Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 117336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Gwen slowly sits up. Her gaze is locked on her infant son, and when he lets out a little whimper and nuzzles at her chest, she chokes on a sob of relief. Cradling him to her, she shakes her head at me. "I don't know."
There's a faint shout outside, and dismay hits me. I want to scream what now? Instead, I force myself to remain calm. I go to the window and look outside. One of the soldiers points at the sky. Flakes of dust and ash are falling to the ground like snowflakes, even though there's not a cloud in the sky. Another person points at the sky, and I look up.
The Rift is gone.
The ugly, pulsing wound that was constantly visible no matter where you stood or what time of day it was, has vanished. In its place, there's a pale streak in the sky, as if it's been seared shut. "Holy shit," I breathe. "They did it." I turn to give Gwen an incredulous look. "They sealed the Rift!"
"What?" She scrambles to her feet, racing to the window to check for herself.
Just then, Azar groans. "Ow."
I race to his side, grabbing his hand and pressing a dozen kisses on his knuckles. "You did it, Azar. You sealed the Rift!"
He gazes up at me, his eyes full of aching emotion, and nods. "I did what had to be done."
Confused, I give him a curious stare. That's not the excited, relieved voice I was hoping to hear. "Are you all right?" I prod at his mind again, wanting to feel his thoughts through my own. To caress him with my affectionate feelings. But…all I encounter is silence. This time, I frown. "Azar…I can't feel you."
He nods, his expression melancholy. "I had to close it all off. For us to close the Rift, we had to give it up." The look he gives me is utterly wistful as he reaches up to touch my face. "I only got to feel you for a short time."
An incoherent roar shakes the building. I hear the slam of feet crashing down the hall, and a moment later, the door to our bedroom bursts in once more. Vaan charges forward, a frantic look in his eyes. He moves immediately to Gwen, running his hands all over her, and then touches his son. Confusion and fear are written all over his face.
"I can't hear him," Gwen cries, looking over at me. "I can't hear my mate. What happened?"
Oh god. I understand now. The mind-speech is a thing in their world, but not in ours. For him to close the Rift, he had to make the choice to give it up for everyone. That means Vaan can't hear Gwen, and Gwen can't hear Vaan, and no one will be able to hear the babies until they learn how to speak.
In other words, they've become normal children.
I swallow hard and press another kiss to Azar's knuckles. "But you're safe? No one's hurt?"
He shakes his head. "Safe. No one's hurt. Just…quiet. Very quiet." He raises a hand to his brow and grimaces as if the quiet physically pains him. "I hope I made the right choice. The creature in the Rift is gone, but so is any chance of going home."
"You made the only one you could," I tell him. "You gave everyone here a future." I can't be upset. Even when Gwen and Vaan hold each other and weep, their son cradled in their arms.
Even when the other drakoni emerge from their quarters, confused at the sudden silence in both their heads and their mates’. They understand once they see the Rift, and a curious sort of calm overtakes them. It's like everyone expected it. It's like the Rift's healing explains everything.
It's a future for all of us. It's a fresh start.
And since I can't tell my husband with my thoughts, I just hold Azar's hand to my chest. "I love you, always."
Epilogue
MELINA
Months Later
It's a beautiful, sunny spring morning, the perfect sort of day for gardening.
I wear a large floppy hat over my head to keep cool. My sundress is pale white with big yellow sunflowers and looks as cheerful as I feel as I consult the Big Book of Gardening Skills. At my side, the main gardener, Sheree, shakes her head and points at Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. "This says for our zone, okra gets planted two weeks after the final frost."
"Are you sure that's our zone?" I ask again, because it doesn't sound right to me. "We can't mess this up. We need every seed to count. I'm just nervous we're going to mess it up."
"We're not going to mess it up," she reassures me, and points at the prepared beds. "Okra there. Lettuce there. Peppers, cucumbers there. Carrots, potatoes, and turnips in the shade at the edge of the gardens, by the fruit trees." She points at the huge tract in direct sunlight. "Tomatoes there, because those damn things grow everywhere."