I couldn’t see Saffie’s face but I watched her slowly look to her right — and then she squealed. “UNCLE LEYKA!” She jumped up and sprinted toward him.
He grinned and leapt forward to meet her halfway, then caught her and spun her around in a circle. “Saaaaaaffieeeee.” He sat her back on the sand and beamed down at her. “Finally. Look at you, you look exactly the same!”
Saffie giggled. “Look at you! You’re an ANGEL!” She reached out and ran her fingers through his white wings.
“Though he hardly acts it,” Keltie said with a sideways smirk.
“Keltie!” Saffie lunged for her, wrapping her arms around the sea goddess’s neck. They held each other for a moment and then Saffie jumped back with a grin. “Or should I say Ms. Kelly?”
Keltie gave a crooked grin and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Had to keep my eye on you.”
Saffie cried and tackled her in another hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Myrtle smiled and glanced toward us — and did a double take. Her face paled. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “Zachariah?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Saffie
“Zachariah?”
I gasped and jumped back from Keltie and then spun around to my mother…only to find her staring at Riah like he was a three-headed cow.
“Zachariah?” She frowned and shook her head. “Is that you?”
“Yes, Mother,” I said in a rush. I looked to him and my heart filled with happiness. “That’s him.”
Riah’s cheeks flushed and his eyes flashed bright.
“H-how?” My mother stuttered, which was unlike her. “But he – he was – back in Salem…how?”
Bright white light flashed and then everyone who’d come with us from Eden were standing a few feet away now. Riah’s hair was wildly tangled but he looked beautiful in his sheath.
“Mother…” I bit my lip, then leapt to his side and took his hand in mine. When I looked back my mother’s silver eyes were focused on our clasped hands. My pulse quickened. Nerves I hadn’t expected to feel bloomed inside of me. I’d never brought a boy home to my mom, I’d never gotten the chance. “Mother…this is Riah. You remember him, right?”
She scoffed, still shaking her head. Her silver gaze bounced back and forth between us. “Yes, of course. The human boy in Salem that you were smitten with— but how is he here? Now?”
“I was not nor will I ever be human,” Riah said softly, but his hand squeezed mine.
“And I was not nor will I ever be simply smitten with him.” I smiled up at him. “I have been in love with him since that night we met.”
My mother gasped. “Well…well, dear, that’s wonderful but it does not answer my question. Tegan? Tennessee?”
Tegan sighed dramatically. “What can I say, boys with long hair and dreamy eyes.”
Tennessee chuckled and shook his head. “I think it’s best if Saffie explains.”
“Mother.” I dragged Riah so we stood right in front of her. “Mom, this is Riah. My soulmate.”
Her eyes widened.
Riah held his hand out and smiled softly. It looked almost human. “It is lovely to finally officially meet you, Ms. Proctor.”
Mom shook herself and then put her hand in his and shook it. “Call me Myrtle, please. Wait, soulmates? For real? I don’t see the glyph – wait did you say you’re not human? What are you then? I can’t get a sense for your kind and I can always sense a species. I never felt it in you back then either.”
Uncle Leyka cleared his throat. “You’ve met others like him, my dear sister.”
I reached up and tucked his blond hair behind his pointed ear. “See?”
She gasped. “You’re fae? No. I would have sensed that. I have personal experience with Seelies, mind you. You can’t be—”
“Seelie to be exact.” Riah nodded.
Her eyes widened but then they narrowed on him. She stepped forward and held her palm up in front of his face and a soft green light shined from her hand. The gold lines of our soulmate mark sparkled on his face. She gasped and then held her other hand up to my face. The green light was a tad too bright to be shined right in my eyes but it didn’t hurt.
“Soulmates.” She dropped her arms, then looked down at where I held his one hand between both of mine…and she smiled. “Soulmates.”
I nodded and held my breath. I hadn’t planned for my mother not approving.
But then she grinned and wrapped her arms around him. When she stepped back she had tears in her eyes. “How long have you known to be soulmates? Since 1692?”
“I have loved her since I first laid eyes on her, but no, I did not know.” Riah smiled down at me and looked back to my mother. “It is hard to say exactly, but we have only known ourselves soulmates for a matter of hours.”
My mother gasped.
“Feels so much longer,” I whispered.
Riah grinned. “Well, I suppose it has technically been a month. However, time did not work for us the same within the tunnels.”
Keltie sighed. “That damn hot tub.”
I gasped. “Keltie.”
“Oh my God, that’s right!” Savannah giggled behind me but I was too busy being mortified to look at her.
Keltie chuckled and shrugged. “I suppose we have to be thankful Saffie is a strong woman who goes after what she wants.”
I groaned and buried my face in Riah’s arm. “It was Dr. Troy’s idea to go out to the hot tub. Not my fault she tricked me into finding him.”
“Dr. Troy, the dead psychologist,” Gigi said with a chuckle.
“I didn’t know she was dead!”
My mother’s eyebrows rose. She smiled and shook her head. “My, my, it does seem you’ve had quite the adventure. I would love to hear every detail but perhaps you can focus on the part that explains how Zachariah is here? I mean, I understand he’s Seelie and that explains his being alive—”
“It’s just Riah, Mom. That’s what he prefers.” I squeezed his hand, remembering the story about his brother who died. “And he was already three hundred years old when we met him”
“Two hundred and ninety-two.” Riah grinned.
“Oh, my…” Mom frowned. “And where have you been this whole time?”
“Mom…” I bit my lip. “There’s a whole complicated story that goes with that.”
She rocked back on her heels and nodded. “I’m listening.”
So I told her. Everything.
I told her everything Riah had explained to me. Prince Thorne and Princess Sage’s true allegiance. His mother’s visions as a seer. His and Malachi’s purpose for being born. Their work with The Coven in the war against Lilith. Their plan. My curse. The breaking of my curse and being sent back to Salem. My memory. Everything. I told her everything.
Well, except for the details a mother didn’t want to hear and no one else needed to know.
The private moments.
“He didn’t know we were soulmates because for fae it does not show until first kiss…and since he’s been so strict with his duty it wasn’t until I kissed him that it revealed itself – but not until we were in the tunnels.” I smiled remembering the way that moment had gone down and how crazy it all was in hindsight. “My memory came back before — wait, how did my memory come back? I thought I had to go into Seelie for it to be reversed and I only made it to the tunnels. Wait, did you tell me this already? My brain hurts. Tell me again?”