Page 127 of Demon's Bane

She echoes Halla sentiment, and as the both of them apologize for not saying something sooner, not pressing when they weren’t sure I’d be able to hear them, I wave away the words with another damned lump in my throat to cough around.

“It wasn’t up to you to tell me what I should have realized on my own.”

“No,” my mother allows. “But we could have been better about giving you the shove that would have gotten you there sooner.”

Knowing I’ve probably already stayed longer than I should, I let myself be shooed out the door a few minutes later.

Back in the sunshine of the village, I portal myself away, ready to return to the court and to the witch who’s waiting for me there.

When I step inside the mountain, it takes everything in me to keep myself from running all the way back to my mate, even if the brisk clip I take through the maze of tunnels leading down to the workshop earns me a few questioning gazes from the demons I pass.

Joan’s scent washes over me as soon as I arrive outside her door. Though it’s still intermingled with medicine and healing herbs, I breathe it deep and can’t contain the warm, expansive joy that blooms in the center of my chest.

That joy, however, only lasts as long as it takes for me to open the door and see her empty bed.

The sheets are rumpled, and the pillow is still indented where she laid her head, but the room feels… cold. Empty. Like it’s been that way for a while.

My heart hammers in deep, aching beats as I check the small bathing chamber adjoining the room and find that empty, too.

When I reenter the main chamber, I stop short to see the queen standing in the doorway, looking nervous and… guilty.

“Where is she?” I ask.

“She went home.”

“What?”

Allison grimaces at the hoarse desperation in my voice. “Home. Back to the human realm. She woke up pretty upset and ready to go, so I had Felix take her back a little while ago and…”

The rest of her words are lost to the roaring in my ears.

My mate thinks I abandoned her.

What other conclusion could she have drawn when she woke and I wasn’t here, when she learned where I had gone? Or when she remembered the last conversation we had, and would surely have no reason to believe I would willingly choose to leave this realm with her?

“Rhett?” Allison asks, and I realize I’m staring blankly at the wall behind her head, not listening to her, fists balled at my sides. “She’s alright. Joan. She’s alright. Felix got her home safe and—”

“I have to go.” My voice comes out even harsher and more broken than before.

I intend to sprint out of here—head straight to the Veil and back to the human realm, to Beech Bay, to my mate—when my queen stops me with a hand on my wrist.

“Just hold on a sec,” she says, and though it nearly kills me, I turn back to face her. “Take it easy on her, alright? She’s been through a lot these past few days, and I think she just wanted to be somewhere safe and familiar to process everything.”

Take it easy on her? Like I would ever forget for a single moment to cherish and protect her, that I would not fall to my knees the moment I see her and beg her forgiveness—

Allison must see at least a little of that turmoil on my face, because she rushes to explain further. “And just remember, she’s not over the moon about the idea of moving to the demon realm. She loves her life, and her shop, and just because the two of you are mates doesn’t mean she—”

“I don’t intend for her to give up her life. Wherever she is, wherever she’s happiest, that’s my home.”

The remark seems to catch her off-guard, and after a few seconds of shocked surprise, a small, tentative smile spreads over her face.

“Good. Maybe lead with that, alright?”

41

Joan

It starts with a phone call.