ground, fixing them all with a pointed stare. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“I saved my sisters,” Fen said, as he pointed at Ember and Maeve, “along with a dozen other children. You’ve barely said two words to meet since you got home. Why would I ask you for help?”
Osiris rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re such a feckin’ child,” he hissed.
“Well, at least I don’t run away from my family just because things get hard.”
Osiris looked like Fen might as well have slapped him. He quickly shook away the shock, clenching his jaw as his nostrils flared. “Now is not the time, Fenrir.”
“It’s never the time, is it?” Fen replied. “How did you find us anyway?”
Osiris fished his phone out of his back pocket and tossed it onto the grass in front of them. Fen picked it up, and a map was on the screen with a blinking dot. Fen’s jaw went slack, and he narrowed his eyes at his older brother.
“I’ve been working on this app for two years,” he mumbled. “How did you finish it?”
“You’re not the only one in this family with an affinity for technology.
” Osiris almost grinned. “I finished the code weeks ago, just to give myself something to do, something else to think about. When I woke up last night and saw that you were gone, and that my tracking spell wasn’t working, I decided to give it a go.
” He shrugged as he stuck his hands in his pockets.
“It gave me your last known location, and then this morning when I checked again, it had updated. Likely when you were finally through the wards.”
“What are you,” Fen mumbled, “some sort of secret genius?”
Osiris shot him a grin. “Oh, it’s not a secret.”
Ember narrowed her eyes at the oldest Kitt. “How did you know there were wards?” she asked, hand grazing the handle of her knife.
Osiris shifted his eyes, the muscles in his jaw tensing.
“You know about the city, don’t you?” Ember asked.
Osiris sighed, sitting down in front of the dying fire as he nodded. “There’s a group of us who have been working on tearing it down from the inside, brick by brick.” He looked at Fen, concern in his eyes now. “A rebellion of sorts. You don’t understand what you’ve gotten yourselves into.”
“A few months ago, Collum started receiving letters from someone. He was giving them inside information, but something spooked him.”
Her conversation with Rowan played on a loop in her head. Could this be who she was communicating with? Could she have been working with Osiris all this time?
“Maybe not,” Fen shrugged, “but at least we’re together again. We can handle it.”
Osiris sighed as he bobbed his head. “I love the confidence, little brother,” he breathed a laugh, “but this is so much bigger than you can fathom.”
They cleaned up their makeshift campsite, packing away the blankets and cooking utensils, and set everything on the edge of the lake for the Merrow to come back for.
Osiris’s words kept ringing in Ember’s ears, and the dread about what was to come settled in her stomach, like a stone dragging her to the bottom of the ocean.
Theo wrapped his hand around hers, smiling as he gave it a gentle squeezing.
I’m here.
After snatching his bracelet back from Fen, Osiris Echoed everyone to the entrance of Heksheim, then they all took the Echopoint home.
There were ten Vala children in total, each of them scared and quiet and looking like they might wither away right in front of them.
Ember’s stomach did flips as she walked up the drive toward the Kitts’ house, and she was very thankful she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast that morning.
Osiris opened the door, and everyone walked in, the small group of children huddled together without saying a word.
The house was deathly silent, but mumbling could be heard in the den—two men and a woman.
Eira, Otto, and… someone else Ember couldn’t quite place.
Fen must’ve heard them too because he suddenly looked like he was going to pass out.
“I am so dead,” he mumbled, his face ashen.
Ember took a step behind the boys as Eira stormed in the room, just to be safe.
“Fenrir Kitt, I should skin you alive!” she shouted, a frazzled look in her eyes. “How do you think I felt when I woke up and found you gone?”
“Me?!” Fen exclaimed. “Osiris was gone too!”
“Your brother is not sixteen years old with a curfew!” she replied, pointing a finger at him, nostrils flaring. “Just wait until your father gets ahold of—"
The word got caught in her throat as she sucked in a breath. Maeve peaked out from behind Fen, a giant grin on her face as she ran toward her mother. Eira sank to her knees.
“Mummy!” Maeve shouted, grinning from ear to ear as she wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck. “Mummy, I’m back!”
“Maevie,” Eira sobbed, her chest shaking as she held her daughter close.
The wailing grew louder, and soon, Otto was running into the room.
He gasped, tears welling in his eyes as he wrapped Eira and Maeve in a hug, and no one said a word as tears slid down his cheeks as well.
Della barreled into the room, like just the sound of Maeve’s voice echoing through the house called to her.
She leapt onto the little girl, nuzzling her head under Maeve’s chin.
Maeve wrapped her arms tightly around her neck, and Ember watched as she whispered into the Cat Sidhe’s ear—something only for the two of them to hear.
“How did you find her?” Eira whispered, as she looked at Osiris.
“It wasn’t me.” He shrugged, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. “It was those four eejits.” He pointed behind him as he rolled his eyes. “I found them in a very precarious cave this morning.”
“Cave?” Otto asked, brow raised.
“Ember love,” Eira said, as she stood up, furrowing her brow, “what are you doing here?”
Ember squeezed Theo’s hand, touching her cheek where Collum’s knife had sliced her open with the other. “Um,” she stuttered, “it’s a long story.”
Otto cocked an eyebrow at Fen. “The four of you have some explaining to do.”
“And who might you all be?” Eira asked, as she peaked around the corner where the group of children were huddled.
“I would love to know the answer to that as well,” a deep voice said from the door leading into the den.
Captain Balor’s auburn hair was perfectly trimmed, the top swept to the side and his beard neatly groomed.
His emerald eyes bore holes into the four of them as he cocked a brow, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We called Captain Balor this morning when we realized both of you were gone,” Eira said, noting all of their shocked expressions. “We were just about to send out a search party. You had us worried sick.”
Ember sucked in a breath. She didn’t know that she would ever trust anyone in the Guard ever again, but especially not a captain.
“Siris, go get your sister and the children something to eat,” Eira said, then pointed at Odette, Ember, and the boys. “You four,” she commanded, “into the den.”
Ember glanced at Osiris—a silent plea.
“You can trust him.” He nodded. “He’s one of us.”
One of us.
Ember wasn’t sure if anyone could truly help, not anymore.
The sixteen-year-olds walked into the den, Otto and Eira close behind, and Ember made her way to the cozy chair by the fire.
She nestled into the plush seat, hugging her knees to her chest, and sank into a comfort she hadn’t felt in months.
Killian and Fen sat on the couch, Odette in the chair opposite Ember, and Captain Balor stood by the fireplace, leaning on the sturdy mantle as the flame lit his face.
“Start at the beginning,” he said.
Ember took a breath and told them everything.
She told Captain Balor about her mother and how she always assumed she had drowned at sea like her father had.
She told him about moving into Lothbrok Manor, her father’s home.
Killian told them about finding Collum and his uncle in town and how they began to suspect that he was involved with the missing children.
Captain Balor nodded his head, brow furrowed as he listened, nostrils flaring slightly when they mentioned Collum.
And then Ember told them about Torsvik. Otto’s eyes widened as she talked about the chateau, how she and Theo were whisked away without any warning.
She told them about the town hidden behind the mountains on the northern coast of Ellesmere and about the Jarl that reigned there.
Her throat tightened when she talked about the dungeons and how she found all of the children huddled together in a cell, Fae and Vala alike.
She left out the part about Aesira, something told her that was information she needed to keep close to her chest for now.
She glanced at Odette, leaving out the part about the villagers, the crow insignia and Elowyn Quinn being alive.
She talked about the ball and their plan to get the children out, then how it all went to shit when they were caught by Collum.
She traced the gash on her cheek as she took a shaky breath, then told them about how her mother had found them.