Page 34 of Omission: Part 2

“The heartbeat is strong. My ears picked up on the difference as soon as you walked in the door.” I’m watching her reaction from the corner of my eye and she grins, not hiding her happiness. “But I’m guessing no one else knows?”

“Not yet.” A tiny giggle slips out of her, and she has to bite her bottom lip to get it under control. You’re not supposed to be this happy in a hospital room with an unconscious family member inches away, but I laugh too. It’s one of those “you start and I follow,” only to do it all over again when you think you have it under control.Such bad behavior.It takes her a second, but she holds the glee long enough to pat her stomach and turn her head in my direction. Her blue eyes, so much like Leo’s, swim with happiness. “Xadiel scented our pup the day before we came to see you. That’s why we arrived so late. We made a tiny pitstop in England to announce it to our kingdom.”

“I’m so happy for you. Aunt Aya is going to spoil the little alpha.”

“Thank you.” In a move so like Isa, she kisses my cheek and then turns serious. “Ask me.”

“Will everyone else be okay? Areyouokay to be in the middle of this mess?”

“Smart cookie.” Isa leans her head against mine, and her open hand touches mine. “Things will get rough, sister of the heart, but I promise no harm will come to those who don’t deserve it.”

“That’s a bit vague…”

“Seers usually are,” Leonardo interrupts then, his sweaty arms lifting me from my seat so he can occupy the chair and place me on his lap. He’s dressed for training. All three kings sparred today. “Quit worrying, Anaya. We will find her.”

“I don’t understand why we can’t locate the building having the exact coordinates. Places just don’t disappear, and my mother?—”

“What’s wrong with my daughter?” All three heads snap in his direction, finding my grandfather awake and very much alert for a man who’s been comatose for days. “Tell me, Anaya. Where is my Amelia?”

To be honest, this is the part of the conversation I have no idea how to conduct. Silence ensues after his request; he watches me the same way I’m looking at him, with confusion—trying to decipher if he can trust me—and I’m at a loss. Years of conditioning and mistreatment have left me brimming with the need to strike out and lay every single sin at his feet, butsomethingstops me.

Maybe it’s because his eyes are clearer than I’ve ever seen them.

Maybe it’s the desperation in his tone.

Maybe it’s because he looks at the man whose lap I’m sitting on with recognition, not hatred, and that softens me. Not enough to lie, but enough to soften the blow as I detail every single moment of pain and mistreatment my mother endured at his hands. Under the fists of the man he worshipped like a God.

His bellows of pain fill the space with a cacophony ofno’sandoh Gods, my Mellie; his pain is palpable, and yet I still walk out of the room. While he cries and asks my mate questions, I send him a mental message toStay.For now, I just need fresh air. To have my earned moment of tears, because come tomorrow, I will find my mother.

This fight has just begun, and Silla has no idea the enemy she made out of me.

The former king is the key to finding Queen Amelia, but it’ll be my hands that end the spiteful, bitter witch who destroyed our lives. And like Wiccans vow, I, too, whisper…

“So mote it be.”

* * *

“Willyou ever see me without scorn inside your heart?” My grandfather stops beside me, his hand on the balcony’s railing. We’ve just received word of an unrest deep into the city’s center led by what’s left of Brice’s battalion. Seems he’s been in contact with men who’ve been dismissed from duty after refusing to address me correctly.

I’m no one’s concubine, much less a belonging. His men don’t see it that way and have gone into hiding, coming out like little children to cast a stone and then run, pretending they have no clue how the porcelain China broke.

They’re accosting those who side with me. Burning small businesses and beating lone guards they catch off shift. The bright side in all this? I’ve given all military occupying the territory free reign to incarcerate, no matter the social ranking, those who hurt others. Especially the defenseless.

Violence will not be permitted. Enough is enough.

“It will take some time, but yes. I think someday I will.” It’s the truth. In the forty-eight hours since waking up, he’s been open with me. Communicating and helping the werewolf luna scribe for my mother’s location and each time, they’ve come out with empty hands. We’ve had people fly over the location and drive to it, but all they find are vast trees and an open lake with no building in sight.

It's not right. None of this is.

“It was not me, Anaya. That asshole,” he spits out with so much venom my eyes snap to his—his amethyst eyes open and in so much pain—and my eyes become blurry with unshed tears. “That ungrateful bastard and his sister have robbed me of everything, ma joie. I didn’t get to see my only child grow into her role as queen and find true happiness, teaching her daughter our ways. I didn’t get to see you grow up and blossom, meet your mate, and then witness your bonding ceremony in front of both kingdoms.”

That makes me blush a bit. “We haven’t done that yet.”

His brows furrow. “What do you mean? You’ve marked him and?—”

“We want Silla and her daughter dead first. That, and my mother home where she belongs… she’s been away long enough.”

“I’m so sorry, my child. I’ve let you down, and it pains me to have done so. You both deserved more from me.”

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