Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Sixty-EightEvaline

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Evaline

W e walked Wyott out and while he headed to town, Maddox and I turned for the loft.

And that was when I saw it. The open water. No longer dotted with Vasi. They no longer stood there, stopping import or export.

I looked up at Maddox, eyes wide, and he nodded.

“I just found out, too. My father said they were gone when he woke up.” He shook his head as we ambled down the hill. “Either they realized the wards were gone and left, or Vasier pulled them back after your disappearance.”

I ground my teeth as we made our way for the loft, but tried to calm the race of my heart.

He wouldn’t hurt someone else I loved, I wouldn’t let him. I’d go get Aurora and Jacqueline, and they would be safe with me in Rominia.

If they agreed to come, which I could only pray they would.

Sage opened the door to the loft and let us in, and I could sense tension down the bond as we entered.

What’s wrong? I asked Maddox through our link.

My father said he wanted Sage to move out, so he could find a replacement Arch Sorcerer , he responded back.

I knew Kovarrin still didn’t trust her, and a part of me didn’t, either. But I was working on that, trying to trust in her actions since her betrayal. So far, all of them had been to help me.

A part of me feared that she’d only saved me from Mortithev to assuage her own guilt, and not out of actual love for me, but I hoped her help in protecting Aurora and Jacqueline would help me to trust her again.

I looked around the loft. I hated being here because it still felt like Lauden’s, but I didn’t want to see her thrown out of the only home she had right now.

I pushed my thoughts aside, and knew Maddox and I would have to try to reason with Kovarrin at some point soon.

“Ready?” Sage asked, moving to the center of the room.

I nodded and Maddox followed as we joined her. Dean stood at her side, and I knew he wasn’t coming out of necessity, but likely just because he didn’t like being far from her.

She opened the portal, and I noted the color, looked for the red that gave away a portal to Mortithev, and breathed a silent sigh of relief when I only saw the soft yellow of a mid-day sun.

“I planned to portal us into your childhood home, is that okay?” she asked, looking up at me. “I just know it’s a safe place for us to land, and no one will see the portal.”

I nodded. “That works.”

My heart fluttered at the thought of Maddox seeing it.

We all grabbed onto Sage’s hands and shoulders, and we were off.

My eyes were wide as we landed, dry and unblinking. I wanted to identify where we were as soon as possible, my fear of another betrayal surging in my mind, and I smiled and looked up to Maddox when I saw that Sage had been telling the truth, and that we stood in the sitting room of the home I shared with my father.

Maddox smiled, too, and looked around, snorting when I showed him the cabinet with all my father’s weapons.

But we had a lifetime to come back here and explore. We were here for a reason.

Maddox didn’t want to go see the Lord and Lady because he didn’t know what his father would want us to share with them, and I knew he was annoyed with himself for not thinking to ask earlier when he spoke to him. He’d seemed different since that conversation, almost somber.

We walked through the busy main street of Neomaeros, just the four of us, and then I finally saw it. Their shop.

When we got to the door, I pulled on the handle and was thankful when it opened. The bell above the door chimed, and I was taken back to Kembertus, when I used to visit Aurora at her boutique there.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but we’re closed!” a sing-song voice called out before Aurora’s head popped up from behind a table piled with dresses. Her arms were filled with clothing, but when she saw us all, her dark eyes widened. “Oh.” Her brows furrowed as she looked over the lot of us, then her gaze settled on me. She took a step back, hand on her heart. “I don’t—You’re supposed to be—” she stuttered, letting the clothes slip from her arms and onto the table in front of her.

Jacqueline came out from a room behind her, and smiled at us before it promptly fell. She ran to her wife’s side and pulled her back.

Maddox cursed at my side before he moved forward toward them.

They think you’re dead. He said down the bond as he met their side.

My insides twisted at that, because of course Therese and Elijah would’ve manipulated the entire kingdom to see me as the villain of that story. But I only pursed my lips and watched as Maddox leaned toward them.

He bent down to catch Aurora’s eyes. “It’s time to remember,” he whispered.

Then, before Jacqueline could find that odd, he said the same to her, and her golden skin flushed.

Their eyes widened for a moment and each of them took a step back. I felt guilty for this reaction, and for their initial compulsion in the first place, but they deserved to be safe before, and now that they were no longer under threat from Therese and Elijah, they deserved to remember the truth.

This many memories, recalling them all at once, it’s going to take a toll , Maddox said down the bond, and I strode forward toward them as he put steadying hands on their arms.

“Oh, Gods!” Aurora cried out as she saw me come up behind him.

Jacqueline shook her head, her eyes half-filled with tears. “But they told us…”

I shook my head. “No, it was a lie. I’m so sorry to put you through all of this.”

I explained compulsion to them, that I had Maddox compel them because I didn’t want them to become collateral damage once I killed Bassel.

Then realized I should explain why I needed to kill Bassel when their eyes widened.

“Bassel was the second man the night of my attack.” It was all I said on the matter with Sage and Dean standing behind us, but immediately the women looked to each other and shook their heads, reaching for me.

“Why wouldn’t you tell us that?”

Aurora’s brows furrowed as she met my eyes. “I can’t…you had to…” Her voice choked and she had to clear it before she could continue. “You forced yourself to be around him, all that time? Why would you put yourself through that?”

Tears filled my eyes. “I wanted to make sure he never hurt anyone else.”

Aurora pulled me into a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Evaline,” Aurora whispered.

“Thank the Gods you’re okay,” Jacqueline breathed and stroked a hand up my back.

When we pulled apart, they were still confused and I understood why.

“Where have you been? Why are you here?” Aurora asked, clutching my hand.

I took a steadying breath. “There is so much I have to tell you. So much about me, and the world, and what will come in the future. Is there somewhere we can talk?”

Aurora nodded, pointing a long finger toward the ceiling. “Yes, we live right upstairs in the apartment.”

I looked to Sage and Dean. “Will you be okay to wait?”

Dean nodded. “Of course, I’ll go show Sage around.”

Sage’s eyes flashed at that and she looked up at him, a smile on her face.

When we settled on the upholstered chairs and couches of their sitting room, Maddox and I tried to tell them everything they didn’t know—the Kova, the Vasi, Rominia, my magic, my curse, my abductions.

I told them about the threat Vasier had made for them, and by the end of it all, their eyes were wet and they clutched each other’s hands, and mine from where the three of us sat on the couch.

“I came to ask if you’d be willing to come stay with us,” I said nodding to Maddox. “In our home, or at the inn, in Rominia. It has an invisible wall around it, that stops Vasi from coming in.” I waved a hand around us. “Neomaeros does, too. But I’m still afraid Vasier could still send in a human or a Sorcerer to come hurt you. In Rominia, there are so many Kova around, and guards, that you’d be safe.”

Aurora nodded as I spoke and Jacqueline pursed her lips, tucking her blond hair behind one ear. “And Vasi are the bad ones?”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that left my lips at that, but I nodded. “Yes. Vasi are the bad ones, and Kova are the good.”

Aurora looked to Maddox. “And you’re a Kova?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

They looked to each other, before turning with tense eyes. “How long would we need to be in Rominia? And how long will it take to travel there? We have to work on the shop if it’s to open by the next courting season, and I don’t want to anger Lady Margot.”

Maddox shook his head. “The Lord and Lady are friends of ours, we’ll let them know why you’ve left temporarily. They already know Evaline was worried about you, they’ll understand.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know how long, but if war comes, I don’t want you to be caught here, accessible to Vasier. But I understand if you don’t want to come.” I squeezed both of their hands. “I just want you two to be safe, and to be happy.”

Maddox leaned forward. “And it won’t take any time at all to travel there, we’ll use magic.”

Jacqueline’s green eyes widened. “Your magic?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No not mine, Sage’s. The woman who was downstairs before.”

They nodded and looked to each other.

“Our lives are more important than this shop,” Aurora said quietly. Jacqueline agreed, and they turned to look at us.

“When do we need to be ready?”

They didn’t take long to pack a couple of bags, and then Maddox found Sage and Dean, and we were portaling back into the loft. We thanked Sage and Dean, and Maddox showed us to the inn.

By the time we finished helping them unpack, it was nearing dinner, so Maddox and I gave them a tour around Rominia, and we found a restaurant to eat at.

And when we were settled in our seats, and I saw my friends sitting there together, safe, and happy, and finally with me again, I smiled.

“I’m so sorry I had to keep my plans from you,” I whispered.

Maddox’s hand found my thigh from beside me, and Aurora reached for one of my hands across the table.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” Jacqueline said through watery eyes.

“You did everything you could to protect us,” Aurora whispered. “You were right. They immediately questioned everyone in the city, but especially us. And because we truly didn’t know anything, we were completely shocked they’d want to talk to us about it.” She shrugged. “You did protect us by having Maddox take away those memories.”

The breath of relief shuddered through my lips and I nodded, finally realizing just how worried I’d been that I made the wrong decision back then.

“Enough with all of that though,” Jacqueline said, looking to Maddox, then back to me. “It appears there’s been more going on with you that you have withheld,” she said, raising her brows, and I laughed.

Maddox smiled sheepishly and I snorted and leaned into him.

Jacqueline brought her fisted hands up toward her chest.

“I knew it!” She shouted as loud as was appropriate in a dining establishment.

Aurora laughed beside her and smiled. “We’re so happy for you two.”

We ordered when the waitress came over, and then our food came, and we didn’t stop talking for what very well may have been hours. I explained everything to them that I hadn’t yet in Neomaeros. What Bassel had planned, how I had killed him. How he’d been helping Vasier.

I let Maddox take over when telling them about the Kova and Vasi, what mates were, and why Vasier hated the Kova.

By the time we were done answering all their questions, the food was finished and the tea was empty.

“I’m so sorry, again, for getting you mixed up in all of this,” I said, brows pulling together.

“We’re safe now,” Jacqueline said.

There was a moment of silence before Jacqueline spoke again.

“Wait,” she said, straightening and furrowing her brows. “If you’d been pining over Evaline since you met, and you knew you were mates…” she said, looking to Maddox. “Then that means you knew she married Bassel?”

A grim smile pulled on his face. “I was there.”

Aurora cringed. “Gods, that must’ve been awful.”

Maddox nodded. “She looked beautiful, the dress you made her was stunning, but I hated every moment she wore it.”

Aurora tilted her head. “I understand.” Then shrugged and looked to the side, the candlelight around us brightening her brown skin. “Of course I did tell her she should ditch the wedding and run away with you, so I tried,” she said, and finished it with a smile looking back to the both of us.

Maddox feigned surprise and flattened a hand over his heart as if wounded.

“And you didn’t listen?” he said, looking down at me.

I shrugged. “I half-listened. I still ran away with you,” I waved my hand. “I just had to commit a murder beforehand.”

Maddox nodded. “Fair.”