Page 113 of Whispers of the Water

“We left when Brother did,” Greshim explained as he bounced on his heels.

I realized this must’ve been why Rune needed to stay back to handle some things. He’d meant getting the twins to safety where they couldn’t be used as pawns in Myra’s manipulative game.

“Myra let them leave? Or did you take them? Aren’t you worried she’ll come after us now?” I raised an unsure brow at Rune.

“They didn’t come alone,” came a deep voice from across the room.

I whipped my head around to find the source of the voice, and my stomach dropped when I saw the space was far from empty. Not only were Akira, Bassel, and Marlow back home, but Avana, Carlos, and Ardley were here, too. Even more to my surprise were Dallas, Rance, and Imani. The most shocking of all though was the source of the voice.

“A-Alvaro,” I said, quickly rising to my feet. I swallowed hard, unsure of what his presence meant.

“Bianca,” Alvaro nodded his head in greeting.

“It’s Bria,” I mumbled.

He knew my name. I knew he knew my name, so why couldn’t he ever freaking use it?

“Apologies,” Alvaro said with a tight-lipped smile. “The boys wanted to tag along with their brother and help in your pursuit of creating peace between Land Fae and Water Fae. I came to ensure they’re kept safe.”

“Papá’s on our side,” Greshim added.

“Correction. I’m on the side that I think is better for my sons, and right now, that seems to be here.”

Oddly, I found that to be almost a compliment.

I offered a smile. “Thank you. We’re glad you’re here. Speaking of here …” I looked at Dallas, Rance, and Imani, who sat together on the couch. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Waiting on you, of course,” Dallas said. “Everything is set and ready to go for our return to the Kingdom. Well, everything except you, so Akira invited us to come hang out while we waited for you to wake up. We figured it was a good opportunity to get to know each other better since we’re all working together now.”

I looked past Dallas to Rance and Imani. “What about Dax?”

“Marcus and his team took over,” Rance answered.

“He’s being escorted to his prison cell as we speak,” Imani added.

“They filled us in on what happened,” Rune said, his jaw clenching. “About Dax being the one who hired Jonah and what happened today.” There was no missing the edge to his voice, nor the murderous light filling his eyes.

I ducked my head, trying to avoid the stares. “At least now we know. Even if his motive is still unclear.”

“Don’t worry,” Dallas said with a mischievous smirk. “You’ll have plenty of time to question that lying son of a—”

“Dallas,” I snapped, reaching forward to muffle the twins’ ears and hug them to me. I glared at her.

“Oops,” Dallas nibbled her lip. “Sorry. Well, if you’re ready now, I think it’s finally time to return to the palace.”

I looked around at all the people gathered and gave a teasing laugh. “You keep saying palace and Kingdom, but we’re not actually going to a palace, right? I mean, where would you hide a whole Kingdom from humans?”

“Has no one explained this to her?” Ardley asked incredulously.

“Explained what?” I questioned.

“There’s been a lot for her to learn,” Dallas said with a deep sigh. “I didn’t want to overwhelm her.”

“The palace isn’t in the human world,” Rune said. “It’s in the Fae realm.”

My head was starting to hurt. “You lost me.”

“Right now, we’re in the human world. It’s where a lot of Fae have lived for centuries, because of the safety here. It’s harder to get away with war here, so Fae are less inclined to attack in this world, though some still do. Plus, it’s pretty convenient. There’s a realm of magic connected to this one, which contains our real home.”

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