I nodded while smiling up at Riah. “Yes. When I was trying to get back here I kept jumping out in different years – wait, Riah, doesn’t Thorne control the tunnels?”
Riah’s smile tightened. “Thorne and Sage created the tunnels and they control them. Most of the places you were sent was because Thorne was trying to show you.”
I gasped. “He wanted me to see how you and Malachi helped Henry—"
Jackson hissed. “Wait, you saw him?”
“I saw him, Riah, Edward Proctor, and Malachi fighting in the One Hundred Years’ War. Fighting demons and the fae. I saw Malachi with her locket.” I frowned and snapped my fingers. “I even saw Henry put it on a little girl?”
Riah nodded and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Princess Chloe Lancaster.”
“Wait, what? Chloe is my cousin but she’s not a princess? Or is there another one? I don’t remember another Chloe in our lineage.”
“Princess Chloe and your cousin Chloe are the same person.” Riah half turned to face Jackson. “Chloe and her mother Millie Anne were from Henry’s time, but they were shipped off to a safe house with Lilith’s locket…and never made it. They’d accidentally stumbled into the Old Lands, and as you know, time works differently there.”
“She went in the Old Lands?” Jackson plopped down in his seat. “Are you saying my cousin Chloe is six hundred years old?”
Bettina frowned. “Wait, I met her at their ball. That can’t be her.”
Riah shrugged. “I don’t know if she ever came out—"
“She did,” Tegan said. “That’s her.”
Everyone gasped.
Tegan shrugged. “After you two snuck off to suck face I went over and talked to her.”
“Tegan,” Bettina hissed with wide mismatched eyes.
Tenn shook his head. “Gross.”
Cooper chuckled. “Karma, my brother.”
Tennessee threw his hands up. “Hey, I never talked about it—"
Deacon chuckled. “Yeah, that one was on you, Coop.”
“We’re gonna get him a girl, don’t worry.” Easton high-fived Deacon.
Jackson spun to face Tegan. “Wait, so you saw Chloe? You talked to her?”
Now it was Riah’s turn to frown. “Did you see the locket?”
Tegan bit her lip and grinned. “I couldn’t help myself. I felt Lilith’s magic. That locket sat pretty around her neck.”
Jackson tugged his hair. “That was two months ago, why didn’t you bring her here then?”
Tegan made an awkward face.
Jackson turned to Tennessee. “You not worried about that?”
Tenn shrugged. “Twenty-four-seven.”
“Chloe has her own path to follow, folks.”
“She’s on her way here,” Bentley said calmly. “We just have to be patient”
I took Riah’s hand in mine and held it tight. “Question is, what do we do now?”
Tennessee grinned. “We initiate you into The Coven.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Saffie
I gasped. I’d almost forgotten I had to do that. “Right now?”
“Well we are already dressed for it, so…” Deacon grinned.
Tegan shrugged. “I could use an excuse to stay in this crown a bit longer.”
“I bet Tenn could give you an excuse—”
Easton wagged his eyebrows and his blue eyes sparkled.
“Dude,” Cooper groaned and threw a plate at him.
Hunter grimaced and shook his head. “I’m gonna have to go with Cooper on that one.”
Devon snorted. “Was it the visual that went too far, love?”
“I need bleach for my eyes and I didn’t even really see it.” Hunter turned and headed out the back door. “I’ll be out here giving myself a lobotomy.”
“Give me one too,” Cooper said with a growl and raced after him.
“Dads and brothers.” Devon sighed and rolled her eyes as she backed toward the door. “Some things never change. I better go check on them.”
When the door closed behind Devon, Tennessee pursed his lips and shrugged one shoulder. “I quite liked the visual.”
Tegan gasped and her cheeks flushed.
“Haven,” Bettina hissed and scowled. “What happened to the grace period, bro?”
“My bad.”
Riah laughed and everyone looked to him.
Easton pointed at him. “See, new guy likes the jokes.”
“The fae likes a twisted dirty joke…shocker,” Savannah said with a snort from where she sat at the table. She snagged a piece of fried chicken, then used it to point at him. “No offense?”
Riah grinned. “You’re not wrong.”
“Question…” Gigi raised her hand. “Saffie, aren’t you half fae?”
“Yes, she is,” Riah said in his low, velvety voice. He squeezed my hand. “Though she only inherited the good parts.”
“I—”
“Easton,” Lily snapped. She pointed at the back door. “Your body count is high enough today. Outside. Get.”
He groaned and stomped outside with Lily hot on his heels.
Jackson stepped in front of me and grimaced. “I know we don’t know each other yet, but I feel I should give you a proper warning.”
My stomach turned and I squeezed Riah’s hand. “What kind of warning?”
Riah chuckled. “You are so much like Henry it’s unnerving.”
Jackson paled. “I…I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Hey, listen here eldritch being…” Savannah snapped her fingers in an S shape in front of her. “Don’t just be creepin’ peeps out with your immortal ass comments. Ain’t nobody got time for that, ma’am.”
Gigi rolled her eyes. “What she means is there’s a grace period of everyone getting used to you being six centuries old before you start telling us shit—”
“He knew what I damn meant, ma’am,” Savannah snapped. She looked to Riah. “Didn’t you?”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am, I did.”
Deacon cleared his throat. “Right, okay, but what Jackson was trying to say is that the initiation tends to get weird and painful. Saffie ought to know that before we start.”
Riah lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Saraphina can handle anything.”
Tennessee put his hands on his hips. “All right, everyone head out for Saffie’s initiation.”
I started to walk toward the door with the others when I noticed some people hadn’t moved. In fact, Lennox and Warner sat down at the table across from Savannah and Gigi – who hadn’t budged. Mona kissed Kessler on the cheek and then walked to the table. Katherine was over by the fireplace, brewing something in a cauldron.
Chutney jumped off the couch with Olli still in her arms. “Okay, baby O. You have to stay inside for this.”
“I’ll take him,” Riah said softly.
Chutney skipped over and placed Olli right into Riah’s outstretched arms. Olli’s little tail wagged and he licked the air about a dozen times while staring up at Riah.