Kyan
I am halfway back to the manor when I hear the crack, the sound is so loud it hurts my ears, and I jump. The wind rushes toward me like a wall from the forest behind me, making me stop when I feel my father’s magic erupt in me. His power bursts from my fingertips, twisting and escaping through the air. I watch his magic float on the breeze back toward the forest, as the light engulfed the sky.
It consumes the night and turns it to light. I watch as my father’s shadows move toward the ruins, slivering across the grass. “Kaif?” I ask because he is so quiet. I wonder if he is still with me.
“She broke the curse,” Kaif whispers to me, and I can feel shock wash through him.
“Marabella?” I worry.
“No, Katya,” he murmurs. The shadows move across the ground, disappearing into the forest, and I run toward the treeline. The oppressive forest feels light, like the shadows and ghosts of my ancestors are no longer shackled by the errors of a past that held them here, the torment and anguish no longer suffocating.
The forest almost seems calm, like a weight has lifted, allowing it to breathe. Now, it is blooming and rejuvenating as life returns. The ashes and blood that tainted its soil now bleed back into the earth, the spirits are no longer repressed, instead; they are free. I follow my father’s shadows as they sliver across the forest floor like a serpent, finding their way home. Stepping through the treeline and emerging at the burial grounds, the ruins are gone, and the stars twinkle above along with the moon. I stand stunned, and my heart races in my chest as I stare ahead.
My eyes deceive me as I watch the man stand. His magic moves across the ground, wanting to go home, and he turns to face me.
The lump in my throat threatens to choke me as I see his face, exactly as I remember him. “Dad?” I choke out, taking a step toward him in disbelief. He staggers back a step as he sucks in a breath as the shadows touch him, bleeding his power and life back into him.
His lips quiver, and his lips part. “Kye,” he stammers. His voice makes my heart jolt, and I stumble forward. How I’ve longed for his soothing voice, the voice that would read to me each night as he tucked me into bed, the voice that would soothe me when the darkness came for me. My father’s voice, a voice I thought I would never hear beyond my dreams, yet prayed I one day would.
He moves his arm off Ella’s shoulder and staggers forward, and I choke, my body moves before I process the thought too. My body crashes against the man whose touch I would have given my last breath to feel again. His arms are strong as they embrace me, the same as I remember, warm and promising to make everything better. If time stood still, I could stand in this moment forever. His arms wrap tightly around me like they did that morning when he loaded me in the car to take me to Jonah’s.
He was clutching me like I was his lifeline. Only after his death did I realize he was saying goodbye. I stared at him strangely, wondering why he didn’t seem to want to let go. And now I understand why, because I can’t bear to let him go either now.
“I missed you; I never stopped missing you, son,” he breathes against my neck, his fingers in my hair as he holds tight while my arms clutch his neck, not wanting to let go in case I wake from this dream. “I love you, I have always loved you, and I am sorry I left you, but I’m here now,” he whispers, and all I can do is nod, praying he will just keep speaking so I can listen to his voice.
“I’m right here, right here, son,” he says soothingly. Hearing a sniffle, I open my eyes to see my mates. Both are crying along with Eziah, and I wonder what they sacrificed. What Kat sacrificed for us. Dad lets me go, and we turn to face them.
“Come on, kids, let’s go home,” Dad tells them, holding his hand out to Marabella. She takes it, and he tugs her closer, kissing her hair and reaching his hand past her toward Jonah, who steps forward. He rests his head on dad’s and I let out a breath seeing dad so accepting of Jonah, like he always knew it would come to this, and Jonah is just another of his children like I am Andrei’s and Sage’s.
“I hear I’m going to be a grandpa,” he chuckles, tapping Jonah’s face dotingly before he turns to me and chucks his arm over my shoulder. He kisses my temple and we make our way back toward the trail leading to the manor.
I glance back over my shoulder at Eziah; he nods to me, wiping a stray tear. “By setting him free, he set her free. He is one less skeleton she has to live with,” Eziah says, no animosity in his voice, and I swallow.
I peer over at Mara tucked under my father’s arm, her arm behind his back as his fingertips brush against me, his other hand holding Jonah’s. “Did either of your fathers claim Pops yet? I feel too young to be called grandpa, maybe Papa or pappy?” he muses.
“Oh, and names. Can I help? I like picking names.” Eziah perks up.
“As long as it isn’t Daddy Dom,” Mara says, shooting her brother a look. I look at him and raise an eyebrow.
“Dude, don’t look at me like that; I kissed your father. I’m his Daddy Dom now,” Eziah laughs.
“And I must say, he is a terrible kisser. Have you heard of lip balm? I have been dead for eighteen years, and my lips aren’t even that dry,” Dad says and I laugh at their banter. How everything seems so normal.
When we emerge into the fields around the manor, my father stops in his tracks and gazes ahead. He peers up at the manor. “Home Sweet Home!” he whispers, giving my shoulder a squeeze.
I look at the manor for the first time since he left, and I feel it actually is. This place hasn’t been home in so long, but looking at it now, I know it will be home again. My family is complete, Kaif is free, the curse is lifted, and the one person who made this place home has finally returned.
Yes, home, I think to myself. Let’s go Home.