“Your son already beat you to that honor,” Indigo cut in, causing Melaina to whirl toward him with an incredulous glance.
“Say what now?”
We explained everything to her: where I’d been kept and what had happened to me, then how Qualmer had shown up, impersonating the King of Lowden.
And at the end of the tale, she merely nodded, saying nothing about the fact that Indigo had killed her son. Just, “So I have three grandchildren out there somewhere in the Outer Realms, huh?” She sighed sadly, gazing out at nothing. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
When Indigo tried to tell her about his idiotic, unsound plan to send both me and her to Earth with an amulet, and him empty-handed, however, she shook her head immediately.
“No,” she said. “That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. You two will go with the amulets,” she instructed, taking off the one she’d been carrying from around her neck. Then she thrust it at Indigo. “I’ll go with you this trip, of course, but now that I know I have grandchildren here, I can’t leave permanently. I need to find them, and you know, protect them. Or some shit like that.”
Blood glistened in the corners of her eyes, letting us know she was lying, but she controlled it this time, clearing her throat and stiffening her spine. “Besides, Taiki’s lovemaking is much more aggressive after I’ve been gone for a while. I can’t let our relationship go stale by hanging about indefinitely.”
“But…” I shook my head. “You have grandchildren on Earth too.”
Questa had a little boy, and Quailen was the father to five—none of their names beginning with an R.
“And I plan to keep visiting them,” Melaina reported with a nod. “But they have Taiki there to be their grandmother. The three here have no one.”
“Are you sure?” Indigo said softly as he slowly took the amulet from her. “Because—”
“Boy, if you question me one more time, I’m going to stab you again. For old time’s sake.”
Indigo wisely shut his mouth. When he turned to me, he looked uncertain though, as if I was being forced to decide between him and my aunt. I smiled and cupped his face. “I like this plan,” I told him. “I like it best.”
Grabbing my hand, he kissed the center of my palm. “Forgive me for my selfish honesty, but I like it best too.”
We smiled at each other.
From overhead, the caw of a descending raven echoed around us.
“What in the world,” Olivander murmured in awe. “That’s not one of our birds. If it even is a bird.”
Indy, Melaina, and I looked up. Spreading its wings, the purple and pink-striped bird flew straight toward Indigo and landed on his shoulder. Another raven—this one pure black as every other raven out there was—settled not far away on the roof of the cottage Melaina had been kept in and croaked his own greeting.
Indigo blinked at the colorful beast on his shoulder before his lips twitched.
“Holly?” he guessed.
Instantly, the bird turned into a lime green and blue panda and slid off his shoulder so it could wrap its arms and legs around him and hug him.
“What the—?” Olivander lurched back, gaping at the animal. “What is happening?”
Chuckling, Indigo hugged Holly back and petted her flashy coat. “Vander, this is my, uh, special friend. You can call her Holly.”
Holly glanced at the prince and waved a paw.
“Um. Hi?” Olivander hesitantly waved back.
“What’re you doing here?” Indy asked. “I would’ve thought you and your friend would be living happily ever after, doing whatever it is you guys do by now.”
The raven on the roof cawed, letting us know he was living happily ever after with Holly. The panda ducked her head shyly, as if embarrassed about her contentment, but then she held up something in her paw that no one had realized she’d been carrying.
It was a third amulet.
Indigo’s mouth dropped open. “You…” His stunned gaze landed on Holly. “You’ve been looking for another stone? For me?”
Holly nodded her bear-ish head.
“Thank you, friend.” He inclined his head with respect.
Holly rubbed her paw over his hair as if petting him goodbye, and then she turned back into a pink and purple raven, taking to the air before she flew off, with her unicorn companion following behind her.
“Okay.” Olivander lifted his hands. “I’m not even going to ask. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder the longer I’m around you, Indy.”
Indigo lifted the third amulet and showed it to Melaina. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to Earth permanently?”
She looked tempted a moment. Then she took the third amulet and sighed. “I want to,” she admitted. “You have no idea how much. But…” She shook her head. “The children. They need—”
“I promise to find your grandchildren,” Olivander spoke up. “I’ll work with Lowden officials and make sure they’re helped and treated fairly.”
“You…” She exhaled roughly. “You would take on that mission for me?”
“I would.” The prince seemed completely intimidated by her, but he nodded and held out a hand. “I promise on my life to help them any way I can, madam.”
“Ooh, a life promise, huh?” Her eyebrows lifted in interest and she stepped closer and batted her lashes coyly. “That sounds so passionate. Hey, Quilla,” she asked over her shoulder as she continued to smile up at the other man. “How soon did you say we had to leave? I feel the need to thank this beautiful boy properly. I’ve never had myself a prince before. And a prince from High Cliff at that? Mmm, yes. The taboo factor alone would make the sex spicy hot.”
“Pardon me?” Olivander sputtered in horror, lurching away from her. “I assure you, I don’t need anything for such a serv—My lady! Please.” He dodged her seeking hands. “I am a mated man.”
“Sweetling,” Melaina told him with a reassuring coo. “That’s not a problem at all. Your other half can join in too. I’m not so closed-minded as to leave your loved ones out of all the fun.”
His mouth fell open as he gaped at her, not knowing how to reply.
Finally, Indigo sighed. “That’s going to be a no, Melaina, sorry. But I need to leave some instructions with Olivander before we go.”
Sniffing out her disgust, she muttered, “Fine. You know how to ruin everything. You know that? Everything!” Then she flounced away, heading toward the cottage. “I’m going to go pack my things. Don’t leave without me.”
As she disappeared inside, the prince spun to us, gushing, “Thank you.”
“I owed you one.” Glancing at me, Indigo took my hand and squeezed. “I owed you a big one,” he told the prince as he kept looking at me.
Leaning up on my toes, I pressed my mouth to his and kissed him. Nothing, I decided, nothing could be as perfect as this moment. I’d survived hell and made it through, all the way through to my true love waiting at the other end. No matter what happened next, how rough our adjustments to the new us would be, or how settling into Earth might go, I knew I could handle it. And not just because I had Indigo at my side to journey through it all with, but because he’d equipped me with the tools I needed to make it on my own if I needed to.