Wilma caught up and complained, “If you tell Emmerson that I ran out here by myself, I’ll be really pissed at you. I saw your drone arrive and I couldn’t wait to see you. All the men do is talk and strategize. Mom, Marni, Claire, and Starr are watching the children in the banquet hall, but that’s boring too. I wanna go explore every room but Emmerson doesn’t trust any of the guards yet, so he wants me to stay close to him. We were going to explore the palace last night together, but we didn’t make it far.”
“Why not?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Because we walked into a very pretty bedroom and didn’t made it out of that room until this morning.”
Tyton stopped. “So, Emmerson doesn’t know you left the room to meet us?”
“No. Which is why you’ll let me sneak back in before you knock on the door.”
Tyton’s low laughter rumbled from his chest. “It’s too late for that.” He pointed up.
Wilma and I looked up at the same time to see four grave faces stare down at us. Emmerson opened a window and with Frederick, Lucas, and William behind him, he spoke in a firm tone.
“Wilma, what are you doing out there when I asked you to stay close to me?”
“I was only gone for a second.”
Slamming his hand down on the windowsill, Emmerson was red in the face. “I don’t care. Do you have any idea how fast my heart was beating when I turned to see your chair was empty? How the hell did you even get out without us noticing?”
Wilma looked secretly proud of herself. “You were all distracted when you looked at that list of people you were discussing. I saw Tyton’s drone and I went to welcome them.”
“Don’t you ever fucking pull a stunt like that on me again. If anyone gets to you it will kill me. Do you understand?”
Wilma looked to her father for support, but William’s face was as stern as Emmerson’s, so her head fell and she fiddled with her hands. “Sorry.”
I had a feeling this wasn’t the last time Wilma would get in trouble, and I didn’t blame her. The thought of always having to ask for permission to go anywhere didn’t sit well with me, but a quick look over my shoulder, to see the five heads on the spears outside, made me move closer to Tyton.
“This is Devina,” Tyton introduced me.
Emmerson nodded to me and addressed Tyton. “Come up so we can talk.
Wilma ran up the stairs and stood waiting for us at the end of the staircase. “Holy shit, you two are slow.”
I wondered why she was so eager to get back to Emmerson when he was mad at her, but the girl was fearless and ran straight into his arms and cuddled up against him. Emmerson closed his arms around her and lowered his head and whispered something to her. He looked as large and fierce as he had the time I saw him fight for her.
“Good to see you again, Devina.” Frederick was the first to approach Tyton and me. He was smiling widely. “You really faked your own death to be with Tyton?”
I gave a small nod.
Frederick’s eyes lowered to my abdomen and his eyes glistened. “It’s like a fucking miracle.”
William came over and was followed by the others in the room, who all congratulated us.
“So, you’re sure you want to be with Tyton?” Emmerson had his arm locked around Wilma. “I now have the authority to wed you two, but I need to be sure it’s what you want.”
“It is,” Tyton answered.
Emmerson ignored him and kept his eyes on me. “I’m sure you can speak for yourself.”
“Yes.” I licked my lips, feeling nervous with all the large men staring down at me. My hand went to my belly as I found strength in the fact that I wasn’t doing this for me alone. “I want to be with Tyton.”
“Why?” Emmerson’s direct question surprised me.
“Because… ehh…”
“Why would you leave the Motherlands to move here?”
I swallowed hard and tried to find my words. “I don’t have a rational explanation for it. It’s more like a pull in me that I can’t explain with words. Tyton and I…” I looked up to meet Tyton’s eyes and felt him squeeze my hand. “I don’t know why, but he feels like family to me.”
