Page 220 of Curse of Darkness
“Are you trying to say—?”
“I want to formally adopt May,” I blurt out. “I want her and Amaya to be sisters. And I want her to be safe. She’s been cruelly used in this entire game. She deserves happiness. She’s such a sweet girl, Thiago.”
I want to protect that sweetness.
And maybe it’s a means of healing the wounds deep inside me.
Because this time, the little girl was rescued.
And she was whisked away to a beautiful palace, where a family awaited her. A family who would love her. A sister who would adore her. And those sisters will never know what it felt like to have their bond broken.
I will protect them with all the power I can forge.
A moment of surprise flashes over his expression before he turns to me. He sees the single tear sliding down my face, and I know he understands everything I cannot put into words. “Then let’s do it. Let’s make our family whole.”
Flinging my arms around his neck, I kiss him.
Right as a bubble floats up and pops right beside us, the crashing crescendo of waves breaking against a foreign shore echoing in my ear.
We break apart breathlessly.
“None of that, you two!” Thalia calls, hands on her hips as she looks up. Her eyes narrow upon Thiago. “Come down here and play, Your Highness!”
Two mischievous faces peer up at us from the gardens.
Thiago’s fingers drop slowly from mine. “I believe I’m being summoned,” he drawls.
“I sense a trap.”
“So do I.”
But the smile he flashes me as he hurries for the stairs is strangely boyish.
Maybe I’m not the only one whose inner wounds are healing.
* * *
Dinner isa boisterous affair as Baylor finally returns.
“Ah, the mighty warlord graces us with his presence,” Lysander drawls as he slices turkey from the bone and deftly eases it onto his plate. There’s a certain calmness to him again, as if the weeks away from me have done wonders to ease the fracturing of my mother’s curse.
He even managed a smile at me earlier, though I daresay it will take a while to rebuild the shattered relationship between us, but at least he’s willing to try.
“You look good, Baylor,” Finn says, leaning back in the chair next to Lysander. “All that killing seems to have done wonders for the soul.”
Finn looks terrible. He’s lost weight, and Thiago said he’s been hitting the training yard at all hours of the night and day. The two of them have been practically inseparable, though Thiago said Finn won’t breathe a word about what happened on the battlefield between he and Eris. Instead, they hit each other and duel every morning. Apparently, it helps.
I can’t even feel a hint of his emotions through the bond any more, as if he’s locked it down tight.
The only thing we can do is be here for him when he’s ready for us.
“Didn’t see either of you cleaning up after the battle,” Baylor says gruffly, taking a seat at the table.
Thalia claps her hands, and a swarm of demi-fey set about filling a plate for him. The girls crashed into bed half an hour ago, so the wine is flowing, and the language around the table has grown bawdier.
“Does this face look like it does cleanup?” Lysander looks horrified as he points at himself. “I kill, Baylor. I hunt. I am very good at doing both those things.” He shudders. “But my organizational skills end with picking a good wine to pair with a meal.”
Baylor breaks apart a bread roll, arching a brow. “Thought you must have picked a fight with His Royal Iciness, considering how quickly you both vanished once the fire burned down.”
