Chapter 40
Butterflies
Cora
“How much longer do you think we could hide up here before they send someone to drag us downstairs?” I asked softly.
My head was lying atop Cedar’s chest. Both of us sprawled across the bed as his arm pulled me closer and my hand drew small snowflakes across his skin.
“Do you think we should ask Allie or Anwen about the baby?” he replied, ignoring my question.
I lifted my head slightly so I could look up at him. His other arm was tucked under his head and he stared up towards the ceiling.
“What sort of questions did you have in mind?” I asked, playing along with whatever train of thought he’d found himself within.
“I’m not sure. Anything they could provide, I guess.
If it’ll be a boy or girl. What they’ll be like.
Will they have your eyes and my hair? What sort of magic will they possess?
Will the witchy gene carry on, or will you be the end of the line?
Maybe they’ll have a bit of all three magic lines,” he responded, his tone low as he rambled on.
I giggled and leaned down, pressing a chaste kiss to his chest before laying my head back down.
“So you want to know everything there is to know? Why wait like normal people when you have people in touch with the Fates, I guess. Do you have any feelings about it one way or another?”
He hummed. “I think it’s a girl,” he whispered, finally looking down at me, a soft smile on his face. “I think she’ll be just as powerful as her mom. Tall, beautiful, with dark bronze skin like her dad, but deep endless blue eyes like you.”
I smiled, butterflies within my stomach at the words he was whispering.
“I would be okay with that,” I found myself saying.
“Me too, Princess. Me too.”
He pressed another gentle kiss to my lips, and for the first time in my life I felt like things were going to be okay.
Eventually Cedar and I agreed we needed to get out of bed and speak to everyone. People downstairs would expect answers and reasonings behind my actions. Part of me also wondered if Cedar would want to share the news with those he considered family.
Once we were dressed, he pulled me in close, his hands resting on either side of my neck.
“I know you’re anxious. I can feel it in my bones. I also know that you haven’t finished telling me the whole story of what happened prior to you leaving. When we get down there, they’re going to want to know, and I promise you, Cora, whatever it is, I’ll be by your side.”
I swallowed, my throat thick with heavy emotions I wasn’t accustomed to feeling.
“I know you will, don’t worry. Let’s just get this done. I’m ready for it to be behind us already.” I hoped my voice sounded stronger to him than what I felt at the moment, but he took my hand in his and guided me downstairs.
Peeking out over his shoulder, Silv and Raiden were sitting in chairs next to each other.
Her hands in his while they spoke quietly.
Aunt Zima was seated in a chair near the door, sharpening a blade.
Bastian and Paine sat in the two leftover seats across from the couch.
Paine, asleep, and Bastian tossing a small throwing knife into the air and catching it between his fingers.
His eyes met mine first, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Oh look, if it isn’t the two love birds coming down from their nest to meet with the rest of the citizens of their kingdom,” Bastian joked, the smile never leaving his face.
I couldn’t help the eye roll. The male stayed in his element of comedy unless the air of seriousness was absolutely necessary.
“Yeah, yeah,” Cedar muttered. He glanced back at me, a strange look crossing his face before he shook his head and pulled me over to the couch, sitting down and pulling me closely beside him.
“Okay, let the questions begin. She’s been fed and I’m feeling less ready to kill anyone who glances at her for longer than a breath. ”
Paine stretched his arms above his head before sitting up fully, a happy smile crossing his face as he looked over towards Cedar. “I remember those days. Early matehood when even someone breathing near Arabella made me want to rage.”
Aunt Zima put away her dagger and Silv and Raiden pulled their chairs closer to us all.
By the time everyone was moved and settled, they’d formed a sort of semicircle around us. I pulled my knees towards my chest and Cedar wrapped his arm around my thighs, pulling them towards his lap. His hand cupped one knee, his thumb rubbing slow circles around it like he had upstairs.
He hadn’t stopped touching me since I arrived back. We did have a great deal more to discuss, he wasn’t wrong, but the feeling within my chest knowing he was by my side couldn’t be swayed by any other negative voice trying to rage itself to life right now.
Despite everything I knew was ahead, I was content.
“I’d like to start back at the beginning and hear the story in your own words. Why did you leave?” Raiden asked, breaking the silence.
I expected his tone to be harsh, unforgiving, even accusatory, but it wasn’t. It was merely a question.
Glancing at Cedar, I was once more grateful I’d come clean to him privately. Knowing this confessional with the Shadow Lord wouldn’t feel as isolating was a relief I didn’t realize I needed. Cedar leaned down, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
I explained to everyone what Keres expected of me, why he’d let me leave, and the final letter he’d sent threatening Cedar.
Then it was a dive into what happened once I returned to Whitbourne.
Explaining briefly, overlooking the meeting with Sabel—which had Cedar squeezing my knee and nodding in agreement.
Going back over the talk with Lovel and then Rusor taking me to the throne room.
“I wasn’t sure at first what was going on.
” My voice had trailed off, quiet and faint as my eyes met Cedar and I took his hand in mine.
“Keres had everyone gathered around the room. Guards and females alike. It felt like it had the day he almost killed Silv, and I knew he somehow knew. I just wasn’t sure what.
He asked me about a mark, and at first I was clueless as to what he meant.
When I told him as much, he got angry, commanding me to strip and the guards to search me. ”
Cedar’s anger slithered through the bond like a poison and I tried to shove down how the entire ordeal had made me feel at the time.
“He’d never… he’d never done anything like that. Normally during his… festivities, only his trusted guards are allowed in. He’s killed males within his court for seeing us naked before.” My voice was trembling and I tried to control what little air was making it to my lungs.
I was safe now.
“Even with the small inkling I had over Cedar and I being bonded in such a way, the mating bond never even occurred to me, let alone the mark,” I whispered.
“He stripped you down in the middle of the throne room and had them search you for the mark?” Silvana hissed, ice sliding down the legs of her chair.
Raiden reached over. His hand on her thigh as he squeezed and stared at her.
Her gaze fell to the floor as she saw the chair and slowly released a breath. “Sorry, continue.”
I cleared my throat. Cedar’s thoughts and feelings felt muffled, and I knew he was trying to control himself the best he could with this knowledge. I should’ve told him upstairs, but I couldn’t bear explaining this story twice.
“When he found it… he wanted me locked up until I—” I stumbled over my words and shook my head.
“It doesn’t matter. The threats were made and clear.
I don’t know what happened after that. I just…
Cedar’s eyes came to my mind and I just pulled on the magic that bonded us.
I shifted and flew. I could still hear him screeching throughout the tunnels. ”
Cedar squeezed my hand once more. The warmth of his body like a comforting blanket.
“After I made it out of the castle, I followed the pull to Cedar all the way here, and now you know everything there is to know,” I added with a shrug, my eyes downcast to my and Cedar’s linked hands.
Raiden nodded, looking back to his mate once more. “Well, we’re all here. Let’s make a plan.”
“A plan? A plan for what?” I questioned.
They couldn’t possibly mean to—
“We’re going in there and killing him, Princess.
I told you before, I’ll happily be by Raiden’s side, killing everything that moves within that castle and let you and Silvana have your rightly deserved revenge, but we’re ending his reign once and for all.
We’re getting Oren out and home and we’re all putting this behind us,” Cedar explained, his hand still wrapped tightly around my own as his eyes assessed how I was taking this news.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Did I think the whole group came all this way to get me out? Maybe. Maybe not.
“Cora,” Silvana began, her ice blue eyes watching me carefully.
“I know none of us truly know what you’ve gone through in that castle.
The bits and pieces I do remember? I can’t go on living my life happily back in Darkmoor with my mate by my side and our people safe knowing that so many are here and suffering.
Not if we have the power to do something about it. ”
Dropping my gaze, I nodded. “I understand. What’s the plan?” I inquired, trying with all of my energy to ensure my tone sounded stronger than how I felt knowing everyone I loved would be going back into the place that held so much power over me.
Bastian smiled. “Well, it’s simple, really. Arabella gave us the layout of the path she took to escape, and I’m almost positive, from what Cedar’s told us, it’s the same one you used to get our Ice Sickle out.”
Letting out a deep breath, I nodded again.
“It’s locked from the inside. Ever since I took Silv out that way, Keres has a guard on it,” I explained, trying not to smile when Bastian let out a groan. “However, if we get close enough, I should be able to project myself inside and take care of the guard, as well as opening the door for you.”
Bastian nodded, a smile now lighting up his face.
“Zima, do you have anyone we could stay with within Whitbourne? With Cora’s help, getting in will be smooth sailing, but it’ll have to be done the moment the sun goes down.
Cedar had their guard shifts already down for me and that’ll be the best time for Raiden and me to cover us from the wall to the door. ”
“Of course I do. A place not far from the castle gates and all,” Aunt Zima replied with a knowing smile.
“There’s something else,” I muttered reluctantly.
They all stared, Bastian the only eager one to hear what objections I had, it appeared.
“Once we get inside and start killing guards, residents, whomever, if someone so much as mutters to Keres, he’ll bolt. He has passageways out of the castle and he’ll be gone in a random direction before we ever make it to the throne room, or whichever other room he may be in.”
Bastian nodded. “I was worried about that. Any alternatives?”
I glanced over at Cedar and nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think my mate will appreciate it.”
Diving into my plan, I could see the wheels turning in Bastian’s head, the excitement of it, while Raiden weighed the pros and cons, Paine agreed with them both. But Cedar wasn’t pleased one bit.
Once I finished and we all agreed we knew our parts, Raiden took the opportunity to stand, taking Silv’s hand in his.
“I suggest everyone take this time to rest, eat, and so on. We leave for Whitbourne the moment the sun sets today. Zima, contact whomever you need. Get the right people in place. I’d rather he not know we’re there until the last possible moment. ”
She nodded and a strange calm settled over the group. I glanced over at Cedar and the same thoughts were going through his head as mine.
This was the beginning of the end of this chapter.