Page 30 of Ruling in Flames (Reborn 5)
9
MAYA
The roomwe walked into was massive, some type of dining hall if I had to guess. Five long tables were pushed to the side to make room for the group gathered. I had assumed the group would consist at least partly of the dragons that had stayed, but if any had, they weren’t here. Every face in the room was one I recognized, even if some were surprising.
For example, I could see Eleven near the back of the room. My chest squeezed happily, hoping that the fact she’d shown up here meant there was a possibility of us being true friends.
“You showed up right in time,” I said to my mom, who was watching me with soft affection and curiosity.
“We wanted to show up sooner—far sooner—especially once we received word you were traveling because of the attack.” My mom frowned, lowering her voice. “Are you okay? I know Ry’s death was violent, but the attack on Halloween…the surprise ones are sometimes the ones that leave the worst scars.”
“I really am okay—Az saved me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was the one who killed Lorn—he created an illusion and made me believe that I was the one who did it.”
My mom’s gaze moved towards the angel in question. He was standing near the edge of the room, watching me with a dark but warm gaze that had my toes curling. “Your mates were unexpected, but an angel…I’ve never heard of that before.”
I stopped and turned towards her, examining her face for judgment and finding none. “He sacrificed his life for me. For all of us trying to escape. Ry had his immortality bound, so when he broke the stone containing the magic that kept us captive, it should’ve killed him…but my magic and I weren’t okay with that.”
Realization filled my mom’s gaze as she looked back towards the man, nodding. “Ah, that changes things. A sacrificial bond is unbreakable; I can understand now why he’s stayed so near. The entire time you were unconscious, he sat outside of your room when he wasn’t running around helping your mates.”
I blushed at that. “That’s sweet.”
“That’s one word for it,” a masculine voice muttered. One of my dads, Con, had stepped away from the large group of males talking—a mix of my mates, my brothers, and my fathers. Honestly, I was trying to not pay too much attention to it because it was overwhelming to say the least.
“What’s another?” I asked curiously.
“Obsessive,” he growled and looked over me with a frown. “Are you okay?”
“Tired but okay,” I promised with a smile that I hoped would appease his concern.
“How is the tiny feline?” he asked, my mom letting out a sound of amusement as I realized the stoic man was talking about Bella.
“Wonderful. She’s with the little ones in the nursery,” I explained. “I think she was protecting them.”
He nodded in understanding, as if it wasn’t amusing to say a kitten was protecting dragon and phoenix shifters.
“You fully came into your powers,” Fuji said as he approached, his calm, grounded mannerisms instantly making me relax. “How does it feel?”
“Honestly, I didn’t love the part where I died—”
“You died?!”
I winced as the room came to a complete stop, the space suddenly filled with awkward silence. Ignatius stared at me like I was both crazy and about to disappear, panic infusing his expression.
Crap. They hadn’t known.Marco immediately moved to my side, his hand running over my hip in comfort. Ignatius narrowed his eyes on him.
I knew where this was going.
“I stepped into the line of Ry’s fire to protect one of my mates and to make sure Az didn’t die. Don’t be mad at them,” I said firmly. Ignatius’s eyes moved back to mine, looking conflicted. “They’re already upset about it as it is, and it’s not their fault. This is completely on me, and I’m going to be really upset if you make them feel more guilty than they already do.”
“You should listen to her,” Pele suggested, his warm brown eyes making me relax a smidge. “It makes sense, Ignatius. How else would she have come into her power?”
“I don’t fucking like it—” one of my brothers began, but he was interrupted by a feminine whisper I had to assume was from Eleven. Though I couldn’t worry about that yet, instead far more focused on my dads’ and mom’s sad, concerned gazes as I felt my mates stand near me, not liking the tension.
“There is a much bigger explanation,” I admitted. “I don’t mind giving it, but it’s a lot more complicated than me dying.”
“We will listen,” Haco insisted, stepping forward and smoothing a hand over my mom’s back.
“Everyone sit down,” Nuriel demanded, motioning to the chairs behind him. Everyone followed orders slowly, my mates dragging chairs to be closer to me.
