Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Two Wyott

Wyott

The flicker of gray in Maddox’s eyes burned in my memory, and I forced the image down the bond.

Cora had to wrap up her workday at the marina before she could leave, but now the sun had set, and she burst through the door of our home.

“Are you sure?” she asked as she stepped through the threshold, her crimson curls bouncing a step behind each movement.

As soon as I’d left my old suite, where Maddox had been barred into a Rominium chair for the last month and a half, I’d used the bond to tell Cora everything that had happened.

I nodded from the chaise. “Absolutely. They were gray.”

“It wasn’t a shadow? A trick of the light?” she pressed, kneeling in front of me and balling her hands in the fabric of my pants as she looked up at me. She’d already asked all these questions, she’d fired each one as soon as she’d gotten over the shock when I’d told her down the bond, but I knew that she’d keep asking, keep wanting that confirmation, until she saw it for herself.

“It was him,” I promised.

As soon as the Vasi took back control he’d tried to act as if he was the one who spoke, as if he wanted to know where Evaline was. But I knew the sound of my brother’s voice. His real voice. And it had been Maddox. But even if I questioned that, his eyes didn’t lie. And when I’d leaped toward him, when I’d pulled his jaw to face me so I could see his eyes better, when he’d gasped my name, I’d seen them.

His deep, charcoal gray eyes.

They flickered back to red as soon as the Vasi took over, but I knew what I saw.

And it had been, undeniably, my brother.

“What does this mean?” Cora urged as I finished recounting, again, what I’d seen.

My brows furrowed and tears gathered in my eyes. “I think it means he’s in there. I think it means that Evaline is right, there could be a Kova in Correnti who’s done it before. And if she finds her, and brings her back here, I think she can teach Maddox how to do it, too.” I took a deep breath. “I think it means my brother can come back.”

She blinked away some tears and smoothed her hair out of her face.

“Thank the Gods none of us listened to Kovarrin,” she breathed.

I released a breath, one that wracked my frame from the weight of it. The release of all the pain I’d been holding onto through it all.

It was so brief, seeing him shine through, but it was all I needed to keep going. To refuel the faith that waned and waxed as the weeks had gone on without him.

After my father died, I bore a similar sorrow—a sense of defeat, to know that I’d never see him again. But with Maddox, it was different. Because his body was still here, even if it hadn’t seemed like he was.

But my brother was still in there and he was battling to come back.

And nothing could possibly rekindle my fight more than that.

It wasn’t an hour before Grant, Fredrik, and Nash were sitting around the different chairs in my living room with me and Cora.

“Thank the Gods.” Nash took a deep breath, and the motion elongated his torso even more from where, even sitting, he towered over Grant and Fredrik, who lounged beside him.

“Oh, fuck.” Fredrik wiped a hand down his face, the normally fair skin there tanned from the sun. “I don’t think I could live the rest of my life with the guilt of it all.”

Grant’s brows raised and his light gray eyes shone with apprehension. “He’s not back yet.” Then turned to me. “What’s the plan?”

I shrugged. “We don’t have much more information than we had before, other than the fact that this happened just after he drank Evaline’s blood. It could be connected. It could be a result of Maddox realizing she was no longer on the island, and his protective instincts kicked in. Either way, it means that he’s still in there and now we know two strategies we can use to help him escape whatever the Vasi is doing to him.”

Grant’s head cocked, he clasped his hands together. It was a nervous habit he had. One he seemed aware of, because he usually caught himself from wringing his tawny hands, and instead just entangled his fingers. “Aside from feeding him Evaline’s blood, what’s the other strategy?”

I planted my elbows on my knees as I leaned forward to explain.

“Maddox has gotten her blood before and hasn’t come out like that. But today, he did.” I shrugged. “Maybe that’s because the blood from when she fed him from the vein needed time to work, but I think the far more likely answer is that he tasted that the blood was old. Our Maddox, deep in there somewhere, could tell that the blood was being kept on ice. He would know that it likely meant she was no longer on the island.”

I looked at Cora and thought of what I’d do if I was in his position—if I’d known that to be out of these wards was the most dangerous place for her, and then got confirmation that it was exactly where she was—I would burn the world to get her back home.

“It was the love he has for her that finally pushed Maddox back into control of himself. It was that instinct he has to protect her. And if that’s the case, if love is what fuels him, then maybe we’ve all been going about this wrong. We’ve all tried to hide our hope that Maddox was in there from the Vasi because we didn’t want the Vasi to do anything to him. But maybe in doing so, Maddox thought we’d given up on him. Maybe he’d lost hope. But he is in there, and there’s no use denying our hope in front of the Vasi anymore. Maddox is fighting in there, so we have to fight out here.”

Nash cleared his throat. “So, your strategy is love?” he asked with a wry smile stretching over his face, fair skin flushing at the amusement. Fredrik snickered.

I smiled. “My strategy is love. We tell him stories, memories, of times we shared with him. We tell him the truth, where Evaline is and why she’s there. And we do all of that while we feed him her blood.”

Hope from Cora washed down the bond, and I felt excitement buzz around the room from the rest of the Kova.

Cora’s knee bounced beside me. “If Evaline was keeping her winds in the sail then they should be there by now. Let’s say they meet with the Kova tomorrow. They should be willing to come back, given that they’ve already tried to return several times. Then they’d head back home after a good night’s rest.” She turned to me. “That puts them arriving back the night after tomorrow.” She turned back to the other Kova. “When the time comes, I’ll go wait for them at the docks and let Wyott know as soon as they arrive.”

“You want us to go to him too, or just the family?” Fredrik asked, leaning forward to plant his elbows on his knees, his shaggy light blond hair falling into his eyes before he flicked it away.

“Everyone should try, if you’re willing.” I cast my eyes to the floor. “It is hard seeing him like this, so I understand if not.”

Nash shrugged. “I’ll go,” he said as Grant nodded.

“I think we should refrain from telling Kovarrin and Rasa, at least for now. I don’t want to give them false hope.” I swallowed. “I’m thankful we didn’t listen to Kovarrin in the beginning, that we had faith, but I understand where he was coming from.”

They all agreed, and then Fredrik clapped his hands.

“And you all used to say I was boring for not drinking when we had nights out at the tavern.” He raised his eyebrows. “But now I’m the only one who can tell Maddox all the stupid—but hilarious—shit you all did.”