Annika stared, unmoving.

  Her expression unreadable.

  Whether or not she was breathing, was also questionable.

  “Mum?” Kat called from her seat at the round table where she lounged with her head propped up by three fingers with her elbow resting on the table.

  Annika continued staring blankly at the two children standing before her.

  “I know you’re going to be adopted later, and you don’t call Tam dad or Eli mom, but will you call her Grandma?” Luca whispered to Penelope curiously as they waited.

  Penelope was gazing back up at the duchess with a little frown riddling her face.

  Annika’s attention had been homed in on the little girl from the moment she had stepped in the room, her breath hitching.

  Kat slowly pushed herself to sit up a little straighter. “Mum, are you going to faint?”

  The duchess still didn’t speak, nor did Penelope as Luca eyed the pair, then eventually he became bold enough to stare more blatantly up at the older woman.

  “Huh, you kind of look like her, Penelope. It’s the eyes I think.”

  “I thought the same thing!” Kat chimed in behind the children, making Luca turn around and grin at his aunt.

  “Who is your mother?”

  All eyes save for Penelope’s—they were already locked on—snapped to the duchess.

  Penelope bristled a little. “That’s not your business.”

  Annika slowly lowered herself down, her knees visibly trembling. “You…” the duchess cleared her throat. “You wouldn’t happen to be Caroline’s daughter, would you?”

  Penelope stumbled back as Kat rose to her feet. “What?”

  Luca looked at Penelope with a tilt of his head. “Who’s Caroline?”

  While Annika didn’t turn away from Penelope, she still answered Luca. “Caroline was my niece, and she had a daughter. She went missing shortly after the end of the war in Troivack.”

  “Woah, woah, woah, now,” Kat burst out, moving closer to the children. “That’d be too weird. This kid pops up and just happens to be—”

  “I almost caught them. Three years ago,” Annika explained breathily. It was starting to seem as though the duchess really was about to faint. “I have been looking for them ever since they disappeared, and at one point, Her Majesty Queen Alina, thought she had found them. They’d sent me a picture of Caroline and her little girl. Her little girl who looks…” she trailed off.

  Penelope swallowed loudly, and pressed her lips together tightly.

  “Are you really telling me this girl is Caroline Levin’s daughter, and that we’re related?” Kat spluttered in open awe.

  Luca’s jaw dropped. “You’re my cousin?” he asked earnestly.

  “Technically you’d be second cousins,” Annika explained faintly.

  “Are you…” Penelope’s voice croaked, tears glimmering in her eyes. “My aunt that my mother hated?”

  Blinking rapidly as though she, too, were struggling not to cry, Annika responded with, “Yes.”

  “She hates you. I hate you!” Penelope shouted at the end, backing away.

  Smiling sadly, Annika’s next words were soft, and vulnerable. “Well, I don’t hate you, Penelope.”

  The little girl kept backing up, and most likely would’ve retreated all the way to the far wall in the room were it not for the fact that she bumped into Kat’s legs, and the Daxarian queen gently touched her shoulders.

  “Penelope? Do you want to sit behind the screen away from the duchess for a little bit?” Kat asked gently.

  Penelope didn’t respond, only turned on her heel and stormed off toward the aforementioned screen, her mouth stretching in a silent sob as she did so.

  The duchess sank back from her knees onto her backside, suddenly looking far older and more fragile than she had at the beginning of their introductions.

  Luca lowered himself down to sit cross legged across from her. “Penelope just found out her mom died,” he announced solemnly.

  Annika’s eyes flew to him.

  Luca’s mouth lifted in sad sympathy. “That mean woman who stole us from my dad told her.”

  The duchess looked up to her daughter who grimaced, then took in a long, deep breath.

  Kat proceeded to join Luca on the floor, placing herself beside both Luca and her mother. “Hey kid, you didn’t tell me your name.”

  Luca fidgeted. “Penelope said I shouldn’t tell people my name because the bad woman could send me somewhere if she knows it. So if I tell you, do you promise not to tell her?”

  Kat raised a puzzled eyebrow, which suddenly made Luca smile brightly. “You look like my dad when you do that!”

  Caught off guard by this, Kat leaned back, while the duchess gave a quiet laugh.

  “That’s true. You do,” Annika agreed with a subtle smile before returning her attention to the boy. “We promise not to tell others your name.”

  The boy stared at the duchess then the queen carefully, before hollering, “Penelope do you think I can tell them?”

  “Do what you want! I don’t care!” she shouted back.

  Luca’s chin dropped to his chest; he was openly wounded. So he stood, and made his way over to the screen to peer in at Penelope who was curled in a protective ball, crying.

  His mouth twisting, Luca approached her slowly, then bent down onto his knees, and hesitantly put his arms around Penelope.

  When she didn’t pull away he hugged her tighter. “I’m sorry again about your mom,” he said quietly.

  “S-she said that my great-aunt was a bad woman. Said that… that my grandpa died because of her!”

  “Why don’t you ask her?”

  “Because my mom’s dead!”

  “Not your mom, the duchess lady.”

  “I don’t want to talk to her right now.”

  “Okay. But she doesn’t seem like a bad lady. Remember my secret? You know…” Luca lowered his voice to be as quiet as possible. “About sensing feelings?”

  Penelope stilled.

  Luca smiled, “She really loves you.”

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  Penelope shoved Luca off of herself, making him fall on his backside and almost flat on his back. “Go away!”

  Luca stared at Penelope, first in surprise, and then with watering eyes. His palms were smarting from catching himself from her shove.

  “Okay… I’m here when you want to talk, though.” Luca stood back up, still looking at Penelope who kept her face buried in her arms, then turned to leave her alone again.

  The Daxarian queen and her mother were still seated on the floor. Neither of them spoke as Luca returned to them.

  “I’m Luca.” He held out his hand to Katarina.

  Blinking herself free of whatever thoughts she’d been mired in beforehand, Kat loosed a half smile. “Nice to meet you, Luca.”

  He bobbed his head at her. “Can we save my dad now?”

  Kat glanced at her mother, who was beginning to regain her composure, before responding. “We’d like to, but can you tell us a little about what has been going on since you’ve gotten to Zinfera with Tam?”

  Luca twisted his mouth and cocked his head over his right shoulder. “What kind of stuff do you want to know?”

  Sighing, the queen seemed to be struggling with how to word her answer, when her mother took care of it for her.

  “Everything, Luca. We need to know absolutely everything.”

  ***

  “Again.”

  Eli launched herself into the air, her wings flapping desperately to keep her body off the ground… Only she plummeted back down onto the rocky river bank only a moment later.

  “Stronger beats, not more beats. The objective is to rise up quickly so that you can find the air current and glide on those.”

  A low growl emitted from Eli’s throat.

  It was the day after the children had been taken, no one other than Wixim had been able to get a proper night’s rest.

  Tam had gone off into the woods, claiming he needed to think, while Wixim had reluctantly granted permission to Harris to explore his cave with his various treasures and artifacts.

  “I don’t think my wings are strong enough,” Eli informed the dragon bitterly.

  “They are. Your wings are simply not accustomed to being used yet. Try a running start this time.” Wixim yawned.

  Lowering her head wearily, Eli stared down the beach.

  And that was when it chose to hit her.

  To settle in her bones and muscles…

  The thought, Why won’t this struggle and bad luck ever end? I’m so… tired.

  “Your witch seemed to handle the news about the devil well.” Wixim’s voice interrupted Eli’s thoughts, making her look over where the dragon was watching her with his eyes only partially opened.

  “He’s not doing well. None of us are.” Somehow, even though the conversation was happening in their minds, Eli’s words still sounded choked with emotion.

  Wixim lifted his long neck. He stared at Eli while sitting motionlessly.

  “You know… I wasn’t alive when the devil and first witch first came to this world, but my father was.” Wixim looked off into the woods to his left. “He said the devil was so scared, and nervous to meet the humans he was to help—the first witch comforted him as best she could. Kept telling him he’d feel natural doing it, because their parents had given him his gift for that reason.”

  Eli lowered herself into a sitting position.

  “The first time he met a bad human, it did more than scare him. It made him mourn. He mourned for all the souls that that one human had hurt. And he kept mourning anew every time he’d meet a new human that would be equally bad or worse. Aradia kept telling him it would get easier, but it never did.” A breeze rushed over Wixim and Eli, making the dragon lift his head and close his eyes, as though relishing in the gentle touch of the wind before continuing his story.

  “Eventually the devil became angry. Angry with his parents for putting him in such a painful position, and for creating humans that could be so vile. Then, when the humans turned their cruelty to us, the ancient beasts, we were told by the Gods we could return to the Forest of the Afterlife. The devil heard we were going to leave… And quite bluntly, he broke.” Wixim’s gaze saddened.

  Letting out a great huff, however, he continued. “My father and other beasts were the ones who had stayed by the devil’s side during all of those years of heartache. He couldn’t stand such a thing happening to us. When he went to Aradia, he wanted her to join him in appealing to their parents. He wanted humans to die out, one by one… But Aradia… she had met and loved many humans. She even had children of her own. She didn’t want to go against her parents. And so… They fought.” Wixim lifted his great body up from his stone, and made his way closer to Eli as he continued the story.

  “He wielded the feeling of fear over her. Tormented her with it. He wanted her to understand the kind of horrible feelings humans caused others. She tried to stop him. They couldn’t finish the fight. They were too evenly matched. So the devil started warring against the humans all on his own. Again, Aradia tried to stop him, and this time… They both lost. He managed to take away her feelings of love, and subsequently, fear. Whereas he lost the ability to return home.”

  Silence rested between Eli and Wixim for a while, but eventually the dragon locked eyes with her.

  “I have never heard of any story where the devil was genuinely happy. I mentioned it before, but I don’t know that you really understood the significance. Even in his very first life, before anything happened to him, the devil was never at ease. Never warm. Never understood.”

  “Why did you tell me all of this?” Eli asked, her heart aching in her chest as she imagined Luca scared and alone with no one to comfort him.

  “I don’t side with Aradia because I disagree with the devil. I side with Aradia because I want the devil to go home, and to no longer be sad, and in pain. I also don’t think it’s a bad thing that the humans and witches be separated a little more. They need to have a healthy respect for the balance that is nature and their world.”

  Eli’s tail twitched. She didn’t quite agree with that last part…

  “If the devil is safe, and happy with you? You and your witch mean more to him than you could ever fathom. It is my hope… and sincere wish, that you reunite, and are able to live in peace once more.”

  “I want to. I want to just live in peace with them. I want this whole thing to be done. To hell with the Gods and terrible humans. None of that matters. Why did the Gods abandon a child like him? He needed them! He needs parents!”

  “Because the devil is more human than a God. And I believe it took the Gods a lot of time to create two other humans who could possibly be what he needed. I can tell that life has not been kind to you or your witch in many ways, but you two, have what the Gods envy. An understanding of their beloved son, and the ability to give him what they failed to. They will be watching out for you. They want you to have the life you crave. So… Try again. You have the greater powers that be wanting you to succeed, and so now it’s simply a matter of finishing the work to achieve it. It is hard, but by the end, you will have something remarkable, and something that is only yours.”

  Eli shifted her paws on the stones.

  She let the story and the insight steady her.

  She didn’t feel less tired, exactly, but she did remember her resolve back when she had stayed in Lord Kim’s home…

  She would get the life she wanted more than anything, and she was going to make sure Luca and Penelope never had to experience loneliness without someone by their side again.

  So when she looked down the rocky beach again, Eli took a deep inhale, and charged.