*Eliza*
With each passing day, more of my mories returned. It was like a fog was slowly lifting from my mind, and I knew that everything I felt toward Jared was wrong.
He never kept as a slave or a breeder. We’d been powerfully, passionately in love, and this was one more thing we were going to overco.
“Here’s your breakfast.” My mom set a plate of eggs and bacon down on the table in front of .
Scarlett sat across from , drinking coffee. I sighed heavily and looked longingly at the beverage.
“Have you considered drinking decaf?” Scarlett smirked and set her steaming mug down on the table.
“It doesn’t taste the sa.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Eat, girls. Your food is getting cold.” My mom clapped her hands and left us in the kitchen.
I grabbed my fork but I wasn’t all that hungry. I kept thinking of Jared and how my real mories were becoming clearer.
If the changes Hestia made to my mind were finally clearing up, that must have ant that she was defeated.
“Scarlett, I think it’s finally happened. I think Jared and Xander were able to defeat Hestia.”
Scarlett’s eyes widened and she perked up. “Do you think that ans Jared’s mories are starting to co back, too?”
I shrugged and bit my lower lip. “I’d like to think so. But I’m not sure.”
It would an everything to if Jared’s mories ca back on their own, like mine were doing. We could put all this behind us and focus on getting things ready for our baby.
“They should be coming back ho any day now and give us the good news.” I sucked the grease off the end of a strip of bacon.
After my mom dropped lunch off in the afternoon, Archer arrived with a few of Jared’s n. I recognized them from the Dark Realm.
Scarlett and I waited on the porch, but it was just the three of them. Jared wasn’t there.
I went down the steps to greet them.
“Hestia is defeated, isn’t she?” I asked.
Archer nodded, though his face was somber. He bowed his head respectfully to .
“It is with great joy that I can finally bring this news. Hestia is dead. She is no longer a threat to you or your child.”
My heart lifted and I smiled. I wanted to hug Archer. But I heard Scarlett’s excitent behind , so I didn’t.
When Archer raised his head, he still wasn’t smiling, and I knew that there was more news–bad news.
“Archer, what’s going on? Where’s Jared?”
My stomach sank. Had sothing gone wrong when they fought Hestia? I was certain that if anything happened to Jared, I would know about it.
“Jared has returned to the Dark Realm. I’m sorry, Eliza, but he still doesn’t rember loving you. He thinks it is best....”
I didn’t hear the rest of what Archer said. His lips kept moving but my ears rang loudly and my body felt numb.
I staggered slightly, bumping into soone else who caught and held steady.
“We should get you back inside.” I heard Scarlett’s voice as if she was speaking underwater.
It was low and fuzzy, coming through in muffled spurts.
I didn’t resist as Scarlett led back to the house. I was barely aware of my body or my surroundings.
How could Jared still not rember? When Hestia died, it cleared my mind. Why didn’t it clear his? Was he given a larger dose of the poison? Was the spell used to change his mories different than the one used on ?
Scarlett sat on the couch and soone got a glass of water. I started to co back to myself and saw Archer and Scarlett giving concerned looks.
“I should go after him.” I set the glass aside and tried to stand.
Scarlett grabbed my shoulder.
“You can’t, Eliza... the baby. Rember, you can’t travel until the baby is born and strong enough to make the trip.”
I sighed and sank into the couch. It wasn’t easy to accept, but Scarlett was right. I needed to think of my baby first.
“I’ve got to head back to the Dark Realm as well; Jared is expecting ,” Archer announced. He held a hand out to Scarlett. “We should leave imdiately.”
Scarlett looked at .
I nodded. “Go back to the village. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“Wha–” Archer gasped. His jaw dropped open.
Scarlett glared at Archer and I saw how quickly he composed himself under her gaze.
“I’m staying here. I’m not leaving my Luna behind!” Scarlett insisted.
Archer didn’t look happy about Scalette’s decision but he nodded and didn’t argue again.
“Scarlett, I’ll be fine. I have my parents and my family here.”
“Yes, I know and now you also have .”
“It’s okay. I know that Gage–”
“Gage is safe. He is loved and cared for by everyone in the pack. Archer will make sure that he is well cared for.”
“I can’t ask you to stay behind for .”
“I didn’t have to ask you to help find Gage. You saw that I felt alone and scared and you helped . Eliza, you took by the hand and showed the world can be a scary place full of bad people and terrible circumstances but with a good friend by your side it doesn’t have to be a lonely one as well.”
I looked down at my hands.
“You are brave and you are strong. But, no one knows better than how scary it can be to be pregnant and alone. I am doing this as much for you as I am for Jared and everyone back in the village. I have faith that you and Jared will overco Hestia’s trouble, and she will not win.”
***
Four Months Later
I slipped my baby into the bassinet. Fast asleep, I couldn’t get enough of looking at that adorable face that looks so much like Jared.
“Knock. Knock.” Declan knocked and announced his presence at the sa ti.
He did that every ti he ca to visit.
I smiled and headed into the living room.
“Shh. The baby is just going down for a nap.” I put my finger against my lips.
“Sorry.” Declan gave a sheepish look.
I smiled and went to a laundry basket, folding the baby’s clothes. There was never a shortage of baby laundry.
“These visits are starting to beco a regular thing,” I teased.
Declan grinned and pulled a few onesies out of the basket, folding them and stacking them with the others.
“I don’t like the idea of you being alone here with a baby.”
I sighed and shrugged one shoulder. “I’m never alone and I’m not in any danger here. Hestia is defeated, and I’ve got Scarlett and my family looking out for .”
“You’re still raising a baby on your own.”
“I’ve got Scarlett and my parents.” I picked up the folded clothes and stacked them back in the basket.
Declan was sweet, but his frequent visits were clearly hopeful. He wanted more from and I couldn’t give him that. I still loved Jared, and I wanted him to rember and the love that we once shared.
I could tell that there was more that Declan wanted to say, but Lena showed up to visit the baby and she sent Declan back to the ranks of the Royal Guard.
“The baby is napping, Lena,” I warned as she headed to the nursery.
“I’ll be quick. I just want to see that gorgeous little face.”
She giggled and ducked into the nursery. A couple of seconds later, she ca out and sighed.
“I can’t believe how beautiful that baby is. I want another one now.” She sat with on the couch. “How are you doing, Eliza?”
“Honestly, I’m not feeling all that exhaustion and complicated adjustnts to motherhood that everyone warned about. My baby is perfect.” I glanced sideways at Lena and smirked.
She shook her head. “You’re lucky!”
“Well, it has almost been long enough for us to go to the Dark Realm.”
Lena shot a concerned look.
“Once he sees the baby, I think his mories will co back,” I explained.
“Eliza, I didn’t want to tell you this before because things with your pregnancy were... complicated, but Jared didn’t exactly leave because he doesn’t rember you.”
“What!?” I gasped, feeling my eyes go wide.
Lena sighed and nodded slowly. “Xander told that he was starting to get his mories back, at least, so of them. He didn’t feel love for you but he rembered loving you, and so other things.”
“I don’t understand. Why would he leave, then?”
“Xander told everything that happened when Jared confronted Hestia–rather, everything Jared revealed. One of the things he told Xander was about a vision of the future that really scared him.”
I creased my brow. It was hard to digest. Jared’s leaving wasn’t because he didn’t rember or rember loving , because he still hadn’t co to and talked to about it....
“I don’t know all the details, but I got the gist of it. Hestia showed Jared a dark vision that involved your child, and he was concerned that if he had you and the baby co back to the Dark Realm, that future could beco a reality and your baby would never be safe.”
I covered my mouth with my hand and shook my head.
My heart softened when I thought of Jared. He was still trying to protect and our child, even if he didn’t rember loving .
I just wished he would have talked to about it. We could have co up with a solution together.
“I have to go see him.”
“Eliza, Jared left to keep you and your baby out of the Dark Realm. You might want to consider that before taking your baby right where Jared doesn’t want the two of you to be.”
I bit my lower lip in thought. “I can’t let him sacrifice his place in his own child’s life. If nothing else, he should at least get the chance to et his baby,” I argued.
Lena nodded. She didn’t try to discourage again.
The baby monitor crackled and cries ca through.
“I’ve got to get the baby.”
Lena let herself out and I headed to the nursery. I scooped my baby up looking into the sweetest and most precious face. Whenever I looked into those gorgeous eyes, my heart swelled with love and hope for Jared and my child.
He promised we’d be a family and I was going to hold him to that, regardless of the danger he thought we were in. He’d also promised we would work on things together, and I was going to hold him to that, too.
While Scarlett and I packed for our trip to the Dark Realm, my mother ca over to help.
“Eliza, I thought you were over all of this.”
She sat on the couch and watched as Scarlett and I got things together for ourselves and the baby. We had a long trip ahead of us, and traveling with a baby was never easy, or so everyone kept telling .
“No, Mother, I was never over it. The plan was always to go see Jared when the baby was big enough to travel.”
“If he wanted to see you and the baby, he had every chance to do so, Eliza. He could have co back for you and he didn’t.”
I shook my head. “He did co back for , Mom. Before Hestia took his mories, my Jared made sure I understood how much he loved . And even now I know it’s that love that’s keeping him away. He thinks he’s protecting us and–”
“You don’t know that for sure.” She interrupted .
I narrowed my eyes at her and pursed my lips. “I do. I understand why he did it because I’ve made the sa choice. I rejected him and walked away from him because I thought the Dark Realm would destroy us. I was wrong, and he ca here despite my choice to leave.”
I stopped talking and my mother sighed heavily.
“You’re absolutely sure about this?”
My mom seed dead set on keeping from going back to the Dark Realm. I wasn’t having it.
“I’ve made up my mind.” I nodded firmly.
My mother smiled kindly. “Alright, then I will go with you for support.”
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