Chapter 228

Theodore’s POV

It was good to be back in Henosis. Back in a land where the magic made the air feel easier to breathe, like every inhale nourished me instead of just allowing me to survive.

It was good to be back in the barn, surrounded by way more family than I knew what to do with. Back with the family who had my back even before they met me instead of the family I had to kill to protect those I loved.

Back in a land with a variety of dishes featuring boren mushrooms.

It was also highly entertaining to see the wide-eyed expressions on Colby and Sinclair as the long list of introductions started, each name accompanied by an offering of whatever that family member had brought to the potluck.

By the Goddess, I was so filled with love and warmth, that I began to imagine raising our kids here – because I certainly intended to convince Violet to have more than just the one. Even if she was Queen of another land, even if we could never live here, the dream was nice for a moment.

Yeah, it was good to be back – until Marcy grabbed me not-so-gently by the elbow and dragged me into a corner. “What the hell is wrong with my baby cousin?” she hissed at me.

“S-sorry?” I stuttered in a way only Marcy could draw from me.

“Violet,” she whispered lethally. “She’s been crowned queen, saved her country, protected her child, been reunited with her mate, and she’s here celebrating all that with people she loves, so explain to me, Theodore, why the hell she looks like she’s attending a damn funeral.”

Honestly, I’d even missed this part of Marcy.

My face sobered though as the answer to Marcy’s very fair question filled my mind. In Violet’s defense, she didn’t truly look like she was grieving – she was far better at hiding her feelings than that. This was less of an indication of how Violet looked and more of an indication of how well Marcy was able to read her.

“The hallucinations,” I whispered. “They’re getting worse.”

Marcy eased off me a bit, seeming to realize what that meant – for Violet and me, and even Marcy, too. The curly-haired matriarch looked over her shoulder at her cousin, my wife, assessing her. “She’s letting it get to her.”

“Yes.”

I could tell all my questions in the car had annoyed Violet. Maybe it made me a coward for not letting her know that I knew exactly why she had been off since her last hallucination, a coward for asking her trivial questions about things I knew weren’t the source of her misery in the hopes that she would open up to me about the thing we both knew was.

Marcy turned back to me, eyes locked on mine in a way I didn’t dare break away from. “We cannot let her lose hope.”

I took a deep breath, afraid that had already happened. I only nodded in agreement.

After the food and the music and the laughter, Marcy invited us to stay with her again, though she only had a basement with air mattresses to offer Colby and Sinclair. Bennett offered to house them, but they refused to be separated from us.

We made our way to Marcy’s house with my Uncle Caleb and Aunt Marissa in tow upon our request. They would stay at Bennett’s for the night, but they would eat dinner with us first. Of course, Bennett complained about not getting an invite to the dinner, and Marcy didn’t hesitate to remind him that not everything was about him.

When we got inside Marcy’s place, which was exactly as it had been last time, Violet offered our bed to Colby and Sinclair.

“I’ll share Marcy’s bed, and Theo can sleep on the couch,” she suggested.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “I see you still get a bed in this scenario.”

“I’m pregnant,” she glared.

I dropped my head in embarrassment. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Really,” Colby assured us, “the basement is more than generous and sufficient.”

“Good,” Aunt Marissa said as she dipped into a loveseat with Uncle Caleb. “Now that that’s settled, would someone like to tell us why we’re? As lovely as we are, I’m sure it’s not just for our company.”

Violet and I exchanged a glance. She had been right: my Aunt Marissa was observant and cunning.

Colby and Sinclair sat in chairs I had brought over from the kitchen table. Marcy set down a tray of tea and empty cups, then joined me and my mate on the couch.

“You received the recording we sent with Bennett?” Violet asked the representatives of our two families.

“Yes,” Marcy replied. “Rumor has it that recording was played at least in part at your Betas’ wedding, too.”

Violet nodded. “And what did you do when you received the recording?”

“Well,” Marcy exchanged a look with Aunt Marissa. “Technology is a little harder to come by around here, including the devices on which to play your recording. I transcribed the recording, made a copy of it, then rode over to the Fairweathers here.”

Marcy motioned to my aunt and uncle across the coffee table.

“She played the recording for us and gifted us a few copies of the transcripts to distribute as we like,” Aunt Marissa added.

Violet looked between the two women. “So you two made sure everyone who needed the information received it?”

They both nodded.

“And…” Uncle Caleb prompted, looking to his wife.

“And what?” she asked.

Uncle Caleb turned to me and Violet. “And then she started arming the families – both of them. I helped train them in weaponry.”

“That’s true,” Marcy confirmed. “Marissa reached out to me, coordinating how to get us bows and swords. Then I started sending the cousins to their farm to train with Caleb.”

“We wanted to be ready,” Marissa explained. “Whether you needed an army or someone came for us. Either way, we wanted to be ready.”

I looked at my Uncle Caleb then, the face that felt like looking into a mirror. I saw the pain in his eyes, and I understood that they wanted to be ready so they never lost a loved one again like they did my mother.

Violet set a penetrating gaze on my Aunt Marissa. “That’s not the only way you prepared, is it?”

Uncle Caleb tried not to draw attention to himself as he smiled just slightly.

“No,” Aunt Marissa admitted. “I’ve been reading – anything I could find that seemed like it might be useful. The history of our lands, economics, war strategy, politics and diplomacy. Big moments are coming with big decisions to be made, and I want to be as informed as possible.”

Violet looked between Uncle Caleb and Marcy. “Do you two know anyone in Henosis who knows more about the topics she just mentioned than she does?”

They both shook their heads.

“That’s what I thought,” Violet murmured. She chose that moment to reach out and pour a cup of tea for each of us, including Colby and Sinclair. They started passing around the cream and sugar so everyone could fix their tea to their liking.

I was taking the sugar from Aunt Marissa across from me when my wife said, “Marissa Fairweather, I’d like to offer you a post as Royal Ambassador to Henosis. What do you say?”