Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Evie stared at herself in the mirror. The one-of-a-kind modish Dior black cocktail dress had a sleek scoop neck and long sleeves flowing down to a gauzy, taffeta skirt. She buckled into strappy red heels. This is going to be the hardest few hours of my life.
Her hands shook as she removed a secret book from the shelf, one that was small and dark.
Dom’s forget spell had made it impossible to remember how to open it.
Until now. She’d transported the book every time they moved, which was every few weeks for the years since Lyra was born.
Each time, she felt compelled to take the book with her by something she never understood, but someday hoped she’d remember.
“Black hearts at the Seine.” The miniature faux book opened on its own to reveal the recessed secret compartment holding the black diamond earrings.
Wear them when you want me to find you.
She wrapped her hands around them and doubled over to her knees.
She needed him. Yet, at the same time, she dreaded facing him.
The years he’d erased himself from her life proved she could survive alone.
It’d been an existence, but not thriving.
She couldn’t go back to the relationship in the shadows they had before. That wasn’t acceptable.
She wasn’t sure how to incorporate the mage into her life, or if Dom even wanted more than to remain in the shadows. Her mind usually calculated a way to a solution. This time, she couldn’t see her way to the finale.
“It’s time,” Efrem called from the door to her bedroom. “Where are you? They’ve arrived. I gathered them in the meeting room.”
“Just the boys?” she called out softly.
“Yes. They’re downstairs. Are you…” His words trailed off as she pulled herself to a stand and wiped tears off her face.
“I’m not okay. but I’ll manage.” She fisted the earrings but didn’t put them back in their hiding space.
“They need to know about all of it.”
“I’ll tell them what they need to know now.” She threw back her shoulders and marched past him.
“Evie, please. You have to tell them.”
She didn’t acknowledge she’d heard him.
Once inside the meeting room, she signaled for Efrem to lock the door. Often, she met with her sons when the family gathered to review where they were on various missions and threats.
Roman and Ky watched her warily. They wanted to talk about Dom, of course.
Flynn and Shane argued about pancakes. How she wished she cared enough to address something so banal.
She stalked to the head of the table and waited until they all stopped talking.
“What the hell happened to your face?” She pointed at several scratches on Roman’s cheek.
“Dom, who I miraculously remembered today, ordered us to get rid of a herd of goblins attacking a mage north of here. One of them got me in the face. You know their scratches take days to heal.”
“Oh. Okay. I didn’t know they traveled in groups.”
“They don’t. Everything about it reeked of a distraction.”
“From what?” Evie asked.
Roman shrugged.
“Where are we on locating the last of the programmed lycan soldiers?” she asked. They’d tracked down everyone involved in a secret non-governmental plot to brainwash nonhumans to be programmed soldiers sold as mercenaries—except for one lycan.
“That’s what you want to start with?” Roman said. “That’s human business and it doesn’t impact us right now.” He put his hands flat on the table. “We’re talking about Dom.”
“Okay.” Exhaustion stormed through her. She sat down, which she never did when leading a meeting like this. She clasped her hands on the table in front of her and stared at them. “He cast a forget spell. Last night it was broken.”
“No shit,” Roman said. “He erased himself from all of us for years. What kind of fuckwaffle does that?”
“He did it to keep us safe.”
“From whom?” Roman lifted a dagger as if about to ram it into the table.
“Roman!” Evie snapped. “Put it down. Gently. If you damage my table with it, I’ll shove it somewhere that’ll hurt like hell and remind you not to destroy my things.”
Roman rested the dagger on the table and mouthed, Sorry.
Flynn snickered.
Evie shot him a glare.
Flynn compressed his lips to prevent smiling, but his eyes still laughed.
“What’s this about Lyra being in danger?” Ky asked.
“Dom doesn’t know that she exists.” She couldn’t look at any of them.
“There’s a prophecy about his child that says something about it causing massive destruction or world ending madness.
The Mage Conclave has kept him virtually imprisoned and have done everything possible to prevent that child’s existence. ”
“What would Dom do if he finds out about Lyra?” Roman fisted the blade again. “Would he kill her?”
She swallowed a big I don’t know and braved looking at them. “It’s impossible to hide her from him.”
“Would. He. Kill. Her?” Roman asked again.
“I’m not…” She dropped her head. “I can’t imagine it, unless he’s changed.”
“I could kill him,” Roman offered. He sighed and shook his head. “He’s too powerful. I don’t think we could do it even if we all worked together.”
She met Efrem’s gaze. Earlier today, he’d informed her killing a mage might not be possible unless there was intervention from someone with god-like power. A mage could be contained or imprisoned, though. Her heart hurt at the thought of throwing Dom into a prison again. Hadn’t he suffered enough?
“We’re not killing him.” The thought of one of her sons trying to hurt her mate closed down her lungs. She sucked in air and bent over, coughing.
Efrem appeared next to her, whispering, “Are you okay?”
She met Efrem’s gaze. “I couldn’t… We can’t try to hurt him. Please, no.”
Roman’s brows pushed inward. “Why are you like this? Is this about Lyra’s safety? If he plans to kill her, then we will eliminate him first. We’ll figure it out. Mom?”
She held up a hand. Her wheezing continued. She couldn’t imagine Dom dead. She wanted to die first. Then she wouldn’t have to know he’d left her for good. She pressed a hand into her chest where the pain had settled.
“Mom! How can you feel anything for him after he cast that spell?” Roman asked.
Everyone around the table seemed to have turned to stone. Flynn’s lollypop dangled from his mouth. With a thud, it fell onto the table.
With a swallow she nodded. “Dom… If he was gone…” The wheezing hit her again.
“Stop doing this to yourself. Stop it!” Efrem ordered. “Think of something else.”
She directly eyed Roman. “How would you feel if someone said they’d kill Nova because she posed a threat?”
Roman blanched. “I thought you two had some sort of fling for a year or so.” His head jerked back. “How long, Mom?”
She thought about the mechanics of assembling her sniper rifle. Reviewing the rote action soothed her. Her breaths came easier. “It wasn’t a fling.”
“You need to tell them about the night we got free,” Efrem urged.
“Is it relevant?” The back of her throat went dry. She whispered, “I almost lost you that night, Efrem. I almost died too.”
“So did Flynn and Shane. He beat the hell out of Roman. Tell them,” Efrem urged.
She stared around the table. “That night when Willem threw me into the snow to be killed by werewolf hunters…”
Roman dropped the knife he’d fisted again. “That was a horrible night. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
She continued, “I should’ve died. I was pregnant with you, Shane, and carrying you in my arms, Flynn, when you were not even an hour old.
Willem wanted to end you, Flynn, like you were disposable, but I wouldn’t allow it.
You needed me as much as I needed you.” She reached out and took Flynn’s hand in hers.
“You were mine then, and you always will be.”
He squeezed her hand. When he met her gaze, tears glistened in them.
“To punish me, Willem pushed me outside and locked the door. He beat Roman and almost killed Efrem. Outside, there were a lot of humans coming at me. I fought with one hand because I was carrying you, Flynn. I would’ve lost if Dom hadn’t been there.
He saved the three of us.” She rocked her head.
“Okay, Dom was an asshole. He criticized my fighting technique while making me do most of the work. His point was to teach me I could defend myself and all of you. Then I got shot, and he discovered the demon curse someone put on me. He healed me and helped me get rid of the curse.”
“Then, that time the curse to the Crown was cast,” Efrem said. “They need to know about that too.”
“He was there?” Roman’s eyes bugged out.
“I went to that dreadful place in Afghanistan,” Evie started.
“You weren’t supposed to be there,” Roman said.
“If Dom hadn’t removed me right as the curse was cast, I might’ve been caught up in the curse too. I was awful to him to try to get back to you. He told me I needed to be free of it to be able to help you later.”
“He was right,” Ky said. “He went to that meeting with Willem instead of you, didn’t he? That’s how he knew where to find Flynn. He was the one who killed Willem, right?”
She shook her head. “He went with Efrem and me.”
“How long, exactly, have you known Dom?” Uncertainty tinged Flynn’s tone.
“I met him before any of you existed. Before I was sold to Willem. We were nothing but occasional acquaintances for over a century.”
“Fear of this prophecy forced him to keep it platonic until when?” Roman asked.