Page 40 of Straw and Gold (A Realm of Revelry #2)
SEVEN MONTHS LATER
My husband danced with me at our wedding.
Our second wedding, for he insisted the first could not count.
The first was not full of him declaring his love for me.
The first was not him meeting me halfway down the aisle because, as he whispered in my ear, “You look good in red and nothing.”
And the first was not me laughing and pulling on his shoulder so he could bend down for me to whisper, “Are those really the only two?”
And the first was not him breathing back, “Not sure. Let me see the second one again.”
Our first wedding was not an open circle of our people giving us room to dance together in a candlelit ballroom as he swept me across the floor, knowing perfectly well the steps to the dance of the Changlingfae—my people now that I was given the power and title of their Goddess.
And the first was not his hand on my belly—our first child just beginning to make himself known to all who noticed such things.
My sister did, of course. The moment she swept me into her arms, Seraphine knew—herself much further along with her second child.
Forestfae suited her. Her violet eyes now shown with a sparkle of moonlight and the sharp point of her ears seemed as if they’d always belonged to her.
After Killian changed her with his unique power, we traveled Revelry, visiting the pockets of Changelingfae that had made their communities outside of the Citrine Cliffs. I’d been met with awe and acceptance to my people as well as all the other Goddesses of the Realm…except one.
“Do you think she’s safe, wherever she is?” I asked my brother, resting after so much dancing. I watched my sister-in-law and my husband bow gracefully to each other before the next dance began.
“Our mother is old, lest you forget, Morella,” Korven answered, chuckling as Fedir held Avici in his arms and danced her around the ballroom floor, laughing as her raven black wings flapped in his face.
Korven paused for a moment, taking in my golden wings again. “You can’t feel her? Even as a Goddess of the Veil?”
I shook my head. “None of the other Goddesses know, either. No one has heard from her in so long…”
He put his arm around my shoulder, lying his cheek atop my head. “She’ll come back to us. She always comes back.”
I nodded and sighed. “At least I’ll always have you here. And the family you’ve given me.”
He kissed my temple. “It wouldn’t be what it is without you. I would not have my Seraphine for as long as I live without what you did.”
“I knew it would all work out, big brother.” I grinned up at him, seeing the same eyes of our mother. “I just knew it would.”