Chapter 19 #2
Ring, ring.
Melek’s phone buzzes. A hand leaves my bottom to bash at the nightstand.
We get a short break before it starts up again, the sound finally breaking us apart.
Both of us disentangle on a groaned exhale.
“I’m not finished with you,” my husband says, giving my forehead a quick kiss before he slips from under the covers to answer the person on the other end.
I’ve never used a phone before, but if it’s as confusing as the computer in his study is, I have no interest. Give me a book and a garden any day.
Watching his imposing ripped back as he walks away, his hard-on hidden behind black underwear, I try to forget who he is.
It proves challenging when it’s staring me right in the face.
The commander doesn’t use a greeting, listening intently, swiftly moving towards our closet.
I ease back, flipping over to Sunny’s side of the bed.
Once I make contact, I snuggle into him.
My boy has always been a heavy sleeper. That’s not something I learnt in the lightning fields.
Melek’s voice cuts through the quiet. “Now?” he clips. Melek makes his way from the wardrobe and into the bedroom, shoes in hand, fully dressed in his black on black work clothes, brown hair dishevelled. My lungs constrict.
“Yes. I’m coming,” he answers to the voice on the other line before shutting off the phone and sitting at the end of our bed, putting on his shoes.
I watch his black button-down stretch over his bulk as he bends down to tug on his leathers. He runs a hand through his thick waves—the first sign of any discontent since the call. Said discontentment, I suspect, has something to do with me.
He gets up and faces the bed, staring at me. Bingo.
“I’ve got urgent business with the council.” Staring him down without inflection, I play with Sunny’s hair, trying my best to be nonchalant.
Seeing right through me, he comes closer, sitting down next to our son. “Both of you need rest today. I will get Mia to bring you your meals in bed, as well as whatever else you need.”
We both watch a sleeping Sunny for a minute until I feel his punishing heat. “I’m serious, Storm. Stay in bed.” We still haven’t discussed what made him start calling me Storm.
Stretching out beside his small doppelganger, I twirl Sunny’s hair. “Yes, Papa. We will stay in bed.”
I watch the veins in his neck throb. A hypnotic dance. He leans over Sunny, putting his face in mine. “If I find you disobeying an order again, wife…”
“Yes, yes, husband. There will be hell to pay,” I answer, smiling sweetly at him. I’ve got him wrapped around my finger. We both know it. His punishments have always been for my pleasure—pain was even more of a driving force in my pleasure in our earlier days.
“Fuuuuck.” He pulls away, straightening back to his full height, adjusting the rigid length in his pants, watching me. I know he wants to say more. He doesn’t, opting for obsessively eyeing me down, taking us in like his favourite picture. I return the favour.
Once he has us committed to memory, he walks away. Not a word. Not a huff.
He is the commander again.
Sunny and I try to stay occupied in the main bedroom, but since I feel more than fine, practically bouncing off the walls, and he has returned to his usual ray of bright light, in the afternoon, we creep into his bedroom to play with his building blocks and cars.
In between a particularly harrowing game of man-eating cars and flying peas, Sunny stops and crooks his head, eyes wide, murmuring, “Mama, that green man is here again.”
I get such a fright when I spin around, my heart leaps out of my throat. “Biscuits,” I swear, holding my hand to my chest. Thank goodness that’s all that slipped out. “Give me some notice next time.”
Adam stands leaning against the doorframe, smirking. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“The point is that scaring a pregnant woman is no fun, especially if she goes into labour early.” His smile disappears.
“Noted,” he replies. “Now, let’s go.”
“What?” I remark, confused by his sudden urgency.
“I said I would be back for you, and here I am. In the flesh, back to take you towards your desired destination.”
I’m not ready. The thought is a whirling avalanche inside me. This is too soon. I can’t believe I forgot. I fucking forgot that my time was almost up. After spending the day in the happiness and safety of my home, I forgot the plan to escape from Halo. Fuck.
“Come on, human, I do not have all day. The sleeping mist I diffused between your maid and the surrounding keepers will only last the hour. We need to be long gone when they wake up.”
Grasping the end of Sunny’s bedpost, I stand. “Sunny hurt his arm,” I stupidly say.
“Can you walk, child?” He directs the question at my son.
“Yep. Papa said it’s only a bruise and I’m super brave.” He gets up on his feet and jogs on the spot, showing how nimble he is.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
The green giant turns to walk out the door. I panic, sweat gracing my forehead. “The bag?”
Stick to the plan, Storm. What if this is the last chance you get to save your children? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep Sunny and Phoenix out of the clutches of the hollow. If they get them, they will destroy them. They’ll never find true happiness…
A memory of a startling blue fae with midnight black hair telling the hollow I was not one of them when I was six crosses my mind. If he was willing to lie to the hollow for me—an unknown serond—surely that is proof enough that the fae are good…
“What bag?” he asks, turning back towards me, blocking the whole frame of our way out.
“I packed a backpack. It’s just in the spare bedroom.
” Squeezing around him as best as I can at eight months pregnant, a glare from above lets me know I’m not doing such a great job.
Once I’m through, I head to Phoenix’s room, finding the nondescript black canvas backpack I stashed in the closet behind a bunch of baby boxes.
Am I doing this? I question myself as I open the bag to quickly make sure my locket is in it.
A gleam of silver twinkles back at me, the word fight flashing across my mind.
I quickly zip it up for safekeeping. I can’t risk losing it, the last lifeline to my family.
Shouldering the bag, I return to Sunny’s room.
The necklace is my reminder to keep going, even when things feel different. Changed. Melek?
“Can you put warm clothes and shoes on him?”
Adam nods.
Briskly walking over to my room, I fetch my thickest coat and boots and add some woolen pants under my nightgown.
Sunny is already wearing thermal pyjamas, so at least he won’t freeze to death.
If the weather is cold, like in Halo. The factory visit proved much warmer than I had expected, and it is closer to the tree line. I’m unsure what to anticipate.
Anxiety begins to claw its way up my throat; concern for my baby.
They have magic, I remind myself. She’ll be safer in the Fairy Lands than in Halo.
She has to be. The most dangerous part will be the journey.
I can manage a few days on the road, especially with how energised I feel after Melek’s transfusion.
On autopilot, I continue, regardless of my heart screaming out for its commander. Rushing from my room at the same time as they do, we all head for the stairs.
“Adam said we get to go see Papa at work.” Lies. It’s probably better than telling him he’s never going to see his father again. I’ll cross that bridge later.