Chapter 14

Emjay

"The child I held in my arms who chased me through the dirt and asked too many questions is all that remains of the past I left behind." ~ Emjay

While the women prepare the meat for their first meal in days, Georgia pulls me aside.

I let go of Damian, yet his sight remains with me while we sit on a log pulled in from the forest to serve as the only seating in the labyrinth.

"How have you aged?" I want to slap myself for speaking without thinking.

Georgia laughs.

"The next witch, Whitley, was a servant of the father of shadows. She thought cursing me with infertility one night while I fed her would cause me pain. It's the greatest gift she could have given me. No one ever touched me because I never ovulated.

"I was just twelve when she uttered the curse over my body. I lived in terror for the next six years that one of the bulls would kill me when they realized I would never bear children.

"Only they pitied me and made me the honorary mother of all the ones who survive."

I hold back tears that threaten to spill.

"Is that why your clock isn't ticking like the rest of them?"

Georgia shrugs. "Knowing I can't have children, I've never thought about wanting them. The relief I've enjoyed every day is all that I've needed. It's made this life bearable."

I nod and reach for her hand.

"What about you? Why do you look over sixty when you have a stud of a mate who looks at you like the most precious thing he's ever seen?"

This time, a tear falls. I shake my head. "I couldn't accept him while you were a prisoner."

"And now?"

My shoulders rise and fall. The weight I carry is too much. "I'm so broken. He only knows what I told everyone today. He doesn't know what I had to do after I left here to survive. He'll never look at me the same again."

Georgia tosses her head back and snorts with laughter.

"I don't see what's so funny."

She takes a moment to compose herself. "Today is the first time I've ever seen a true mate and what it looks like." She nods in my daughters' direction. "The way those two men are with your girls. The way Damian's stare hasn't left you since we moved over here. I only know the stories told around the campfire by those who've crossed over into Elysium, combined with what my own eyes tell me. There's nothing that man won't forgive."

"My head agrees with you. My heart is another story."

"What will become of me without a mate?" Georgia changes the subject with a whisper.

"You will come home with me."

"Why? You have a new life to begin? I'll only be an added burden."

"You are a sister to my daughters. I'm not sure if they have figured out who you and Violet are to them because they are still learning how to use their senses, but abandoning you would add to the resentment they feel toward me. And that's just the excuse I'm giving you. The truth is—I couldn't live with myself if I left another person I love behind."

My body shivers from the breeze in the air. I lower my head. "What happened to Anna? How did she…"

"Basil took her to meet a human? She didn't return with him. He told us she jumped in front of a car."

I wonder why Anna met with a human, but I save that question for later. A silent tear slides down my cheek. Anna deserved better. They all do.

Georgia sighs. "I guess we have some work to do. We need to get these heifers ready to meet these men pacing outside our labyrinth.

"But first, did you bring any medicine? One of us is dying."

My heart sinks. "Take me to her."