Chapter 28 Rhiannon
RHIANNON
The words just slipped out. I was so tired. So weak. And when he shouldered the weight of Myrine’s form, so much relief coursed through me that I wasn’t in complete control anymore. But I didn’t want to take them back. They were true.
I loved Eryx Necroline with my whole heart.
We still had a lot to do to get to know one another, to find a way to work together, but I loved him, and I was too tired to pretend I didn’t.
Saints, I was too tired to even worry that he might not love me in return.
The upside to not having overthought this to death was that I hadn’t had a chance to consider the possibilities.
There was rarely a time when I hadn’t explored all the possible scenarios before acting, but today was a day for it, apparently. I waited, knowing that Eryx needed time to process. I could wait, I decided, nodding. “It’s okay,” I said. “You don’t need to say anything back.”
“I need to find a place for the Admiral,” he said, his words taking obvious effort. “I can’t tell you I love you properly holding onto her.”
I did the only thing I could do—laugh so hard that I cried. “Okay,” I nodded.
I moved aside to let him go up the stairs ahead of me, crying with every step.
Letting out all the hurt and anger I’d kept inside for so long.
I had no illusions that one good cry would solve this.
It would take time. Years maybe, but I could come back to myself now.
I could come home to myself, and trust my instincts, and trust this man who loved me too.
“Am I going to have to put her down?” Eryx asked. We were almost to the top of the stairs. “You’re crying a lot and I’m worried.”
The simple, clear way he said it left no room for misinterpretation. No room for inserting my own bullshit that could make it mean something it did not. “No,” I sobbed. “I’m just so happy.”
Eryx snorted softly. “Sounds like it.”
“I am,” I insisted, as I cried harder through my smile. Too many emotions coursed through me now. The floodgates were open, and they were all free.
Like me. My mother might be captured, but I was finally free.
A few days ago, I might have felt guilty thinking that way.
I was supposed to love her. But the truth was, I’d never known her.
She’d never let me. And though I would do whatever it took to rescue her now, I would do it for my people.
I would do it as one of the Maere, not as Otrera’s princess, or Silea’s daughter.
I wasn’t either of those things anymore. I was just Rhiannon Bronte now.
We reached the top of the stairs, and Eryx pushed through the barely closed door. The cottage was different than it had been in the time we’d lived there. Everything was similar to what we’d lived with, but faded. Older. Dusty.
The wallpaper that had been so vivid, just hours ago, was peeling, torn off in many places by what looked like clawed hands. Had the people trapped here before us been literally tearing at the walls to get out?
The undisturbed, thick layer of dust over everything made me wonder just exactly where we’d been living. There was no evidence that anyone had been here in years. Eryx shook his head, as obviously perplexed as I was. “I think we should take her to the house. This isn’t... sanitary.”
I tried not to think about that, but nodded. We made our way through the garden quickly, as it was raining rather hard. Sera and Briony met us at the door.
“Myrine?” Sera asked as she moved aside.
I nodded. “We need somewhere to put her. She’s been stabbed with adamantine.”
Sera went into healer mode. She’d been to medical school at least four times, as far as I knew, but hadn’t practiced in years.
“Bring her this way,” she said to Eryx.
Briony stood next to me. “What is she doing here?”
The teenager’s body was tense. I took her hand. “She’s not here to take you, darling. I promise. No one can take you from us.”
Briony looked up at me, her brown eyes so trusting. “Okay. What do we do next?”
The way she simply accepted that none of us would let her be removed from our care warmed me.
We had all suffered under the treatment of our human families, before ascension.
And so had Briony, but unlike us, who’d had another fifteen years of mental torture before we’d learned who we really were, she already knew why she was different.
She already knew, and she had a family who loved her, however unconventional.
I spared a quick glance for Eryx, who shot me a smile as he followed Sera upstairs.
We were already doing what we were meant to do, fulfilling our true purpose, I realized.
We’d broken the cycle all of our parents had created.
We were here, necromancers and the Maere, all living in one house together.
Trusting each other.
Finding love.
I glanced back down at Briony, who still waited for an answer. So many different kinds of love. We were the promise we’d needed as young people. I took a deep breath. “We have to find out where they’ve taken my mother.”
Briony nodded, gesturing for me to follow her. We made our way to her bedroom, where she had an impressive setup at her desk, with multiple screens and two separate computers and a tablet running, while her phone performed some other task I couldn’t identify.
“I’ve already got your mom,” Briony said, shaking her head. “They’ve taken her to the Asylum.”
That was bad news, but I nodded. At least we knew where they were going, and it made sense that Blaire would take her there, at least. It was something.
“Good work.” I hugged Briony around the shoulders. “I’m so proud of you.”
She smiled, shrugging me off. “I know. Don’t go all gushy on me like Ember though, ‘kay?”
I laughed, nodding. “Okay.”
“What else can I figure out?” she asked.
“Have you already found the schematics for the Asylum?” I asked.
Briony nodded slowly. “I’m on it. Should have what we need in a few hours. I’m sorry it’ll take so long, but the Authority has that shit locked down.”
I sighed. “That figures. Did you ask Eli for help?”
Briony hummed. “Of course. That’s how I’m getting what I am. He cleared the way for me, and I—” she stopped. “You don’t really want to hear the details, do you?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll understand, and I have another job for you, so long as it won’t slow all this down.”
Briony smiled, pulling another laptop out of a cubby in her desk. “I’ve got you covered. What do you need?”
“We need to find out where they got adamantine, and I don’t have a single thing to go on.”
Briony shrugged. “What do they have?”
I frowned a little.
“Like, what kinds of implements? It’ll help with the search.”
“Oh.” I nodded, understanding a little better. “Shackles, for my mother, apparently.”
“Good,” Briony said with a smile.
“How is that good?” I asked
“Because, if they had an endless supply, the Admiral would have been shackled.”
“Ah,” I breathed, seeing her logic. I really was exhausted. I should have caught that right away. “You’re right. They had at least one blade as well. Though we’ll have to ask Myrine for the specifics when Sera brings her around.”
Briony waved a hand. “Not an issue. I have what I need to get started.” I smiled. “Please go,” the teenager said, pushing me away from her desk. “I don’t work well with anxious people hanging around.”
“Fine, fine,” I laughed as she shoved me towards the door.
I looked around her room for a brief moment. We’d painted it a dark rose color before I’d gone to Oleander Cottage, but now there were posters on the wall of bands I’d never heard of. Collages of photos of all of us together, and some with peers from her sports teams.
Her bed was piled high with stuffed animals, and a jewelry box open on her dresser spilled over with bracelets she’d obviously made herself.
“Will you make me one of these?” I asked, realizing how hard the cottage had clamped down on my mind.
Suddenly, I missed Briony fiercely, though she sat just feet from me.
The teenager glanced at me over her shoulder, pointing a neon-yellow nail at the box. “Already did, it’s the purple sparkly one.”
I dug through the pile. All of the bracelets had words on them, spelled out in bubbly gold letters, surrounded by sparkling faceted rondelles.
I found the one she meant and smiled. It read, “Murder Queen.” I slipped it onto my wrist and turned it, watching the light from Briony’s screen catch the facets.
No one had ever given me something so heartfelt before. I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep myself from crying again. Briony glanced up, caught my expression and blew me a kiss before waving me off. My heart was so full it ached as I moved towards the door.
“Give me two hours,” she called out to me as I started to close the door. “Two hours and I’ll have everything you need to get Queen-Mommy back.”
“Please never call her that again. She has a name,” I insisted with a groan. “You can call her Silea. That would make her mad.”
Briony flashed me a grin. “With pleasure. Grandma LeeLee and I can have a real heart to heart about what I think about her parenting skills when you get her back.”
My mother would hate that. I just hoped we could get her back in time for me to see her face when Briony mouthed off to her.
Ifound Eryx waiting in my bedroom, his shoes off, the harness from the Admiral’s guns draped over the couch at the end of my bed, and he was sprawled on top of the covers.
I kicked off my own shoes and climbed in next to him, feeling old as the sea.
“We’re alone now,” I said as he stretched his arm out to create space for me next to him.
I crawled slowly into the nook of his arm, resting my weary head on his shoulder.
“We are,” he breathed. “Let’s take a nap, shall we?”
I glanced up at him. His eyes were closed but he was smiling. I slapped his massive chest.