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“ T his better be the last one Emon.” I said wearily to him through our mind connection when a new memory appeared.

I didn’t need to see more to know the kind of fae Emon truly was. Strong and gentle, kind and just, vicious and fair, broken but still hopeful, he was the light in the darkness that I was never able to find until now.

I recognized the healing quarters with a small smile on my face. It was a place filled with such warmth and acceptance. The essence of the master healer’s work.

Searching the room, I found Emon sitting on an extended prime root of Riella’s bed with a broken expression on his face.

Alarm and panic had me rushing over to the faeling, recalling that Emon had placed additional wards on the room. Had he hidden a terrible truth from me, was she not well ?

Seeing her still sleeping as peacefully as when I last left her, I frowned at the broken expression on Emon’s face.

It was the most lost and hopeless I had ever seen him. Even through the brutality he had suffered, he always held unwavering strength, but it was absent here. Defeated. My soulmate was defeated.

“You are so beautiful…just like your mother.” He whispered and reached out to sweep back a strand of raven hair from Riella’s face, pausing to study the color of it.

I frowned. How could Emon know her mother?

Looking down at Riella’s hair, I stared at what Emon was seeing. Highlights of blue…I trailed my eyes over the heart shape of her cherub face, her petite nose, the shape of her lips, the soft flutter of her eyelashes.

I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. It was as if I was looking down at a reflection of me. How had I not seen it before?

Emon smiled reverently at her. “Thank goddess you have her small nose…” He chuckled. “Don’t tell her I said this but I think yours might be cuter. Goddess knows your mother already doesn’t like me much, but I am trying to change. Don’t you worry.”

Tears filled my eyes.

Emon released a sad sigh. “I don’t know what I am doing anymore, my cub. I don’t believe I have ever felt this lost before.”

My tear filled eyes could not leave Emon. My cub.

Emon sighed and ran a hand through his hair with frustration.

“Jar told me that you would hear me if I spoke to you. That it would help you in your healing sleep.” He hesitated slightly and then hard resolve crossed his features.

“You may not know what it means right now, my sweet little cub, but you have established our bond. It is the bond that all shifter children have with their parents. You are our daughter Riella. Remnant and I are your true parents.”

I closed my eyes, painful hope blooming inside my chest. We had a child…

“Jar also tells me you are equal parts shifter and shadow fae.” His voice wavered again.

“Although I won’t be surprised if you take more after your mother.

” He smiled softly at that. “They are already regaling the astounding way she ran as fast as a leopard, carrying you with her, through the hills of The West Isles, to save your life. You will find that there are many incredible stories about your mother, and they are all just as fantastically amazing. One day we both will witness this for ourselves together…as a family. ”

My eyes snapped open and I stared hard into Emon’s profile.

“I don’t deserve her, I don’t deserve you—” He choked. “But I swear to you, that I love your mother with every piece of my shredded soul…just as much as I love you, my little cub. You both will never know a single day without that love ever again.”

I collapsed to my knees inside Emon’s memory, both agony and joy burning away the remaining vestiges of my old life.

I was ready. Ready to feel again.

“Ligare.” Emon and I both whispered together.