Page 49 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

" M aedere!" Riella called out from a small lit fire deep in the heart of the cave we entered.

I didn't hesitate, dropping to my knees much like my heart did at hearing her call me mother in ancient fae and when her tiny body came crashing into me, I held her in reverence. Gripping her tightly to my chest, my hand cradled her head, kissing the top of it where her starry crown still perched.

Behind her the pookah watched on from its curled position. It nodded at me once before closing its eyes, unmoved by our heartfelt greeting.

Looking away from the strange spirit guide, I held Riella's away from me, assessing every part of her from her clean face and smoothly plaited braid, down to her fresh clothing and tidied appearance.

Out of place, I plucked thick black needles sticking out from her raven locks and straightened the slight tilt in her glowing crown before pulling her back into me again, sighing with relief.

Riella was a polished jewel in the middle of Hell’s inferno and I knew exactly who was responsible for that.

"You did good, shifter," I sent him through our bond, goddess damn him for making me fall even more in love with him. Surely my heart would break from all the ways he filled me so completely with his own.

His chest puffed and strained the fabric of his shirt, unable to call it dirty anymore, while his eyes glittered with pride. “ We took care of each other, just as you would have wished for us, little umbra but please don’t make a habit of leaving us again. Neither of us relished the time apart.”

I sent him a tight smile. Wishing I could vow such a thing would never happen, but knowing I could not. Emon’s eyes narrowed, realizing this too.

Peering over my side, Riella searched the cave’s entrance. "Where is Zaz?"

I arched a brow at her. "Zaz? The demon?"

Her eyes swirled and she nodded. "Yes. I like him. He is good. In here." She touched her small hand to her chest just above the thick dragon scale.

Smiling at her, I nodded. "I believe you are right about that, my chickadee." Shaking my head, I added. "He cannot come with us, little one. He is a leader among his kind but he did tell me to say goodbye to you, that you are very brave, and you are always welcome in his territory."

Riella nodded, her eyes flashing bright gold before the emerald green swirled back into them. "The beasts in the woods told me that he is called the Prince of Greed."

I glanced up at Emon, who simply shrugged, setting our pack down and rummaging through its contents.

"What else did the beasts tell you?" I asked.

Mimicking her father, she shrugged. "Just that they are going to keep me here. They like me."

"Mine!" hissed the pookah behind her, conveniently awake now with its ear twitching.

My lips thinned on the territorial creature that was now talking? But Emon merely grunted, occupied with laying bed rolls beside the fire. Rummaging in the pack again, he growled softly and then chuffed with happiness, holding up a canister and white box like a trophy, a wide smile on his face.

Riella and I both stared at his triumphant grin.

"Dinner," he cooed, crossing his legs over each other and cradling the white box in his lap like a babe, he opened the contents and tossed the canteen out on the bed roll. "I can't think on an empty stomach and these pastries won't last another day. Who is hungry?"

My mouth watered. "Those are the pastries you made in Eithne?"

Emon nodded, his eyes sparkling. "Yes. Your brother packed them for me.” Then he winked, “admit it, you like my baking better than Drey's."

Scooping Riella up and savoring the way she giggled in my arms, I joined Emon on the padded bedding with her tucked neatly into my own lap, "I will do no such thing. We owe Drey our lives."

“Indeed we do. I will make sure he is honored for the sacrifices he has made once this is all over.” Emon pushed the white box of baked goods towards my daughter. "The brave princesses of shadows first."

Riella rolled her eyes. "Warriors, we are the brave shadow warriors, faedere."

Emon barked out a laugh and plucked another hidden needle from her hair. "Apologies my cub, of course you are warriors. There are no damsels here, as your mother reminded me earlier." He gave me a salacious smirk before biting off a chunk of dried meat that he had also taken from the pack.

Riella, oblivious to Emon's heated stare, dove for the white box, picking out the biggest pastry, a flakey layered bun of cinnamon spices and sweet honey glaze. Biting into it with a happy hum, she chewed it eagerly before taking another large bite immediately after.

I snickered and left the box to her greedy little hands, choosing the dried meats, not even realizing how hungry I was until the flavor hit my tongue. Finishing it quickly, Emon handed me a canteen of water, watching me quietly.

"There's something else I need to tell you," he said softly in my mind. "There was a moment where I weakened in the woods, the soulless sleep is starting to take a bigger hold but that is not the biggest concern."

I slowly lowered the canteen and released a shaky breath. "How is that not the biggest concern, shifter?" Staring at him with beseeching eyes, "How bad was it?"

Emon shrugged and grabbed another piece of meat, handing it to me but I refused, my stomach churning. His lips thinned. "I will tell you more when you eat more. You asked for me to be truthful. This is me following your wishes but I will not do so if that means I watch you waste away with worry."

I growled at him before bending down and whispering in our daughter's ear, "Pick one out for me, little one. Whatever one you want me to try?"

Snatching a golden brown pastry, she held it out for me. "Faedere told me you like chocolate when I made this one for you. It's on the inside ," she said secretly through her mouthful of masticated pastry.

I took the chocolate stuffed croissant from her. "I do love chocolate." Taking a bite, she watched me beaming, and I winked down at her.

"Did I bake it right, maedere?"

I kissed her, leaving a chocolatey smudge on her cheek. "You did an excellent job, Riella."

She hummed again and returned back to her own treat, bouncing in my lap to her own energetic rhythm.

Meeting Emon’s eyes again, I took another big bite pointedly. "Start talking."

His eyes dilated as he watched me chew before he shook his head. "I heard Deirdre again. She said she would take my soul."

"Obviously, I won't let that happen. I am the goddess of souls here," I snapped haughtily, despite my racing heart. “ You are not the only one she has reached out to in this realm," I admitted with a soft whisper in his mind.

Gold eyes narrowed on me sharply. " What?" he barked.

"I was knocked unconscious for a short time fighting the demons. I woke up just as her voice whispered to me…saying that I would come for her."

Emon's jaw clenched and he raked a hand over his braided hair, before scrubbing over his beard. " That's twice now she has attempted to use her spirit ability to manipulate us."

Finishing the delicious chocolate bun, I chewed thoughtfully. "Fear. To sow doubt. To push us into making rash decisions. To distract us from a bigger threat."

Emon grimaced. "There were wraiths in the woods. Her reach has extended now into Hell. If that demon hadn't been there while the sleep took me…I am a liability now, Remnant. You must realize that."

My heart thundered and I knew he could hear it. "I will not. Even as a soulless you could never be a liability to me Emon…you are my reason."

He grunted. "There you go saying shit I am supposed to say to you."

I smiled softly. "You have made me a poet, shifter." He grinned back and I looked back at Riella, sweeping off the sugar glaze from her cheek, my smile faltering. “I am scared for her, Emon. If Deirdre can reach us in the spirit realm…”

Blood drained from Emon’s bronze skin, his eyes falling on our daughter, watching the way she ferociously attacked another pastry. "My cub,” he said slowly, cautiously, “I am going to ask you something and I need you to think seriously about this."

Riella looked up, flakes of pastry falling from her face where honey glaze shined on her skin from the firelight. "Okay faedere."

"Has anyone visited you in your dreams?"

I did not breathe, waiting for her answer, Emon's hand reached out to mine, his warm heat steadying my panic, his strength bolstering mine.

Riella shook her head smiling. "No one has visited me." Her shoulders slumped and her bottom lips stuck out. "Should they be?"

My entire body melted into her, I had not realized how rigid I had been sitting. Tilting her head back, I peered into her beautiful swirling eyes. "Do not be sad, Riella, it is good that no one has visited you. Remember the beautiful queen statue in Atlantis?"

Riella's eyes widened and I felt her body shrink into me. "Yes."

I kissed her forehead. "She is also known as the blood goddess and the blood witch, the one you feared, little chickadee. And she wants us…all of us."

"Mine!" hissed the pookah again and hopped into my daughter's lap.

Riella giggled and scooped up the black bunny, hugging him to her chest, feeding him tiny bites of her pastry. "Don't worry maedere, Zaki says he will protect us."

Emon shifted closer, pulling us all into him on the bed roll. "Yes, thank you Zaki. "

I arched a brow at him. When had he started taking a liking to the spirit guide?

Riella paused, looking back at him. “Faedere, what did it mean when Zaz called me heir to the Faerie throne? You did not seem to like it very much.”

Our eyes met briefly over the top of Riella’s head before Emon answered her softly, “it means that should you choose it, you are the true ruler of our world little cub, the queen of the fae and all of Faerie’s creatures.”

Riella nodded, completely unfazed, “Ohhh that , yes, I knew that already.” She said simply, tossing the last bit of her pastry in her mouth.

Only the sound of her chewing and the crackling fire could be heard as Emon and I sat in stunned silence meant for the complete moronic.

I cleared my throat, “Riella, what do you mean you already knew?”

She licked at her fingertips, “every living thing that speaks to me calls me Faerie Queen. I thought it was because of my crown.” She shrugged and then yawned. “Sounds like fun to be a queen, maybe I can help fix the world too. I even know the first thing I will do as a ruler.”

“What is that, little one?” I asked in a hush whisper. I was in both awe of her easy acceptance but also fearful of her innocence of the magnitude of what this role truly would mean. A constant struggle of power and intrigue—-a sacrifice of who you wanted to be versus who you needed to be.

“I am going to raise Atlantis back to the surface where it belongs, so we can all live there as a family together. I want it to be the bridge between our worlds again. Just like Shen Shen said it used to be…and then he can visit me there too.” She tugged on the large iridescent dragon scale on her neck smiling, before a large yawn escaped her.

Emon laughed softly and his voice was rough when he spoke, "if anyone can do this, I know it will be you my cub. I look forward to living in the sunken city of Atlantis with you one day.” Tapping her nose, he grinned widely when she yawned a second time.

“Now how about a bedtime story? Maybe one that has nothing to do with broken worlds, watery castles, and queens?”

Riella grinned, her lashes fluttering upwards at Emon. "Oh yes please faedere!"

“Emon…” I began but Emon shook his head at me.

“Let her dream, little umbra, she will learn one day what it truly means to be a queen and we will be there to help her should she decide this but for now…let her be a little faeling that dreams of castles and dragons, of heroic deeds and having a family.” He leaned in and brushed my lips with his chastely, snickering in my mind.

“Just as you once dreamed to become the servant of a weretree, seeking their bite to become a wolf. How old were you then?”

I pursed my lips, tilting my head at him, “Ten.”

Emon grinned back at me, “a ten year old faeling, running feral for weeks on end in the Wildwoods, dodging her guards, hunting a werewood. Raising Atlantis from the depths of the ocean seems to be a much safer dream for our daughter to have compared to yours near that age. Tell me, Remnant, do you still wish to be a wolf, or is a cat more your preference these days.”

I inhaled. Emon was far too good at distracting me from my worries but goddess I loved him for it. Before I could answer him, Riella tapped my arm.

"Maedere?"

Looking down at her, I could see that her eyes were half lidded. I doubted she would make it through the first sentence of Emon’s story. “Yes?”

She sighed, "You need to fix my spear. The shadows disappeared when you were captured. Faedere says it was because of the irons."

I nodded, "Yes, of course I will make you a new one. I am sorry, little one."

She grinned happily before another thought captured her attention. "Madere?"

I ran the back of my hand over her smooth cheek, smiling patiently down at her, attempting to set aside the worries and allow the dreams to stay bright in her eyes, just like Emon suggested.

Clever shifter, always in tune with others needs even even the ones I didn’t think I required. "Yes, little chickadee?"

"What does my aura look like?"

I blinked.

Realizing I had never checked her aura since the first day we met when the Sanguine masked her true nature. Peering into the swirling gold and emerald of her eyes, I switched my sight and was awed.

Tears welled as I basked in the glory of a brilliant halo of rainbows, sparkling like the exploding stars in the Eithne. A mark of veneration and glory, a mark of a true queen.

Riella was what I always knew her to be. What Penina had already foresaw. A miracle of hope…the balanced future that Faerie needed to survive.

The demon had been right, there was no doubting it now, no wishing it to be different.

"Riella…my sweet little chickadee, your aura is the most beautiful array of rainbow halos I have ever seen." I felt my tears trickle down my face, "A perfect aura to match our perfect little faeling."

Emon quietly pulled us all in even closer, his hold tightening, his silent strength unwavering.

"Once upon a time," he began, his deep timber voice filled the cave, but I could hear the shakiness beneath.

He was just as terrified but he held us up against this new storm all the same, always spreading his golden warmth even when everything felt dead and cold.

"There was a young faeling who dreamed of becoming a wolf… "