Page 134 of Rage of Her Ravens

Her brows drew down in a serious yet adorable expression. “I saw my mommy and daddies.”

“What?” I gasped, looking over my shoulder as if Tari could materialize. “Where?”

“They’re not here,” she said, frowning while playing with the frayed end of her doll’s sash. “I saw them when the bad fire mages tried to take us. They were upset. They heard us cry out.”

My mates and I shared bewildered looks.

What’s she talking about?Blaze asked through thought.

I don’t know,I answered before turning back to Ember. I gently grasped her knee. “Tell me.”

“Papa Asher was in a cave and Mama and Papa Finn were in a field of flowers. She had a black rabbit, and these tiny little people were stealing the fruit out of her basket.”

I smiled. “I think you had a dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream.” She clung to her doll while leaning forward. “And Mama had weird hair that looked like straw and pale skin.”

My mates gasped, and I remembered Nikkos telling me Tari had pale hair and skin. Had Ember heard him?

I smiled at my niece. “Then how do you know she’s your mama?”

She blinked at me, her eyes wide and innocent. “My friends told me she was my mama. And two big black birds were guarding them.”

“Black birds?” Certainly this had to have been a dream.

“But they didn’t have feathers.” She made a motion with her hands, as if she was stretching out her chin. “They had long faces with sharp fangs and smooth skin.”

Drae cleared his throat. “She described wyverns.”

“And the little people were gnomes,” Blaze added.

I gave my mates funny looks. “Gnomes?” My mother had told us a fairytale with gnomes once. I had thought they were only make believe.

Drae rubbed Auora’s back as she buried her face against his chest. They were so sweet together, I just wanted to imprint this image on my memory and never forget. It suddenly occurred to me that my most favorite people in the world were all right here with me, crowded around this pretty canopy bed. All we needed were Tari and her mates for our family to be complete. Not my parents, though. It saddened me that I couldn’t trust them.

“The only gnomes I know of are on Thesan,” Drae finally said.

Wait. Did they believe Ember? Elements. What if her vision hadn’t been a dream? Realization slowly dawned. Great goddess, Ember’s powers extended beyond being able to speak to the dead. She had the gift of sight! Fear and dread coursed through my veins. Malvolia would want to use her for her army if she ever found out, just like she’d want to use Aurora’s gift to sneak up on her enemies.

“But the wyverns inhabit Fallax, not Thesan,” Nikkos said.

“Unless they followed Tarianya, and she can control wyverns.” Blaze cleared his throat, and I detected the undercurrent of fear in the rattle of his words. “Just like Maiadra.” My mother had told me the long-dead goddess, Maiadra, had been the last witch to be able to control the wyverns. Did my sister’s magic know no limits?

“My father said he heard a rumor Helian took his brothers to Thesan,” I said, recalling the fateful night I’d read his mind and had decided to flee with my new fated mates. To think, it had only been a week ago we’d fled my parents, but so much had happened since then, it felt like a lifetime.

“They were heading to the Fallax Islands when we saw them,” Drae said as he stood with Aurora in his arms, “but they could have gone up the island chain and gone on to Thesan.”

Aurora sat on his hip and sucked her thumb while resting her head against his chest. I didn’t think I could love Drae any more than I did at that moment. Elements, it just dawned on me that I loved this Fae and had yet to tell him.

“Where do you think they’ll go next?” Blaze asked Drae.

“If Helian is with them,” Drae answered, “he could negotiate a truce between King Fachnan and the wolves.”

“No!” The word punctured the air as it came out of me, reverberating with my siren’s call, though I knew it wouldn’t work from here. I hadn’t meant to lose myself, but I couldn’t imagine my sister allying herself with that monster, not after all the shifters he’d killed, women and children included.

Drae gave me a look of pity. “If the girls’ fathers are still alive, your sister might be more willing to side with the king.”

“They’re alive!” Ember blurted, beaming. “I saw our daddies.”

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