Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Becky

“How could you?” Becky whispered, hissing to the rest of the family. “How could all of you?”

Her father looked more solemn than she’d ever seen him. “The boys only just found out, Rebecka. If you are to blame anyone, blame your mother and me.”

Becky almost spit at his feet. “Believe me, that’s not difficult.” Her mother was crying, holding her chest, and Becky knew why—she felt like doing it, too, to keep the sorrow from spilling out. Blade’s hand was on her back, grounding her. “Get Fluffy, Blade. We’re leaving.” Blade gave a stiff nod, avoiding looking at Renna as he passed her.

“Why would you lie and say her mother was on her way?” Becky demanded. “Why give Evie false hope?”

Renna smoothed out the front of her gown, clearly trying to compose herself. “I only wanted to keep my family together. I wanted you to stay, and I thought it might be better for Evie to think there was still a chance her mother was out there. Tomorrow morning, I was going to gently tell her that her mother needs more time and allow her to go on believing that she still exists.”

“Oh, Mother, what a horrible thing to do.”

Becky saw Evie flinch out of the corner of her eye. There was a blank, lost look on her face as she stared at the vial of dust in her palm. Blankness in her expression was something Becky could hardly bear from the larger-than-life Evie.

Renna straightened, eyes roving to a dark crystal slab in a strange, jagged shape propped up on one of the shelves. She walked over, grabbed it, and beelined for Evie. “She wanted me to give this to you. I think she always knew you’d end up here. Please take it.”

Evie reached out shakily, taking the smooth slab from Renna’s hands. “What is it?”

There was a suspicious tone to Renna’s voice. “It was someone else’s for a time, then it was mine, and then I gave it to your mother.”

Evie didn’t look up at Renna, didn’t have it in her to ask any more questions, just stared down at the dust and now the slab and whispered words that were shaded in heartbreak. “You were her friend.”

Renna reached a hand for her, but The Villain moved in front of Evie, walling her away.

“Go now, Rebecka, and hurry,” Raphael cut in, his voice hard and unfeeling. “Mother is neglecting to mention that she sent for the Valiant Guard. A battalion is on its way here now to arrest The Villain.”

Her father’s eyes widened. “Renna, you didn’t.”

Another vine twined around Becky, like they had when she was a little girl. When she would fall or get hurt, when life would knock her down, they were there.

She’d miss them. But they had to go—now.

Renna whispered brokenly to no one in particular. “I thought she might stay. I thought if they took him, she would have to stay.”

The Villain swept his hands up under Evie’s legs, hoisting her against his chest and holding her there as they walked toward the door, Kingsley still burrowed into her. “Come, Ms. Erring. Let’s go,” he said with a tinge of distaste. Clare and Tatianna filed out after them.

Becky took one last look about the room; she likely wouldn’t see it again for a very, very long time. Her brothers stood in the corner, grim expressions on their faces. With a pained cry, she folded her arms around them, and they held one another tightly. “Come visit me, okay? Tell Rudy and Grandmother I said goodbye,” she told them, tears running down her face.

Roland was red-faced, as was Reid, and Raphael had a somber glint in his eyes as he said, “I’m so sorry, Rebecka.”

Becky smiled at them as widely as she could manage through her tears. “Don’t be.” Brothers were a curious thing, somehow able to lighten even the heaviest of hearts.

She was halfway out the door when Renna grabbed her hand. “Rebecka, please understand. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I wanted to protect the fortress. I wanted to protect Nura. That doesn’t make me evil.”

Becky stared at her mother with pity. A flash of black hair through the open door caught her eye. Evie stood waiting for her in the hall. “No, Mother, it doesn’t.”

Her mother whispered, “We are your family, Rebecka.”

Evie held out a hand for her. Becky kept her eyes on it. “You are.” She kissed her mother’s cheek. “But so are they.”

And then she brushed past Renna, clasped her hand in Evie’s, and together, they ran for the front doors.

Her mother cried behind them, but Becky ignored it. She ached for Evie at this terrible news, and she knew their mission to her family’s home had ended in failure, but still: she finally felt free of her burdens. Of perfection, of expectation, of being anything other than herself. Her family loved her, and one day she would return to claim her place as heir to the Fortis Family Fortress. But for now, she would remain Becky in HR. And she would be happy.

Fluffy waited outside, and Blade grinned at her softly from his back. “I warn you—he reeks of basil. He ate an entire bush.”

Becky shrugged, pausing before a genuinely wide smile tugged at her lips. “I love basil.” He smiled back.

The clanging of armor sounded in the distance.

Blade started waving his arms. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! Show a little urgency, people!”

They climbed atop the dragon and then soared through the skies, solemn and quiet the entire way.

No Nura, no starlight. No prophecy. Which meant no magic. Which would eventually lead to no Rennedawn.

Life as they knew it would end.

They returned to the manor.

And what they found there changed everything.