Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(77)
“It still doesn’t change the fact that I’m gone and with it my child,” I wailed.
Lailah knelt down and took my hands in hers, her amber eyes kind and full of life. “I am going to change that, Ariella,” she revealed. “That’s why I brought you here … to give you back your life.”
“What? How?” I whispered hopefully.
She smiled and placed my own hand on my stomach. “The baby inside your womb is still alive, Ariella. She needs you and we need her. The night she was conceived she was marked to be a Keeper, and on that night she had already come into her power. That’s why you were able to see Merrick and Lukas when you were here. Those are not your abilities, but your daughter’s.”
“I’m going to have a daughter?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around my stomach.
Tears of joy streamed down my face, but they were soon put on hold when I realized what Lailah just said. My daughter had been chosen to be a Keeper. How was that going to be possible with her alive?
“Wait,” I exclaimed, grabbing her hand. “You said she’s going to be a Keeper. To be a Keeper she will be in the Hereafter. Does that mean she has to die for that? I’m not going to let you take her!”
Lailah lifted a challenging brow. “I am not dead, Your Highness. Keepers are very much alive,” she pointed out sternly. “And your daughter will be also. She will be able to travel from this realm to the Hereafter to assist those in crossing over. She will be able to see Merrick and Lukas or whoever she pleases anytime she wants. This is a very special gift that makes her a very important female in your realm, and in the mortal world. There are faeries not only here that she will be helping, but those that are lost in the mortal realm. That is why we are sending you back so you can bring her into your world and make her strong so she can fulfill her destiny. The Land of the Fae has not finished changing, and your daughter is going to be a part of it all.”
I glanced down at my frozen body and then back to her. “So how do you put me back in my body exactly?”
She grinned, and about that time her body began to glow with a bright, beaming light. The brighter it got the more it felt like I was fading and being pulled in a new direction. “Getting you back is the easy part, Your Highness. I look forward to meeting your daughter when the time comes.”
“So do I,” I whispered with a smile. “So do I.”
Closing my eyes, I succumbed to the pull on my soul and let it take me, deeper and deeper. I knew the moment I connected back with my body because I could feel it, I could feel her … my daughter. I could feel her life growing inside my belly and giving me the strength I had lost, but I could also feel Brayden’s grief. It ripped through my chest like a thousand knives. I was home, I was safe, and I needed to find him … fast.
WHEN I OPENED my eyes and took my first deep breath the whole room fell silent. I looked down at my chest where the gash from the iron blade had wounded me and I was surprised to see that there wasn’t even a scar there; it had healed completely. I glanced around the room; they were all frozen in place, their eyes wide open in shock. I sat up slowly and cringed when my muscles stretched and popped with my movement. I guess being dead took its toll on my body.
“Ariella?” Calista cried, her eyes teary and wide. She was on the bed beside me, where she had been just a few minutes ago when I was still dead. She reached out a hand to touch me. “Please tell me I’m not seeing things.”
“You’re not seeing things,” I assured her, taking her hand. “I’m here.”
The room erupted in screams and shouts, and I had to close my ears because it was so deafening. Elvena took my face in her hands and closed her eyes, chanting in her usual way. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “You’ve been touched by a Keeper,” she sobbed. “They let you come back.”
Smiling, I nodded and put a hand on my stomach. “Yes, they did. Apparently, I’m carrying something very important. How did you know about the Keepers?” I asked. “I never knew such a thing existed.”
She waved me off. “Child, when you’ve lived as long as I have you see and hear things, and I am not surprised you didn’t know anything about them because when it came to your studies you didn’t listen very well,” she scolded halfheartedly.
I chuckled lightly, but there was no time for that. I had to find Brayden. “I need to go,” I blurted out. “Brayden needs me. I have to find him.”
I got out of bed and embraced my family quickly, especially my brother, before turning back to Calista. “Be honest,” I said to her, “how bad did Brayden take it?”
She sighed and lowered her head. “It was bad,” she answered softly. “Even Ryder and Kalen had never seen him explode like that. No one knows where he’s at, and they’re afraid he’s going to try and leave for good.”
I could feel our bond, strong as ever, but the grief had consumed him; it clouded his mind and all I could sense was emptiness coming from him. “That’s not going to happen. I will find him,” I promised.
I embraced her one last time before rushing to the door where Bastian waited patiently with his arms crossed at his chest. I tricked him in the Black Forest and it was something I didn’t want to have to do, but I wanted to know he would be safe. It was the only thing I could think of to get him away unharmed.