9. Chapter Nine

THEO

Nova's question hangs in the air, a pointed dagger veiled in innocence. The little pot-stirrer knows exactly what she's doing, and I can't really blame her. Who is this? Her finger remains on the image at the bottom of the wall, a serpent coiled within the tall grass—almost hidden, almost forgotten. My heart ticks a notch faster.

This is the conversation each of us mates have been avoiding. Jax and Deakan are one hundred percent on board with Kieran coming into the fold. They've all been best friends since diapers. I have some reservations, as does Mekhi, and likely Chaos does, too.

But he makes the most sense.

Anxiety pulses through our bond, a silent alarm as her fathers' ire pivots sharply toward Rose. Instinct surges within me, the urge to protect her more forceful than any command, ready to shield her from the brunt of their disapproval.

From the head of the table, I can see the projection still glowing on the wall, each connection, each bond, laid out in vivid, pulsating lines. It's a map of our interwoven lives and magic, yet one line, one crucial connection, remains.

While others might see an empty seat or a mere oversight in our current assembly, I see a deliberate silence, a space waiting for its rightful occupant. I don't want it to be true, but it is. The last mate's absence is a gnawing gap in our defenses, in our balance of power. As much as Rose is the linchpin, Kieran is the grounding—without him, we might as well be building on quicksand.

I lean back, my fingers tapping an idle rhythm on the ancient wood of the table, each tap a muted echo of my thoughts.

"If you're going to tell me the little serpent fucker who almost killed our family is your next mate, I'm going to set him on fire." Penn, Rose's dragon fae father, growls with smoke billowing out of his nostrils. I don't like the tone he's taking with my mate. Not one bit.

My griffin stirs beneath my skin, and the golden glow that follows is inescapable. It's a natural defense, ingrained deeply within my fae order, activated by the slightest perceived threat to Rose.

My soul bond shoves her chair back, sending it clattering to the floor as she leans across the table to confront Penn. "Yeah, and you nearly killed all of mine, too!" Lana gasps at her daughter's sharp words to her mate. "Yet here you are, still seated at our table, sharing my mother's bed, aren't you?!"

"Rose!" her dads chime in unison.

"You're going to wake Bee," Lana warns, her tone strained. "I just got her to sleep."

"Then tell your mate to back the fuck off," Rose snarls. "All of you! Do you see me dictating who you bring to your bed? Who you keep in our lives?" Her glare sweeps from Grimm to Casimir and finally settles on Penn. "No matter their past threats against our family?"

Jax rises, standing beside Rose, and one by one, her other mates join him, a united front. I flank her right.

The kitchen timer disrupts the mounting tension, and Lana, with tear-glossed eyes, uses it as an excuse to leave the heated room.

"I think we could all use a moment to cool down," I suggest, eyeing each one of Rose's fathers, who meet me with varying degrees of relief. Gesturing towards the balcony, I lead the way outside. We all file through the towering glass patio doors to the deck overlooking the giant waterfall.

Rose, still trembling from the confrontation, follows closely behind.

"That didn't go quite as expected," Chaos comments dryly, his voice a low rumble against the backdrop of cascading water.

"They had no right to attack you like that. Not after the literal hell they put us through when they took Mom." Bennett vaults onto the wooden railing, swinging his legs casually as he tears into a dinner roll.

"I can kill them." Chaos lowers himself into a crouch to meet Rose's gaze, his towering frame making the gesture almost comical. "Is that what you'd like?"

"W-what? No!" Rose stammers, her wide eyes locked onto Chaos's intense stare. "I love them. I don't want them dead, Chaos, just … just …" Her voice dies down into a mixture of frustration and sadness.

"Understood," he states simply, standing up again and crossing his arms carelessly against his chest.

Silence fills the space between us as Jax pulls Rose into his side, shooting a look of disgust towards Chaos. "You can't just fuck with people's lives like they don't have free will."

"Yes, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Chaos levels an unamused gaze at Jax, his voice as chilling as the late evening breeze sweeping off the snow-capped mountains.

"Oh please, spare me the moral high-jacking?—"

"Enough." My voice cuts through their squabbling like a knife, rending the silence apart. "Whatever the fuck this is? It stops now."

"Is this really what I have to look forward to?" Nova, yet again, has snuck into the conversation. She's propped against the sliding glass doors, tossing a knife between her hands. Pretty sure that's Deakan's knife.

"All love here, little sis." Deakan grins, but it falls as he notices his pilfered weapon. "Hey! Isn't that?—"

"All love here, big bro." She grins before slipping the piece into her pajama pockets. "Thanks!"

Mekhi's hazel eyes crinkle with amusement as he huffs a laugh, his head shaking slowly from side to side. His lips curve into a small smile, revealing a rare glimpse of the dimple on his right cheek. He claps Deakan in the gut. "I'll make you a new one."

Deak smirks at Rose's little sister. "Don't stab anyone who doesn't deserve it."

"No promises." She beams up at him. Her hair is styled in a haphazard bun, held together by what I assume are tiny swords, judging by the twin pommels sticking out of it.

Fond amusement flickers in everyone's eyes as they follow the course of Nova's exit back into the house.

"We weren't like that, were we?" Rose glances at Bennett.

"Nah." He grins. "We were a lot worse."

I snort. I was a lot of trouble for my mom, too. Was always tinkering with things. Breaking them and trying to put them back together again. Sneaking off to sift to Sundahlia where witches would leave relics from their lives on Earth around for the borrowing.

"Let's head back in and get this over with, shall we? The sooner we tell them the rest, the sooner we can get started." Chaos locks eyes with Rose in a way that sends a clear message only she catches.

Her cheeks color immediately, and I can't help but feel we're missing some inside joke or secret.

With a playful roll of her eyes, Rose shoves Chaos's shoulder lightly and responds with an elbow jab to his ribs. "No more threats against my family," she chides.

He chuckles, throwing his arm around her shoulder and guiding her back towards the house.

There's an easy camaraderie there I seem to have missed.

Theo

Amends are made. Bellies are full. We're all parked in the den, the high queen and her mates on one side of the living room, sprawled out on a giant, plush couch, while we're on the other half, lounging on several smaller sectionals shoved together. The lingering scent of what Lana calls a tater tot casserole fills the room.

I like casseroles. Who knew you could do so many things with potatoes? Rose's mom just smiled fondly at me, gesturing for me to go ahead when I asked if it were alright for me to grab thirds. That's why there's a whole other container of it tucked away in their fridge for us to take home.

"Kieran was very nice to us when he stayed here," Lana offers before taking a sip of her steaming tea from a pale lavender mug.

I see it for what it is: an olive branch. She's trying to see the merits in Kieran becoming one of us.

Rose's fingers tap against her hand, betraying her nervousness as she fidgets before finally nodding her head. "He is very nice."

"With all due respect." Jax sets his tall glass of water down with deliberate care, his gaze locking with each of theirs. "He's been sculpted by a strict, heartbroken grandmother into someone who's had to fight for every shred of peace he's found. Please take it easy on him. He's one of the best people I know."

"He's been piecing himself back together these past few months," Deakan adds, leaning forward, his tone earnest. "And truthfully, if he and Rose can bridge the gap between them, we're much better off."

Threading my fingers through Rose's, I give her a gentle squeeze. "His absence weakens us, not just emotionally, but structurally." I never thought I'd fight to share my soul bond with anyone else, but it's too important not to. "Kieran's connection, to all of us, is vital. He's not an optional part to this family; he's essential for the balance of magic. You saw it. Whether or not we like it, we need a grounded type of fae order as the last component. With the time we have, it has to be someone already relatively close to several of us."

"Serpents have always played that role well." Jax casts a knowing look at Deakan, who nods subtly, as a silent consensus forms between them.

As Gideon, Rose's vampire-turned-Luna-fae father, voices his discomfort, the room tenses further. "Still not a fan of this," he mutters, crossing his arms over his chest with a definitive scowl.

Mekhi, lounging with deceptive casualness, quips with a smirk, "Pretty sure you'd rather she joined a convent." He's spent the most time with her dads out of each of us, and they consider him one of their own, so he's definitely more comfortable jabbing at them for being overbearing.

We're all thinking it, though.

The comment draws a few stifled laughs, but it's Chaos's response that really stirs the pot. He leans back, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "She sort of will be. In a way, worshiping a god," he says, his grin broadening as he subtly gestures to himself.

Bennett, who had been mid-sip, chokes spectacularly on his absinthe. The green liquid sprays across the room, catching the light in a mist of chaos. Amid the sudden coughing fit and slaps on the back, a deep flush creeps up Rose's chest, her embarrassment obvious as she covers her face with her hands.

The room erupts into shocked gasps and laughter, the tension momentarily broken by the absurdity of the suggestion. Rose peeks through her fingers, her eyes meeting Chaos's, who winks at her, only deepening her blush.

Gideon's frown intensifies, but even he can't entirely suppress a begrudging smile. "If you're all quite finished corrupting our daughter's image …"

Rose rolls her eyes, but it's in a more playful manner. It's quiet for a moment as she picks at a loose thread on the bottom hem of her shirt. Just before I'm about to get up to grab her the snacks she's been eyeing on the coffee table, she speaks. "I think I know what I want to do."

"And what's that?" Oz, Rose's King-of-the-Vampires father, leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "We support you." He pauses, giving long stares to Gideon and Penn, before looking back towards Rose, "In whatever you want to do. Just tell us what you need, and we'll make it happen."

She glances at me. "They still offering summer classes?"

I nod. "At least half the students are choosing to take summer courses so they can finish quicker."

"How would you all feel if we had our own kind of summer school? Like how they homeschool on Earth, and anything we can't learn collectively, we can outsource with an actual class at Bedlam Academy?"

"That's not a half bad idea." I shrug, glancing at the rest of the guys. "Who's going to do all the teaching? I know a lot, but there are some subjects I'm not so?—"

"—I'll do it." Chaos interrupts me.

Rose's cheeks flush again, and despite the flush not being caused by me, I find it endearing. There's something about the connection with a soul bonded mate that simultaneously makes everything right while throwing everything off-kilter.

But I guess that settles it.

Casimir, Lana's wolf fae mate, raises a questioning brow while his thumb idly traces the pulse at her wrist. "And then what, you'll ascend at the end of the summer?"

Rose chews on her lip, glancing nervously at the rest of us. What she sees on our faces gives her the answer she's looking for. "Yes."

"And what of your mates?" Auguste, another one of Rose's vampire fathers, props himself on the arm of the couch, gently swaying Baby Bee in his arms.

"They'll ascend to guardians, a type of demigod." Chaos splays his palms. "If they want."

Finn, fist tucked under his chin as he leans forward, glances to the end of our couch. "And what about Mekhi? Witches can't ascend."

The witch in question grins widely. "No, but fae can."

Lana gasps. "You're going to turn fae?"

"Yep, we decided that this morning. Pretty badass if you ask me." He gazes off into the distance, as though lost in thought, before shaking out of his daydream. "Can't wait to freaking fly. And sift."

"And what happens if you don't even get your wings before ascension?" Finn leans back. "I didn't think all of you had wings yet. Those don't usually kick in until fourth year."

How he knows this for certain, I don't have a clue. Most fae only show their wings to their mates because fae feathers can bring someone back to life. The stronger the fae, the more powerful the feathers. Finn's feathers, as high king of the fae, and arguably the most powerful fae in all the realms aside from a god, brought Jax back from the dead for good.

A single feather from him is beyond priceless. So everyone guards their wings closely.

"They'll get ‘em. I'll make sure of it." Chaos tips his head to the high king. "Each of them will need to master their wings before ascension. And Rose will need mind reading."

"You can … you can do that?" Lana glances at the god, and he nods in the affirmative.

I don't miss the quick, alarmed glance Rose casts at Chaos, which he ignores with a smirk.

He can read minds, just like most of her dads. Most royals can, eventually. I'm guessing Rose didn't connect those dots before now. I imagine reading minds can be a blessing and a curse.

The high queen's eye gloss over before she bolts to her feet to grab the baby, as though she needs one of her children to rock. Auguste reluctantly gives her up, and Lana paces with her in the crook of her arm.

"All my babies are growing so fast."

"Awe, ma. You've still got me." Bennett reclines on the couch, legs taking up too much space, but no one calls him on it. "I'll keep an eye on Nova in the fall."

He plans to take the throne someday. It may be hundreds, or even thousands, of years from now, but Bennett's ambition is no secret.

"We won't be far. We're all staying at Sanctuary," Rose promises, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, though her voice is a little hoarse as she tries to maintain her composure. "Just a sift away."

Rose loves the heat offered by the jungle near the academy. If it's not there, she'd probably want to stay on Sundahlia, where most of the witches from Earth settle. They say it's like their Hawaii—tropical, sandy beaches, and plenty of restaurants to cater to Earthen appetites.

Bee babbles, as though she's happy about that, and Lana looks down at her to offer a sad smile. Emotions are high, raw and exposed like fresh wounds. It's bittersweet, this moment of impending change, of farewells and welcome to the unknown.

The high queen kisses Bee's chubby cheek, her lips trembling as she whispers, "You're my sweet little Bee. You won't ever leave us, will you?"

The room falls silent at those words, all eyes shifting to focus on mother and daughter. Chaos breaks the silence first, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "Rose isn't leaving you. You've just given her wings so she can find her own path. Being a goddess isn't the end of her journey. It's the beginning of her greatest adventure."

"Can't say I'd argue with having a god there to help her find her way." Bellamy, a dragon fae who's courting Lana, holds up his glass in a toast.

The room absorbs his words, a collective breath held as they take it in. Lana reaches out, her hand squeezing Rose's with both apprehension and pride. "To journeys and new beginnings," she says, her voice steady as she bends over to grab her mug, then raises her tea to echo Bellamy's sentiment.

A murmur of agreement ripples through the room, and glasses clink gently in a subdued toast. The tension eases, replaced by a fragile hope as we all contemplate the vast, uncharted path that lay ahead for each of us.