Rya’s hand reaches up to cover her mouth as tears fill her eyes again. She tries to speak, but her lip trembles too badly. Instead, King Azure addresses him. “Elliott,” he says smiling. “Nice to see you.”
Elliott runs to them as Rya gets down. She embraces her son. They both hold tight to one another for a few moments. King Azure places his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Come, let’s go home. Ali, grab a box and follow us. Luke, take the horse back. Elliott will watch over your girl.”
Poor Elliott doesn’t want to let go. Rya breaks apart first. I grasp his hand and gently pull him toward the black as midnight dragon. “The sooner we get back, the sooner we find out the details.”
“Did you know they were coming back today?” he asks, shocked.
“No, we had no idea. Luke and I came out here for breakfast.”
I look down once I’m on the dragon, and see Luke picking up our abandoned picnic and throwing the bag on his back. Elliott sits behind me with a box on his lap. I’m curious what was brought back for me and am wondering what will happen with my apartment and store. Although, does it really matter? I have no intention of ever going back even if I had the key, which I don’t. We owned it outright, but with no next of kin or anything it will sit abandoned.
I watch Luke from above as we take off. He has the horse running at full speed. My prince on his brilliant horse. The sight of him makes my heart flutter. We’ll beat him back to the castle, but hopefully not by much. People are going to be stunned when they see the king has returned with his queen in tow.
The flight back is quick. Tali lands first, with us immediately after. Elliott’s dragon doesn’t have the same grace that Tali does, so we land a little rougher than I’m used to. Storm drops down behind us. I jump down, Elliott behind me with the box. We walk to stand beside King Azure and Rya. Elliott remains quiet as we go. The members of the Guard’s eyes widen as we pass, but they say nothing. I wonder how many remember Rya. She’s been gone for so long. We enter the walkway to the main courtyard. It’s mid-morning, which means the castle will be bustling with vendors, workers, and others.
We enter the courtyard and walk briskly to the castle. Rya takes the box from the king and uses it to block her face. I’m sure they will address their people later on. First they need to reunite with the rest of their children and fill everyone in.
We enter the tower house and the guards immediately bow to the king. Inside the main dining room, Elliott quickly shuts the door behind us. He and Rya place the boxes on the empty table. He goes to her and they embrace.
“My son,” she says. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten.” His face crumples with emotion. A lump forms in my throat as I watch his tears fall.
They talk quietly when the door opens and Luke comes through. Addison and Ryland enter behind him. They both stop in their tracks when they see their mother.
“Mom?” Addison cries. “Is that really you?” Rya nods and Addi rushes to her, throwing her arms around her neck, and sobbing into her hair. Ryland approaches hesitantly. Rya holds out an arm and welcomes him into her embrace as well. Elliott is wiping tears from his eyes, along with King Azure. Luke steps up beside me and places his arm across my shoulders, pulling me close to him. We stand silent for a few minutes. The only sound in the room is Addi crying and the occasional sniffle from Elliott.
“Come, children,” the king says in a soft voice. “Let’s all sit and we’ll tell you everything.”
Everyone takes a seat. Addi refuses to let go of Rya’s hand and I can’t blame her. Had my mother come back I’d hold onto her with everything I have. Rya seems to barely be keeping it together. She takes the king’s hand in her other one and nods, as he begins.
“When I went through the portal, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. The key had disappeared. I wasn’t sure if we’d get it back or not. I had Alison’s instructions and found her phone to call your mother. She answered, then came to get me right away. I went with her to where she was living, since all of her belongings were there. We caught up and I learned a lot about the way things work on the other side. We hoped the key would return and it eventually did. But not until I got to see and experience some amazing things.”
He turns to me and smiles. “You have such advanced technology where you’re from. The cars and the televisions. Phones and computers. I was in awe of it all, but I knew if I did come back, none of it could come with me. I’ve seen what it’s done to your world. How when people eat together they don’t interact with one another. They drive with anger and are rushing everywhere they go. Our life may be simple here, but I like it that way.”
“Me, too,” I agree.
“What about the twins?” Luke cuts in. Rya’s eyes close and her head drops.
Solemnly, the king says, “They didn’t make it. Your mother was bleeding badly and there was nothing the doctors could do. She lost the babies.” Addi’s cries grow louder. My heart breaks for everyone. Rya left in an effort to save her babies, and in the end she lost them and everyone in her family. Twenty-four years she was without them.
Ryland speaks up. “Why didn’t you come back? Didn’t you want us anymore?”
With a shaky voice, Rya answers, “Of course I did. The key, it wouldn’t stay with me. Eliza tried giving it to me, she tried opening the portal with me beside her, she even tried opening it alone, but it didn’t work. Every time the key got near the lock it would disappear. We’d always find it back in my little pewter jewelry box.”
“The box you brought with you from our home,” King Azure interjects.
“Yes. The key liked it in there, even if it never let me hold it. Eliza was the only one who could, yet it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t meant for either of us. It laid in wait for Ali. There was nothing we could do. We were both stuck on the other side.”
“Could you foresee losing the babies?” Luke asks. “Then you could have stayed here with us; you wouldn’t have had to leave.” The other siblings stare at her with wide eyes. I guess no one knew she was a seer.
“No. I’ve never been able to see my own path. Since the babies were part of me, I couldn’t see theirs either.”
I’m chewing on my thumb now. “If you were so close to my mom, why didn’t you two live near each other? I wouldn’t want to be far from my best friend, if it were me.”
“We did live close to one another, even together for a bit. But with the babies gone and the key refusing me, I was depressed. I moved away in hopes that if I put some space between the door and myself I could move on. I never thought I’d come back here.”
“We need to address the people tomorrow,” Ryland says. “We also have to tell them about the peace treaty.”
The king quickly turns to face him. “The treaty? King Pine signed it?”
“Well, thanks to Luke, the king did, but not the one you think. Reid is now king.”