Chapter 212

Agnes

The silence in my living room was deafening.

I had told Evelyn and Gertrude everything—about my elemental abilities, about Thea being my biological daughter, about Olivia’s deception and my father’s machinations. The story had taken longer than I expected, and now the clock was ticking well past one in the morning, but our wine glasses were freshly filled. Evelyn had topped them off at some point and I’d hardly noticed.

“So...” I said, unable to bear the quiet any longer, “now you know the truth.”

Gertrude finally set her wineglass down with a shaking hand. “You can create fire,” she repeated, as if saying it out loud might make it more believable somehow. “Actual fire. From your hands.”

I nodded. “I’d demonstrate, but…” I looked down at my palms. “I’m not really sure how yet.”

Evelyn drained her glass in one long swallow. “Holy shit, Agnes.”

“I know it sounds insane,” I said, picking at a loose thread on the couch cushion. “If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t believe it either.”

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you,” Evelyn said carefully. “It’s just... a lot to process.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said, looking between them. “I just... I didn’t know how. And I was scared.”

Evelyn was the first to move. She set her empty glass on the coffee table and scooted closer to me on the couch, taking my hand in hers. “Agnes, did you honestly think something like this would change how we feel about you?”

Her fierce loyalty brought a lump to my throat, but I shook my head. “It’s not that I was worried you two would think differently of me…”

“But you just didn’t trust we’d keep the secret,” Gertrude pointed out, adjusting her glasses.

My throat bobbed. “I didn’t mean—”

“Relax,” Evelyn cut me off. “We’re not offended. Are we, Gertrude?” When Gertrude merely shrugged, Evelyn dug her elbow into her ribs.

Gertrude nodded quickly. “Right. Yes. I probably would have had the same worries in your position. You must feel so unsafe, especially after learning about that awful place that’s trying to… breed you.”

I let out a shaky laugh. It wasn’t funny, but somehow, hearing Gertrude say it out loud like that took some of the horror out of the situation.

“We’re going to help you figure this out,” Evelyn suddenly said.

I looked between them and blinked. “Really?”

“Of course,” Evelyn said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “What are friends for?”

Gertrude’s eyes had taken on that gleam they always got when she was presented with a new research challenge. “I can look through the archives at work,” she said with a nod. “There might be some classified references to elementals that have been overlooked or misclassified. Even the tiniest scrap of information could be useful.”

“You’d do that?” I asked, touched. Gertrude had already stuck her neck out for me once with the spellbook. Offering to find classified information was no small feat.

“Try and stop me,” Gertrude grinned. “This is the most exciting research project I’ve had in years.”

“And I’ll help however I can,” Evelyn added. “Although I’ll admit my skill set might not be cut out for research…” She tapped her chin. “I am nothing if not a blabbermouth, though. I’ll sneakily ask around, see if I can find any information on this ‘Elemental Enterprises’ business.”

“You know you guys don’t have to do this. You could put yourself at risk,” I said.

Gertrude and Evelyn merely exchanged looks, then shrugged in unison.

“Thank you,” I whispered, sagging back on the couch. I passed my hands over my weary face. “Seriously, thank you.”

My friends grinned and flopped back with me, already drawing up conspiracies and ideas for the future.

…

Three days later, Elijah returned. He pulled up to the house, and I could tell even through the car windshield that he was exhausted but relieved to see us.

The moment he stepped out, Thea launched herself at him. He caught her effortlessly, spinning her around before setting her back on her feet. I approached more slowly, although I couldn’t help but grin. I’d missed him, even though it was just a few days. It seemed that the scraps of my wolf returning, however small they may be, yearned for our fated mate even more than usual.

“Did you miss me, kiddo?” Elijah asked, ruffling Thea’s hair.

“No,” Thea replied with a cheeky grin. “Not even a little bit.”

“Liar,” he laughed, then looked up at me with an expression that made my heart skip. “What about you?”

I stepped into his arms and breathed in his familiar scent. “Maybe a little,” I murmured against his chest, although we both knew it was a massive understatement.

Later, after dinner, we gathered in the living room. Thea was sprawled on the floor with her coloring books while Elijah and I sat on the couch, my legs draped across his lap as if we couldn’t bear to not be touching after the days apart.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Elijah said suddenly, reaching into his pocket. “I have something for you, Thea.”

She perked up immediately, abandoning her coloring to scramble over to us. “A present? What is it?”

Elijah pulled out a small plastic keychain with a cartoonish dinosaur dangling from it. Thea’s eyes lit up as she took it from him.

“It’s so cute!” she exclaimed, already clipping it onto her school backpack, which was sitting nearby. “I love dinosaurs!”

“I know you do,” Elijah said with a tired smile.

I raised an eyebrow at him once Thea had returned to her coloring. “Where did you get that?” I asked quietly.

Elijah shrugged. “Some guy at the hotel recognized me from the news. Said he was abused as a kid too and that he wanted to give Thea a gift.”

“And you just took it? From a stranger?”

“It’s just a keychain, Agnes,” he said, looking amused at my concern. “I checked it over. It’s not going to hurt her.”

I wasn’t so sure, but I let it drop. Thea seemed thrilled with her new trinket, and Elijah was right—it was just a cheap plastic toy.

“So how did it go with the pack?” I asked, changing the subject.

Elijah’s expression turned serious. “It was... complicated. We got the trade agreement sorted, but there’s a lot of unrest in the territories right now.”

“What kind of unrest?”

He sighed, absently tracing patterns on my leg. “The usual political nonsense. Some of the older packs are pushing back against the more progressive ones. Some Alphas are stepping down and putting their kids in charge. You know how it is.”

He yawned. “But I’ll have to start making diplomatic visits,” he went on. “Keep Silvermoon’s reputation pristine. Especially after everything that happened with Olivia—people have their eyes on us.” He gave me a meaningful look.

I understood immediately what he was getting at. “And you want me to come with you.”

“I need you to,” he corrected. “As my mate. It’s important that we present a united front.”

My mind immediately went to Thea. “But what about—”

“We’ll need to hire a nanny,” Elijah said.

I nodded. The thought of leaving Thea behind when I’d only just found her after seven years of searching didn’t exactly fill me with joy, but Elijah was right. Political campaigns are no place for a child.

Maybe to some, a kid like Thea would be a perfect pawn for garnering political brownie points—doll her up, bring her to press conferences and meetings, take family photos for magazines and news articles—but that wasn’t the case for us.

“I’ll find someone,” I promised.

Elijah smiled, suppressing another yawn. “Thank you, Agnes. You’re the best Luna a man could ask for.”