Page 51 of Finding Closure

I hadn’t thought of that, and everyone went tense.

“I think it’s fine as long as we all check with each other and there aren’t any drop-ins,” Neldor muttered. “Your parents won’t snitch that I have a room here.”

“And they won’t snoop in our rooms,” Julian agreed. “I’m fine with your immediate family or Lucca’s. Freya will visit, but—I think we keep it limited. Hhora won’t be in here. We all agreed only Izzy, Cara, and Jordan to help Tamsin. Irma can do whatever she wants.”

I nodded. “And only Talila, Shael, or Stefanie if there’s an emergency. We agreed to clean up ourselves because we don’t want staff in here much.” I shrugged. “And Neldor and I can do most of it magically after all.”

“We’ll be in here less often if we set up the other area as well,” Jordan added.

We all agreed that would be best then and focused on unpacking while Hudson stepped out to contact his parents… Who wanted to come right away. It wasn’t to be jerks or pushy. They thought it would be less intrusive to come see before we were all settled in and unpacked.

Apparently, he was supposed to have brought it up once the renovations were done but missed what they were getting at. He apologized and asked if a quick visit was okay. Everyone said it was fine, especially if they knew it was a relaxed Sunday and just his parents, not a king and queen or whatever. They agreed and brought treats… And his siblings.

It really was fine. They were worried, and I understood it better after hearing their thoughts a bit. No Vogel had lived away from the castle in a while… Except Xavier’s brother who died.

I told the guys that in their minds, and I loved them all even more when they immediately understood this was just scary for them.

“I’m fine if you want to show your parents a bit of our security plans and how the new protocols will work,” I told Hudson, nodding when he couldn’t hide his shock. “Not King Xavier and Queen Sasha, but your parents. Let them even talk toIolas who is staying here as well and that we’re training the royal security forces to be our Secret Service.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Xavier rasped. “I didn’t even realize this would be such an issue for me but then...” He turned away and wiped his eyes before going over to the balcony off the main room. “This view is lovely. It’s not our mountains but just as gorgeous.”

And there it was. This wasn’t Hudson going off to college or even him moving out for a bit to my house after. This was forever, and he was never coming back to their home.

My beastie realized what was going on too and nodded he understood. He bragged about the spread of food we had from all over for our first night here and how Irma was spoiling us.

“We’ll still come sneak in for dinners now and again that aren’t official visits,” I promised them. “It’s not like it will be the first time I just invited myself to your castle.” I went over to Sasha and hugged her when tears filled her eyes. “I know it’s another world, and that’s probably really just sunk in, but you were here in a flash.”

“Promise me that the portals will never blow again and my son won’t be frozen and trapped here,” she choked out before breaking down sobbing.

I couldn’t hide my horror that she’d actually said that to me, especially in the presence of Neldor who looked like he’d been kicked in the nuts.

“She had a nightmare last night about it,” Xavier whispered, rushing over to his mate. “Forgive her, Tamsin. I know that’s horrible, and—she saw Hudson trapped in the darkness you showed us so many years ago. I’m sorry.”

I swallowed loudly and nodded, unsure of how to handle this.

“No one knows the future,” Neldor said quietly. “But the only two people who can declare war in this world are determined itnever happen again.” He let out a slow breath. “And I’m in love with Tamsin, so I’d rather die than ever do anything to hurt her. I’m also not as powerful as my mother and could never—”

“That’s not what I meant at all,” Sasha cried and pulled away from Xavier to hug Neldor, shocking all of us. “I would never blame you for what Elora did, and I have trouble blaming her anymore after all that came out. I just—I worry for my son, and I never really thought the day would come when he left us. I focused on him being happy, not losing him.”

He patted her back. “You didn’t. You gained another daughter and hopefully lots of grandkids.”

“Let’s not addlotsonto that topic when I’ve finally stopped feeling nauseous at the idea of having any kids,” I grumbled, rubbing my stomach. “What is your worry really—what’s the root of it?”

Xavier sighed as he rubbed his hand over his head, shooting his mate a look.

“Father made a comment that Hudson couldn’t open a portal in Faerie if there was an emergency, and they’ve spun out from there and have had a bit of tunnel vision,” Connor snitched. He sighed when they both shot him unfriendly looks. “We’re all worried about it now. Hudson doesn’t ditch his detail, but—I don’t like that either.”

“Are you worried about this?” I asked Hudson.

He snorted. “No. Not once. If there’s really an emergency, I can just shift, and I’m ridiculously durable then. I don’t have that option on Earth, but this is Faerie, and supes are all you have here.”

Well, damn. Like…Dayumn.

“You’re not all that durable against a fairy, and you just made yourself a bigger target then,” Xavier countered.

Hudson crossed his arms over his chest and took it seriously. “Yes, but my roar is loud. That would alert the right people where I am.”

“Or the wrong people,” I admitted, getting in on this since I wanted him safe too. “And I can put up a barrier or silence something like that. The average fairy could.” I shrugged when he raised an eyebrow asking whose side I was on basically. “I want you safe always, beastie. It won’tevercome to this. You have a detail of Guardians, and you couldn’t lose them if you tried.”

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