King Azure and Rya are climbing on Tali’s back with one of the boxes when Elliott shows up on his dragon. He lands with a ground shaking thump and jumps down. He runs toward Luke. “I heard Tali and took off after her. What’s going on?” Luke inclines his head toward his mother. Elliott’s jaw drop opens and he stands stunned.

“Dad? M…m…mom?”

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.”

The king spins to face Luke. I’m surprised his head doesn’t swivel right off his neck. Luke’s face becomes tense, his jaw clenches. “He deserved to die.”

King Azure raises an eyebrow. “He has since Leo was killed, but what happened to cause you to do it now?”

“He threatened to kill Ali. He had his sword pressed to her neck and blood…blood was dripping from the blade.” His hands are in fists so tight on the table that his knuckles are white. I reach for one hand, rubbing it in attempt to relax him.

“He didn’t want me to stay with Luke,” I add. “He wanted me home with him and Oliver, and if not, then he preferred me dead. Luke, along with Elliott and Oliver, saved my life.” I turn to Luke. “I can never repay them.”

He reaches up to brush his thumb along my cheek. “If anything had happened to you, I wouldn’t have been able to go on. You’re my reason for living.”

“Oh, enough already,” Addi pipes in. “We get it. You’re in love. We don’t need to see it all the time.”

The king chuckles. “Stop, my daughter. It’s nice that Luke isn’t so murderous looking all of the time. Besides, if you ever find your one true love you’ll be exactly the same.”

She scoffs and crosses her arms. “I highly doubt that.”

Rya rests a hand on her arm. “It’s in your blood dear. When an Azure falls, they fall hard.”

Addi rolls her eyes. “Can we change the subject please? All of this mushy stuff is getting on my nerves.”

“Yes, dear, we can. I have a lot to catch up on and want to hear everything. We also need to agree on a story to tell our people about where I’ve been since they’ve all believed I was dead. What did you tell them about Ali’s sudden appearance?”

“Nothing really,” Ryland says. “We only warned them not to harm her or treat her with hatred. You should have seen the looks they were giving her once they knew she was King Pine’s daughter. We wanted to be open, but the whole lot of them were rude. Luckily, she quickly won them over with her personality. Oh, and the fact that Luke killed her father. That helped as well.”

“We can say you were on a humanitarian mission that took you far from our lands. While there you fell and hit your head. You had amnesia and didn’t know who you were,” the king states.

“Why didn’t we go look for her after a while?” Elliott asks.

“We did, but she had wandered off in her confusion and we couldn’t find her.”

“For twenty-four years?” he asks incredulously.

King Azure throws his hands up. “I didn’t say it was a good lie, but it will have to do. I won’t take any questions. I’ll say what I have to say and leave with my wife.” Their eyes meet. The love he feels for her is apparent.

We sit around the table and talk for an hour before I excuse myself and get up to leave. I walk out the door, gently closing it behind me, but am stopped by Luke’s hand on my wrist.

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I wanted to give everyone some time to catch up. You haven’t seen your mother in so long. This is time for you to be with your family and reconnect. Go back. Enjoy it.”

He reaches up to cup my cheek. “It still hasn’t sunken in yet. You’re my family. You and everyone in that room.” His hand slides from my face to intertwine with my fingers. “Come. Let’s go home together.”

“But, your mom.”

“It’s fine, Ali. My brothers and sister will keep her busy. Besides, our picnic got interrupted. Let’s go have lunch. We’ll be sure to be back in time for my father’s speech, and then we’ll have dinner with them.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to leave for me.”

He squeezes my hand and releases it. “It’s more than fine. I’ll be right back.” Stepping back through the door, I hear them talking, but can’t make out the words. I feel bad that he would leave them when he just got his mom back to come home with me.

When he returns, he’s holding one of the boxes King Azure and Rya brought back with them. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to call her queen. I’ve known her, vaguely as it was, on and off my whole life. She was always just Rya.

“You have a box to open.”

“I wonder what’s in it.” It could be anything. King Azure said they packed some things for me. I don’t know what will happen to the building, but at the same time, I don’t care. My mom had to have known I would go through the door and the chances of returning would be minimal. Maybe that’s why she was so insistent that I continue to run things after she passed. She knew eventually I’d find the key. Although how, I have no clue. It was tucked under a fake bottom of a drawer. Maybe that’s the reason the dresser was priced so high. But then again, if the key does what it wants, it could have found me eventually. Who knows? I can’t spend my time obsessing over that key and the what if’s in life.

My reality is that I’m now living in the Azure Kingdom with a man by my side who loves me as much as I love him. A man who would and has risked his life for me. Who loves with his whole heart. Who I’m lucky enough to call mine. Lucas Azure is the center of my entire world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.