Page 52 of Returned to the Vissigroth
“Thalia,” I breathed, stepping forward instinctively.
Darryck caught her before she hit the ground, his strong arms tightening around her waist as he glanced between us, clearly as stunned as she was. His mouth opened, but no words came. I didn’t blame him.
Beside me, Mallack was utterly still, his eyes never left Thalia’s face. Myccael’s lips twitched with something between amusement and awe, like he was watching the next piece of some divine puzzle click into place.
But I barely noticed them.
Because I was already moving.
My feet carried me the rest of the way until I was close enough to reach for her. She was trembling, her skin pale, her mouth parted like she was still trying to take in air. I didn't hesitate; I pulled her into my arms.
The moment I touched her, somethingclicked.
A spark of heat flared in my chest, not like fire, not like desire, but like the heat of the sun after too long in the cold. My arms tightened around her, and something inside me—a lock I hadn’t known was there—finally opened.
This.
This was what had been missing.
Not a memory. Not a face. But athread.A bond. The one that tied mother to daughter, heart to heart.
Thalia sobbed into my shoulder, and I didn’t care that everyone was watching. I wept too. Not because I remembered—I still didn't—but because it felt like my soul had found its missing piece. I held her tighter.
“I’m here,” I whispered, my voice thick and breaking. “I’m here, my girl.”
Thalia clutched at me like she might never let go. “I thought—I thought it was a trick. I didn’t believe them—I couldn’t?—”
“I know,” I soothed, stroking her hair, her back. “I know. I don’t understand it either, but I’m real. I’m here.”
She pulled back just enough to look at me. Her face was soaked with tears, but her smile was radiant. “You’re really her,” she said. “You’re really mymother.”
“I may not remember,” I admitted, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, “but every part of me knows you’re mine.”
Darryck’s hand came to rest on Thalia’s back, his gaze locked on mine with something like reverence. “Vissy Daphne,” he said hoarsely. “It's been a long time, you’ve been missed.”
I nodded, unable to form words. My fingers brushed Thalia’s cheek one last time before I glanced at Mallack. He stood a little apart, watching us with that same raw tenderness I’d seen in the firelight the night before.
When our eyes met, I saw it again, that quiet hope, that unwavering love.
But there was more.
Pride.
This wasourdaughter. Our family. And for the first time, Ifeltit.
“I want to hear everything,” I told Thalia, still holding her hand. “Every bit of it. From the moment I… left… to the moment you met this tall drink of brooding ice.” I gave Darryck a teasing smile, and his mouth curved just a little.
Thalia sniffed and nodded, laughing through her tears. “I’ll tell you everything. But first,” she looked up at Darryck and then back at me, eyes shining, “you'll have to tell me your story, which I'm sure is a whole lot more interesting than mine.”
Myccael and Oksana stood a little off to the side. Myccael tried to hide it, but I saw the insecurity in his eyes, the look that asked if now that Thalia was here, our relationship had changed once again. I waved him and his mate over, "Since I have no idea about protocol about how to behave toward a susserayn and his susserayna…" I used it as my excuse to include them in the group hug, and once I held both of my children in my arms, my heart swelled over with emotions.
Mallack clapped his hands once, rubbing them together with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. “Well, since you seffies clearly have cycles’ worth of catching up to do…”
He gestured broadly to our gathering of seffies—Thalia, Oksana, and me—as if we were some sacred council convening. “We’ll leave you to it.”
Myccael arched a brow. “We will?”
“Zyn,” Mallack said cheerfully, already striding toward the edge of camp. “Darryck, you too. Come on. Give them space. We’ve got our own work to get back to—they'll be safe now that you brought half the damn dragoon corps with you.”
