Ivy nodded, not trusting her voice. The uncertainty was killing her.
Kiyomi lifted her chin, staring right at her. “Who are you?”
“Ivy,” she managed to get past the constriction in her throat. “I’m Ivy now. But I used to be…” Nope. Her throat closed up before she could get out another word.
The look in Kiyomi’s eyes softened slightly. “Julia.”
“Yes,” she whispered, and to her horror, tears blurred her eyes.
Kiyomi didn’t move, her expression still guarded. “What did I give you when we graduated together?”
She held up her wrist. “This.”
Kiyomi zeroed in on it, and the blank mask dropped, avid interest taking its place. “What’s on the bead?”
“A cherry blossom.” She blinked, the tears spilling over.
Kiyomi started toward her again, and stopped within reach. She searched Ivy’s eyes a long, breathless moment before reaching for her wrist and examining the bracelet.
A shaky smile trembled on Kiyomi’s lips, and when she met Ivy’s gaze again, her eyes were wet too. “It really is you,” she whispered.
Ivy nodded and pressed her lips together to hold in a sob. She hated the weakness, hated it even more that she was falling apart in plain view of anyone here who cared to watch, but this was too much.
Still smiling, Kiyomi released her wrist and reached up to wipe away the tears on Ivy’s face. “It’s so good to see you.”
That did it.
She crumpled. Just fell to pieces right there in the middle of the square.
Kiyomi’s arm came around her, holding on tight. Ivy clung to her fiercely, part of her still terrified that this was all a dream. That someone would tear them apart at any moment and she would lose her only friend yet again.
She didn’t know how long they stood like that while she desperately tried to get a grip on herself. It took everything she had to lock her emotions back in the box she kept them in and pull back, wiping her face in embarrassment.
Kiyomi’s smile was genuine. Soft. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of catching up to do, huh?”
“Yes.” Her voice was rusty.
“Feel like meeting the rest of your sisters?”
Oh, God, were they here? She glanced around, horrified that she’d dropped her guard so badly.
“They’re not here. But they’re close. Come on.” She hooked an arm around her and led her back across the square. “Where are you parked?”
Ivy took her to the rental car, glanced up as an old Land Rover pulled up close by, and tensed.
“Don’t worry, it’s just my husband, Marcus.” She flashed a grin and turned toward the vehicle. “You’ll love him.”
Marcus undid the window and lifted a hand. Ivy echoed the gesture, feeling awkward. He must have had eyes on them the entire time, and Ivy hadn’t had a clue. She was slipping.
“Are you okay to drive?” Kiyomi asked. “You can follow us. It’s not far, only a few minutes away.”
“Where?”
“My home.”
Feeling like she was having an out-of-body experience, Ivy got in her car and followed the old Rover up the lane, then onto Digbeth Street. They wound down it to where it intersected with Sheep Street and became Park Street, both sides lined with pretty, golden-stone cottages.
From the top of the hill, the lush, rolling green countryside spread out in all directions. She barely saw it, too caught up in her head.
Marcus drove a few miles east, then turned north up a quiet road. Another couple of miles later, he turned west and slowed at a driveway marked with a large wrought iron gate flanked with tall Cotswold stone pillars.
Ivy stared through it, looking past the gatehouse at the large, imposing manor house that stood at the top of the long gravel driveway.
Holy shit. Kiyomi lived here?
The gates opened and Marcus pulled through. Ivy followed, palms damp on the steering wheel and her pulse thudding hard in her ears when the Rover suddenly stopped, barring her way.
Someone stepped out of a door in the gatehouse and walked toward the gate. Ivy’s heart skipped a beat when she recognized Megan, and a tall man behind her. He was armed, a pistol in the hand resting at his side.
Ivy unlocked her doors, lowered her window and turned off the ignition. Taking a deep breath, she raised both hands in the air so they could see them, palms out.
Megan and the man approached her door cautiously, watching her every move. “Need you to step out of the car,” Megan said.
Ivy nodded and kept her hands where they were, the intense vulnerability of the moment scraping over her like razor blades. The man opened her door. She stepped out and faced them, hands up as Megan approached.
“Gotta pat you down, just in case.”
Ivy didn’t move as Megan frisked her, couldn’t help staring at the other woman. She’d searched for the surviving Valkyries for so long, it seemed surreal to finally meet another one. The man was searching the car for weapons.
Megan grasped the bottom of Ivy’s shirt in one hand and tugged down the left side of her waistband with the other. As soon as she saw the Valkyrie mark on Ivy’s hip, she looked up at her with a little smile. “Are you really Julia?”
“Not anymore. I’m Ivy.”
Megan nodded. “Okay then. Come on. The others are waiting for you.”
Ivy got back in her car and followed Marcus and Kiyomi up the long, sloping driveway while Megan and the man followed on foot. Ivy relaxed slightly, focused on the manor house. Her heart beat faster and faster as they approached the front of it, until it raced in a dizzying rush of hope and joy.
Kiyomi stepped out of the Rover with Marcus as the front door opened and a medium sized brown-and-white dog charged out to greet them. Kiyomi’s teeth flashed as she smiled. “You ready?”
“Think so.” She was so damn nervous.
So many terrible things had led them to this moment. So much pain and fear and hatred that had stolen everything from her but mere existence.
Kiyomi reached out a hand to her, fingers closing tight around Ivy’s. “All this time I thought you were dead. I found you lying in that alley and I knew there was no way you were going to make it…” She trailed off, shaking her head.
Ivy smiled through her tears, her heart about to explode. “I’m too stubborn for that.”
They both laughed. Kiyomi squeezed her again and officially introduced her to Marcus. “Come inside and meet the others.”
Inside, other familiar faces were there to greet her. Amber, who grinned and pulled her into a bear hug. “Hey, hacker sister.”
Ivy almost teared up again, but there wasn’t time to get all emotional because she had a lot more sisters to meet.
The fabled Trinity. Briar. Georgia. Eden, and their significant others, including Megan’s husband, Ty.
“Where’s Chloe?” Ivy asked, looking around for her.
The happy smiles dimmed. “She’s with Heath,” Kiyomi answered, her arm around her husband’s waist. It was so strange to know her friend had married, but it thrilled Ivy to see her settled and happy, and to know that she had been able to love and be loved in return. “He’s still in the hospital, but at least he’s going to make it.”
Trinity took her by the hand. “Come into the library for snacks and tell us everything.”