Page 33 of Stone Heart
Rina widened her eyes at the announcement.
“You don’t understand. We had to do what we needed to do to keep our child safe. Faery has been at war,” Khantar said.
Rina’s feet carried her to Rhodack’s side before she could even think. She had to speak to her parents. The side view from where she stood would no longer do.
Her parents’ eyes grew bigger in shock as she came to a stop next to Rhodack. They took her all in.
She stood proud, dressed in her traditional royal dress. When she’d conjured the outfit, she’d thought of the outfit her mother had worn on the last day she’d seen her before her memories had been suppressed.
“You look just like your mother,” her father breathed. His blue eyes, the same as Rina’s, studied her.
Her mother sat frozen in her chair, tears running down her face as she stared at Rina.
“Larina,” her mother sobbed and sat forward in her chair as if to reach for Rina.
Rina was the mirror image of her mother. She smiled softly and returned their gazes.
“Hello, Mother and Father,” she murmured.
“You remember us?” Khantar asked. He looked at her, his eyes lit with pride.
“Yes. Apparently, the spell that Mom—Solana—had placed on me could no longer hold my powers down, and I overcame them recently.” She flicked her gaze over to Solana briefly before returning it to the realm communicator.
“Please forgive us, dear. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that we haven’t thought of you,” Roshi exclaimed, wiping the tears from her face. She smiled through her tears.
Her parents hadn’t aged a bit since the last time she’d seen them.
“As a child, I couldn’t understand why you sent me away. I begged you to let me stay by your side,” she said, moving in front of Rhodack. She brushed her hair behind her pointed ear tip. She’d given her situation a lot of thought and knew she’d need to return to Faery.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Roshi rushed, shaking her head.
“But as an adult, now with my full memories of what was happening when I left, I understand,” she interrupted her mother. “I want to come home.”
They both looked at her as she made her announcement, basically forgiving them for deceiving her for the past twenty-one years.
“Larina, I’m so proud of you.” Her father’s lips tilted up in at the corner slightly, and she knew this was his form of a smile. “But it’s still not safe for you to be here. If the necromancers have found you on Earth, then we need to put an end to this. We cannot keep hiding you in different realms.”
“I’m ready, Father. I remember all of my teachings as a little girl. Let me come home,” she begged. She felt the need to go home. It had been a long while since she’d been in Faery, and she needed to go back. She felt it deep within her chest.
“No.” Her father shook his head. “Faery is not the same as what you remember.”
“She will be safe here with me,” Rhodack pulled her back against him.
She peered over her shoulder and up at him. That dangerous glint sparkled in his eyes, and she knew what he was doing.
Staking his claim on her in front of her parents.
“Well, we didn’t expect this,” Roshi murmured, her eyes wide, taking in Rhodack’s possessives of Rina.
Her parents shared a surprised look before they turned back to her and Rhodack.
“We will come to Earth. This conversation will be best had in person. We shall be there in a three days’ time,” Khantar announced, then the screen went black.
