Page 50 of Forbidden Obsession
I dart closer to Rahz for a quick kiss, spread my wings, and take off after Father. We fly to Clodhill as fast as our wings can carry us. The whole time, my thoughts are racing.
Mother, mother, mother.
At last, after all these years. But I’m supposed to leave Jodpirn soon. Tomorrow.
Well, I can’t leave now, not when she’s finally awake.
But Rahz! My heart wrenches in two, a painful pressure in my chest that makes it harder and harder to keep up with Father.
The night air is cool beneath my wings, but it fails to soothe me. Inside lives a turmoil of hope, fear, and vulnerability that ratchets that queasy feeling in my stomach up a notch.
Our arrival at the temple passes by in a blur. We wash our feet and change shoes in a rush of muscle memory, both eager to pass through the inner chamber to the transition rooms kept for dormant fae who’ve finally opened their eyes to the world once more.
A tendril of fear snakes up my spine.
What if I’m not good enough? What if she’s disappointed in how I’ve turned out? What if she’s cold, like Father, and all this time I’ve been waiting for nothing more than another heartache?
I don’t know if I could bear it if that turned out to be true.
Father speaks with the guardians, who seem happy to see us. Happy to guide us to our recently awoken loved one.
The incense tickles my nose, and I hold in a sneeze. At least it gives me an excuse for my watery eyes.
Trailing in Father’s wake down the marble steps, through a long, dimly lit hallway, and into an antechamber I’ve never seen before, I clench my throat to hold back nausea. I’ve never been so nervous, so excited, so everything. My skin prickles with sensation as though it’s too much for my poor little body to hold inside.
“You’re lucky. She’s woken clear-headed and remembers much,” the guardian is saying, glancing from Father to me and back. “She’s waiting for you both. She’s been asking for you.”
My heart thuds wildly as we approach the threshold. The guardian lays a comforting hand on my shoulder as if sensing I need a little encouragement. I appreciate the gesture. It would have been nice if Father had thought to do it, but I’m glad to have the guardian’s extra care.
Only a thin paneled wooden door separates me from the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life.
Father knocks gently.
A sweet feminine voice calls out, “Come in.”
A chill shivers its way from my head to my toes. I’m so excited I could burst.
Father pushes the door open and steps in first. The eternity wherein I’m stuck just behind him with no view of her ticks by at a snail’s pace. My pulse swishes in my ears.
“Elara, my love,” he says, a lightness in his tone that’s brand new. He rushes to her bedside, where she sits atop the green satin cover, and I get my first look.
They embrace. Her purple hair, just a shade lighter than my own, spills in curls over his shoulder. Her skin is milky pale with a pink shimmer, also like mine, and her nails gleam white as if polished. The sparkling lights overhead cast a patchwork lattice over the two of them as they kiss.
Father’s back is shaking as he holds her. Is he crying? I’ve never seen my father cry.
She lifts her head, and her warm honeyed-peach eyes catch mine. My bottom lip quivers. When she smiles, her cheeks plump, and her eyes crinkle at the corners. “Jindal?”
She’s so beautiful. I nearly faint from forgetting to breathe. “Mother.”
“My son.” Her voice is music. Her smile is the sunshine itself, melting my heart into a warm gooey puddle. She lets go of Father and opens her arms to me.
All worry and fear evaporate as joy courses through my veins thicker than blood ever could be.
I collapse into her arms and hold on to her for dear life. “Momma.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
Rahz
