Chapter 26

TWENTY-SIX

INDI

Morning rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains, and I squinted my eyes against the offending light. A heavy arm was draped over my chest and his leg was wrapped around one of mine very possessively. Slow, even breaths brushed over my bare skin.

WAIT.

My eyes flew wide open. I was in the hotel room inside The Emerald. The one I'd gone into with Will. No, no, no. Shit. I squeezed my eyes shut. It was a dream. Just a dream. Don't freak out. No reason to freak out.

I opened my eyes—and cursed. NOT A DREAM. I scrambled out of the bed, but the second my feet touched the ground, my legs buckled and my knees gave out. I tumbled forward and crashed into the wall.

"INDI!" Will shouted from the bed.

The fancy picture frame fell off its hinges and whacked me in the head.

"Oh, shit." Will crawled naked on all fours to the edge of the bed. "Let me?—"

"No, no, no! I've got it." I scrambled back to my feet. "I'm fine. "

He flinched like I'd slapped him. " Indi ? — "

"Just don't touch me." I staggered over to where my cream cable-knit sweater had been tossed on the ground and threw it on over my head. "I can't?—"

"I was just trying to help."

"You've helped enough?—"

"—Right, with my devil dick." He got out of bed and grabbed his jeans off the floor. "I hope I lived up to my reputation since that's all I'm good for."

The wind got sucked right from my lungs. "I didn't mean that?—"

"Well, you said it. More than once?—"

"To you !" I yelled. "That doesn't count."

"But you didn't even know it was me. So you were just talking about me like that to some stranger. That's how you talk about me to people? You married me and yet that's what you choose to say?" The muscle in his jaw ticked. "Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I was more than that to you and you know it. For you to say we were anything less is beyond hurtful. But yeah, thanks for the compliment. I guess."

I clenched my teeth and screamed loud enough to make him jump. "Get your head out of your ass for one second and think. Did I ever once tell Liam what my ex-boyfriend's name was? That's rhetorical, by the way, because if I had said the name Willem TO YOU it would've set off the damn alarm bells. It's not like I could tell my human best friend I dumped my ex because he was mortal and I wasn't."

He yanked his gray cashmere sweater off the floor and flailed it around. "You could've said something nicer about me."

"I barely said anything about you, Will!" I stomped over to my tweed pants and shoved my legs into them. "Until I came back to the Island, we'd only ever discussed you once and that was like three years ago. I know because it hurt like hell to even think about you let alone try and talk about you."

"If it hurts to talk about me, there's probably a reason, Indi." He tugged on his hair, making it stand out in every direction. "You have feelings for me still just as I do for you. Last night proved that."

"Last night was a mistake."

He gasped. His face paled. "No, it wasn't," he said through clenched teeth.

I wiped my eyes and hated the wetness on my fingers. "Yes, it was! I need to sort this out in my head."

"Oh, give your head a break, Indi!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Stop thinking so damned much. Use the organ in your chest, unless it's shifted into black ice. Relationships come from the heart?—"

"Despite what the Beatles said, love is not all you need!" I spun around looking for my bra. "Lives have to work well together. People have to make sense?—"

"And we make perfect sense, Andi. Indi. Shit. " He groaned. "For all the reasons we've been co-dependent best friends for five years. It makes perfect sense."

"I'm still trying to sort through how we got here last night. I need to process the fact that my best friend was secretly my ex-boyfriend, who I happened to marry in an unofficial ceremony. There are emotions that need to be sorted?—"

"What the bloody hell for?" he shouted. "What are you sorting out? What am I missing here? Because after the initial shock, this revelation feels like a dream come true. I loved two women who wound up being the same person. Why are you not on the same page as me? What am I missing here?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" I pushed my hair back. "I don't know. I don't process my emotions as fast as you. I wasn't raised by two emotionally vulnerable parents who taught me those skills. I'm trying to?—"

"Push me away." He pointed at me. "You're trying to push me away and run. That's what you're trying to do."

"No, it's not!"

"Prove it, Indi. Prove it."

"Look, look, LOOK. Just stop for a second!" I held my hands up in front of me, a sign of surrender. "We both have to be at the Vaunteros' for Feast Day, which we're already late for, so we really don't have time to tear into this right now. Let's just pretend last night didn't happen so we can survive today in peace. We will talk tomorrow about . . . that. Us. Okay?"

He scrubbed his face with his hand, then exhaled. "Fine. Sure. I can do that. Until tomorrow, last night didn't happen."

I held my hand out in between us to shake on it.

His eyes flashed for a second, but then he just shook his head and shook my hand.

My phone rang from somewhere on the floor behind me. I cursed and dove toward the sound, recognizing Torren's ringtone. By the time I found it, the call had gone to voicemail. I picked it up and tapped on the screen only to find I had ninety-nine text messages from my sister and forty-two missed calls. And my phone battery was at fifteen percent. My stomach rolled and I swayed on my feet.

I tapped on the text notification to open up the text thread, then quickly typed back. ‘ SORRY SORRY. I'm alive. I'm ok. On my way back to the Island from NYC . Be there soon! '

Behind me, Will cursed a line of obscenities that matched my own thoughts. I must've made a face because he grumbled, "My whole family has called me no less than two dozen times each. I'm so screwed."

"Same." I pushed my feet into my boots. "Let's hope there's a train leaving soon."

A loud knock pounded on the door. I froze.

Will rushed over and opened it . . . Lexington Prescott stood on the other side.

His sapphire eyes shot from Will to me, then back. Then he rolled his eyes. "I fucking knew it. Let's go." Without another word, he spun and marched away.

Will grabbed his blazer off the floor by the door as I leapt out into the hallway. Lex was already twenty feet ahead of us and not slowing down. I had no idea how Lex knew we were here or what he was doing but I wasn't going to question him. Will was hot on my heels but equally silent in the wake of the ancient vampire.

Lex pressed his hand to a wall and the panel slid to the side to reveal a secret elevator. "Get in, children."

We jumped inside but it was a small elevator, so we were forced to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Lex glanced back at us and shook his head. "What we're about to do is strictly forbidden and not allowed for civilians. You are not to tell anyone that this exists. We are only using this because I refuse to let you two get me in trouble with Carter."

We both nodded.

The elevator door opened into a bank of elevators. I was very confused, and the look on Will's face suggested he was too. Lex marched down the hall until we stood between the five elevator doors. Two on the left, two on the right, and one directly in front of us. Above each one there was a plaque with a symbol etched into it.

Lex sighed. "These are the portals to the other realms?—"

"WHAT?"

I shook my head. "Say what now?"

Lex pointed to them and called out each species as he went. "Fifth is for shifters but it's been locked for centuries. Fourth is Riven's land of vampires. Third right behind you is Bash's realm of fae. That'll lead to Savina in Second realm. But this one . . . it's the First Realm portal."

I scowled. "I don't understand."

"I am also confused."

"This portal, which I remind you is strictly forbidden for civilians to use, will take you wherever you want to go within First Realm. It's one-way." Lex reached down and grabbed my hand. He gestured to Will. "Hold hands. It's required."

Will and I both stared at our hands without moving.

"Please, you were shagging all night," Lex said with a frustrated, impatient sigh. "Just hold hands like adults."

Will took my hand in his and my whole body lit up like a firework show.

Lex glanced down at our joined hands and smirked, then he leapt forward. The elevator doors vanished like they'd just been an illusion. His grip was tight on mine as he dragged me through the doorway behind him. I laced my fingers with Will's because regardless of my confusion over my feelings for him, I knew I didn't want to go on some quest with Lex without Will.

Cold air swept over my entire body.

For a moment, we were airborne.

When my feet hit solid ground again, I opened my eyes and hissed at the bright sunlight. My vision was dark and blurry still, but I heard gasps all around us—and a few giggles. I didn't have time to process it before my vision cleared and I found the entire Vauntero family gawking at us. We'd come out of that portal right in front of the oak tree Torren married under, in front of all the tables set up for us to celebrate feast day. I glanced around to find the Bow family was huddled off to the right side. Carter and Ria had a small group of people with them but the only person I recognized was Lex's mother, Pemberley.

Everyone just stared at us. No one moved even a muscle.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to collect the children." Lex cleared his throat and dropped my hand. He arched one eyebrow at me and barely nodded his head before he hurried over to Carter's side.

"MA! I found Will," Archer Bow shouted with a laugh.

"INDI!"

I flinched as my sister screamed my name from right beside me. I'd barely gotten a moment to register how fast that portal had gotten us here before my sister tackled me in a hug.

"I was so worried about you!"

"That looks like a walk of shame if I've ever seen one," Josiah whisper-shouted.

" Josy, " Constantine scolded him.

"I don't know, Dad, that is the same outfit Indi wore to the costume contest last night?—"

"They are holding hands?—"

Will and I gasped at the same time and leapt apart, dropping each other's hands.

"Father, do not encourage him." Constantine shook his head.

"Lex said to?—"

"We had to for the?—"

"Willem Bow!" Peggy stormed out of the castle and headed right for her son. "How dare you leave without telling me and then you don't even answer?—"

"I just woke up five minutes ago, Mom."

"It's Feast Day."

"And I'll feast, I promise." Will was fighting off his mother's attention by swatting his hands at her.

My heart was in my throat. Everyone was watching me. Staring at me. Waiting for me. I felt like a circus performer. I needed a minute alone, a minute to think about everything. A minute to feel everything. I bolted for the door that led to the inside, then ran until I found an empty room. I glanced around to ensure I was alone, then I shut the door and sat on the fancy suede sofa in the sunroom. The room spun in a circle and my stomach turned like I was going to be sick. I gripped the edge of the couch and breathed slow and deep through my mouth. My heart hammered against my chest.

Willem.

Is.

Liam.

I was still trying to process that. Last night had been too much, too fast. My body reacted before my mind or my heart had a chance to. Sleeping with him before we had a conversation was a stupid, foolish thing to do.

Liam and Willem.

How did you not see this, Indi?

The truth was right there in front of me, right in my face. In hindsight it was glaringly obvious. I didn't know how I didn't see it. Liam being Will actually made sense. Somewhere deep down inside of me I recognized the parts of Will I saw in Liam. The sense of humor and adventure. The emotional intelligence. The empathy and compassion. The way he was more of a feminist than I was most days. I thought back to last month when he went on a thirty-minute rant in our message thread because someone made fun of him for wearing a pink shirt and he was pissed about it. Now that I knew he was Will, I could see that conversation in my memory despite it only having happened via written word.

There must have been a subconscious awareness. It would explain how quickly we became attached to each other. Even before I dropped Torren off on the Island, Liam had been the most important part of my life. Without him I would've lost my sanity, lost my motivation to follow my dreams. Hell, Liam helped me work through my heartbreak over Will. The man literally helped me get over himself.

This revelation had me shaken.

I opened my Facebook Messenger app and pulled up my thread with Liam— wait. My eyes widened. I'd just been about to message Liam about Will being Liam. My pulse fluttered. For five years, he was the person I told everything to. Whether it was good, bad, or boring, I told him first. For a moment, I just stared at my phone unsure what to do next. And then I started scrolling. I needed to see the conversations we'd had over the last couple weeks and read them with this new perspective.

I needed to tell someone about this. I needed someone to feel this shock with me. This would've been the moment to group-chat text my girlfriends, but I didn't have any. All I had was Torren, Liam, and my other ex-boyfriend, Matt.

I opened my chat with Matt, then sent, ‘ So I met Liam finally. In person. His real name is Willem . . . as in my ex-boyfriend from ten years ago that I told you about. Liam and Willem are one in the same person! Sorry, you probably don't care. I just . . . I'm shooketh.'

A bumblebee flew in front of my face. I scowled and leaned back.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Torren screamed from within the bee's little body. There was a flash and then my sister stood in front of me in human form. She snatched my phone out of my hand to read, then let out a strangled cry. "Matt is a piece of shit."

"He's not a piece of shit?—"

"He was a terrible boyfriend, Indi! What could you possibly be telling him? Huh?" She held my phone back up to her face and I knew she was reading the message I'd just sent to him. She gasped, her face even paled a little. "WHAT?"

I exhaled and nodded. "There it is."

Torren gasped again. Her teal eyes were wide. "Willem is Liam? That can't be true."

"It is."

"How do you know?" She handed my phone back as she sat sideways on the suede sofa next to me. "How'd you find out?"

"Last night, after the costume contest, I needed some fresh air. I was feeling really conflicted about my feelings for Will after all these years . . . I just wanted a moment away from everyone I knew here." I scrubbed my face with my hands. "When I got to New York, I found this invite to a meetup for our travel group at this rooftop bar in the city so I went. I messaged Liam to see if he was there and he said he was and where to find him, so I went right there . . ."

"And you found Will."

I nodded. "Other people in the group were calling him Liam."

Torren cursed and began twirling her teal hair around her fingers. "What happened then?"

"We had no privacy, so we went next door to where he already had a hotel room. To talk. Except that quickly escalated into a night of passion like the flip of a switch." I dropped my hands. "It's a lot to process. I don't know what to think, what to do."

The door to the sunroom flew open so hard and fast it slammed into the wall.

Torren screamed and threw herself backwards. She landed on the ground, on her back, in full red panda form. Her little arms stood straight up like she'd been electrocuted.

"Sorry, love. I keep forgetting the kids broke that door. We need to fix that." Nash stopped behind the couch and smiled down at her. Then he turned his gaze to me. "Indi, I recognize that there's something happening here, but the longer you let my family sit out there and ruminate, the harder it will be for you. So, come on, you gotta face the firing squad."