Terra Anniversary
Lux
One year after Earth’s demise, at the end of August, I suddenly found myself contemplating the strangest realization. I had been here for one full year. An entire year on Terra, living among Rainers, attending college, discovering things about myself I never thought possible, and somehow managing to fall in love with more males than any sane woman should reasonably know what to do with.
My mind was whirling with that realization because, for all it was worth, it felt a whole lot longer. Sometimes, my life on Earth seemed like a distant dream, something that had happened to another girl entirely. A girl who had never heard of mating bonds or the rather inconvenient fact that the universe was apparently filled with people who wanted to kill each other over things that happened centuries ago. I missed Earth, of course. I missed the familiarity of it, the little things I had taken for granted, and the people I would never see again. But I couldn’t imagine spending my life without my mates now. Or without Skylark, Olive, Dexar, Nexxar, and Dean.
Which was a rather terrifying thought, considering that a year ago, I hadn’t even known most of them existed.
I was staying at Skylar’s estate, waking up in my old bedroom with a long, drawn-out yawn. I hadn’t slept here in months, and the room looked almost exactly as I remembered it. Maddox had thrown a birthday party for the twins yesterday, and both he and Jax had insisted I stay the night. Apparently, showing up for the party and eating enough cake to feed a small army hadn’t been sufficient.
Since my relationship with Jax had only recently started mending, I figured I owed him that much. Or perhaps I owed it to myself. I was hoping that, eventually, he and I would find our friendship again, although I wasn’t entirely sure what that would look like after everything that had happened between us. How did you go back to being friends with someone who had once meant so much more? Someone who knew exactly how to make you laugh, how to make you feel wanted, and unfortunately, how to break your heart?
At least I understood him now. Well, about half of it, anyway. I understood why he’d needed to push me away, and I understood that his intentions hadn’t been nearly as cruel as his actions. That didn’t mean I agreed with his methods. Personally, I still believed he could have found a slightly less devastating way of accomplishing his goal. One that didn’t involve breaking my heart and scattering the pieces so far apart that I wasn’t entirely convinced I would ever manage to put them back together again.
But we were trying, and that had to count for something.
My Telvice rang just as I was considering whether getting out of bed was worth the effort. I reached across the mattress and smiled when I saw the name flashing across the screen.
Sebastian.
“Little bird! Happy one-year-on-Terra day!”
His posh English accent sounded ridiculously cheerful for someone calling me this early. Then again, Sebastian could probably announce the end of the universe and somehow make it sound like an invitation to an expensive cocktail party. I loved his voice. I loved everything about that ridiculous male, even when he was being an absolute menace.
“You remembered the worst day of my life. How nice,” I joked, rolling onto my back.
“Always. I remember everything about you, love.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, before college starts again tomorrow, let’s hang out, okay? Just you and me.”
I winced. “I promised Oak I’d hang out with him today. I’m sorry, Seb.”
“Goddamnit! They’re always one step ahead of me. I haven’t seen you all week!”
“You saw me yesterday.”
“That hardly counts. You were surrounded by people, and I wasn’t allowed to do anything inappropriate.”
“Sebastian, you tried to put your hand up my dress while Maddox was standing right next to us.”
“Exactly. Terribly restrictive environment.”
I burst out laughing. That was the thing about Sebastian. He could drag a laugh out of me even when I was determined to remain annoyed with him.
“You get brownie points for remembering today, okay, babe?”
“Do they come with you naked and me eating brownies off your body, or...?”
“Sebastian...” I sighed.
“What? It’s a perfectly reasonable question.”
He was always horny. Literally all the time. I had initially blamed that particular personality defect on him being Sebastian Barrington, but apparently, the mating bond wasn’t helping matters.
“I’m just saying, little bird. I miss you.”
My smile softened. “Miss you too, crazy pants.”
We spent another few minutes talking about college starting again tomorrow and everything that had happened over the summer. Bron and Olive had gotten engaged, which was still something I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.
Honestly, you disappeared for two weeks, and suddenly everyone was getting engaged or falling in love.
Not that I regretted disappearing.
Ash, Oak, and I had spent those two weeks at their cabin, far away from college, our friends, and the seemingly endless complications that came with being mated to several very different males. We hadn’t checked our messages, hadn’t worried about what was happening elsewhere, and had barely paid attention to the passing days. Instead, we’d spent the time getting to know each other in ways I hadn’t thought possible, exploring every aspect of our relationship without anyone interrupting us.
It had been the most incredible two weeks of my life.
My earthly mind was still processing the fact that I was in a polyamorous relationship, and occasionally, I wondered what the old Lux would have thought about all of this. Probably that I’d lost my damn mind. Yet there was something surprisingly natural about being with them. Ash and Oak were so different, despite being twins, and somehow, they both gave me something I hadn’t even realized I needed.
After promising Sebastian that I’d make time for him soon, I ended the call and dropped my Telvice onto the mattress. My head sank back into the pillow, and the smile slowly disappeared from my face.
Because despite how wonderful everything had been lately, there was something I hadn’t told any of them.
Something that had been eating away at me for weeks.
Ethan.
Or rather, Ethaniel Regental.
The firstborn prince of the Winter Court.
Even now, thinking his full name made my stomach twist. I reached for the delicate silver bracelet around my wrist, running my thumb over the engraved letters I’d memorized so thoroughly that I could probably reproduce them blindfolded. It was still there. Still real. A little piece of Faerie sitting against my skin, given to me by a male who was supposed to exist only in my dreams.
Except he hadn’t been just a dream, had he?
I could still remember that final nightmare with horrifying clarity. The amusement park, the smell of burnt sugar, the cotton candy falling from my hand. The hook already buried in my body before I even realized something had changed. And Ethan, appearing from the wrong direction, desperately trying to reach me while the Dark Stalker dragged us both through that bloody nightmare.
For years, Ethan had been little more than a spectator in those dreams. Someone who appeared beside me, who spoke to me, who somehow managed to make even the worst nightmares a little more bearable. The Dark Stalker had never acknowledged him before. Never touched him.
Until that final night.
I remembered the enormous hook protruding from Ethan’s body, the blood spilling from his mouth, and the expression on his face when he realized the Stalker could see him. He’d managed to fasten the bracelet around my wrist before everything went horribly wrong, and his final words still haunted me.
See you in Faerie.
Then the Dark Stalker had gutted him right in front of me.
I’d woken up screaming, only to discover the bracelet was still around my wrist. Actual, physical proof that what happened in those dreams could cross into my reality. That Ethan was real, that he was a Faerie prince, and that whatever had happened to him might have been just as real as the silver chain I was touching now.
He hadn’t visited my dreams since.
More than a month had passed without a single sign of him, and I was terrified that his desperate attempt to reach me had cost him far more than his ability to enter my nightmares. I didn’t know whether the Dark Stalker could truly hurt him outside the dream world, or what had happened after I’d woken up. But I knew Ethan had risked something enormous to give me that bracelet and tell me where to find him.
And I was beginning to fear that he hadn’t survived it.
I swallowed against the uncomfortable lump forming in my throat. I needed to find my way into Faerie, another dimension filled with Fae who apparently hated Rainers with a passion. Just getting there sounded impossible, never mind finding a prince of the Winter Court once I arrived.
The worst part was knowing what Ash, Oak, Sebastian, and the others would say if I told them. They would insist on helping me, regardless of the danger. And considering how much the Fae hated Rainers, bringing my mates into their dimension seemed like a spectacularly terrible idea.
I loved them too much to put them at risk.
I glanced down at the bracelet again, remembering Ethan’s terrified eyes and the horrible certainty in his voice when he’d told me where to find him. He hadn’t asked me to come. He’d simply assumed I would, as though there had never been any question about what I was supposed to do next.
Perhaps there hadn’t been.
Because after everything Ethan had done for me, I couldn’t simply ignore what had happened. I couldn’t go back to college, enjoy my relationships, and pretend that somewhere in another dimension, a male who had been part of my life for longer than I cared to remember wasn’t possibly dying because he’d tried to help me.
Somehow, I needed to reach Faerie, find Ethan, and figure out what the hell was happening without anyone discovering what I was planning. Preferably without getting myself killed in the process, although I wasn’t entirely sure how realistic that particular requirement was.
I stared at the ceiling, listening to the distant sounds of life returning to Skylar’s estate, and felt a familiar knot tighten in my stomach.
I was going to do this alone.
