“I meant to talk to Lev about that,” Brohm said from beside her. He rarely ever spoke, but when he did, we were all sure to listen. He had become Lev’s right hand man and had set Lexi up with a fortunate future.
Fenn put his arm around me. “Nah, it’ll toughen her up. She’ll be fine. She just needs to learn how to shrug stuff off. She gets that from her mother.”
I lightly elbowed him and smiled when he grunted.
“I just like messing with Aiden,” he finished through a tight breath.
“Have you talked to Mom or Gabe?” Lexi asked him.
He shook his head. “The last I heard they were planning on staying on Nymph Island.”
“Oh well,” she said. “At least they are happy.”
We never understood why they stayed so distant from us. They were there for both births and visited every birthday, but other than that, they remained floaters throughout the realm. Fenn thought it had something to do with when they were infected by Na’shir’s death touch. Like it changed something in their brain.
He looked over at me and rested his head on mine as he read my thoughts and tried to quiet them with thoughts of our steamy night before.
“Astral will be there,” I threw in, trying to cover my blush. We hadn’t seen him since Skylar’s fifth birthday. I missed him too much.
My parents appeared through another portal, causing me to violently jump in Fenn’s lap. He laughed at me as I tried to steady my heart with my hand on my chest.
“Sheesh,” I said. My mother said she was sorry and patted my shoulder before disappearing down the hall to Skylar’s room.
I could see my grandparents through the inside of the portal. “Tell Skylar we said good luck,” Naveena shouted through, looking as regal as ever.
Fenn waved. “Will do, Naveena. You look great.” She batted her lashes at him.
Darian stepped around her, trying to get in his speaking time. “Will you be coming after for the celebration?”
“Of course, Grandfather,” I said as my father pulled me into a hug. “Where else would we celebrate Skylar’s success?” He grunted like an old man as he sat back on his throne, watching the portal seal shut between us.
“Today is going to be a great day,” my father announced proudly to us all. “Skylar will pass with flying colors.” He held the corners of his robe, his chest puffed out. He had put on a little weight through the years, but his lavender eyes still held the secrets of his younger years.
“I sure hope so,” Skylar said as she came around the corner wearing leather pants and a leather breastplate used in training. She perched up on a stool at the kitchen counter, her head falling into her hands. Aiden took the seat next to her.
“I was only kidding, cuz,” he whispered into her ear as he nudged her.
She grinned over at him. “Like I don’t know that.” My mother had pulled her hair back into a high braided ponytail. She was playing with the end now as they whispered something else to each other. I refused to use my dragon sense to listen in. She deserved her privacy. She was a good kid.
Fenn walked up behind her and kissed her cheek. “You will do great, love. Just believe in yourself and remember how kickass your parents are.” He turned back and grinned at me like a fool. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are we all ready then?” Myrdinn asked with his hands on his hips.
I stopped and looked at all of my family, taking in the many years of happiness that I had lived under the warmth of love, and then walked over to my beautiful daughter who sat tentatively watching me.
She was the real reason I was born.
She smiled at me, and I hugged her, whispering to her what Soothe had told me about the outcome of today. Her eyes grew as wide as her smile.
“We’re ready,” she shouted.
Astral appeared a moment later with a portal opened to the Hall. He winked at me as he took Skylar’s hand and kissed it, telling her how beautiful she was and remarking on how much she had grown since he had last seen her.
She was just as taken with him as I had been all these years. I only wished that she could have trained with him. At that thought, he looked over at me and smiled, sending love and memories through my mind.
I felt Fenn’s hand in mine as we watched everyone port to the Hall, leaving us alone in the living room. My heart was beginning to beat a little quicker now that the moment had arrived. Our daughter was becoming a woman today—one step closer to embracing the world on her own.
And it scared the living crap out of me.
He brushed a strand of hair away from my face, smiling down at me through his slightly wrinkled eyes as the portal waited for us to jump through. The kiss he planted on my lips was soft as his hands wove through my hair and cupped my cheeks.
“Forever and always,” he said.
“Always and forever.”
About the Author
Candace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames — a young adult fantasy trilogy. Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013.
Candace Knoebel dreamed of being a dancer ever since she could remember. With a love of all things art, she saw herself moving to New York and pursuing her passion as an artist. But all that changed on October 10, 2002 when she met the love of her life. Her dreams diverged. After marrying her high school sweetheart and having two beautiful children, she realized she missed her creative side. Through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, she built a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. Since then, she crawled out of Purgatory and has devoted her time to writing and sometimes heelying.
Candace Knoebel, From the Embers (The Born in Flames Trilogy)
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