Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aiden
Three years later.
Tingles. That was all I could feel. My whole body was tingling. I could feel it everywhere, but my eyes were closed, my ears slowly tuning into the sounds around me. Beeping machines, whispered words I couldn’t make out. I moved where I lay, feeling my body protest, my muscles aching.
Finally, my eyes shot open, my hand flying to my chest, or I tried to reach my chest quickly to check that my heart was still beating, but I was too weak so it sort of flopped in place.
Movement from my side caught my attention, and there he was, my Nolen, my mate.
“Aiden?” he croaked, his voice gruff from misuse.
“Nolen,” I breathed, feeling my eyes tear up seeing him out of our dreams. This was real. We’d done it!
A loud groan came from behind Nolen, and there was my twin.
Derek let out another groan of protest. “Why?” he croaked, moving slowly to sit up and look around the room.
His gaze landed on me and instantly, we both turned into blubbering messes.
Tears fell from both our eyes and our words were jumbled and even I couldn’t understand what we were saying.
A loud sniffing sound came from farther left. We all turned to the sound and found a woman wiping her eyes.
“Mindy,” Nolen said, his voice still pure gravel.
“Oh, Nolen. How are you all feeling? I’ve been so worried!
But then I figured your bodies kept showing signs of progress, and you’d said to keep going until Aiden and Derek were all healed, so I kept going.
” Her words were a quick mess as she continued to talk seemingly without needing to stop and breathe.
“And then Juno demanded to come and see you and that was a whole other mess. I swear, even Alec had to come and intervene, lying his ass off that Derek could die if he entered.”
“Mindy,” I begged. “Please slow down, I’m having the worst headache.”
“Oh,” she hurried over to me. “I do apologize! It’s just that it’s been three years and—”
“Three years?!” We exclaimed at the same time.
Mindy’s eyes widened as realization dawned on her that maybe we should’ve been eased into this new information.
“I um,” she stammered. Her head was bowed in apology. “This wasn’t at all how I practiced you waking up. I am so very sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Nolen said after a few beats of silence. “This couldn’t have been easy for you either.”
She scoffed. “Can you believe how much backlash I got from other healers? They think what I was doing was unethical, that I should give up my healing license and use my skills on plants instead.”
“You got into trouble because of us?” Derek inquired.
“Some,” she admitted with another sigh. “But I knew in my heart that this was the key to saving you both. Call it instinct or whatever, I just knew.”
“And,” I began, my voice unsure. “Did it work?”
Her smile was instant and bright. “It did!”
Three relieved breaths fell from our mouths, and then we shared a smile between us.
“We aren’t broken anymore,” Derek said, choking on his words.
I broke down into tears as it hit me. I was no longer broken.
Nolen’s arms came around us, moving us closer together. “We can finally start our life together.”
So, it turned out that getting out of our very big bed wasn’t as easy as we’d thought.
Mindy had brought us three wheelchairs so we could be escorted outside for some “grass time” as they called it.
With our bodies weakened from disuse for three freaking years, it meant we needed some time with our magic.
Nolen had explained to me in our dream time together, that newborns would share their magic with the earth and how it would unlock their magic, too, and that I now had to do the same, gaining my magic for real.
It also meant Nolen and I would need to mate soon after, but since we’d shared lots of moments in our dreams over these three years, I felt good about that.
Weird how this mate thing just seemed so natural.
Mindy was the one steering me outside, and her enthusiasm meant she kept talking as we moved out of the castle.
“I haven’t even heard about sharing dreams before!” She gushed. “But then again, I also hadn’t seen a broken core before you and Derek showed up.”
I hummed in agreement, too tired to hold a conversation with her and her running mouth. I eyed Derek who was behind us. He held a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter at how much I suffered.
Mindy continued, “And it wasn’t until later on that you all three shared dreams?”
I nodded.
“That’s so cool! Maybe it was your magic seeking each other out as you healed?”
I shrugged.
“I need to study this more. Would you mind letting me interview you about it? I would love to have the three of you tell me how you each experienced it. With the amount of new mates being found in your world, it could easily happen again with the broken core thing.”
I hummed.
“Yeah, I’m gonna need verbal consent on that, otherwise I will definitely get fired.”
One of her coworkers snickered behind us. She was steering Nolen and seemed to find this just as interesting as Mindy did.
Two glass doors were at the end of the hall and I could finally see the outside. Weird how eager I could be to feel the real sun on my skin.
A guard opened the doors for us and Mindy thanked them before we continued outside.
As soon as the sunlight hit my bare arms, I shivered.
It felt like a caress as the warmth seeped through my skin and I basked it in.
After years of only dreaming about being outside, this felt a million times better than I remembered.
“Over there,” a male voice ordered. I couldn’t place who the voice belonged to, so I opened my eyes and looked around the garden.
It was a square open space, enclosed within the castle walls.
We were technically still inside the castle, but since they had this small garden in the middle, we got the privacy we needed.
Nolen and Derek had told me my existence was a secret to their friends and even if hearing that had hurt, I understood why they’d done it.
But now that we’d made it through and survived, I wanted to meet them.
This whole world was still brand new to me, and I still had so much I needed to get used to.
Meeting those closest to Nolen and Derek seemed like a good place to start.
The stranger who stood in the middle of the garden beckoned us closer.
In the exact middle stood a huge tree, the only tree in this small space, but its leaves were dull and the grass more yellow than green.
I had been told that the magic disappearing had this effect, but seeing it…
I shook my head in worry. This just seemed more urgent than I’d originally thought when Nolen went through his history lessons.
One good thing about us sharing dreams was that we had so much time to talk about things.
The man smiled as we approached, the wheels on our wheelchairs protesting the grass underneath us.
“It’s good to see you again,” he greeted, helping Nolen out of his chair first.
“You too, Alec,” Nolen smiled and slowly sat on the grass.
Alec moved to Derek who seemed to know him, which helped put me further at ease until I was introduced to him myself.
“How do you feel?” Alec asked Derek, helping him from his chair like he’d done with Nolen.
“Weak, but hopeful,” Derek smiled, moving with Alec’s help over to where Nolen sat.
“What you three went through is something new and truly helpful for the future. We have lots to discuss, but more mates have been found while you were asleep and some, like you two, had broken cores and are asleep with their mates,” Alec informed us.
“Even with all the trouble Mindy went through? They still wanted to do it?” Nolen questioned.
Alec waved it off. “The ones who felt the need to question her ability to do this have been proved wrong, and the mates had to make a decision on the spot. They never even hesitated following in your footsteps, and it could be because they trust Mindy, or it could be as simple as the fact that there’s no other option.
They could either help their mates or not.
Easiest decision to make, if you ask me. ”
My voice was a low rasp when I dared ask, “Were they hurt by our father, too?”
Alec’s gaze moved towards me and his expression turned kind and understanding.
“Some had, sadly, been through something similar, but you and Derek were the ones he’d truly tested.
The one who had the worst core had a seventy percent intact magical core, so nowhere near your level, but still enough for them to keep passing out. ”
Before I could question further, he kneeled in front of me. “I never introduced myself, I am Alec, one of the rulers of this world.”
“Juno’s dad,” I said, realizing I was indeed speaking to one of the freaking rulers!
He beamed. “Exactly. And I know both he and Remi will love to meet you, when you’re all ready for it.”
I could only nod. Fatigue was slowly taking over, being awake was much harder than expected, my body weak and aching.
“Let’s get you over to the others,” he said, but instead of helping me walk like with Derek and Nolen, he surprised me by carrying me over to them, gently easing me down next to Nolen. “Hold his hand before he touches the grass.”
Nolen instantly obeyed, grabbing for my hand and holding on as tight as he could with his weak limbs. “I’ve got him.”
As soon as my ass hit the grass, a light filled the area around me, lighting me up from the inside. I fell back, letting it take over as a rush of heat flowed through me, building to the point of pain before it vanished.
I sat up and blinked, confused but also feeling much better.
“Congrats,” Nolen murmured in my ear. “You finally got your magic.”