46 AURORA
“Shh, Sky, just breathe. We’ll never let anyone take you, I promise.”
We’re crammed into the small gap between the mattress and the wall, half-hidden under the pile of zebra-stuffies. She’s trembling hard, and almost hyperventilating.
The news of an approaching vehicle has sent her into a spiral of terror.
Fuck.
Over the last few days, Sky has started to open up about what she’d endured in the days after being snatched from Quo.
The horrors she endured before we reclaimed her from the grave.
She said one of the worst things was knowing what they planned to do with her. The Ménage Manor director had taken great pleasure in explaining how Sky had been chosen as the main prize for the hunt. And how she would be buried alive.
That cunt. I wish I could kill her all over again.
And Sky told us about the actual reality of being trapped in that coffin, deep in the ground.
“I didn’t want to be dug up, Rory. I’d made up my mind to peacefully let go. Just lie in the dark and wait for the end. But as soon as they nailed-up the coffin, and that first thud of earth hit the lid—I freaked.”
Her fingers are slowly healing. She’d torn off nearly every fingernail, wooden splinters had been embedded in each tip in her desperation to escape.
She has nightmares most nights, waking screaming and terrified.
“You’ve seen me in my tornado-form, sweetheart. I want you to know that you’ll always be safe in the eye of my storm,” I’d told her. “It can’t take away all the awful memories, but going forward, there will be nothing but peace, love, and hopefully lots of fun.”
But that had just made her sobs worse. “It’s not fair that I would get that and not Immy. He deserved a good life too. I miss him so much.”
“I know you do, honey. I wish you could have seen him when he shifted, it was so beautiful. I’m so sure he was experiencing a serene, pure joy. Imran knew perfect peace as he left us.”
As we huddle on the damp bedroom floor, tears prick at my own eyes.
Everything has been so fucking hard.
When will it stop?
When are we going to be able to live that serene existence I want so fiercely for us all?
When are we going to stop running, stop hiding, stop fighting?
The trailer door swings open, and I hear Basil yell his war-cry. “AHHHHHH!”
Fuck.
I shift Sky beneath me, burying her further in the soft toys, then silently crawl over the mattress. She’s gone completely silent, staring blankly into the middle distance.
“Get the fuck off me,” I hear Basil snarl.
Nope. No one touches our Basil, not on my watch.
In a flash, I’m out of the bedroom and in the main body of the trailer, ready to go tornado someone’s ass. But as I screech to a halt, all I see is Tally wrestling with Basil.
“Put down the iron, Bas, they’re friends.”
“Fuck that. They look like Conclave cunts to me. I’ll smash them.”
Hmm.
Looking past Tally, who I trust completely to handle the unruly twelve year old, I assess the visitor situation.
A black SUV with tinted, cracked windows is slowly pulling up next to the picnic table outside. As it turns parallel, I can see the driver through the open window, and my heart does a very complicated lurch.
It’s my brother.
My brother who didn’t save me from Quo.
Or from being forced to become Crankshawe’s intended.
Or help me escape the gilded-cage of Drakeward Manor.
But…he’s also the closest thing I had to a friend for most of my life—even if I only saw him for a few days a year.
I stand frozen for a beat as the freezing air takes over the warmth of the trailer. Then instinct takes over. Not waiting to put on shoes, I stumble down the steps and into Cosmo’s arms.
“Rory, am I fucking glad to see you.”
I revel in his comforting embrace for a moment, but then remember Sky is freaking out in the bedroom. I push off Cosmo’s chest. “Back in a minute.”
“What? Rory, where the fuck are you going?”
I turn and run straight into the trailer, calling out to Sky as I do so. “Hey, it’s all good. It’s just my stupid brother,” I tell her, crawling over the mattress and pulling stuffed zebras off her body. She looks up at me with big, blotchy eyes.
Fuck.
I gently stroke the hair away from her face. “Do you want to come out and meet him?”
“Maybe l-later?” she mumbles.
“Are you OK if I go back out to speak with him? I can get Basil or London to come sit with you?”
She shakes her head. “It’s alright, Rory. Gimme a few minutes and maybe I’ll join you all.” Sky gives me a weak smile. “Not gonna lie, I’m pretty curious to meet your bro.”
Leaning forward, I kiss her on the top of the head. “Love you.”
Taking a deep breath, I head back outside to see Cosmo with his arms crossed, and basically tapping his foot with impatience. Nothing changes, he still doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Well, fuck him. He’s not my priority.
“Now where were we?” I ask, going back over and poking him in the chest. “You were just saying you’d missed me.
Now…what’s my response to that?” I sarcastically tap my chin, pretending to look thoughtful.
“Did you miss me while I was in Quo? Because, like, you could have come and visited, maybe tried to get me out of there—you douche.”
Boringly, I don’t get a rise out of him.
He grins. “And there I was worried you’d be beaten down.
Glad to see you haven't changed—apart from the mad-pixie look.” Cosmo pulls me back into a hug.
“We’ve a lot to catch up on, little sis, but maybe this should continue in your fine abode. ” He glances down at my frozen toes.
“You’re not the boss of me,” I growl with zero heat and a grin on my face.
“No, but I am,” Taliesin butts in, picking me off my feet. “Come inside.”
Cosmo looks at me, then back at the SUV. He waves.
From the warmth of Tally’s arms I see the passenger door open. A huge dude with white hair steps out. He looks around, frowning and wary.
“Rory, Taliesin, this is Ludo. He’s, er, Theo’s family.”
The giant stares at Cosmo impassively.
“And, I guess, my family too.”
Interesting.
Once we’ve got Basil to stand down, Sky to understand everything is cool, and Cosmo, and Ludo settled, I realize someone is missing. “Where’s London?”
“The crazy-goat?” Cosmo asks, immediately making me bristle.
“Stop it. You don’t know him. He’s not crazy, and he’s a faun, and one of the best people I know.”
“Really, Kitten?” The man himself steps into the already over-crowded trailer. “Me? You actually would say that about me?”
“Of course I would,” I reply, rushing over to hug him. He looks a little rough around the edges. “Are you doing OK?” I ask, lowering my voice so only he can hear.
He blinks a couple of times. “Just had to get the worms in order, Kitten. All good now.”
Standing on tiptoes, I press a kiss to his cheek. “Good, because I want to introduce you to my stupid brother, and his less-stupid friend.”
Cosmo watches the kiss, looking distinctly unimpressed. Whatever.
Hey—what the fuck? How am I only just noticing? “Your eyes have changed color!”
Instead of a cold-blue, like mine, my brother now has almost lilac irises.
“Long story, but the short version is…I died, fighting our father. But now I’m not dead, and I have these eyes. And a dragon that is slowly healing.”
He died? “What? I can’t even begin to unpack that, but—are you OK?”
Cos gives a lop-sided smile. “Honestly, Rory, I’ve never been better. The toll on dying has been a little wearisome, but I can feel my dragon getting stronger every day. And my arcane magic didn’t suffer at all. Which is one of the reasons I’m here.”
Cosmo turns his gaze toward Francois, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Alexis said you were failing to learn the ward matrix by phone conversation. Honestly, de Vaux, the cast you have around this place is pathetic. I’ll show you the proper steps before you accidentally lock yourselves out of this, er, home that you’ve got going on. ”
Francois narrows his eyes, but I bat a hand at him before he and Cosmo can get into a spat. “That’s great, but not the priority right now. Did you get the rest of the kids from the Ménage Manor? And what about the traffickers?"
I watch as Cosmo and Ludo exchange speaking looks but no words.
“We sent a hand-picked WMO task force down to the island,” Cos tells us. “Made a dozen arrests and found a paper trail extensive enough to permanently dismantle the Grieves operation in Havengard.”
Good. Excellent even.
“And that creepy Director’s place? Who was that bitch anyway?”
“The hunting estate has been taken care of—the slaves are freed, the kids are rescued. The woman running it was Carol Wingfield. The manor was founded by her father, Barton Wingfield, and was originally a countryside brothel destination. After Barton died, Carol transformed it into something far more warped.”
Francois snaps his fingers. “Wingfield! Now I remember. He would come and visit my father, but at least a dozen years ago.”
Ugh. Thomas Crankshawe.
Of course he was mixed up with the loathsome Wingfields.
“That’s not all the news I have,” my brother smirks. He’s so fucking annoying.
“Well? Don’t be a dick, Cosmo.”
“Yeah, what she said,” London adds.
Cosmo’s grin widens. “We moved on Quo Reformare this morning. We put a rush on the judgement. The legal verdict came in late last night—the prison is being permanently shuttered. The ruling will go into effect in the next few weeks.”
The room goes dead quiet.
Then erupts into cheers. “FUCK, YES!” Tally bellows. London starts tap-dancing, and me and Basil high-five.
“The WMO is working to get murderers and rapists to a system in south Havengard,” Cosmo announces over the hubbub, “but everyone else will eventually be freed on a community release decree. No jail time.”
My breath catches. “All of them?”
Sky speaks from the bedroom corridor, white-faced and trembling. “Even Layla?”
Everyone swivels in her direction.
“Oh—hi, kid,” Cosmo says. “I don’t know who that is but if they were in Quo and not a serial killer, then most likely yes.”
She nods, biting her lip. “And what about the Warden?”
Cosmo shifts his expression into something surprisingly gentle. “Don’t worry, kid. Voss and his inner circle are already being shipped to a maximum-security black-site where they'll never see the sun again.”
Sky lets out a whimper, knees buckling.
I move, but Basil gets there first. “Come on, Sky, let’s go outside. Leave the grown-ups to their stupid politics.”
She gulps, then takes his hand. “OK.”
As the two kids step out, I hear Basil asking Sky about the new catapult Tally built for her. Fuck, he’s a good kid. We’ve got to make sure he has what he needs to make a good life.
Cosmo turns back at me, his expression flickering through several emotions. “What are your next steps, Rory? I’ve learned the hard way that powerful women don’t exactly appreciate being managed—so I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
I stare at him, until the new reality hits me.
It’s not just Cos. It’s everything.
We're free.
Really free.
Tally grunts from the doorframe, his amber wolf-eyes shifting toward the frosted window. “I'm going to run the perimeter.” The silent man called Ludo nods. The two of them slip out the door, then melt into the fog.
London immediately claps his hands together, his internal-bounce fully returning. “Right then! Celebration dinner! I’m thinking a Welly!” He starts rummaging through the cupboards, banging pots and singing under his breath.
I slide onto the bench next to Francois. He slides an arm around my body as I look up at him. “Can you believe this?”
“Oui, chérie. Our lives can finally begin. Remember Paris?”
Yeah, he’s not going to let that go. ‘And do you remember my dream household?”
“Before you love-birds start discussing furnishings, how about you learn how to ward wherever you live, de Vaux. You’re obviously planning a life with my sister, so you’d better step up and have adequate protection.”
“Protection?” London says, popping up from where he’s digging in the fridge. “Ooh, what if we have babies? A cute little snakelet? Baby wolf? It’s making me misty just thinking about it.”
Francois rolls his eyes, and even though I do not want children anytime soon, the image of our family being added to, is kind of appealing.
The fact that we can actually think of a future is A-fucking-mazing.
We'll all be officially pardoned, or on community service, or whatever the shit.
It doesn't matter. All that matters is finally... fucking finally we've cut a break.
“AHHHH!”
NO.
The scream from outside has us all instantly rushing to the door.
NO.
Basil. Sky.
“FUCK YOU…” Basil's high voice is severed by a sickening, wet crunch.
There are people out there. The afternoon mist is hiding who, but my guts freeze. This is bad.
“STAND DOWN!” a stranger's gravelly voice bellows, then a figure steps closer. A huge man who has Sky by her hair, while agonizing sobs rip her throat.
Fuck.
The man has a wicked-looking hunting knife directly against the soft skin of her neck. A thin line of blood wells where the blade rests.
Francois, London and Cosmo are crackling with violence. “No one do anything stupid,” I murmur. “Sky is the priority.”
Shit. We’re completely stuck.
No, Wait.
Tally.
He and Ludo are outside. They can attack from behind. I try to send him a mental message through our bond as more unknown figures appear in the clearing. Not just men, there’s also a couple of dog-things, and two giant, and I mean giant, bears.
“One more step,” the man holding Sky snarls, “One spark of magic, and this brat’s life-blood is gonna pour.”