Page 128 of The Breeding Cave
I had never thought that I would be back, never mind with a mate and child.
“When we rebuild it, it can be everything it once was and more,” Yeosin whispered.
“You’re right,” I said softly, wishing that it were rebuilt now, wishing that I would have the chance to raise my daughter in the house that I had been raised in, that my father had been raised in, and his father too. “It’ll be more.”
But all that I really cared about was that we were all safe.
“I knew you’d be here,” someone said behind me.
Yeosin and I looked over our shoulders at Mom as she walked toward me with some other phoenixes following her. Still, I couldn’t wrap my mind around how she was here. How hadn’t she died? Why hadn’t she come to visit me?
I had so many questions that I wasn’t sure she could answer.
Mom moved her gaze from me to Yeosin, her smile widening even more. “I see you’ve met your mate, Luciano. She’s stronger than even she knows.” Mom pinched Yeosin’s cheek gently. “You’re going to have your hands full.”
“Why didn’t you tell me Luciano was your son?” Yeosin asked, rubbing her cheek.
“Because some things are better left unsaid,” Mom said, peering back at me. “There are questions I don’t have the answers to and answers I can’t begin explaining in a believable way. But with time, the truth will be revealed, and everything will make sense.”
“How?” I asked. “How are you here?”
“Would you believe me if I said it was magic?” Mom asked, peering down at our baby and tickling her belly with her forefinger. Our baby giggled, her smile wider and brighter than any newborn’s that I had ever seen. “You need some clothes for her.”
“I don’t know what I would believe,” I said honestly, taking a small step backward.
I loved my mother, but I didn’t trust her completely yet. Gideon had come back from the dead, just like Mom had. He had gained my trust, and then he betrayed me. Or at least that was how it seemed. I hadn’t seen him since he had disappeared with Yeosin.
“Things will be hard to explain, Luciano,” Mom said, her face remaining unchanged.
“Explain them anyway.”
“I’m sure you saw it with Yeosin,” Mom said. “Her body died, but she was reborn in it.”
“Yeah, but I buried your body,” I said. “Just like I buried Gideon’s.”
“We were dug up,” she said. “By Gideon’s father.”
“Gideon’s father?” I asked, venom on my tongue. “The man you cheated on Dad with?”
Mom peered down at her feet. “Luciano, you don’t know how I felt … I can’t explain it.”
I pursed my lips and nodded because I would never know how cheating on a mate felt. I would never know how betraying the one person who had been made for me felt, how having a child with another felt.
It was disgusting. Vile.
Suddenly, a wave of hushed whispers echoed throughout the forest. I placed our baby in Yeosin’s arms and stepped in front of her and my mother, preparing for another dragon to attack. The forest had been too quiet …
“Hey, hey, hey!” Brent called. “That you?”
I blew out a breath, relaxing only slightly as he and the other warriors came into view. Colossals walked with them, dragging imprisoned dragons after them. Everyone who was still alive seemed to walk upon our old packhouse.
“You made it,” I said, gently squeezing his shoulder.
He threw my mate a wink. “You think I wouldn’t make it back to see Yeosin?”
She giggled behind me as I let out a low warning growl.
“Did you grab them?”
