Kyera sat quietly, on the steps of the garden, looking out at the overgrown wilds it had become. Her eyes were dry now, but her cheeks were decorated with delicate tear trails. The cold teased those tear trails to freeze, but Kyera couldn't care less. She had no tears left to give by the time the door behind her opened, and a blanket fell around her shoulders. She caught the edges and wrapped it around herself tightly as an absent motion. Clovis sat down next to her, setting a hand on the blanket and rubbing in slow circles.
"Gale?" She whispered and he smiled.
"With Kendrick, fast asleep. For the moment, I think it would be best we focus on you, love. You have had a rough day. He's just fine now that he's back with us." Clovis replied sliding that arm around to hold her. Kyera chuckled darkly.
"Yea not as rough as some." She whispered and he nodded, considering this.
"Kyera, how did you know Gale would be…" he motioned to the garden in front of them. Her mind shot back to the wet breathy whispers of Verone's last words.
"Verone told me." She took a deep breath and looked up at the stars the swirled over the clearing this house was built in. "He said he remembered before it was too late. He loved me, and… he is alive. The only he that he could have meant was our son. Add in that he had said Gale was with my brothers when we fought the first set of Dark Ones, I took a chance and here we are." Kyera replied motioning to the garden.
"So he was throwing them off… making the Dark Ones think he was dead." Clovis had a whole new respect for the man now.
"Yes, and myself. I wouldn't have been able to call the shadows like that and open that portal otherwise. I had never tapped that potential before and now that I have… there's no going back." Kyera admitted partially to him, but mostly to herself. She could feel the difference. The demigoddess power rushing through her veins, and her awareness of every thread of life around her and it's life force, good or evil, strong or weak, healthy or dying she could sense it all in a way she couldn't before. Not only that but the shadows and their deeds, both before and after death were revealed to her.
"What does that mean then?" Clovis asked, also aware there was something different about her. She sighed and leaned her head over to rest on his shoulder.
"It means You are no longer married to a shifter, but a Demigoddess. I can't cage this power again… or the law I submitted to when I used it. I am now a member of the Moria court along side My Father, My Aunt, and My Fallen Siblings." Kyera replied sighing deeply. Clovis nodded and kissed her hair.
"We will figure it out. For now, we need to discuss our family. Namely, how to explain to our daughter how we went to rescue her brother and are bringing her back a little sister." Clovis replied lightly rubbing her arm with his hand, still wrapped around her and the blanket.
"What?" Kyera asked honestly dumbfounded at the words he had said. She almost asked him to repeat himself but stopped.
"She is his, isn't she? Verone's daughter? She's about 2 now, which is about when he disappeared from what Talis told me. He left her with our son so I'm assuming she has no one else." Clovis replied looking up at the stars over head. He looked serene and beautiful in the moonlight, like a fairy sculpted from the softest clay, every detail glowing faintly in the gentle light.
"I planned to place her with a shifter family." Kyera replied as she looked down at her hands.
"If that is your wish… but something tells me it's not. You don't want to abandon her. You are doing that to save my feelings, aren't you? Tell me a tiny part of you doesn't believe she should have been yours? Tell me no part of you wants to keep her with you, in his memory if nothing else." Clovis replied and his eyes came down to look into hers. The understanding in those eyes freed Kyera of her fears.
She had considered keeping Rosie. They would have the space, money wouldn't be an issue, and raising her would be easy for a tigress like Kyera. However, she had also realized she had a mate. Clovis would be forced to help raise a child that belonged to her ex-lover and wasn't Kyera's flesh and blood… now to hear him say this?
"Are you sure? I can't give that baby false hope and then walk away." Kyera pointed out and Clovis laughed.
"Kyera, let me remind you that you took in Raina without any hesitation, without any prejudice that she came from another womb. Is it really that hard to believe I could take in a cub, even his cub, as my own?" Clovis asked curiously and she smiled. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she snuggled into his chest grateful for the warmth.
"No, I just didn't want to ask that of you." She replied softly and he kissed her forehead.
"I know, and that's why you didn't have to." He smiled at her and she smiled back, in awe once again at the man she married.
"Come on; let's go to bed." Clovis whispered, standing up and taking her hand. Kyera stood as well and they walked inside. The pair of them slid into their bed, snuggling down beside the smaller bed of their son, Clovis behind Kyera and Gale beside her. They enjoyed the warmth their bodies created happily.
A soft Yelp caught Kyera's ears and her eyes opened to look at the baby, who was sleeping soundly. Then her eyes traveled to Rosie who was sitting up in her bed, and moving into a feral position, teary eyed.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Kyera asked softly and then child nodded, staring down at the floor. Kyera lifted the blankets in front of her. "Come on then." She encouraged and the child scampered over. She laid down hesitantly and Kyera smiled wrapping her arms around the little girl, snug and warm. Rosie fell fast asleep in Kyera's arms.