Page 42 of Finding Embers and Stars (Twin Flames Duet #1)

Chapter forty-two

O nce Atlas gets his cuddle time in, he lets Piper shift back to her human form.

It’s so strange to know Piper has Sage’s mate within her. I don’t hold the situation against her, and I certainly don’t think of her as an abomination the way her father does.

It’s just different.

Like so many things about our mates, yet I wouldn’t change a damn thing.

When Sage stands up, she has a brief word with Liam and then all of my brothers magically disappear, saying that they’re going to get pub subs for dinner.

I’ll never turn down a pub sub, but once Piper and Sage walk over together to each take my hand, I know things are getting serious.

They pull me over to the porch bed and sit down on either side of me. Sage pulls out her phone and offers it to me with the contact list already open. “Do you want to call your uncle?”

I feel like someone has reached inside my chest and squeezed all the air out of my lungs. Do I want to call my uncle? Absolutely.

Am I terrified of what will happen after I finally speak to him? Hell yes.

“Can you…” My voice breaks and I have to clear my throat. “Can you tell me a little about him?”

Piper squeezes my hand. “Of course, Milo. Ben is a kind, caring man. He’s a doctor for the shelter, that's how we met him. He’s married to a kick ass angel named Lacy, and they’ve adopted several children through the shelter.”

Sage takes over, lying her head on my shoulder. “His house and office are covered in ocean photos. I asked him about them once. He said that they were all taken by his nephew. That to remain hidden from the Fae realm, he was forced to leave you behind. Buying your photos was one small way he could support you and keep a piece of you close.”

Taking a deep breath, I push the call button and then proceed to panic. What will I say?

“Can one of you please start?” My whispered plea ends just as the click of the phone being answered comes over the line.

A deep, happy sounding voice comes over the line. “Sage, my girl. How are you?”

She giggles. The same joy spreading across her face as when she spoke to her parents on the phone. That my mates know my uncle still blows my mind. That they consider him part of their crazy extended family is even weirder.

“We had a visit from Amma a little bit ago. Luckily, she showed up after we were dressed. She dropped some pretty serious news on us and suggested we give you a call.”

I hear him suck in a breath. His voice is thick with emotion when he finally speaks. “Milo.”

“He’s here with us, Ben, and you’re on speaker. Amma gave us some details but told us that the story of how he came to be at the orphanage needed to come from you.” Piper keeps her fingers laced with mine, squeezing my hand in support.

“Milo, I’ve thought about you every day since I was forced to leave you in Florida. Please believe me when I say that walking away from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” His voice is choked with emotion and what almost sounds like suppressed tears.

Can he really care about me that much? Then why leave me?

“Why?” I fight to keep my anger from my voice. Everyone, including the fucking Moon Goddess has told me he had a reason. I need to understand why I grew up alone until I found my brothers.

“Why did I leave you? As I explained in my letter, I had no choice. There are Fae that have the ability to sense power. The two of us together were like a beacon, it would have drawn them right to us.” Ben pauses to let me absorb but I’m still hung up on the letter.

“What letter? I didn’t get any letter. I didn’t even know I was a Fae until the girls told me!”

There is a long pause before Ben speaks. “I don’t understand. I left a letter explaining everything with the woman at the orphanage when I dropped you off there. You were to be given the letter when you turned sixteen and told about your trust fund.”

“At the orphanage? I was found wandering alone on the beach with a note pinned to my shirt listing my name and birthday.”

“What the fuck?!” Ben’s voice abruptly fades, as if the phone was taken away from him.

“Hi guys!” A cheerful, much younger voice comes over the phone.

Sage and Piper grin at each other before Sage speaks. “Hey brat. Are you causing trouble again?”

The delighted laughter that pours from the speakers draws an answering smile from me. It’s hard to stay upset when surrounded by that much pure joy.

“Me? Trouble? Never!” More laughter from the girls nearly drowns out her next words. “By the way, Milo, I’m Olive. Ben and Lacy’s adopted daughter. I took the phone away from papa until he calms down. I know things needed to happen this way so that you would meet your brothers, but he’s upset that the woman he left you with pocketed the donation he made to the orphanage and left you all alone.”

I blink in shock. How could she possibly know what happened?

“I’m needed at the shelter, so I’m going to set the phone down. Papa will be back in a minute as soon as he calms down. Can’t wait to meet you in person! Bye.” The clatter of the phone being dropped onto a hard surface ends the whirlwind conversation.

“Umm, what just happened?”

Piper shakes her head. “Olive is a powerful seer. She wouldn’t have told us about the woman taking the money if it wasn’t true.”

A throat clearing brings my attention back to the call. “I’m sorry for my outburst. It kills me to know you grew up thinking you had been abandoned when I did everything in my power to make sure you at least knew what you were and why I had to leave you.”

“Please, can you tell me who I am? What happened to my parents? Why did all this happen to me?”

The girls stand up, each giving me a kiss on my cheek before leaving me to talk to Ben. I wouldn’t have minded if they stayed, but I appreciate them wanting to give us privacy now that introductions have been made.

“Milo, this is going to be a bit of a history lesson, but it’s the only way this mess will make sense.” Ben sounds both elated and tired. I can’t help but wonder if me coming back into his life is a blessing or a curse.

“The Fae realm has always been divided by the four courts. Each court can trace their bloodline back to the original family that had specific powers belonging to each of them. The courts of Summer and Winter are allies, intermingling and marrying to share powers. They were known as the East courts. The courts of Spring and Fall are also allies and reside in the western half of the realm. For many generations there was an uneasy but maintained truce between the East and West.”

He pauses. “Your mother and I are born of the Summer and Winter courts. We have weather and elemental magic. Your father is from the Spring and Fall courts, meaning he has psychic and shapeshift magic. They met at a political function and were just as shocked as the rest of us when they felt the pull of a fated mate bond.”

Ben grows quiet and I know I should give him a moment to collect himself, but I’m far too impatient to hear the rest of the story. “Then what happened?”

He chuckles softly. “There is an ancient prophecy among the Fae that the heir of all four courts will end tensions across the realm. The ruling councils of each court were scared your parents would bring forth the child of prophecy. The councils won’t let this happen. since such a ruler would supersede their authority. Milo, you are the child of the prophecy.”

“Well, fuck.” That’s concerning, the last thing I want to do is rule over an entire realm of Fae when I don’t know the first thing about them.

Ben’s snort of laughter makes me smile. It’s so good to know that I have a family. “The pull of the mate bond is hard to ignore, and your parents found a way to be together. It wasn’t until your mother, Lila, became pregnant that the true ramifications hit home. She came to me begging for help and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my baby sister.”

“I smuggled her out of the palace and hid her away until you were born. The last thing she asked of me was to take you to meet your father, Gideon, then bring you here to the human realm. She wanted you to grow up away from all the political bullshit that would surround you in the Fae realm. Everyone would be looking to influence you and gain your favor for their own agenda.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but why did you leave me? Couldn’t we have stayed together?”

Ben’s sigh is so full of sorrow, I immediately regret my question. “There is nothing I wanted more, but it wasn’t safe. There are some Fae that can sense power levels. Once you turned three, you gained access to your magic. I knew it was only a matter of time before my magic signature combined with your growing one would catch the wrong kind of attention. That is the only reason I left you behind.”

I was loved, wanted, and cared for by my parents. Everything I’ve ever hoped for. I feel like the knot that’s been around my heart for my entire life has loosened.

“I just reached out to Sam,” Ben continues, not realizing the epiphany I’m having. “Your trust fund was originally set up to be released to you at twenty-eight, but I asked him to unlock it early. It’s run by the same company as the girl’s finances are set up with. They can show you how to log into the account. The password is embers&stars. No capitals and the symbol, not the word. Olive insisted on it.”

Damn, the kid really is a seer.

A voice rolls through my head, much like the way I can hear Atlas, but I don’t recognize it. “Congratulations on your bonding, my son. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. Your mother and I think of you every day. We love and miss you so much.”

I jump, nearly dropping Sage’s phone. “Umm Ben. I just heard a random voice in my head. It said he and my mother love and miss me. Considering I just figured out that my mates and brothers can speak mind to mind earlier today after we bonded, this is a bit of a mind fuck. Can my father speak to me across realms?”

“Gideon.” Ben’s hopeful whisper is at odds with his brisk instructions. “Ask him what I call your mother. If it’s him, he will know.”

Ask him? How the hell am I supposed to do that? Shrugging my shoulders, I try to focus on the voice I heard. “Hey weird voice in my head. If you’re really my father, Ben says you should know what he called my mother.”

A deep chuckle echoes through my mind. “That depends entirely on if she had pissed him off that day. He would call her tulip or thorn, as in the thorn in his side, depending on her level of annoying him.”

I can’t contain my snort of laughter as I relay his words. That sounds like something I would say.

Ben’s voice chokes up and I can tell he’s fighting tears. “That’s Gideon. That’s your father. He’s the only one who knew what I called Lila. Is she… Can you ask him if she’s okay?”

“Of course.”

Reaching out again, I push my question to my father. That will take some time to get used to.

A heavy sigh is my answer. “As well as can be expected. When it was discovered that we mated against the council’s orders, we were separated. Each of us is given six months in the public eye, our every move is watched closely. When we aren’t in the public eye, we’re locked up. A lovely suite is better than a jail cell, but we are very much captives. Right now your mother is out, and we will switch places in a few weeks.”

It’s hard to hear the resignation in his voice. I understand what Amma meant when she said that if I didn’t go to the Fae realm, I would be leaving my parents to suffer. I haven’t even been mated to Piper and Sage for a full day, and the thought of being kept away from them tears me apart.

“The Moon Goddess had a vision that showed my mates, brothers, and I coming to the Fae realm. I promise, we will free you both.”

“I look forward to that day, my son, but for now, tell me about these mates and brothers. It sounds like you’ve found yourself in a unique situation.”

I quickly relay everything about my parents’ captivity to Ben and as we go back and forth with me acting as the go-between. I learn bits and pieces of my history and that of my family.

When Ben and I finally hang up and my father bids me good night, I sit in the dark reflecting on all I’ve learned.

Yesterday, I was an orphan with a few chosen brothers.

Today, I have parents that love me, an uncle that’s been looking out for me for years, even though he had to keep his distance. A shit ton of people in Wyoming who already consider me family, and I have my brothers and two beautiful mates. I couldn’t be happier.

Oh, and apparently, I’m not broke. I can’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces when I spill that little secret.

Yeah, life is good.