NINE
Amy
From the moment Aya - Drake's mother - put her hand to my face, everything seemed to happen in a flurry of activity.
I had gone from freezing and alone, everyone watching me like I was about to whip out a machete and start hacking everyone to death, to cozied in front of a fire while Nesta - Drake's older sister - boiled me water for chamomile tea to warm up my insides and Rayna - Drake's younger sister - made me a plate of dried fruits and veggies to go along with the nuts and seeds I had left.
I had snuck a lot of it into the bag I had convinced Smoky to take with her, knowing she would be too proud to take it otherwise, but also that she was desperately in need of the sustenance.
"As soon as you ward off that chill, we will take you into the bedroom so you can wash up.
We'll lend you some warmer clothes too," Aya told me, in full mom-mode toward me even as she couldn't take her eyes off her son who was standing near the wall, talking in low tones with his father, both of their faces a bit grim, making me long to know what they were talking about, but reminding myself that Drake needed his privacy with his family.
"You really saved him?" Rayna asked, dropping down beside me at the dining room table.
"My family had been the ones to chain him up," I told her, uncomfortable with the look of gratitude in her eyes. "I don't know if setting him free qualifies as saving him in this situation."
"Don't be ridiculous," Nesta demanded, rolling her eyes as she pushed back her shoulder-length brown hair. "Of course it qualifies. If you didn't take him with you, he'd still be there now, wouldn't he?"
"Yes."
"Then you saved him," she told me, tone brooking no argument. "Accept our gratitude, Amethyst. You deserve it. We were close to giving up hope."
The door might as well have revolved over the next few hours as distant family members, old friends, nosy neighbors all showed up to see Drake, to dote on him, to offer him any help he might need in getting back on his feet.
At some point, I was ushered, as promised, into a bedroom that had once belonged to Nesta and Rayna, given warm water, told to help myself, and left alone.
There were remnants of adolescence all around - old toys stuffed in corners beside dried flower crowns, clothes they had likely grown out of, little drawings on the wall, and even a little heart carved into the wall by one of the beds.
Nesta loves Gray.
I wondered a bit fleetingly if that was her husband or mate or whatever it was called, or just some silly girlish crush.
Finding fresh clothing, I stripped out of my old, dirty ones, washing with the water scented with lavender sprigs brought to life again with the moisture.
I maybe lavished in it a bit, thankful for clean after sweating and laying on dirty floors.
I changed into clothes that smelled of cedar, a familiar scent, all my clothes having the oil clinging to the fabrics each season when they were brought out of storage.
Then, a bit uncomfortable intruding on his long overdue homecoming, I stayed there, sitting down on Rayna's old bed, then lying down, pulling the covers up.
And, without realizing it, falling to sleep.
I woke up to something touching my cheek.
"Sh, sorry, honey. Didn't mean to wake you," Drake's quiet voice called. I looked up, finding him similarly cleaned and changed, his eyes a bit swollen with tiredness. "I hadn't seen you for a while. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."
Scooting back a bit, my hand patted on the mattress, inviting him down.
He sank in, making the somewhat thin mattress - likely stuffed with leaves, cotton, and hay, bend inward, forcing my body to slip against his. I didn't bother moving away.
"I didn't want to infringe," I told him, shrugging it off.
"You weren't infringing. Honestly, it was nice to see a face that wasn't looking at me like some ghost come back to life."
"They love you so much," I told him, feeling a bit of a selfish sinking in my belly at realizing it wasn't something I had ever known, could ever know.
"They do," he agreed, giving me a slightly sad smile, like he was thinking the same thing I had been.
"Your mother is, ah... she's a mom, y'know?" I asked, rolling my eyes at my crummy conversational skills. "I've never really known anything like that. She's so warm."
"Yeah, she is. She thinks you're the greatest thing since the veil," he told me, sincerity in his words.
"She wanted me to tell you that you are welcome here as long as you need a place to stay," he added, reaching down to close his hand around my wrist. "I plan to make you your own place.
Soon. So you can start your life here. But until then, I figure we can stay here. "
We.
I mean, he didn't mean it like that, but my heart couldn't help but skitter around a bit at the idea that he might. That maybe someday he could.
Maybe it was too soon for thoughts like that. Maybe it was silly and girlish of me.
But I hadn't been able to stop those wandering thoughts for the past few days. Well, let's be honest here. Months. Because he had been a very active star in my daydreams even when he wasn't around, even when no hope of him coming back existed.
"It's nice here," I told him, meaning it. "I like your family."
His smile went warm at that, making his eyes look even more tired. "Are you comfortable? Warm enough?"
There was no fire in this room, likely a choice his parents had made to keep them as children safe, but the warmth from the hearth in the main room managed to keep the worst of the chill out.
I don't know what possessed me, where the confidence, the daring came from, but my body scooted back against the wall, making room in the small bed, hand moving to lift the blankets I was very comfortably nestled under.
"I could be warmer," I invited, trying not to cringe at the somewhat wobbly sound of my own voice, the insecurity, the fear of rejection clear as glass to my ears.
Drake said nothing, but slowly lowered himself down, his huge form swallowing up most of the bed, making me crush even further against the wall.
"Come on," he said, arm sliding under me, pulling me closer.
"Get comfortable," he added, curling me onto his chest, pulling the blankets back up over my body, cocooning me in his warmth.
There was a long pause before his hand moved up, sifting through my half-dry hair.
"I'll show you around tomorrow. I'm pretty sure half the clan visited today, so most of the interest in me might blow over, so we can be left alone. "
"That sounds nice. I mean... the looking around thing. I'm glad your friends want to reunite with you. I don't mind if they interrupt the tour." I paused, letting myself snuggle in a bit. "Than..."
"Don't thank me, Amy," he demanded softly.
"Okay," I agreed. "Then... I'm glad you brought me here."
His arms went around me, tightening. "I'm glad I brought you here too."
-
"There's a waterfall back there about a mile," Drake told me the next early afternoon, holding an arm out toward a hillside covered in pine trees. "I'd show it to you, but it would be freezing. It would be better in the spring."
"I don't know if I want to walk another mile anyway," I admitted, snorting a bit. "I think I have done enough walking these past couple months to last a lifetime." At his drawn-down brows, I shrugged. "You have no idea how much walking you have to do in the city if you want to avoid the subway."
"We should probably be heading back anyway. My mother will likely be making lunch soon. Soup. She makes great soup."
"Think it could wait a while?" Drake's friend - and one of the elders - Kieran said, stepping out of the line of trees, having clearly been eavesdropping.
"I thought the elders were going to give me a few days," Drake insisted, voice getting a little sharp.
"Not the elders, just me."
Drake's gaze went to me, torn.
"I know my way back," I assured him. And after having listened to him tell me all about their rules, laws, their beliefs, their complete and utter lack of violence or crime of any sort, I was pretty sure I couldn't be safer in this realm he called home.
It had felt scary the day before when he'd left me, when people looked at me with fear and mistrust, when I knew nothing of how things worked.
Besides, if this was going to become my home, I had to get comfortable navigating it on my own.
If I had managed to accomplish that in the city where crime was rampant, and the rules and laws that were in place were rarely abided, I was sure I could do so here.
"I can walk you back and then..."
"Don't be silly," I assured him. "Double the work for no reason. I'll be fine. Nice seeing you again, Kieran," I told him, giving him a small smile before shuffling off before I - or Drake - could think better of it.
There were no hordes bent on hurting me on the way home, just the occasional bird or even Draca child, jumping behind trees to hide from me, giggling so blatantly it was charming.
"Oh, there you are, angel," Aya declared, giving me that smile that awakened the long-buried, needy little girl within me. "Did you have fun looking around?"
"I did. Drake will be back in a few minutes. He had some friends to catch up with. I thought I might come back and help out around here. I can't claim to know how to cook, but I would like to be of help."
"Your mother never taught you to cook?" she asked, brows creasing. "How did she expect you to feed your mate and offspring?"
"I imagine she pictured me in an estate with servants," I admitted, feeling my cheeks heat at that admission, knowing how odd it would sound in this world where everyone worked, everyone pitched in, no one was made subservient to anyone else. Not even for money.