“I’m glad,” Rose said, her voice breaking through the haze of my memory. “I prefer the name Victoria.”
My daughter was standing several feet away from me, behind Caleb. I had sensed her take a step back as I’d picked up the baby, and now she had moved to the furthest end of the room, where she stood watching the scene. She was wise to do that. Although she’d made great progress in controlling her bloodlust, she still hadn’t been a vampire for long, and the blood of babies was particularly sweet.
I placed Victoria into Sofia’s ready arms, giving her a chance to greet her niece. Sofia kissed her puffy cheeks and stood with her a while before handing her back to Vivienne. My sister readjusted the blanket before resting Victoria against her chest.
We moved from the bedside and took seats around the room just as someone knocked on the door. Rose, being closest to the door, pulled it open to reveal Aiden standing in the doorway. He held a bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers. He’d come better prepared than us.
“Congratulations,” he exclaimed. Corrine took the flowers from Aiden and arranged them in a vase on Vivienne’s bedside table while my father-in-law approached the bed. He gestured to the flowers. “I didn’t know if I’d find you with a boy or a girl, so I opted for a neutral color.”
“Thank you.” Vivienne grinned, allowing Aiden to greet the newest member of our family.
“So how has everything been since we’ve been away?” I asked.
Xavier tore his eyes away from Victoria to face me. “Other than the arrival of Victoria, quite uneventful.”
“What happened with you?” Vivienne asked anxiously.
I didn’t want to bring up the news of Benjamin now. Not on one of the happiest days of my sister’s life.
“It was… eventful,” I muttered.
“Well, did you manage to reclaim Ben or not? Where is he?” Vivienne pressed.
I was relieved when Corrine came to my rescue.
“Vivienne,” she said, her voice taking on the tone of a scolding schoolteacher as she eyed my sister sternly. “As your midwife, I insist that you keep your focus on your baby and on your recovery. No other topic shall be discussed in this room until you’re fully recovered and strong enough to move back into your penthouse with Victoria. Okay?”
Vivienne was clearly not “okay” with it, but Corrine had a way of speaking with finality and my twin didn’t argue. She just pursed her lips and nodded reluctantly, while her eyes remained on me, silently pleading for more information about our trip.
Corrine turned to Sofia and me. “I’d like to have a private word with you two,” she said. Her expression had turned stony.
Aiden, Rose and Caleb remained in the room while Sofia and I followed Corrine out of the door. She led us along the hallway and into a sitting room. She made sure the door was shut before joining us in the center of the room. Clearly, she didn’t want to run any risk of Vivienne overhearing, even with Vivienne’s weaker human ears.
What exactly is so secret? My stomach tensed as I took a seat on the couch with Sofia while Corrine began to pace up and down on the rug in front of us.
“What happened to you, Corrine?” Sofia asked. “We were looking everywhere for you on the island, and then it occurred to us that you might’ve gotten trapped in The Oasis.”
“I was trapped in The Oasis. And if it weren’t for River taking compassion on a poor dove locked in a cage, I would likely still be there.”
“They turned you into a bird like the other witches?” Sofia asked. “How long have you been back?”
“I believe I returned the same day you left. We just missed each other. I returned with River because Benjamin requested it. We would have stayed with him, but he insisted.”
I leaned forward in my seat. “What’s happening with him?”
“He…” Corrine drew in a deep breath, clasping her hands together. “He discovered something about himself. He went to visit an oracle and… Oh, God. I hate to be the one to break this news to you… Ben was marked by an Elder as a newborn, and has been bonded with him ever since.”
Even though Nuriya had already revealed this to Sofia and me, my breath still hitched to hear it again, this time from Corrine’s lips. It made the situation seem that much more real. That much more inescapable.
“We know, Corrine,” Sofia said quietly.
The witch’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “What? How?”
Sofia glanced my way before beginning to recount to Corrine everything that had happened to us since we left. From the meeting with the Drizans, to the storming of The Oasis, to the eventual discovery of what had happened to our son and how we had just made things so much worse for him.