Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,141
tore in two.” Olivia had slapped her palm flat against her heart. “It tore, like my heart was being ripped apart, and I was bleeding so much I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.” Jagged gasps of air, the echo of the visceral, soul-shredding pain vivid in the brown of her eyes. “I wanted to give up, die right then and there, but I couldn’t.”
Her eyes had lingered on her sleeping child. “I found Cary after so long wandering alone. So long, Miane. He understood me like no one else ever has or ever will. He was me and I was him and we were whole together. Now . . . now I’m in pieces, but Persephone is whole and for her, I’ll endure.”
Miane knew full well Olivia wouldn’t live to a ripe old age. The wound on her soul was too grievous. She’d fight the pain, live until Persephone reached adulthood, and then Olivia would simply not wake up one day—or quietly disappear into the deep, never to emerge.
When the time came, Miane wouldn’t attempt to stop her.
Some wounds no healer could heal. Some pain no drug could soften. Olivia had courage enough to live until her baby was no longer a baby. It was all her alpha could ask of her.
Persephone clapped her hands on Miane’s cheeks right then and smacked an exuberant kiss on her lips. “Happy birthday!”
“Yes,” she said, lightly tickling the little girl, “happy birthday to Persephone. Let’s go see your cake!” She carried the child to a table set up with birthday cake, tiny sandwiches, pretty finger food suitable for little hands and designed to delight young taste buds, cookies, and drinks.
Like all the furniture in Lantia, the table had been bolted down using removable bolts that fit into otherwise concealed slots built into all the floors and walls. It meant they could move things around as needed while still securing them against rogue waves that caused the city to rock more than usual every so often.
For the same reason, all the serving trays had a rubberized grip on the bottom and the cutlery and plates were close to unbreakable while still being biodegradable, should they fly off into the water. BlackSea people were able to retrieve pretty much all such accidental debris, but they never took the ocean for granted. Never took water for granted.
“Minni! Minni!”
Miane held out her hand to the other child running toward her. He caught it easily, then as she pulled back her arm, he used his grip to climb up her body and perch himself on her hip. At which point, she shifted her arm to support his weight.
“Happy birthday, Sephnie!” His ebony-skinned face was bright with good humor.
Persephone smiled and waved at her more vocal packmate.
Costas pointed at his black shorts and pressed blue shirt. “I got party clothes, too.” He patted Miane’s black T-shirt, his next words a loud whisper. “Didn’t your mom get you party clothes?”
Biting the inside of her cheek at the solemn question, Miane managed a sad face. “Yeah, she forgot.” Her mom would forgive her the fib. “Do you think I still get cake?”
Both children nodded firmly.
Snuggling them close for another few seconds, Miane then placed the two gently on their feet. They immediately ran off to play together—though she noticed that Persephone kept looking back to check that her mother was in sight, as she’d done even when held safe in her alpha’s arms.
It would take time for her to accept that Olivia wasn’t going to leave her again. A child that young didn’t understand that her mother had been separated from her under duress. She just knew that she’d been alone and scared and her mom wasn’t there.
Miane’s jaw hurt, she’d clenched it so tight.
A big hand closed over her shoulder, squeezed. “Breathe,” Malachai ordered. “She’s home. We’ll bring the others home, too.”
Some, Miane knew, would return home in boxes.
The rage inside her threatened to flare again, but then Persephone’s laughter lit the air and she remembered that sometimes, good won and evil lost. “Yes,” she vowed. “We’ll bring all our people home.” Including Leila.
Alive or dead, none would be abandoned; none would be forgotten.
Chapter 41
MIDMORNING THE DAY after Ivy received the information about Clara Alvarez, her well-rested husband teleported her and Rabbit to Haven. It was a peaceful and sprawling green estate meant for F-Psy who were fractured—and it was also home to Samuel Rain. The robotics and biofusion expert who’d saved Vasic’s life and who was now determined to build