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“Mama,” he says again, and blood floods my mouth as I bite back the tears.

“Yes, Ryo,” she says, finally looking at him, snapping the last fibers of my heart. I’d fall to the floor in grief if Caden’s magic wasn’t holding me up. Instead, he walks me to them, not realizing that I want to go in the other direction.

Or at least just stop to take a moment to compose myself, to hide the anguish surely cracking through my skin.

A tear falls down my cheek as I stop an arm’s length away. I want to wipe the sign of weakness off, but my limbs are too weak to fight Caden’s magic, so instead they reach out to the boy in blue.

The woman looks at me, and my heart jumps in fear that she’ll pivot away, shielding him from a lioness who wishes to steal another’s cub, but her smile comes back, a lot softer this time. “Yes, Ryo,” she says again, shifting her arms tokeep him safe as he tries to twist to face me. “It’s your mama.”

He reaches for me, his pudgy fingers ripping the air from my lungs. I stare at her, then him, watching in silent awe as he’s placed in my arms. He smiles up at me, hiswetmouthmoving up and down as he places his hands on my face. “Mama.”

My heart breaks, a shudder ripping through me as I draw him to my chest. “He knows me?” Shock quiets my words to a mere whisper.

Caden moves around to my side, his fingers working discreetly down at his hips as he has me walk towards an arm chair. He sits me down on it, then crouches down in front of us. Ryo looks at him, then back to me, and my chest grows tight at the preference in his little blue eyes. At least in this moment, he wantsme.

“They all know you’re their mother, Sau.Every night, I read tothe younger kidsin your room. Jonathan,Bonnie, and Molly all read to you on their ownnow too. It’s the first thing the twins do when they get home,andJonathan wouldas wellif he didn’t have his training, but he always sees you first.”

His face blurs beneath my lashes, and I blink quickly, but that doesn’t stopatear from rolling down my cheek.

He squeezes my leg as Ryo tries to climb further up my body, grabbing hold of my hair and pulling. I don’t even feel the pain I know should be there, my emotions too strong for anything else to penetrate.

“Oliviais only two months,but look at her crib, sweet girl.” He nods to the right of my chair, and I twist my neck to look at it.My eyes first fall to the sleeping infant lying on her back. Dressed all in white, she looks like a precious dream, and my eyes are already misting strongly by the time I look at the handmade wooden mobile above her.

Tears fall down my cheeks as I stare at the toys that usedto be mine. My rattle. A Raggedy Ann doll looking as tired as I feel,withherbright red hair no longer there, having been accidentally burned off when I got her a little too close to the fire asMamaand I made potions...Theblack cottonblanket I used to carryarounduntil it became tatteredhas been cut and sewn into a little stuffed fox – my favorite animal. And in the middle of all the dangling memories is a photo facing down, watching over my baby girl as she sleeps inside an ornate gold frame. I don’t need to see the picture to know it’s me. All I wonder is if it’s one of the photos they took on my wedding day or if it’s one of me asleep, dressed up and propped up like a family member who’sjust passed,like they used to doin Victoria times.

“Thank you,” I whisper, turning back to the man I love. His face is blurred too much for me to see the emotions settled there, but the soft press of his lips tells me them all the same.

“I will give you the world, Sau,” he murmurs against my lips. “I just need you towant tolive long enough to see it.”

Fourteen

CADEN

12August1947

She gave me her promise that day in the nursery room that she wouldn’t try to take her life again, but I still find myself watching her, worrying myself every time she’s somewhere other than where I left her. She’s not quite able to move around normally yet, but she is getting her strength back bit by bit. Just this morning, I woke to thethudof her body hitting the ground. As she stared up at me, annoyance flashed in her eyes, and she refused to let me help her on the way to thebathroom. She crawled half of the wayto the ensuite, staggered up by holding the doorframe, and then muttered under her breath when I caught her from falling with my telekinesis.

Her fire is coming back, that reckless determination I fell in love with all those years ago. She is relearning to walk alongside Ryo, taking comfort in his gains whenever she becomes too frustrated with the slow pacing of hers. Shereads with Molly and Bonnie in the afternoons. Theysit with her onour bed so she can see the words, teaching herwhatshedoesn’t know. Her reading level was higher than theirs before our wedding day, and so I teach her more in the evenings.

She is constantly exhausted and sleeps a lot during the day. The children know better than to wake her. Jonathan, in particular though, is getting more and more annoyed as she is often asleep just after he’s done with his training after school.He’s learninghow to handle his innate magic of super strength and speed, howto fight in various styles –knives, swords, bows, guns, and bare-knuckled–and is being educated in our Family business. So heoftensits outside our bedroom door, peeking in every so often to see if she’s awake yet.

But Leon...for all of his desires to see her earlier,has beenavoiding the entire house these last three weeks, staying instead at his private residenceat the other side of the street, which is where I am now, in his kitchen.

His knuckles are white as hedigs his nails into thefour-seater table. His jaw is locked as he stares at me, seatedin achairacrossfrom me. His broad shoulders are rigid, and the rage boiling off them is palpable in the cold night air. He leans forward, his weight on his palms as he grits out, “I told you I can’t see her until I catch the fuckers who were working with Bert.”

Since he beheaded Christian Gale, the leads have been non-existent. No one is talking, either to Leon or to me even though Bert no longer hangs alone on the hooks in one of our fishmongers. Orien and Paul hang there too –trustedfalconswhowere supposed to have their eyes and ears on the welfare of our Family.

“I understand your guilt,” I start, “but she asks for you every day. I will not keep lying to her about how busy you are.”

“But Iamfucking busy,” he spits out as he digs his nails deeper into the stone, carving gashes out of the counter. His magic gives himthestrength and speed capable of stopping a tank in its tracks and grabbing an arrow out oftheair. Heis working on catching bullets; giveita few years and he might manage yet – making him a damn strong leader for this Family.

When he takes over my position in four years, on his twenty-second birthday, I will sit proudly at his side. I do not let my thoughts wonder to how many times I thought such things for my other children...before burying all their bodies...or whatever remained of them. I simply focus on the now – a tactic that has allowed me to handle my grief for decades.

“Katie Wilksdisappeared at lunchtime,” he growls. “One fucking guess wheresheis.”

I still, my words slicing like shards of ice.“Did Aleric send a gift?”

Thefucking vampirehas a loveforleavinghis killsonour doorsteps. Although he can’t phase –or teleport– past the protective wards surrounding this street, hetakes full advantage of the postmen, who are completely unaware that they are delivering boxes of various body parts.