14

IVY

EVERYTHING could go wrong, I realised as soon as we stepped aboard the ship.

That wasn’t exactly true. But it also wasn’t a fantastic thought, either. The ferry-pirate ship wasn’t really kid friendly, and nothing about it met any of my expectations. Then again, I’d expected an entirely different kind of boat.

“Welcome,” a long-bearded Fae man drawled, whipping out a hand as we gathered on the main deck of the ship, “to the Rift .”

I looked around warily as the others formed a circle around Thea, the kids, and me. Maeve took up position in front of us, becoming a sort of shield between me and the captain, with Hawk close by. Adrian and Elias stood behind me, both intimidating forces I trusted with our lives. Rowan stood off to the side between me and the platform leading up to the deck, almost like he was preparing to fight off anyone who tried to come aboard.

He probably was.

Thea nudged my shoulder with a smirk. “Sounds like a cruise director,” she muttered.

I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing aloud. Maeve prodded the bond in warning. Likely reminding me about being professional and Queenly, neither of which I wanted to be right now. I could go for a hot meal, a decompress session with my best friend, read my baby sisters a good night story, and then either sleep for a month, or have the brains fucked out of me.

In that order.

Both Adrian and Elias chuckled at that specific thought. My cheeks warmed with embarrassment, but I refocused my gaze on the pirate-Fae captain again and refused to acknowledge either of them.

The male’s eyes, which were a liquid silver, narrowed on me, but he swept down in a bow before rising with a flourish. Somehow, his long, inky-blue beard managed to be saved from scraping the ground, each curl perfectly placed. It looked almost like glass, or plastic, as it rested against his chest.

“For those new to this, I will explain the magic briefly—and it is safe for young ears.” He winked down at the girls. This kind of production might have had them giggling and blushing before Kerry’s death, but they remained glued to my side, clutching the fabric of my shirt. The Fae male shrugged and clapped his hands.

Suddenly, a wave of strangely familiar magic brushed over me like a strong wind, almost knocking me to the ground. The children gasped with fear, hiding their faces in my stomach and chest, as the boat rocked with the force of a large wave hitting the hull. I tugged the girls into my sides and felt Elias’s warm presence at my back, caging them into my body as the ship moved away from the dock.

Holy shit. The urge to go to the side and watch it move gripped me, but I remained glued to my place.

“The ocean bows to me,” he continued, as the sails caught wind and drew taut. “As do the winds, as this land here sits at the edge of the Abyss Court of Unseelie. Because of that, I can use both to sail between our realms. Avalon is along that journey.”

The male pointed to the horizon, and as we all glanced towards it, the air above the water rippled and changed colours. The children gasped, while I stood and gaped at the haze forming where the water met the sky. “The bridge between our worlds here is thin, which is what makes this passage so protected. And I am one of the very few who can navigate it. Not only will we pass through the realm of Faery, but we’ll also bypass the realm of Hell before we make it through the barrier protecting Avalon. But do not worry. I am a master of this craft, and I will see you through this safely.”

Does this man ever stop? I wondered, blocking out the rest of his erratic spiel. He spoke some more about how he was the most perfect captain for the voyage, but it was easy to tune him out after a while.

He might be egotistical, but he isn’t lying, Maeve said, though she seemed to remain hooked on each of his words. He is the best at this and has been for three hundred years.

I blew out a breath as he clapped and ended his speech. That’s a long time , I replied. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine spending three hundred years doing the same thing.

But now you have five-hundred years to spend as Queen, I reminded myself. Get used to that.

The captain disappeared somewhere, leaving us alone on the main deck. I cleared my throat as all eyes fell on me. “So, what now?” I asked. “Do we spend our time up here, or...?”

Maeve motioned to a small set of stairs and a shadowed door at the back of the ship. “No. We regroup down there with a meal and wait until we make the crossing.”

“How long will that take?” Thea asked, her uncertainty clear in the tremble in her voice. She wrapped her arms around herself.

Maeve glanced at Thea, then at me. “A day. Which means there’s time to rest, but not much else.”

“So, no sightseeing in the other realms,” my friend muttered, nudging me again. “Shame.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Yeah, what a shame.”

Maisie groaned dramatically where she was huddled against my legs. “Hungry.”

If there was tension before, it was gone now. The team laughed as Maisie collapsed against me with her arms dramatically covering her face, another moan falling from her lips.

“It’s not like she didn’t eat an entire blueberry muffin during the drive or anything,” Rowan said, giving Maisie a pointed stare, a playful smirk playing at his lips. “And ate the other half of mine.”

At that, Thea chuckled. “Yeah, you were so easy to manipulate.” She turned to me, and despite the exhaustion lining her face, she still had a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. “As soon as Elias was gone, they managed to have Rowan wrapped around their pinkie fingers. You think Elias is bad with them? Wait till you see him.”

My heart warmed as I glanced over at the red-head. The tension that had wound his body tight seemed to be lifting from his shoulders bit by bit. Rowan looked up and our eyes met as a wave of hope rushed through me.

Adrian, Elias, and Maeve all appeared to be my mates. Maybe, just maybe, Rowan could be too.

“We need to move off the deck,” Hawk snapped, appearing in front of me and the kids. “Let’s not be sitting ducks.”

I frowned up at him and clenched my teeth to keep from snapping. Him. Him I didn’t want, even if my body liked to react like it did. Hopefully, as soon as we reached Avalon, I wouldn’t have to see him again.

Instead of responding, I grabbed Ginny’s hand as Elias swung Maisie into his arms. Eloise chose to keep to herself, so I made note to have her take some alone time as soon as we ate. She’d be touched-out and needing some breathing space, even if she didn’t want to ask for it.

Rowan and Hawk followed us as we made our way to a little staircase. Maeve was already in the shadows of the alcove, her arms crossed tightly around her chest, and I couldn’t help the pang of guilt in my stomach. Whatever happened when we’d completed the bond had given her new freedoms that I couldn’t fully understand. I’d felt her heartbeat beneath my hand, heard each thud of it. Before, her heart hadn’t moved in her chest for a long time.

The need to be close to her rose within me, and my magic tingled beneath my skin as I moved closer to her. Our bond was like a living creature within me, hungry for even a moment alone. Despite technically completing the bond, there were still other aspects to it that we hadn’t touched upon in our short time together.

I swallowed thickly as Maeve unlocked the door and stepped across the threshold of the room we’d be staying in for this short journey. I herded the children in after her but still kept them close. Adrian stayed at the bottom of the stairs and held his hand out to Eloise, then Ginny, helping them down into the little alcove so they could follow Maeve. When he reached for me, he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

My breath escaped me in a shaky huff as I crossed through the doorway. We followed a short hallway with two doors before hitting what I assumed was the main room of the cabin. The back wall was made entirely of stained glass depicting some sea-based battle between men—Fae, maybe—and monsters. Tentacles rose from the waves to wrap around the ship’s hull, while the bodies of men leapt into the water.

Then the glass moved. It fucking moved . Like a scene from a movie, it shifted to show a drowning ship and the great monster who’d sunk it. The body of the tentacled monster was that of a man, and it stared at us for a moment before diving beneath the glass waves to reset the scene.

Ginny squealed while Eloise gasped. I hugged the former to my side while the latter strode over to the glass with wide, awe-filled eyes. “Holy crap, that’s so cool,” she whispered, her hand hovering over where we’d seen the monster. “Was that magic? What kind?”

I shared a glance with Maeve. I could tell them, she said hesitantly. Maybe explain the magic?

It warmed my heart that she wanted to explain it to them, despite her clear exhaustion. I gave her a short nod, and she turned to the kids and explained it was a kind of enchantment that reflected the stories of old battles the ship’s captain fought in, to show their bravery and smarts, and a boost to their egos.

All three were completely entranced by the explanation. I took it as an opportunity to have a quick look around; there was a sitting area with a few large couches that looked plush and comfortable, and a dining table on the other side of the room. I suspected there was a bathroom behind one of the doors we’d passed—something I so desperately wanted—and I hoped maybe a kitchen behind another. Or beds. All three girls looked drained and tired, despite their complete attention on Maeve.

A warm body stepped up beside me, a shiver rolling down my spine. “Hey.”

I turned slightly and my heart skipped a beat as I took Rowan in; dark circles bruised the soft flesh beneath his eyes, but he smiled with a genuine brightness I hadn’t seen from him in a while. Heat flushed his cheeks as he slipped an arm around my midsection and pressed a kiss to my temple.

“I missed you,” he murmured. “Are you okay?”

I found myself leaning into him as I kept Maeve and the girls in my line of sight. “I missed you too,” I replied honestly, feeling more complete with him nearby. “And I’m okay now.”

His arm tightened around me as Maeve completed her lecture on the magic behind the moving glass. Her gaze shifted to me, and she stiffened, but she didn’t say anything about it. Again, that guilt swam within me and the need tightened like a fist in my chest.

“Something happened out there. During the crash. Fuck, I wish—”

“Don’t.” I glanced at him and found his eyes squeezed shut. “It all happened so quickly. They were on us in seconds, and there was nothing anyone could do. Not even you.” It hadn’t occurred to me that he might feel some kind of responsibility about the crash because of his magic. But from what I understood, his visions of the future only came at random times and weren’t often enough that he would know about every bad thing that could happen.

Rowan blew out a shaky breath and bowed his head. “Something else happened, didn’t it? That’s why Maeve looks like she wants to eat me for touching you?”

I sent a wave of calming energy down the bond to Maeve, letting her know that not only was I okay, but that I would be with her soon—that I needed to be with her as soon as we figured everything else out. “We bonded accidentally.” Rowan’s eyes popped open, and I couldn’t read his emotions clearly. Was he angry? Upset? My stomach twisted, so I quickly explained what’d happened and that although it might have happened suddenly, we’d still bonded.

After a long moment, Rowan nodded. “That’s certainly interesting.”

“And something we should take up with your mother.” I almost jumped out of my skin as Maeve appeared in front of us. I don’t think I’d ever be able to get used to her speed. “I have some thoughts on our team’s creation.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?” I glanced between them, then looked over to where Adrian and Elias were keeping the girls busy on the sofas. Thea was almost half asleep on an armchair, while Hawk was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to Maeve, I met her stare. “What about the team’s creation?”

“It’s something I started thinking about in the car ride here.” She hesitantly reached out and cupped my cheek, her cool fingers a welcome feeling. “Don’t worry about it right now, though. We should get settled in for the next twenty-four hours.”

An uneasy feeling rose in the back of my throat, but I nodded. “Alright. But you’ll tell me, right?”

Maeve blinked, but she bowed her head in a nod. “Of course, a mhuirnín .”

Rowan gave me one last squeeze before releasing me. I followed him with my stare as he stalked towards the dining table. “There’s no kitchen,” I whispered, frowning as he planted his hand in the centre of the table.

Maeve pressed herself into my side, her presence a steady strength I didn’t know I needed. “Another type of magic. This is also Fae.”

Rowan removed his hand, and the table shimmered. Plates appeared in the centre, dishes of food I’d never seen before scattering along the wood. Some were steamed vegetables and others looked like different types of salads. There were squeals and gasps as the children raced towards the buffet of food.

My wide eyes went to Rowan, then to Maeve beside me. “Holy. Shit.”

“You’re telling me I didn’t have to coo k all the meals at the compound?” Thea groaned, shuffling over to the table with critical eyes. “What even is this?”

Rowan pulled out a chair for Maisie, who jumped up first and stared at a stack of steaks. “Fae cuisine. And yes, you kind of did. This table, like the glass, is specially enchanted for feasts. And the food still has to be prepared. It’s just magically transported here.”

While it was a wonderful thing to know, I quickly made my way around the table and scooped Maisie out of her chair before she could try and dive into one of the thick pieces of meat. “Nope,” I grunted, plopping her down on the floor. “I’ll prep you a plate in a second. No free reign here.”

Elias chuckled at the pout on her lips, and soon enough, we were spread around the table. Me, my mates, my best friend, and my sisters. There were enough chairs for all of us, and while I made plates for Ginny and Maisie, Maeve made one for me. I didn’t even have to ask to try some of the different dishes; she added a little bit of everything to my plate before setting it down in front of me. Elias cut up one of the steaks and split it between the younger kids, while I tried to figure out what, exactly, the little ones would eat.

But once they were settled and eating and conversation was flowing, I basked in the warmth filling me from being surrounded by these people.

My family.

And despite the comfort and ease, I couldn’t help but feel like something was missing as I stared around my new family. No, not something, someone .

It felt like a lead weight in my stomach, a tightening in my chest, a pressure that was hard to ignore.

And it was a promise of what was soon to come.