Nightmares and Daydreams (The Blood Falls Book 4)

Gigi sobbed over Ryddyck’s body and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Rain and Rhysa were doing everything they could to keep him from being pulled apart. Leena stood behind them, using all her strength to help them. The further his realm got from ours, the deader he looked.

Kris glared at us every time Atsila and I tried to do something. I finally gave up and sat down to meditate. Maybe it would help Rhysa if I could somehow give her my strength too.

“No! No, no, no!” Gigi started hyperventilating.

I didn’t know what happened, but Rhysa was working harder than ever. Aethel and Bridghet circled Gigi, rubbed her back, whispered things I couldn’t hear. The sobbing got worse and my gut twisted.

Ryddyck was dead.

He had to be. I had heard grief before and that was what I heard now. It was a sound unique to the occasion. So I joined my sisters and mourned too. He saved us. Many times over. It was a poor reward.

“No, no, no.” Gigi said over and over until it became one unending sound.

“Gigi.”

She pushed my hand away. “No. Come back. Please?”

Rhysa slowly lowered herself down on the other side of his body and cupped my sister’s face in her hands. “You need to come with me. Now.”

She finally stopped making that sound. “What?”

They traded a look. “Now,” Rhysa repeated.

Gigi became a butterfly and then disappeared just as Rhysa re-entered the Plane.

“What the fuck is going on?” I moved behind Rhysa and cradled her body against mine. It didn’t do anything but make me feel like I was doing something.

Kris and Rain slowly lowered down beside us, followed by Atsila and Leena. Rain shook her head a few times. “He’s not gone. Not really. He’s on the Plane for now.” She snuggled into Kris.

“Marhysa is teaching him,” Leena explained. “How to be on the Plane and, eventually, how to return to his body. Hopefully.”

Thank fuck. The bastard wasn’t dead, which meant my sister wasn’t heartbroken. Complicated, but manageable. I knew this from dealing with Marhysa all this time. “Hopefully?”

Leena smiled. “With help and luck from the Plane, it should work. Rhysa and Rain protected his mind and spirit, separated him fully from the other realm. He’ll always need the Plane, though. He won’t be able to stay fully in his body. Luckily Gigi can do that,” she waved her hand through the air, “thing she does.”

All that mattered to me was that he wasn’t dead. They could figure out their complications on their own. Just like I had to figure out mine.

The Convergence was over but the recovery was still ahead of us. Cities were devastated. Humans knew that all the things they thought were make-believe were actually real. The work, in many ways, was just beginning. The Heads of House needed to meet immediately to decide whether we wanted to stay hidden or come out.

Personally, I voted for staying hidden. The humans would ask lots of questions and get no answers because most of what they saw was gone for good—or at least a few millennia. They would assume everything disappeared unless we showed them otherwise.

But would everyone agree?

One problem at a time. First we had to handle Ryddyck and get Rhysa recovered. Then there was the fact that I wasn’t Head of House anymore. Many Heads of House had changed.

Rhysa stirred in my arms. “Hey there.”

“Hey.”

She smiled up at me. “We need to stay here until they come back, but he’s a fast learner and my mother knows a lot.”

“Will she be coming back, too?”

Her smile doubled as she nodded. “Yeah. She’s coming back. She’s going to work with Ryddyck here and there.”

My love would finally have a parent. It had been decades since I could say the same, but I was still unbelievably happy that she could finally feel what I had once felt. “I’m so happy for you.”

She sighed. “Is it really over?”

I looked up at the bright blue sky, the sunshine, and the fingernail moon. “Yeah, it’s over. We’re free.”

“Here.” Bo held Dreadnought out to me.

I didn’t reach for it. I didn’t want to. Not even a little bit. “I’m not Head of House anymore.” I meant that, too. I felt it in my bones.

Bo frowned. “What do you mean? This was just temporary.”

I pushed the sword back towards his chest. “And now it’s permanent.”

“But…what?” Somehow his frown deepened.

“I’ve been Head of House for over sixty years. Since before I was of Age. I’ve carried this House with pride, but if you’re up for it, I’d really like to retire.”

Bo stared down at Dreadnought, his mouth opening and closing a few times. “You want me to take over as Head of House?”

“Correct.”

“You don’t want to be in charge anymore?”

I know it was hard to believe after a lifetime of me being the controlling big brother, but my time was up. “I want to actually enjoy some of my life.”

“Being Head of House is miserable?” He shrank back, just a little.

“No. It’s not. Not in normal times anyway. And times won’t be normal for a bit. But eventually they will calm back down and being Head of House will be about looking after the House interests, taking care of family, and occasionally dealing with the other Houses. I enjoyed most of my time as Head of House. It was an honor and a privilege.” And now I wanted to hang up the sword and fuck my wife.

All the damn time.

Because I knew now without a doubt that I wanted to marry Rhysa and spend every moment of the rest of our lives together.

After a few beats it began to sink in and Bo nodded. “You deserve to live your life with Rhysa. If you don’t want it back then I will gladly lead our House into the future. But…maybe you’ll stick around for a bit and help me out?”

I clapped his shoulder. “I will not leave you high and dry. Yet.”

“I appreciate it, brother.”

“Any new developments?” I took a seat now that the hard part was over with.

Bo moved behind the desk. “House of Volci is still in a power war.”

And with the alphas fighting for control, it wouldn’t be resolved any time soon. “They were due for this. The Convergence just blew it up bigger than normal. Stay out of it and let it happen.”

“I figured as much. Ender is extra fun because Aethel isn’t speaking to him and Ivy’s a mess.”

I sat up straighter. “Why is Ivy a mess?”

“Rever left. He’s doing some loner shit in the woods. Ended things with Ivy and hasn’t spoken to anyone.”

“And what’s up with Aethel?” With our sister, it could be anything. But if Ender hurt her, I would have to intervene in Volci affairs and kill his sorry ass.

“As far as I can tell, she’s just being Aethel. The war was a lot and you know how she processes things.”

“Alone.” She wouldn’t leave like Rever, but she would essentially do the same shit. We probably wouldn’t see her for days at a time. She would wait it out until she absolutely needed to drink and then show up, be a ray of fucking sunshine, and then disappear again.

“How’s Gigi?”

“Better. Ryddyck has been able to spend more and more time in his body, so she’s relaxing a little bit.” For the first couple of days she never left his side, no matter where his mind was. Now she trusted Marhysa to keep him safe, so she was acting a little more like the bright light she used to be.

And that was probably the most reassuring thing of all. Sure, the fighting was done and the other reality could no longer touch ours, but it all still felt so close. Like I would wake up and be right back into it again. Seeing Gigi smile and talk books with Rhysa and make cake with the twins reminded me that everything was in the past.

“I’ve barely seen Kris or Rain.”

And good for them. “They’re holed up at the cottage recovering. It will take a while to come back from what they’ve been through.”

“Yeah,” Bo replied slowly. “I guess it’s a little different from what you and Rhysa went through.”

I winced because it was and it wasn’t. “His bond makes him her protector. He would have given her everything to keep her safe.”

“Thank fuck that Ryddyck figured it out and bailed our collective asses out.”

Kris would have died. Maybe we all would have. It was hard to see any other outcome. “We’re tired, but our connection was different. Is different.” We didn’t share a mind anymore, but the connection was still there. I knew that right now she was in the library reading in front of the fire with Gigi. Keeping her company until Marhysa and Ryddyck returned. I knew that she was happy and that she’d read the same page three times because her mind kept wandering from one thought to another.

“I want to throw a party before Leena and Atsila go North to hibernate.”

“A party?” Bo’s eyebrows shot up.

“I know it’s not exactly the most celebratory atmosphere, but Rhysa never got a graduation and she’s never had anyone celebrate her before. Plus, we just survived something horrible. We need a party.” I had been debating for days and now I was sure. Leena would be gone for the winter and I wanted to take Rhysa on a vacation. It was the perfect time to bring everyone together before we all started going our separate ways again.

“No…no, you’re right. We could all use a reason to get together. Everyone went right into recovery mode and we haven’t really celebrated the fact that we’re alive, let alone that we won.” Bo knocked his knuckles against the desk. “We’ll have a party. Here. In two days.”

“Perfect. I’ll tell Rhysa it’s just a celebratory dinner. Nothing special.”

My brother shot me a look. “A surprise party?”

“No. Not exactly. It’s just…if she knows it’s about her, she’ll overthink it and get anxious when it’s supposed to be fun. She doesn’t know what to do with attention.” Yet. I would teach her how to accept it, but it would take time. She was part of a family now and she would be celebrated many times in the years to come.

“All right. As far as Rhysa is concerned, this is a big family celebration dinner. I’ll let everyone else know it’s also a graduation party. The twins will want to bake a special cake, I’m sure.”

“It’s a plan. You coming to the hunt tonight?” Since we never really got a chance to welcome Atsila into the family, my brothers and I planned a hunt. Just a few hours of males being males. Beer, tracking, and hopefully eating a delicious kill.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hear the ladies have their own plans as well.”

“I don’t see the appeal, but our sisters certainly do.” And Rhysa fit right in. I guess I should have known from the moment we met. We were drawn to each other, but it was Gigi she became instant best friends with. They liked the same things, ate the same things, so of course their idea of a fun night was also the same.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Bo stood up and gave me another hug. “And none of that dragon shit. It’s not fair.”

“How is it fair that you all can hunt in whatever form you want but I can’t?”

He laughed. “Because you’re the big brother.”