Kade

“This isn’t a good idea,” Xander grumbles from beside me.

“It doesn’t matter,” Andrei says from the other side of Xander. “She’s made up her mind. And she’s also made good points. We need to do this. The Ikishri won’t stop attacking until she makes a statement. Not only to our people but to others as well.”

“I don’t care about her making a statement to our people,” Xander snaps quietly. “I care that after this we’re traveling to other Kingdoms to talk with the rulers there and hope that they can help get the message to the Ikishri.”

“That’s not the only reason Cherish is going to the other Kingdoms, Xander,” I mutter.

“He’s right,” Andrei explains. “She needs to go there to make sure she has allies still. Even though they were her father’s allies, that doesn’t mean that all the Kingdoms will want to be allied to ours because of a half-human being on the throne.”

Xander growls low in his throat as Cherish steps up to the middle of the stage we made in the village surrounding the castle. A hush falls over the crowd as the villagers’ attention is grabbed completely by Cherish.

Cherish takes a moment to look over the crowd before she begins, her voice understanding while still being hard.

“The attack last night was horrific,” she admits. “Many think that this means the Ikishri will get their hands on me, kill me, then take over Tira. I will not allow that to happen. This may not have been my home growing up, but it is my home now and I will protect it and everyone in it.”

Cherish pauses. “We will not give up or give in to the Ikishri without a fight. I wanted to address as many of the Kingdom as possible and let you know that I’m doing everything I can to end this threat the Ikishri has presented to us for far longer than necessary. The Ikishri will not get away with all of the pain and turmoil they have caused.” She looks out over the crowd again, her voice growing sad. “I’m sorry that I have no other words to express the sacrifice of those who were lost to us last night, except that their deaths won’t be in vain. They will be avenged if it’s the last thing I do.”

The crowd is quiet for a heartbeat before screams and shouts of support are surrounding us, the volume practically deafening.

I chuckle as Xander sticks a finger in his ear, wincing. “All good?”

Xander snarls at me, but otherwise doesn’t answer.

My attention is snagged back by Cherish as I watch her walk back towards us, her head held high, gliding down the steps in her fancy dress.

Cherish stops in front of Andrei, tilting her head to the side. “How are you doing?” she asks, her eyes filled with worry. She’s been asking him that at least once an hour since he woke up last night.

Andrei smirks down at her. “I’m just as fine as I was when you asked the last eight times, Baby,” he assures her.

She narrows her eyes up at him. “You can’t blame me for being worried,” she grumbles under her breath.

Andrei laughs. “No, I can’t.” He takes her hand in his, bringing it up to his mouth and brushing a kiss across her knuckles. “Thank you for caring, my love.”

A pretty blush stains her cheeks, making all of us chuckle.

She clears her throat and glances between the three of us. “I want to see Maggie before we leave.”

Andrei tilts his head. “We can do that. She should be home.”

Instead of coming with us when Cherish asked her to move into the castle, Maggie chose to stay in a village along the border of our Kingdom and the Ikishri Kingdom in the hopes of being useful to Cherish. Maggie’s village was attacked as well last night, but Xander had gotten plenty of guards there and saved everyone in the village according to the report.

I step up behind Cherish, placing my palm on the small of her back, leading her forward. “Let’s get going, then. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it.”

Cherish walks with me but glances up at me with a pouty frown on her face. “What’s your deal?”

I sigh as we walk. “I don’t like that you’ll be so far away from home. You should be at the castle. Well-protected. Not making a spectacle of yourself.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” she asks. “I can’t just go into hiding, Kade. You know that is not who I am.”

“No, I know that,” I assure her. “I just don’t like it. Neither does Xander or Andrei. But we’re going along with it, because we each respect you and your decisions.”

She sighs. “I know. I’m sorry. I really don’t know what else I can do besides this. And at least this way we will know ahead of time if we have these Kingdoms’ backing. There’s no other way to know. I have to talk with them all and see where their feelings are on this.”

Cherish peeks over at Andrei. "You do know where Maggie is, don't you?" she asks, her tone skeptical, making me chuckle.

"Yes, I know where she is," Andrei confirms, shooting her a narrow-eyed look that Cherish completely ignores, even though there's a small smirk on her lips letting us know that she definitely saw the look.

Xander snickers under his breath as he steps up beside me. "Let's get out of here," he urges. "I want to get this done as soon as possible so we can get back here."

I nod in agreement.

Cherish starts putting her hair in a high ponytail beside me, her elbow smacking into my chest a couple times before I step back. "Are we taking a portal?"

"Yeah, it's the quickest ways to get to any of these places," Andrei says.

"Are we actually going to portal closer to the damn castle this time?" Cherish asks, an eyebrow raised. "I'm not exactly on the run anymore, so I don't see why we can't just show up at the gate."

Andrei chuckles as Xander and I burst out laughing. "Yeah, Princess," Xander chokes out. "We'll get to go right on up to the gates."

She narrows her eyes at us. "I don't think it was that funny."

Andrei rushes to explain, "Baby, we're laughing because of the attitude behind what you said. Not that it was actually funny, but when you get all snippy it tends to amuse us."

She blinks at him, not at all looking impressed. "Glad to amuse." Her voice is as dry as the desert and sends us back into another fit of laughter.

I wrap my arm around her neck gently pulling her to me so I can press a kiss to her temple. "God, I absolutely love that attitude of yours, mia."

Cherish grumbles under her breath. "Whatever. Let's just go see Maggie, please."

"As you wish," Andrei murmurs as he pulls us into a deserted area to open a portal to Maggie's.

He opens the portal quickly then offers his hand out to Cherish. She takes his hand in hers and they both walk through together. I smirk at Xander.

"I'm not holding your hand, man."

Xander snorts. "Whatever." He shoves me through the portal before following after me.

I stumble out of the portal, almost landing on my face while Xander walks out calmly behind me. Cherish's laugh echoes around us.

"Why are you stumbling around like a baby deer?" she asks, a smile firmly in place.

"Xander pushed me in," I admit.

Cherish's eyebrows furrow as she looks at Xander. "Why did you push him in?"

"He was annoying me," Xander says, looking completely unrepentant. I flip him off as we walk up to Maggie's house.

"You laughed," I accuse.

Xander shrugs. "You're amusing, Kade. You always have been. Doesn't mean I gotta deal with it all the time though." Xander shoots a smirk my way. "Besides, it was much more amusing watching you fumble."

"Dick," I mutter as Cherish laughs. I turn to look at her and frown. "You're doing nothing but encouraging this, ma hai."

She shakes her head, a wide smile on her face as she moves toward me and places a kiss on my cheek. "Not encouraging," she assures me. "Just happy that we're all together. Even if it's not one hundred percent safe, we're still together."

Before any of us can say anything the door to Maggie's cabin opens and there she is, holding the door wide open with a giant grin on her face as she studies the three of us walking towards her.

"Maggie!" Cherish shouts happily, running ahead of us to wrap the older woman in a hug.

"I think my grandmother likes Cherish more than me," Andrei says, a small smile playing at his lips. "She's never that happy to see me."

"You shut your damn mouth, boy!" Maggie shouts over Cherish's shoulder, making Cherish burst out laughing. "You know I'm always ecstatic to see you, but well, you don't come running to me like our young Queen here does. You haven't done that since you were three years old. Forgive me if I like the attention."

Andrei snorts. "I never said it was a bad thing, Grams."

Cherish drops her arms from around Maggie. Maggie places her hands on either side of Cherish's face. "You look like crap, my dear girl," Maggie states, blunt as all hell.

Cherish purses her lips. "I'm aware. Thanks for the update."

"Your dress is beautiful though," Maggie says, her voice sounding like she's asking a question. "Why do you look like you're dressed to impress but also look like you're about to keel over?"

"Because she's tired," I interrupt before Cherish can tell her it was nothing.

"She's exhausted," Xander corrects. I tilt my head, conceding that.

"And why are you so exhausted?" Maggie demands.

"Because she not only saved all our asses magically, she legitimately saved Andrei's life last night," Xander states.

Maggie's eyes slice to Andrei before going back to Cherish then back again. "What is he talking about?"

"I was going to die last night," Andrei admits quietly his eyes moving from his grandmother to Cherish. She flinches out of Maggie's reach, her arms wrapping around herself like a shield. "Cherish healed me."

Tears pool in Maggie's eyes as she looks at Cherish with a wobbly smile before she pulls her into her arms, holding her tightly. "Thank you for healing my boy."

Cherish nods against Maggie's chest, her voice muffled so I can't hear what she says back.

Maggie lets her go then looks between the four of us. "Now, what do you all need from me?"

"I wanted to check on you," Cherish admits. "I knew about the attack yesterday, but needed to be sure that you were okay."

Maggie's mouth curves. "Yes, well, I'm perfectly fine, dear. Is that the only reason that you've come?"

Cherish stalls for a moment. "And to ask you to please come back to the castle with us again. I know you said you didn't want to and that you felt that you'd be more helpful to us here, but I'd feel a lot better knowing that you're close by," Cherish explains quickly.

Maggie chuckles at Cherish's panic. "How about you go about and do what you need to do and by the time you get home, I'll be there waiting for you?"

Cherish tilts her head to the side, confusion clearly written on her face. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to agree. Let alone that easily."

Maggie scoffs. "Please. My boy was almost killed last night. You think I'm going to be away from my family after hearing that? No. I'll be close by until the day I die. You'll probably want to get rid of me by then," Maggie says, cackling.

Cherish shakes her head. "Alright. We'll see you at home, then."