Chapter Eight

Rehalla was sitting with her genetic parents and nibbling at a tray full of savoury snacks. "So, you found my birth parents, and you approached them?"

Irfrenel nodded. "Normally, when a couple is approached and agrees, the child produces enough magic to grant a single wish. That wish is usually for more children. Your family delayed making the wish until we came to ask them when they would surrender you."

"When I was five."

Althuria loosely had a hand on her forearm. "Yes. You were pale, faded, and looked unwell. You looked like their daughter but with my hair. They begged to keep you."

Rehalla shrugged. "That backfired. When you tell someone like me to make themselves unnoticeable, I become very good at the glamour that makes everyone ignore me. Even family. My friend Missy figured that one out. The only time the glamour cracked was... never mind," she mumbled.

Irfrenel winced. "I can guess."

Althuria chuckled and then asked, "But you had a good life?"

"It was fine. I had food, shelter, and a warm place to sleep. I think part of my birth parents loved me, but they lost the ability to show it. I went to guild training when I was sixteen, and from then, I only attended major family events."

Althuria frowned. "They stopped being your family?"

"No, they were family, but there is no emotional attachment on their end. They treat me more like the child of a next-door neighbour who has been left behind."

Althuria paused, her face froze, and then she smiled brightly. "I will be back in a moment."

Irfrenel murmured, "Stop her, Rehalla."

Rehalla caught on as Althuria was standing. "Please. Stop. Whatever you were going to do, don't. I have enough regrets in my mind; I don't need more."

Althuria thudded back into her chair. "I am going to have to process my rage."

Irfrenel smiled. "Oh, joy."

Rehalla looked between them and blinked. "Wow. So, you two... how long have you been together?"

Irfrenel smiled. "Fifty years. Our inability to have a child was not for lack of trying."

Althuria sighed. "It took us seven years to find a family that resonated correctly. We got images of you until you were five when we were to claim you, and then... you looked like you belonged with your family. When we saw you, our hearts swelled and broke at the same time. They explained how you were their world, their focus, and no other children had followed. You were all they had."

Rehalla knew what had happened. Her genetic donors had left, and as soon as they were gone, the glamour did its job. They and her birth family forgot about her and focused on their new family, as they never told her when to drop the glamour.

"Well, now they have a bunch of other kids, so their wish for a big family came through." She smiled.

Their expressions fell. Althuria asked, "You had other siblings?"

"Yes. Other cousins came to visit, and I just studied as more and more children arrived. I attended family events and went home. Studied and went back to classes. It all went very well until I met Artemis. Then it all went to hell, then it got better, and I had a friend for life." She squeezed Althuria's hand. "I made it to meet you."

Aken rubbed her shoulder, and Rehalla sighed.

Her mother looked sad. "Anything to survive?"

"Yeah. If I can get out of my guild contract, I will be relieved."

Aken rubbed her back. "We will notify them that you are no longer available to act as executioner."

Irfrelen asked, "What?"

"Rehalla is the mage guild executioner. She has been using her dark fire to tear apart her assignments, but now that she understands her fire is alive, she is not keen to return to her missions."

Irfrelen looked ill. "How long?"

She shrugged. "About nine years. Primary executioner for the last two."

Althuria frowned. "You aren't going back there."

Aken chuckled. "She either knows or suspects by now."

"Missy isn't going to let me do it now that she knows. They will listen to her, or they will end up in the shrubs." She smiled.

Althuria was still stunned. "You have enough dark fire to kill someone?"

"Yes. Several someones."

Aken explained, "She filled my father's study with it in a majestic vortex. It was lovely and encouraging."

Rehalla looked at him and frowned. "Encouraging?"

Althuria smiled. "In our people, our fire is linked to our ability to bear. The stronger it is, the more likely we can have a natural birth."

Irfrelen cleared his throat. "So, you are really strong?"

Rehalla shrugged. "I don't know what scale is in use, but I get the job done."

Aken stated, "I have not seen that level of fire in my lifetime. Well, until now."

Rehalla continued to graze on the snacks, and Althuria smiled. "You are hungry."

"I haven't eaten in a few days." She sipped at her water.

Althuria frowned. "Why not?"

"I was catching up on sleep. I have issues sleeping unless I am sure I am safe." She glanced at Aken. "Don't get a big head."

He lifted her hand to his lips. "Wouldn't dream of it. Now, where do you live so that we can move your things?"

"I have a pack at the guild barracks. That's it."

He frowned. "Nothing at your parents' home?"

"No. I moved it all out at their request, so it was in the first home that burned. My clothes are some underwear and three guild uniforms. And a toothbrush."

"Well, I feel confident that we can supplement that." He chuckled. "My mother is eager to get to work turning you into a princess, but I believe that is my job."

Irfrenel looked at him with raised brows. "You are going to take our daughter without asking authorization from those who raised her?"

"Yes. They can be informed when we have the ceremony." Aken smirked. "After we have the ceremony."

Rehalla kept eating. "He didn't even ask me."

Aken sighed. "My fire asked; yours answered. They are very well-suited to each other."

She shrugged and nodded, wiping her fingers delicately and leaning back against Aken, looking up at him. "You are probably right, but I am always right."

Althuria looked at her husband, and they both laughed. Irfrenel held his wife's hand and squeezed. "Just like your mother."

Rehalla smiled. "You two are cute together. Irfrenel, how long have you been in this world?"

"Fifty-two years. Fifty-one of which have been spent with your mother."

Rehalla's fire was happy and wanted to greet their parents. She turned her hands up on the table, and tiny, thin tendrils of the dark flame tiptoed across the table while her astonished parents watched. The couple held hands, and their own fire emerged from their free hands. Rehalla felt the moment of contact with a jolt. There it was. The interest in her, the joy in her existence that her own parents had grown out of. They wanted to know her, and when she saw their tears, she knew that the fire was sharing the endless hollowness that she felt. Like Missy, she felt better when she was with someone who understood. She hissed, "Stop doing that. You are oversharing, and that is not attractive."

The flames flicked and shared until Rehalla pulled them back in.

Althuria blinked away tears. "I really want to buy you a pony right now."

They laughed together, and Rehalla felt a slow, warm glow in her soul. Her birth parents had never been cruel, but they had not seen her. Not really.

Irfrenel asked, "Your friend Missy is the one we saw?"

"Yes."

"She's a mage?"

"Archmage. She is the portal specialist. We have been together since mage training."

"And your favourite family member? Do you have one?"

Rehalla thought. "My cousin Sevval. She just got married to Tylos. He made me this outfit."

"Excellent. I will be back in a moment." Irfrenel disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Rehalla blinked. "I thought that was a djinn thing."

Althuria nodded. "It is. He's a golden djinn from the outworld. That is how you got your glow."

"Oh." She looked at her hand. "I forgot you could see it."

Althuria smiled softly. "It was his glow that first attracted me to him. I hung around for his sense of humour. When we first saw you, you didn't have it, and we began to think our magic hadn't transferred to you. They hovered around you, and you hid behind them with huge eyes. They swore that they would love and take care of you always. You would be their treasure."

Rehalla sighed. "The less said about that, the better. They do love me. I know that, but when they can't see me, they forget about me. A few of my cousins are memory talents, and they remind the others that I am alive."

Althuria frowned. "They swore to us that they would take care of you always."

"Uh, that lasted until I was fifteen when I was sent to the mage guild for training. Then, no calls, no communication. It was the cousins who asked me to family events. They were fine in person, but when I was gone, they were gone from my life."

"No one noticed?"

"No. The glamour worked on most people, but it didn't work on a few, and those are the ones that I am friends with. My cousin Sevval, Miralel, Amberwin, and of course my friend Artemis. They all see me as I am if they focus."

"But now you have dismissed the glamour, so all will see you, Rehalla."

"I haven't dismissed it. I have just pushed it down. I don't know how to dismiss it. I don't know where the spell came from or what it entailed. I haven't been able to find something exactly like it that was long-lasting."

Althuria scowled. "That is a puzzle."

"What is weirder is that my parents aren't spellcasters, so someone else had to cast the spell." She sighed and looked at Aken.

Aken was scowling and kissed her cheek. "I will be back in a moment." He disappeared in a coil of smoke.

Rehalla looked to her genetic parent. "Do they do that a lot?"

"What, dear?"

"Poof in smoke."

"We all do. We turn into smoke and move through a pinhole in space."

"Oh. I don't do that."

"Of course not. You are mage-trained."

"Ah, right. Well, as soon as I relax myself, this happens." She relaxed, and the glamour snapped around her.

"Oh. I remember those eyes." Althuria gripped her hand. "I was haunted by those eyes."

"They are your husband's eyes."

"Framed by my hair. You are the best of both of us, and we came so close to losing you forever." She frowned. "Do you know why your parents kept you?"

"I was all they had. They said I was all they wanted, so they didn't need other kids. And then there was the glamour and the visit, and suddenly, the siblings started coming."

"You look so sad."

Rehalla blinked and pushed the glamour back. "Better?"

Althuria got up and pulled her to her feet, hugging her. "No. But I am hugging you anyway."

It wasn't just the hug. Althuria had the same calm magic that Irfrelen had. It felt so comfortable and warm. She couldn't remember a hug that felt like that.

When she lifted her head, her mother smiled. Both of them wiped away tears.

Sevval's voice was soft. "I am here to represent your birth family."

Missy murmured, "I am here to represent your chosen family."

Rehalla looked around, and the room was full of familiar faces. "What's going on?"

Aken was smiling. "These are the traditional elements of a djinn wedding. We are going to wed, and then everything else can be figured out."

"Why?"

He held up a book that she recognized from the locked case at her family home. It was what she considered to be her spell primer. "Because we are going to figure this out, and I want you safe. With me, you get me, my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and you get a binding to this place and these people."

Her fire was swirling happily inside her at that thought.

Sevval smiled at them. "As long as she will still come to family events. Now that the glamour has been removed, more of us will remember her when we see her."

Althuria paused, and her husband stood next to her. He looked down and nodded. "As long as we are invited as well."

Sevval smirked. "You could have a giant wedding..."

Aken paused. "You don't mean a large wedding, do you?"

"Oh, no. Giants love a party, dancing, and her father's side is ice giant on his mother's side. It's why he doesn't do much magic."

Aken shrugged. "I would not mind having a wedding from your side of the family."

"I have two sides."

He chuckled. "I have noticed. We can have a party every month if you like."

There was a gleam in his eyes, and she muttered, "If you follow that with as long as there is a honeymoon for each one, I am going to try finding the outworld. Now."

The inhabitants of the room chuckled.

Aken bowed. "I would never be so crass. I would think it, not say it."

She snorted. "Charming."

"That's prince charming to you." He looked up at her with a wicked grin.

She wrinkled her nose. "Stand up, Aken."

He stood straight and wrapped her in his arms. She thudded her forehead against his collarbone and inhaled deeply. Something was going on, and this was different from the rapid romantic collisions she had had in the past. Part of her was petrified, but the part of her that craved a home knew that he was offering it to her.

Missy said, "I can act as family defender."

Sevval said, "You have a partner, so no, you can't. We need to find someone who is close but doesn't have a partner. And they have to be able to win a fight."

Rehalla turned to Missy, and they both nodded. "Fiora."

Aken asked, "A friend?"

Missy paused. "Yes. A younger sister who likes to fight, sort of."

"Sort of fight?" he asked.

"Sort of a sister. A sister in survival." Missy sighed.

"Ah, if I am guessing right, there will be combat between the two sides, and I need to find a champion of my own."

Sevval nodded. "Yes. You will."

Rehalla muttered, "You might need more than one."

Missy laughed.

Akonel asked, "How many are we allowed?"

Sevval cocked her head. "Technically, four a side. Rehalla, how many does your friend count as?"

"Against djinn? She counts as four." Rehalla nodded.

Sevval looked at the royal couple. "You will be allowed four champions, then."

Aken blinked. "That isn't fair."

Missy grinned. "You are right, but the optics would be ridiculous if Fiora took on her full capacity. So, when and where would the contest be held?"

Akonel looked intrigued. "We can arrange our people tomorrow. Hold the wedding here on Friday?"

Rehalla blinked. "Wow. That's quick."

Yasminia said, "We are paying for it, dear. We will arrange portals and everything."

Missy snorted. "I will arrange the portals; just give me a list."

Tannic said, "Don't strain yourself."

"Easing doors into reality is what I do best. I can do it all day." Her phone chirped, and she checked it. "Fiora is in. She's asking what she is supposed to wear and how hard she can hit."

Sevval said, "No fatalities and only use weapons or skills natural to your body."

Missy typed it into her phone and smiled. "There are a whole bunch of laughing emoji. I think she is looking forward to it. What does she win for Rehalla?"

Sevval shrugged. "Usually, it is any domestic task she doesn't want to do, like dishes, though I don't think that applies here."

Aken laughed and hugged Rehalla close. "It does not, but we will think of something."

Rehalla mulled it over. "Maybe you can have babies."

He snorted. "Thankfully, not."

"Gee. That is putting a lot of pressure on your partner."

"I promise to take as much of the load from you as possible if it happens."

Rehalla nodded. "That's something, but it's going to look a little weird if you are constantly behind me and holding my belly."

His arms nearly crushed her. She squeaked, "Protest or enthusiasm?"

"Guess. Ow."

She blinked. "Ow?"

"There is something climbing my leg."

She leaned back and looked, then grinned. "Hey, Smoog."

She plucked the kitten from Aken's hip, cuddled him, and he purred wildly under her jaw. "This is Smoog. He is one of Missy's household."

Aken narrowed his eyes at the kitten and then blinked. "He's a shifter."

"Yes, but not the way you think. He was an adult mercenary who was a cat shifter. He cracked Missy's skull while abducting Athena, and Missy holds a grudge, so he is a kitten until his sentence is served."

"How long is the sentence?" He was glaring at the kitten. The striped little bundle turned and hissed at him.

"Ask Missy." She chuckled. "His kitten instincts have taken over, and they will remain in place until he is free. Then, if he has learned his lesson, he will go free, and if he hasn't, he will end up in the shrubs."

"Why the shrubs?"

"Ask Missy." She scratched Smoog behind his ears.

He sighed. "I will. I confess to a certain amount of jealousy."

She looked at him. "You barely know me. I love animals, pets, horses, tigers, and whatever else I run across. They seem to sense that, and I end up like this."

He smiled. "You are very welcoming when you make up your mind."

"Yeah, sucks for you that you tried to drop me before we got started." She smirked and cuddled the kitten.

"But we did get started, and we are making plans. You have more family than you thought, and they will love to host the events for you."

Yasminia cleared her throat. "The palace will host. She is joining our family, after all."

Althuria approached. "We will negotiate, Your Majesty. Irfrenel and I want to support our child publicly."

Rehalla had a thought. She looked around and found Sevval and Tylos. Sevval looked over and then smiled and came over. Rehalla asked, "Do you think it would be weird if I talked to my parents?"

Sevval smiled. "I think it is very kind of you to consider it. Those of us who saw you for everything you could be tried to speak to your parents, but they wouldn't hear us."

"Will you come with me?"

"I will call them, but it is best that you go without me. I am pregnant, and transporting is a little rough on me, especially when Tylos does it." Sevval shuddered. "I need a few more hours to recover from the journey here."

"Have Missy move you. It's like walking through a spring breeze."

Sevval smiled. "Well, I will consider it. Are you going now?"

"I think they are home. Can you check?"

Sevval held up her phone and got to work. She waited and then smiled. "They are home. Are you sure that you don't want company?"

Aken spoke from behind her. "She will have company. She doesn't have to face them alone."

Rehalla turned and stepped into his arms. "I'll drive."

She wrapped her arms around him as far as they would go and headed to where she had grown up. Home was with him.