Page 33 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

I would have never believed I shifted except for the fact every single one of my senses was vibrant and more intensified than ever.

The grove was awash with colors of scents that were vibrant and potent, and I quickly categorized them in various groups of potential threats.

Tilting my head, I could hear the soft flutter of the wisps, the tiniest insect crawling on the blade of grass beneath me, the brush of my soulmate’s hair along her firm back, and then there was the power.

Raw and feral, the strength that coiled inside of me was wired , every muscle poised and alert.

A sudden joy that I had never felt before filled me. This was what it was like to be your own beast—I felt everything . None of it was processed and filtered by another, including the lovely sight of my soulmate standing in front of me.

And when she touched me…goddess. Through my panther senses her touch felt like the most exquisite torture, one that ripped a deep purr from my massive chest. Pure ecstasy clouding all my heightened senses.

"Ah, you have finally done it. Well done you two." Jar's smiling ancient eyes stepped through the trees with our daughter holding his hand. Remnant attempted to step away from me but I wrapped my long tail around her waist to keep her close.

I gave the healer a lethal grin full of sharp white teeth.

Riella gasped, "Father! Will I look like you when I shift one day?"

Inhaling deeply, I shifted back to my fae form and crouched low, opening my arms wide.

Riella grinned and her tiny body blurred, her image shimmering into a cloud of darkness before slamming solidly into my chest.

I smoothed back her hair, marveling at the beautiful creature that was my cub. "Whatever you shift into, be it a panther or something else entirely, you will be glorious. Right, little umbra?"

Peering up at my soulmate, Remnant smiled with the same light in her eyes, pulling her hair back and tying it off. My mouth watering when her body arched deliciously while performing the task.

"More than glorious, little one,” she responded back, arching her brow at my hungry stare. “There will be no one like you, ever in this entire universe."

Weaving shadow, Remnant morphed her darkness around us—jumping dolphins, galloping unicorns, and dancing pixies danced around our daughter. Eyes alight with possibilities, Riella watched entranced by the darkness.

I looked over at the master healer who was watching us with tears in his eyes before connecting with my own. "Thank you, Jar.”

“You are most welcome Daemon,” he smiled softly at me, plucking at his robes

I tilted my head watching the action, the familiarity not lost on me…it was the same behavior he had when he first told me about Riella.

“What else is there Jar? I sense there is something you are not quite telling us,” I said gently, watching his tears turn from ones of joy to ones of sorrow.

"It is about Lova." Another pluck at his sleeve with his long tapered fingers.

Remnant and I drew in together, bringing Riella close to us. "What has happened to her?” I said, tugging on my pink sweater, loathing the renewed feel of it back on my body after shifting. “Why is she not with you here?"

Jar hesitated and the trees hummed around us in encouragement. I did not miss the way Riella’s head tilted, studying their humming sound with keen interest.

My soulmate's hand rested on my shoulder and squared herself to the healer, her voice stern. "You have loved us all like family master healer, and family takes care of their own. What do you need from us?"

Folding his hands in his robes, he sighed. "My soulmate has always been a fierce defender of the weak, her greatest strength and greatest weakness was pursuing justice in this world. My Lova was more warrior than I ever was and the call of it tempted her many nights."

Remnant gave a soft inhale. "She did not seek eternal peace when she died."

Jar shook his head. "I should have known. My Lova would never forgive herself for leaving behind our cub and myself. She would have sought a way to avenge what was taken from her and so many others."

My lips thinned.

Well fuck.

"She is lilin," Remnant breathed, saying the exact words I had been thinking.

The healer gave us both an imploring look.

"I have searched these lands, scoured every doorway, made friends with the pookah who reside here just to hear even a whisper of her.

Even Shea could not find her within the Eithne but he assured me he did not banish her to the Vagari.

She must be within The Well, waiting for her time of justice to come, following that strong beat of battle in her heart. "

Remnant’s gaze met mine, a new line of worry lining her brow. I growled inwardly at the sight of it. The only lines I wanted to see on her gorgeous face were the ones that were created when she smiled, when she laughed, and I was losing that battle.

Turning back to Jar, I moved to envelop him in my arms. "We will seek her soul along with the others in The Well," I said for my soulmate, despite the doubt I felt along our bond.

Jar wrapped his warm arms around me and I felt his wash of healing power rejuvenate my entire being. "That is all I ask. If my Lova must avenge the life stolen from us, then I will honor her need to stay lilin and will continue to wait for her return here in our grove."

A sharp stab in my leg had me pulling away from the healer's embrace with a loud curse making everyone jump. "What the fuck?" I spun, looking for the source of the pain, seeing a sharp needle thin piece of wood implanted in my lower leg just above the lacings of my boot.

Jar chuckled. "Oh that's Henry."

"Who in the Faerie fuck is Henry?" I snapped.

Remnant gasped then, dropping to her knees. "Henry," she whispered to a rodent sized bearded creature stepping out from the coverage of a massive tree trunk—goddess help me, Henry was a damned gnome?

The arrogant garden guardian was dressed in thatches of stitched leaves with the exact same sharp twig weapons as the one currently embedded in my leg, sheathed at his back.

His blue floppy hat tipped to the side as he waddled forward towards us, his long white beard dragging on the forest ground while he bared his needled teeth.

"It is you!" Remnant cried. Her hand reached out to the untamable creature.

"Of course it is forta . Your father made sure your gnomes were also granted the Eithne.

The others are here as well, Anthony, Donald, and Raymond stay more in the herb gardens I tend.

They like the butterflies there, I really wish they'd stop tearing their wings off though, the glitter gets everywhere. "

Remnant laughed. "Yes, they do make quite a mess. Hi Henry." She turned her attention to the creature, cradling the gnome to bring him up to her face, nuzzling her nose against its belly as I wrinkled my own at its grubby hand patting her skin affectionately back.

Dragoon was right. My soulmate did love her gnomes.

"Oooo, he is so cute!" Riella squealed.

Growling, I yanked the gnome's sharp weapon out of my leg. "Little flower pissing Henry made your soulmate bleed, little umbra. Do you not care for my well-being?"

The gnome turned then, his jaw widening with his needled teeth, hissing.

I hissed back. This was why no fae fucked with gnomes.

Remnant laughed. "It's his way of saying hello. "

"And to stay away from maedere, he says." Riella interpreted for us all as the gnome beamed at her, frowning innocently, she asked, “What does maedere mean?”

Remnant froze and I could hear her slight intake of breath. I pulled her into me, ignoring the hissing Henry in her hand. I could sense that a part of her heart craved that title without realizing she wished it to be so…because mine did too.

Perhaps someday…

Jar gave our daughter a wide smile, blue eyes twinkling. “It means mother in ancient fae, little cub.”

“Oh.” Riella’s head tilted in thought.

I broke the terse silence with a playful growl down at Henry.

“Mother or not, Remnant is still mine you glitter addicted bastard.” I raised my soulmate’s other hand up to my lips to kiss it softly, loving the soft laugh escaping her.

Smiling, I dropped it and leaned towards the glaring gnome she held, “But I can make a promise to you to always take care of her, forever.

" I handed him back his tiny dagger, the most painful splinter I had ever had.

"Those better not have been poisonous, Henry. "

The gnome yanked his weapon from me and scowled. I stared back, meeting his challenge, unblinking. There was a long moment of silence before Henry grunted and nodded.

It wasn't until I heard a small steady splashing on my boots that I looked down to see another gnome bastard pissing on them. I snarled harshly, shaking its glittered urine off my boot with irritation.

It grinned back, shaking its tiny pindick before stuffing it back into its pants.

"Donald!" Remnant admonished, but she could not keep the snorting laughter from escaping her as the gnomes cackled with glee. Jar and Riella were not much further behind in joining them.

Henry jumped from my soulmate's hand and with one final hiss at me and a tip of his hat to Remnant, he scampered off with his companion.

I pointed an accusing finger at my soulmate. "My vow will be paid now. Surely, those flower pissing rodents have been avenged as well as their own personal vengeance upon my person."

Remnant arched into me, placing her hand on my chest, plucking at the pink sweater I knew she hated…

I fucking did too but it was necessary. Standing up on her tiptoes, she planted a soft kiss on my lips.

Happiness glittered in her emerald depths and I kn ew then that all the pee pollinating gnomes in Faerie could piss on my boots if it put that look in her eyes.

"They are shifter pissing rodents now, my love. "

Jar chuckled deeply behind us.