Epilogue
The tears that had fallen were still wet against my skin by the time we’d made it back to our ship.
Ezra had led the way through the tunnel, Laurence bringing up the rear, with Rayven and Robyn forcing me and Viva—my little sister—farther and farther away from our mother.
The female I’d been searching for my entire life.
She’d slipped through my fingers like fine sand, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever fully recover.
It felt as though I’d left part of my heart back in that fallen fortress.
Now, we were forcing our way through the other ships that had blocked us in on both sides, and though Viva had been trusted enough to be released, her logic winning her over, I had not.
I turned in Rayven’s arms to face him, pounding on his chest.
“Let me go! I have to go back!” I pleaded, the tears beginning to well in my eyes once again.
“Matea, please,” the spy said softly, his voice husky as ever.
Everything about him pissed me off, but deep down, I knew he was right. It would be stupid to return after we’d just barely escaped with our lives.
“I can’t just leave her there,” I said, my voice cracking pathetically.
“We’ll get her back.” Rayven gently rested a hand against the back of my head, cradling me against his chest.
I took a moment to allow myself to find comfort in his act of kindness. It was a privilege I rarely allowed myself.
“Maybe sooner than you realize,” he added, his grip on me loosening as he lifted an arm, pointing toward the shoreline we’d just left.
And running full speed out of the tunnel we’d exited moments before was the same female I’d just been crying over.
She’d made it out.
I watched, stunned, as Viva helped water wield the ocean below to allow for her to make it to the ship.
As she boarded the ship, I fell to my knees.
After decades, my mother had finally, at long last, returned to me.