Chapter 39 Callum
CALLUM
Before I can respond, the door swings open without waiting for permission.
"I heard you talking. She awake?" Keira asks.
"Yeah," I say.
Keira storms in like a force of nature, her fire-red hair catching the light from the windows.
Behind her, Octavian comes in, his eyes sweeping the room.
Then Declan, whose face is as firm as his arm around Lyra.
And finally, our mother.
May Killaney walks in last, her posture straight, her expression composed. She looks at me first, then at Zaria, and I can see the wheels turning behind her calm exterior.
I glance at Zaria, and the color has drained from her face. She stiffens beside me. I feel it in the way her hand tightens around mine, the way her breathing quickens just slightly.
"Hey," I say softly, squeezing her hand. "It's okay."
She doesn't look convinced.
I gesture to each person in turn, keeping my voice steady. "Zaria, this is Keira, Octavian, Declan, Lyra, and my mother, May."
Then I point to her. "Everyone, this is Zaria."
The silence stretches for a moment too long. Zaria winces as she tries to push herself upright against the pillows, her face tightening with pain. I reach out to help her, adjusting the pillows behind her back until she's propped up enough to face everyone without straining.
"When I was brought to the hospital," I explain, keeping my hand on hers, "I couldn't really hide you anymore. That, and Declan was there when I carried you out of the fire, so." I shrug, the movement pulling at my injured shoulder beneath the sling. "The jig is up, as they say."
Zaria's eyes dart from face to face, assessing.
"They know I'm..." she starts, her voice low.
"Cormac's daughter?" Declan cuts in, his tone flat. "Yeah. We know everything about you."
Zaria flinches like he struck her. I feel her hand tense in mine, and I'm about to say something when Keira beats me to it.
"Take it easy, Dec," she says, shooting him a look before turning her attention to Zaria. "To be honest, we were more pissed at Callum for hiding it."
Her green eyes swing to me, and now there's heat in them. "You don't hide things from family."
I hold up my good hand in surrender. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."
Keira raises an eyebrow at me. She wants to say more, but lets it go.
I turn back to Zaria, whose eyes are wide and uncertain.
"I told them everything," I say. "From how you were brought to me, to the ritual we attended, to..." I pause, searching for the right words. "To the time we spent together, to now."
She swallows hard, her gaze moving across the room again, taking in each of them.
Her lips part slightly, like she's about to say something, but nothing comes out. She takes a moment, and then speaks.
"I hope you don't hate me," Zaria says, and her voice cracks on the last word.
The vulnerability in it hits me somewhere deep in my chest. This is the woman who offered herself to me that first night, expecting to be used and discarded.
The woman who knelt in submission because that's all she'd ever been taught.
Who thought her life wasn't worth living, and now she's asking my family not to hate her.
My mother steps forward, and the room seems to hold its breath. She stops at the edge of the bed, her hands clasped in front of her.
"Hate you, dear?" she says, her tone gentle but firm.
"Why would we? You risked your life to save me when you thought I was in danger.
You helped us every step of the way to track down Cormac and reveal his sinister plans.
Without you, we'd still be in the dark looking for clues.
Also, you make my son happy." She glances at me briefly. "Or so he's told me."
Zaria's hand trembles in mine.
"Hate?" my mother says, shaking her head slowly. "No, dear. I've been in this world a long time. I know that just because you have the blood of your father doesn't mean you're to be damned like him."
She reaches out and touches Zaria's cheek with surprising tenderness, the same way she used to touch my face when I was a child. "It's what you do that counts," May says firmly. "And what you did puts you in a league of your own."
She pauses and looks around at us. "It makes her family, and for that, we all should be thankful."
The words hit me harder than I expect. I see Zaria's eyes fill with tears, her hand shaking in mine.
"Well said, Mom," Keira says, and there's genuine warmth in her voice now.
She uncrosses her arms and takes a step closer to the bed.
"I mean, I'm still annoyed that my brother kept this massive secret from us, but.
.." She looks at Zaria. "You did what you did, and that takes guts. More guts than most people have."
Keira turns and looks at her twin.
"Yeah, I mean, I was mad, sure," Declan adds, his tone lighter now.
"But we've all come full circle in ways we never thought.
" He stops and looks at Lyra. "And if you'd told me a month ago that Cormac's daughter would throw herself into a trap to try to save our mother, I wouldn't have believed you.
" His dark eyes meet Zaria's. "But you actually did it.
You walked into that fire knowing you probably wouldn't walk out. "
He pauses for a moment. "That's loyalty. To the utmost. So until you fuck that up, we're loyal to you."
I shake my head and look at Zaria. "See? They're not so bad."
She smiles.
"Thank you," she says softly, her voice thick with emotion. She looks around the room at each of them in turn. "All of you. I didn't... I never expected..."
She trails off, unable to finish the sentence. But she doesn't need to. The meaning is clear in the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, in the way her whole body seems to relax for the first time since she woke up.
My mother reaches out and pats her hand. "You're tied to us now, dear. That comes with all the complications you'd expect, but also all the protection."
"And the interference," Declan adds. "Keira likes to interfere."
"I prefer 'guide,'" Keira says.
"Call it whatever you want. It's still annoying."
Keira goes to respond, but I stop it.
"Now," I say, pushing myself to my feet carefully, mindful of the walking cast, "let's get her the hell out of here."
Zaria blinks at me. "Already? Don't I need to stay longer?"
"The doctors said that when you woke up, you could continue recovery at home as long as you follow their instructions." I reach out and brush a strand of hair from her face. "And I have everything set up for you at home, and Lyra here is something of an excellent nurse, so you'll be all right."
"Plus better food," Declan adds. "Hospital food is garbage."
"Declan order a pizza and tried to have it delivered to the waiting room," Lyra says, the first words she's spoken since entering the room. "The nurses were not impressed."
"I was hungry," Declan says. "It had been like ten hours."
"You could have eaten from the cafeteria like the rest of us," Keira says.
"I said I was hungry, not desperate."
Keira rolls her eyes.
"Okay, I'll go get the doctor in here. Find out what we have to do to get us out of here," Keira says, and walks out.
I turn and look at Zaria. "Let's get you home."