Curse of Shadows and Light (40 page)

Anastasia’s a grandmother?

“
But if you need to talk to her so badly, can’t you just call her up—?”

“
No, you don’t understand.” She shakes her head. “Another thing—she does not know she is my granddaughter, and you
must not
tell her! She lives with her father, and they are very poor. This letter is to get them to come live with me, and she needs to do it quickly. She could be in danger.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Never a dull moment for you, huh?”

“
I’ve never been happier. My granddaughter is coming home!” Her teary eyes are brimming with excitement, and I pat her arm again.

“
She will have this in her hands before sundown. I guarantee it.”

“
Thank you. One last thing… I want you to let me know when you near your birthing time. I want to be there for you.”

“
I definitely will. Is it okay if I call you with questions?”

She nods. “Of course. But please... and don’t take this the wrong way… but for the sake of my granddaughter, while she’s here, I’ll have to ask that you not come back.”

I lean over and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I promise. But you better come to Tattie’s cabin if I need you!”

She grins. “Deal.”

I give her a final hug, then race down to the beach where Bones is waiting for me.

One quick stop, and then it’s time for us to go back home.

Epilogue.

I make my way along the winding path through the woods to where my family is gathered. Bones looks up and jogs over to take the picnic basket from my hand. He grimaces.

“
Your children are in time-out.”

I raise an eyebrow. “
My
children? What now?” Nothing those two do surprises me anymore. I try not to chuckle, just in case they can see me.

He takes a deep breath and brushes his hair from his eyes. “Well, Kayla took Michael’s ball away with some sort of telekinesis power I haven’t seen her use before. She just flicked a finger and it came right into her hands.” Despite his demeanor, I hear the pride in his voice when talking about his young daughter. “So naturally Michael retaliated by fireballing Miss Sadie—”

“
Oh, no.” Miss Sadie is Kayla’s favorite doll. I close my eyes. “And then what happened?”

“
Well, then she lifted Michael up with her finger doing the telekinesis thing and hung him upside down.”

I shake my head and look at him. “Two! They are barely two years old!”

He cocks an eyebrow. “I know. Ain’t it great? And the fun’s only just beginning,” he adds, rubbing my belly.

“
Well, at least this time there’ll be only one.” I laugh and snuggle into him. I never grow tired of feeling his powerful body wrapped around mine and feeling his energy flow though me.

“
Speaking of, how’s Corrine doing?” he asks.

Just then I spot Tatiana sitting on a blanket between my two toddlers, a pile of ashes in front of her. I give her a small smile. She nods back, mumbles some words and moves her hands over the ashes. A moment later Miss Sadie is back, intact. Kayla lets out a delighted squeal and clutches the doll to her chest.

I turn back to Bones. “She’s doing okay so far. Still sleeping. Anastasia is right there with her, and Demetri of course. You can tell it’s tough on her, but we’re all keeping her as comfortable as possible.”

His face is grim. “Yeah. Late stage pregnancy is much harder on a human when delivering a demon. But she’ll get through it. They always do.”

I nod. “I know. I have complete confidence. She’s in the best hands, and all she needs right now is rest. In a few days it’ll all be over, and Kayla and Michael will have a new cousin to play with.”

“
That’s true.”

We sit down across from Tatiana, and Bones takes some sandwiches out of the basket.

“
How are you doing, Tattie?” I ask, as Michael dives into Bones’s lap and Kayla crawls onto mine. Although my family’s cabin is less than fifty yards away from hers, I still feel guilty for not being with her more. But she’d insisted that she was fine and we should have our own place, so I had to respect her wishes.

“
These babies keep me young. I’ve never felt better.”

I laugh. “That’s good, ‘cause they might drive Bones and me to an early grave!” I turn to my son, who is the spitting image of his father with his bronze hair and deep, chocolaty eyes. “Michael, did you fireball your sister’s doll?”

“
Yes, Mama. She stole my ball.”

“
That’s not very nice. You are not to destroy other’s property, even in anger. And Kayla,” I glance down at my raven-haired, blue-eyed mini-me. “You don’t take things without asking first.”

“
Sorry, Mama.”

“
Both of you… no using your powers for the rest of the day. I mean it.”

“
Yes, Mama.”

We divvy up the food, and Bones leans over to me. “Such a toughie.”

“
Is it bad that I’m actually impressed with their powers? They’re amazing,” I whisper back.

“
I know,” he replies quietly. “But we can’t let them know… they already run the show enough as it is!”

“
Yeah, and for all we know they’re psychic, too!”

He smiles and slips his hand around mine. We spend the rest of the afternoon just being together outside and enjoying the early fall weather. As the sun begins to dip behind the mountains, we gather up our things.

“
Tatiana, would you mind taking Michael and Kayla back to the cabin for us?” Bones asks. “We’ll be along in a bit.”

“
Of course. Come along, dears.” Michael and Kayla each grab onto one of her outstretched hands and skip along beside her.

We stand there and watch them as they disappear down the path, our hearts swollen with love. Bones wraps his hand around mine again.

“
Come with me.”

“
Where are we going?”

“
You’ll see,” he smiles with a twinkle in his eyes.

Hand-in-hand we walk deeper into the woods, down the path that leads to the portal of Thiberoux. Things have calmed down there considerably as of late, but there’s still plenty of turmoil that I want to keep my children away from. One day I will introduce them to that special world, and to their true heritage and unique destinies. But not now.

These days we much prefer to spend most of our time in Mortal World, only going to Thiberoux when absolutely necessary, like when Bones has Hellhound duty, or I want to ride Diablo. We seldom even go to Dryndara’s Demon Bar, now that we can port directly into Club Hades for Ruby’s special pregnancy concoctions. Last time I was there I ran into Kieron, and he told me he and Jade were engaged to be married. I couldn’t be happier for them both.

It’s taken a while, but the surviving residents have been able to rebuild Dryndara and return it to much of its previous glory. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but at least my beloved homeland lives on.

Bones suddenly grabs my arm. “Stop here.”

I glance around. “Why? What’s here?”

“
Do you know this spot?”

“
Of course. It’s where you and I first met, and you gave me this.” I hold up my Boumeaux.

“
We’ve come a long way since then, you and I.” He delicately smoothes my hair from my face. I look into his eyes, and my heart begins to race. Even after all this time, his touch still sets my blood on fire.

“
And we still have so much further to go,” I whisper.

His mouth finds mine and I’m lost in his powerful embrace, as the heat from his body joins the inferno inside me. I peel his shirt off over his head, and my breath quickens as I admire his smooth, sculpted body, unchanged by the passage of time. Slowly I draw a line of kisses down his chest to the top of his jeans.

His hands roam through my hair and down my back, and our kisses grow more passionate. Then he lays me down gently on the earth, cushioning my head with his arm.

The dried leaves and twigs rustle as he leans his full weight on top of me, a perfect fit as our two bodies meld into one. His bare skin is so soft over his hard muscles, and I gasp for breath before his lips press again on mine. His hands roam my body as if I am his most treasured possession, created for him and him alone.

This claiming of me. This ultimate surrender of my soul to his. I am on fire.

But he doesn’t just take. He gives. His fingertips dance along my arms and face, and saying nothing, he tells me so much. This is no ordinary kiss. No ordinary touch. No ordinary love.

For he is no ordinary man.

I am his. And he is mine.

Forever.

*** THE END ***

**Note from Penelope**

Dear Readers,

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for going on this journey with me, and for many of you, I thank you for your incredible patience while this book came together. I know it was a long time in the making, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Readers of the Spellbound Trilogy will recognize the familiar setting and characters. For those of you who have not yet checked it out, I invite you to experience Anastasia’s magical world with her granddaughter, Calista, for yourselves.

I know this book seems to wrap everything up, but there will still be more, promise! There are a few different directions I’ve been considering taking it in, but haven’t made the final decision yet. But “Broken Angel” (tentative title) will be coming in 2014. Please check my blog at authorpenelopeking.blogspot.com or friend me on Facebook (Penelope King) or follow me on Twitter for updates on that and other future releases.

One final thought. I love getting reviews, good or bad. Nothing makes me happier than connecting with readers and getting your feedback. I do listen, because this is also YOUR story. But I have a request. Since this is SUCH a spoilery book… (okay, even if we all suspected that Vincent was Bones, wasn’t it fun to not
really
know 100% for sure? ;-)) I just ask that in your reviews you please be mindful of those who haven’t yet read the story, and try to protect their experience as you would like yours protected. Revealing important plot points only hurts other readers, and we are all book lovers here, right? :-)

Speaking of…I really do love you all. If you’ve made it this far and you are still reading, then just know that right now I’m giving you a big (((((e-hug))))). Thanks for going down this crazy road with me. I couldn’t have done it without you!!

XOXOXOX

Penelope King