Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
DEVLIN
I didn’t like how silent Z had become.
Tension permeated her body, bunching the muscles in her shoulders until they practically reached her ears. She didn’t say a single word as we drove away from town and back towards camp.
The sun began to set in the distance, its spindly orange rays desperately grasping at the edges of the land. The sky had turned a metallic shade of pink streaked here and there with orange and green.
Bash, who was driving, began to tap his fingers against the steering wheel. We told him what Atta and Axel had said a while ago, and I could tell he was having difficulty processing this revelation. I didn’t blame him. Heaven only knew my own head was spinning. We all had a thousand questions.
But all Bash said was, “Are you okay, baby?”
Z blinked and turned away from the window, a frown touching the corners of her lips. Instead of answering verbally, she nodded once and resumed her perusal of the countryside.
Bash met my gaze in the rearview mirror. I imagined his worried expression mirrored my own.
“Z—” Lupe began, attempting to swivel in the passenger seat.
“I’m fine. I don’t want to talk about it,” Z replied stiffly.
None of us pushed her.
When we finally arrived at the camp—greeted by five human guards carrying crossbows and guns—Z stormed out of the car before I even unbuckled myself. I watched her retreating back with a lead weight in my chest.
Bash blew out a breath and lowered his forehead to the steering wheel. When he spoke, his voice sounded slightly muffled. “She’s going to be okay, right?”
“Her mother is putting her through hell trials, her murderous father is on earth, and her sister is trying to kill her,” Lupe responded darkly. He fixed his glare out the window, though he didn’t appear to be staring at anything in particular. “No. I don’t think she’s going to be okay.”
With that, he slid out of the car, the door slamming shut behind him.
Bash and I didn’t move for a solid minute. Through my periphery, I could see his fingers tapping rhythmically against the rubber. Then he sighed, turned off the car, and exited the vehicle as well.
Finally, I was alone.
All of the questions I kept locked away, all of my fears… They rushed out of me like a dam shattering.
What did all of this mean? Was Z’s angelic father another threat we had to take care of? What would he do to her once he found her? Kill her? Torture her?
Fear for my mate threatened to bowl me over.
I wouldn’t allow that to happen.
I’d fight tooth and nail if I had to.
I squeezed my eyelids shut and willed air back into my spasming lungs. I had to control myself. The others relied on me to keep a level head, to lead them. I couldn’t do that if I were spiraling face-first into a fathomless pit of despair and depression.
Once I was certain I had my bearings, I reopened my eyes and stepped out of the car.
Froze.
Blinked.
Frowned.
What the fuck?
Mere seconds ago, I stood in the middle of a forest with tents and trailers scattered throughout. Now, I appeared to be in a…meadow.
I rubbed at my eyes, certain I was hallucinating, but the scene didn’t change. In every direction, as far as I could see, hills of green dotted with yellow and white flowers rippled. A large white farmhouse stood directly in front of me.
What. The. Fuck?
Hesitantly, I ran up the first few steps and onto the wraparound porch. Plants hung from hooks above me, and a wooden swing swayed in the light breeze.
I stared at the house with mounting horror.
Was this my trial?
Where was Z?
What was I supposed to do?
How—
“Lin!”
The door of the home was thrown open, and I came face-to-face with a beaming Z. Her golden curls were arranged in an elegant bun at the nape of her neck, a few shorter tendrils brushing her cheeks. She wore jeans and a beige sweater that slid down one shoulder.
“Z? What’s going on? How?—?”
Her kiss interrupted my questions. Butterflies fluttered to life in my stomach, as they always did when she touched or kissed me, and I reached for her, desperate to deepen the kiss. But she danced away with a lilting laugh, her blue eyes sparkling.
“Dinner’s going to get cold,” she admonished, hurrying farther into the house.
Dinner?
Reluctantly, I followed her, taking stock of my surroundings. Everything was simple but elegant—white walls, wooden floorboards, and old-fashioned furniture that gave the home a rustic feel. Picture frames on the fireplace mantel caught my eye, and I took a step in that direction, grabbing the one closest to me.
It was a picture of…me. Me and Z. Together. Smiling. She wore a gorgeous white dress, not unsimilar to the one she had on when she was forced to marry Axel, and grinned up at me as if I were her entire world. Swallowing around the razor blade in my throat, I set that picture down and grabbed the next one.
This one was just of Z, her hands cradling her stomach.
Her bloated, pregnant stomach.
My heart hammered now, and my palms felt clammy.
I reached for the third picture?—
“Daddy!”
I spun just as a little girl grabbed me around the legs, holding tight. All I could see from this angle was a mess of blonde ringlets, eerily similar to Z’s own gorgeous locks.
“Abbie! Let your father go,” Z scolded.
Father?
My mouth went dry. All of the moisture had gone straight to my eyes, which began to burn.
This couldn’t be happening.
No. No. No. No.
The little girl—Abbie, apparently—tilted her head up.
And a pair of startling violet eyes met mine.
Everything stopped working at once. I couldn’t stand. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. I stumbled slightly and barely managed to make it to the couch before I collapsed. The little girl climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck, her purple eyes gleaming. When she smiled, I noticed a missing tooth.
“Daddy promised he would play dolls with me!” Abbie exclaimed, the statement directed at Z despite the fact she never took her eyes off my face. A pout formed on her lips. “Don’t you remember?”
This time, she spoke directly to me.
“I…” Swallowing was impossible with a seven-foot blade in my throat.
“After dinner.” Z clapped her hands and then pointed towards a door. “Wash up.”
Abbie blew out a breath. “Yes, Mommy.”
The little girl jumped off my lap and hurried towards the room Z indicated. It was only when she was gone did Z step forward, concern twisting her beautiful face. A frown tugged at her lips.
“Is everything okay, Lin?” She ventured a few steps closer and then perched on the couch beside me.
Lin.
That was the name she’d called me during our first relationship—before I left her and returned to the capital, breaking both our hearts in the process.
“Where are the others?” I hadn’t seen my brothers since I arrived. There weren’t any pictures of them in the living room that I could see.
Her golden brows furrowed. “Others?” One of her dainty hands lifted to my forehead, as if checking for a fever. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Killian and Ryland and Dair and Lupe and Jax and Bash?—”
“You mean the princes?” Disgust twisted that last word until it could almost be considered an expletive.
I began to put the pieces together.
Z had called me Lin.
The only pictures in this house were of me, her, and Abbie.
She seemed to regard the princes with disdain.
Was this…?
Was this reality what things would’ve been like if I’d never left her? If I’d stayed behind, gave up my crown, and the two of us ran away together?
We always talked about getting away from it all—finding a home in the country, as far from the cities as we could possibly get, and starting a family. Of course, I didn’t believe I could have kids with Z, considering she was a human and I was a genie, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming. From wishing.
Z kissed the corner of my lips and then stood gracefully, extending a hand for me to take. After only a moment of indecision, I took it, allowing her to haul me to my feet.
“Enough about those…creatures.” She pulled back her upper lip in a snarl before smoothing out her expression. “Let’s just enjoy our evening.”
She led me towards a modest dining room with a table capable of fitting six people. Only three spots were set for dinner, though.
Abbie was already sitting, eyeing the food with wide, hungry eyes. She looked as if she were salivating. Z claimed one seat, and I took the other, a tiny tremor reverberating through me.
“You…made this?” I asked in surprise.
The Z I knew didn’t cook.
Z threw her head back in laughter. “You’re joking, right?” When I stared at her blankly, unsure of what was so funny, her giggling subsided, quickly replaced with alarm. “Don’t you remember?”
“ You cooked the meal, Daddy.” Abbie waggled her fork in the air for emphasis. “Mommy just set the table.” Abbie covered her mouth with her hands and began to chuckle. “Do you remember when Mommy set the kitchen on fire trying to cook pasta?—?”
“Hush.” Z playfully swatted her daughter’s shoulder before refocusing back on me. Her smile faded. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Lin? Did something happen outside?”
“What was I doing outside?” The question escaped me instinctively, before I could think of the ramifications of asking it.
Z stood immediately. “That’s it. We’re taking you to a healer.”
“Is Daddy okay?” Abbie volleyed her gaze between the two of us with concern.
I didn’t know this girl—not technically—but something innate within me wanted to comfort her, to smooth out the tiny furrow materializing between her golden brows. This was my…daughter.
No! She wasn’t my daughter. Not really. She was just an illusion Lilith created to trick me. I had to remember that.
“Daddy’s fine,” I told her, feeling that familiar prickling of tears in my eyes. “I just need to talk to your mother for a moment.”
I stood as well and waited for Z to cross around the table before taking her hand in mine.
“We’ll be back in a second,” Z assured a frowning Abbie, leading me out of the room.
We walked down a hallway, up a staircase, and then entered a room on the right.
A king-sized bed dominated the majority of the space, flanked by two nightstands. The nightstand on the right captured my attention. On it lay several newspapers, all of them describing the kings and princes. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was my side of the bed.
Hesitantly, I grabbed the nearest article and held it up to read better.
… Jax and Atta’s marriage starts the beginning of a prosperous alliance between the vampires and the shifters…
…Prince Bash was spotted exiting a brothel earlier this week. What does this mean for the pampered royal?
…Will the shadows declare war on the incubi? Experts certainly believe so…
…Prince Devlin’s disappearance has been tied to the mermaids…
“Aren’t you glad we don’t have to deal with any of this?” Z asked softly from behind me, standing on her tiptoes to read over my shoulder.
I couldn’t answer her.
We were safe here, yes, but what about my brothers? They were stuck at the capital, fulfilling the twisted desires of their fathers.
Yet…
There was no Aaliyah. No Lilith. No angels or demons or extinct supernatural creatures attacking us every chance they got. There was only me, my wife, and my daughter.
Safe.
We were safe.
A single tear cascaded down my cheek.
“Lin?” Z spun me to face her. Alarm pinched her features and widened her eyes. “Are you okay?”
I offered her a watery smile. “We’re happy here, right?”
She gaped at me. Out of everything she expected me to say, it apparently wasn’t that. “Of course!”
I cupped her face and rubbed my thumb back and forth over her cheekbone. She cuddled against my palm like a cat, and my heart swelled…before instantly meeting resistance with the barbed wire surrounding it.
“This is all I ever wanted for us.” Another tear joined the first. “I love you so much.”
“I don’t understand.” A frown curled her lips, and the furrow between her brows deepened.
“But how can I put my happiness above my brothers’? Above the rest of the world? They need you, Z.” I spread an arm out to encompass not only the bedroom, but the house as a whole. Idyllic. Comfortable. Safe. “I can’t allow greed to blind me to the rest of the world. I want nothing more than to keep you hidden away, but that’s not right.” I pulled her lips to mine in the most tender, softest kiss imaginable. Every butterfly in my stomach rioted when we parted. “I’m sorry.”
I couldn’t stare at her a second longer. If I did, I might change my mind and be selfish. Keep her for myself.
“Lin? Lin!” Z called to my retreating back as I pushed past her and hurried down the stairs.
Tears blurred my vision, and my heart thumped erratically in my chest, cracking and breaking and shattering and?—
“Daddy?” The quiet voice sounded from directly behind me.
A sob built in my chest.
Could I really do this? Could I really kill my own daughter?
She’s not real, I mentally scolded myself, feeling the last remnants of my heart crumble into thousands of intricate pieces.
“Daddy, where are you going?”
I froze, one hand on the doorknob, indecision warring within me. My muscles locked together. Panic gripped me in a chokehold.
Then, without a word, I threw open the farmhouse door…
And immediately exited into a bustling forest.
A few humans gave me confused looks. Bash, who had been walking by, also paused to stare at me, his mouth molded in a frown. He still wore the same clothes he had on when I disappeared. It must be the same day. Hell, for all I knew, no time had passed.
But it didn’t feel that way to me.
“Dev? Are you okay?” He reached for me, but I stepped away, belatedly aware that tears still streamed down my face.
“The genies will join now,” I whispered hoarsely.
His brows lifted in surprise, but before he could press for an explanation, I hurried away.
I needed to be alone.
I needed to forget everything I had just given up—and the future I now knew I could never have.