Chapter 25 #2
Evie watched me flip the other sandwich onto a plate with avid eyes. “Babes, I love you, but you're stupid about work and yourself. Why do you think I had to put on a performance in front of my court?”
“Sweet Heavens this is amazing,” Maggie said as she took her first bite. “And she’s right. Leaving Declan anywhere you’re not is a dumb idea.”
Evie took her sandwich and mumbled through bites. “That bakery was running you and when you finally escaped it, you fell right back into being my chef. Why aren’t you letting Declan take care of you if you’re sick?”
“He’s not my servant.”
The sisters looked at each other and said together, “He’s definitely my servant.”
Maggie shrugged. “You know, in the most kind and loving…”
“... equal and reciprocal way!” Evie finished.
“You two are impossible. I can’t take advantage of Declan like that. He’s not like your guys. It would crush him.”
Right? The words came out, but I knew Declan better than ever now. That wasn’t quite true. Back in this Keep, with my friends, I parroted our old lines without much conviction. But what would I tell them about the Declan I now knew?
Evie smiled. “That’s true. Declan is the most innocent, sweetest shifter alive…”
My cheeks flamed crimson when I thought about how “sweet” he was because he definitely wasn't innocent. Declan hid his bite well.
“But all the more reason to let him help!” Evie chirped.
“I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit,” Maggie said.
“He’s a King. Declan's not sitting around in anticipation of my next request. There are enough burdens on his time.”
Two sets of eyes locked onto me. Neither of them looked to be breathing. The only sound that filled the kitchen was the crackling of the fire.
“A King?” They screeched together.
“He said you were a burden?” A murderous glint entered Evie’s eye.
“No no. He would never say that.” He hadn't said that. Ever. Quite the opposite, in fact. “I told him that.”
Suddenly, as all my emotions flowed back in, I was real angry with myself.
I was a strong, independent woman who never backed down on my self-worth for anyone.
Explaining it out loud to Maggie and Evie made me sound like an idiot.
Declan had loved me all this time. Without reservation or hesitation.
I at least had to muster the strength to let him in when he had seen me at my worst and still begged me to stay.
The truth sank in slowly, a snowflake on warm skin.
“Fallon. You will not choose a job over love.” Maggie, or maybe Evie, sounded outraged.
My mind started whirring with a million things to do to make this right. I had royally messed this up.
“A mate, actually.”
They both reared back in horror.
“How is he even surviving right now?” Maggie asked. “When Noth finally came for me, he looked like death.”
I threw up my hands. “You're being dramatic. I’ve been gone for all of two hours!”
I had to fix this. Turning someone into a bowl of soup was nothing next to this.
Evie looked like she was about to carry me herself all the way back to Nightfell. “Wow, you really don’t know how this works. Try to talk to him.”
“Through the bond, stupid.” Maggie glared.
I glared right back. My friends had never managed me this hard.
I was the glue of the group that kept them from destroying each other.
I dispensed advice and I didn't exactly appreciate being at the other end of it.
Still, they had been mated to a shifter longer than I had and I couldn't deny I was curious what was happening on Declan's end.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “As stated, I've only been gone for two hours. What am I supposed to say?”
“That you can't live without him,” Evie jumped in.
“That your heart beats for him,” Maggie replied.
Ward’s voice rumbled into the kitchen. “My life unfolded in such brilliance the moment I met you I was blinded, stunned, and perhaps I forgot to tell you, you're my everything.”
Evie sniffled. Ward slunk as far back into the shadows as a giant bear shifter could.
“Good thing I'm already pregnant,” Evie huffed.
“Yes. That. Say that,” Maggie said, rubbing her thighs together.
Well, that was certainly something. But when I reached for that familiar pathway, the one I hadn't even realized I’d grown to rely on, I got back nothing but static. My concern grew with every moment he didn't answer. Had I lost the right to worry about him by running away from my feelings?
“Nothing. I can't reach him.” I had to get to him even though I had just arrived here. Of all people, Maggie saw the war on my face.
She grabbed my hand, as soft as I’d ever seen her. “Babes, you can't do it all and that's perfectly acceptable. You're going to have to choose and be okay with doing one thing at a time.”
“I can't lose you, either of you. Old Magic hides Declan’s territory from the Harrowlands and he can't leave it without destroying Sombermane. How are we supposed to manage that?”
“We’ll come visit. No one says no to a Dragon and Maggie can shadow-walk anywhere.”
“And we are coming to visit because I’m going to look up every treatment for Hollow Fever and you’re going to take those sigils like a good girl. You’re not in this alone, Fallon.”
Tears welled up and the sisters surrounded me in an awkward embrace. With my friends at my back, my secrets out in the open, suddenly Declan's love no longer looked like a noose.
Evie heaved herself out of the chair. “In fact, I’ll take you back right now.”
Ward materialized beside us. “No, you will not. You’re pregnant with our child.”
Evie scrunched up her face. “I can do things.”
“You can do anything, my love… but not that. Let's not try perfecting your flying when you can crash-land on our offspring.”
Evie huffed out the largest sigh in the universe. “Fine. Maggie?”
Shadow-walking wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. Every time Maggie dragged us through that space, I threw up. “I can ride a horse back to Declan.”
Maggie checked her nails and delivered her usual level of devastation. “Let's not get stupid now.”
“If those are my choices…”
Maggie stood up, darkness pooling in her hands. “Yep. Let’s go!”
We hurtled into the dark with surprising speed for a witch that couldn’t power up just a year ago.
“You’re going to have to aim us. Just think about Declan and the bond should pull us through to him.”
I could do this. How much could have happened in a few hours?
I held on to the contents of my stomach because a sliver of bright lit the end of the twisting tunnel Maggie pulled us through.
Declan had to be okay. The monks were gone. He told me that I was free to leave. I had just been too stupid to admit that I wanted to stay.
“He’s just beyond.”
Maggie patted me on the ass. “Go get him, girl.”
I went to step out into Anise’s cheery kitchen and instead walked into a fog bank swirling around an ominous cathedral of pine trees. Moonlight filtered through the snow-laden branches and I pulled my coat tighter around me.
Maggie put a hand on my shoulder. “What in the seven hells? Is Declan crying soulfully beneath a withered pine tree as a symbol of your love?”
I absorbed the unfamiliar location. Creepier than the border crossing, my skin prickled with fear. “They all should have headed back home.”
Maggie looked at me sharply. “Wait. He doesn't live in some hole in the ground, does he?”
I waved away her concern, my heart beating faster. What was wrong? “No, Nightfell is…”
The air bent in uncomfortable ways behind us. “Pumpkin?” Noth’s voice only added to the chills of this place. Two red eyes glowed through the night.
He dragged Maggie back into the dark. “Rat Face, I’m busy.”
“You don’t leave our bed until I say you do.”
Maggie held on to a passing pine tree but it was useless. Noth’s shadows fully wrapped around her, swallowing her into the void.
“You got this, girl!” Maggie gave a thumbs-up as she disappeared into Noth’s embrace.
I got this. I thought to myself and swallowed down my dread.