Page 75 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two
Raiden’s face splits into a grin.
“Mommy, over here!” Raiden shouts.
My brain shuts down, and I freeze, trying to figure out how I feel and what I want to do about this miracle and tragedy.
The miracle? Shae and I made children together. We made them out of deep love, deep connection.
The tragedy? The circumstances in our worlds that have brought us to this moment: me kneeling in a garden in France, meeting my kids for the first time, seven years after their birth.
God, I don’t even know their fucking birthdays.
I don’t see Shae approach, but I hear her pained gasp. I count the heartbeats—one, two, three—before I stop looking at my babies’ faces and turn toward their mother.
Fuck her for looking so beautiful. Angelic. With sunlight spilling through the walls of windows, Shae looks encased in gold, soft. But her expression? It’s nothing but pure fire.
“Tempest! Raiden! Get over herenow,” she says through gritted teeth. Her hands begin to shake, the fine tremor visiblewhen she pushes her hair away from her face. A few of the straightened strands stick to her lip gloss.
The twins move toward their mother, and the feeling of a physical tether being stretched between them and me causes me to stand.
“Shae.”
That’s all I say. Just her name, just an accusation of all that’s been lost over the last eight years.
“Mommy, do you know this man?” Tempest says, now tucked into one of her hips. Raiden takes up the other side, his eyes not leaving mine.
Yennifer comes around the bend.
“Where the hell are the guards?” she snips, not looking at us and ostensibly searching for the guards who now lie incapacitated near the back corner. They’re only knocked out and not dead because I can be merciful…but how they let the children get close enough to meandallowed my guys to clear out the Orangerie speaks to their utter incompetence.
Yennifer makes a loud choking sound, followed by a short, hacking cough.
“Oh, shit.Shit.Um, hey, Storm,” Yennifer says, tripping over her words. “Imagine seeing you here.”
She rocks back and forth on her feet, and the sound of her heels clicking on the stone floor echoes now that the Orangerie is empty of all other patrons.
My head of security walks over to me, informing me that the area is secure. I don’t move my focus off Shae.
“Mommy?” Tempest asks again, and when I open my mouth to speak, Shae cuts me off.
“Yes! Sweetheart, this is a-an old fr-friend of Mommy’s. Imagine seeing him here in Versailles! What acoincidence,” she says, adding the last sentence through a tight smile.
“Shae,” I repeat, broadening my stance. “Come here.”
The room goes quiet, and Yennifer makes a small squeaking sound. Shae doesn’t respond to my demand except to pull our kids closer to her body.
“Excuse me?” she hisses. Raiden’s happy expression turns worried at Shae’s tone, and he looks up to her, then back to me. He presses deeper into her side.
No, son. You don’t need to be afraid of me.
“Shae,” I grind out, and she takes another step back.
“No,” she presses, searching for her guards.
“They’re tied up,” I say, not lying. Theyaretied up. A door closes at the back of the structure, and I know that’s my men dragging the useless security into a van.
“Storm—” she chokes.
“Hey, let’s not do this in front of—” Yennifer starts.
