Page 107 of A Reign of Malice
Without any warning, I break into silent sobs.
Gods, it’s been a hellish week.
She holds me tighter, like only she can. My anchor. My constant. The glue I didn’t realize I still needed until this moment. She doesn’t speak, and she doesn’t need to. Her presence alone is enough.
A voice slices sharply through my bond.“Where are you?”Theo demands.
I send back calm reassurance.“Isla and Asher have surprised us. I’m okay—we’re in front of the castle.”
A blur of movement catches the corner of my eye then Theo barrels around the side of the courtyard in full wolf form. He shifts mid-stride, landing in a crouch on two feet, eyes wild until he spots me safe in Isla’s arms.
“I thought I was going to have to kill someone,” he mutters, rubbing a hand over his face before reaching out to shake Asher’s hand with a gruff nod.
“I told Isla we should have warned you first,” Asher says, his grin unapologetic. “But she insisted the surprise would be better.”
I lean back just enough to glare at my sister. “I would have objected. You were supposed to go home. You’ve got a kingdom to run.”
Isla rolls her eyes. “Cain and Mali have everything under control. Besides, I wanted to tell you the news in person.”
My stomach flips. “What news?”
She glances at Asher then back at me, and the expression on her face nearly undoes me. There’s something sparkling in her eyes—mischief, joy, love—and before she even says a word, Iknow.
I gasp. “You’re pregnant?”
She bursts into laughter. “What? No!”
I freeze mid-hug, blinking. “Wait. You’renot?”
“No!” She’s laughing harder now, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small, ancient-looking phone—chunky and gray with no touchscreen in sight. “Davin’s been working on some Earth tech projects for me. I asked him to keep it simple—this one just makes calls. No texts. No distractions. Just a way for me to reachyou, no matter where you are.” She presses the relic into my hand.
I blink down at it. “Oh.”
She frowns. “Seriously? That’s all I get? ‘Oh’?”
“I thought you were giving me a niece or nephew!” I cry, pouting dramatically. “Now I feel betrayed.”
“Don’t worry, Estee,” Asher chimes in, smirking. “We’ve got plans. That little royal is already on our to-do list.”
Theo’s chest rumbles with amusement. “Guess we’re racing to see who gets there first.”
Damn overly competitive men.
“Who says?—”
“Please do!” she says, bouncing in place. “I need a little Estee running around in casethisone up and dies again.”
I gasp, scandalized. “Rude.”
She just grins and leans her head against my shoulder. “Hey, if anything, it just makes me want to spend even more time with you. Nothing’s more important than my sister.”
“Also rude,” Asher mutters, though the sparkle in his eyes says he wouldn’t change a thing.
I wrap an arm around Isla again, holding her close, butbefore I can say anything else, a voice knocks the breath out of me.
“You weren’t supposed to start without us,” my dad mutters.
I turn.
