He grunted."There you go saying shit I am supposed to say to you."
I smiled softly."You have made me a poet, shifter."He grinned back and I looked back at Riella, sweeping off the sugar glaze from her cheek, my smile faltering.“I am scared for her, Emon. If Deirdre can reach us in the spirit realm…”
Blood drained from Emon’s bronze skin, his eyes falling on our daughter, watching the way she ferociously attacked another pastry. "My cub,” he said slowly, cautiously, “I am going to ask you something and I need you to think seriously about this."
Riella looked up, flakes of pastry falling from her face where honey glaze shined on her skin from the firelight. "Okay faedere."
"Has anyone visited you in your dreams?"
I did not breathe, waiting for her answer, Emon's hand reached out to mine, his warm heat steadying my panic, his strength bolstering mine.
Riella shook her head smiling. "No one has visited me." Her shoulders slumped and her bottom lips stuck out. "Should they be?"
My entire body melted into her, I had not realized how rigid I had been sitting. Tilting her head back, I peered into her beautiful swirling eyes. "Do not be sad, Riella, it is good that no one has visited you. Remember the beautiful queen statue in Atlantis?"
Riella's eyes widened and I felt her body shrink into me. "Yes."
I kissed her forehead. "She is also known as the blood goddess and the blood witch, the one you feared, little chickadee. And she wants us…all of us."
"Mine!" hissed the pookah again and hopped into my daughter's lap.
Riella giggled and scooped up the black bunny, hugging him to her chest, feeding him tiny bites of her pastry. "Don't worry maedere, Zaki says he will protect us."
Emon shifted closer, pulling us all into him on the bed roll. "Yes, thank you Zaki."
I arched a brow at him. When had he started taking a liking to the spirit guide?
Riella paused, looking back at him. “Faedere, what did it mean when Zaz called me heir to the Faerie throne? You did not seem to like it very much.”
Our eyes met briefly over the top of Riella’s head before Emon answered her softly, “it means that should you choose it, you are the true ruler of our world little cub, the queen of the fae and all of Faerie’s creatures.”
Riella nodded, completely unfazed, “Ohhhthat, yes, I knew that already.” She said simply, tossing the last bit of her pastry in her mouth.
Only the sound of her chewing and the crackling fire could be heard as Emon and I sat in stunned silence meant for the complete moronic.
I cleared my throat, “Riella, what do you mean you already knew?”
She licked at her fingertips, “every living thing that speaks to me calls me Faerie Queen. I thought it was because of my crown.”She shrugged and then yawned. “Sounds like fun to be a queen, maybe I can help fix the world too. I even know the first thing I will do as a ruler.”
“What is that, little one?” I asked in a hush whisper. I was in both awe of her easy acceptance but also fearful of her innocence of the magnitude of what this role truly would mean. A constant struggle of power and intrigue—-a sacrifice of who you wanted to be versus who you needed to be.
“I am going to raise Atlantis back to the surface where it belongs, so we can all live there as a family together. I want it to be the bridge between our worlds again. Just like Shen Shen said it used to be…and then he can visit me there too.” She tugged on the large iridescent dragon scale on her neck smiling, before a large yawn escaped her.
Emon laughed softly and his voice was rough when he spoke, "if anyone can do this, I know it will be you my cub. I look forward to living in the sunken city of Atlantis with you one day.” Tapping her nose, he grinned widely when she yawned a second time. “Now how about a bedtime story? Maybe one that has nothing to do with broken worlds, watery castles, and queens?”
Riella grinned, her lashes fluttering upwards at Emon. "Oh yes please faedere!"
“Emon…”I began but Emon shook his head at me.
“Let her dream, little umbra, she will learn one day what it truly means to be a queen and we will be there to help her should she decide this but for now…let her be a little faeling that dreams of castles and dragons, of heroic deeds and having a family.”He leaned in and brushed my lips with his chastely, snickering in my mind.“Just as you once dreamed to become the servant of a weretree, seeking their bite to become a wolf. How old were you then?”
I pursed my lips, tilting my head at him,“Ten.”
Emon grinned back at me,“a ten year old faeling, running feral for weeks on end in the Wildwoods, dodging her guards, hunting a werewood. Raising Atlantis from the depths of the ocean seems to be a much safer dream for our daughter to have compared to yours near that age. Tell me, Remnant, do you still wish to be a wolf, or is a cat more your preference these days.”
I inhaled. Emon was far too good at distracting me from my worries but goddess I loved him for it. Before I could answer him, Riella tapped my arm.
"Maedere?"
