Free Tempest of Vengeance by Tara Fox Hall

other would not be a lie.
    But there was sadness in spades. The worst
was that Danial did not awaken as the days passed, though Devlin
gave him human blood by transfusion every week at least twice, as
well as a little of his own blood. He no longer looked pale, or
wan. He looked as he always had when he was asleep.
    “Even if he awakens, Sar, he probably won’t
be the same,” Dev mentioned one morning, as we lay in bed spooning.
“He was without a heartbeat for too long. His brain can regenerate,
but I’m not sure how long it will take. He also needs older blood,
and it will be a while before I can give him any more. But I am
doing my best to come up with a plan to restore him to us. Trust
me, Love.”
    I said nothing. There was nothing I could say
to make myself feel any better, that the Danial we knew and loved
was lost somewhere inside himself, and we couldn’t bring him
back.
    But some things happening were noteworthy,
even if they were not happy. On Wednesday, Elle and T came to visit
for the first time as he had said he would. Elle was standoffish
from the first, but once she saw Venus, and how beautiful my
younger daughter was, she became even more withdrawn. I could see
she was jealous, but I didn’t see how to address it without calling
her jealous. It didn’t help that Venus was borne of my body, while
Elle was not.
    So, I got Serena to take Venus for a while,
and blew off that afternoon of working, and instead spent it with
Elle, walking the dogs on a very long hike with her and Titus. Once
she was alone with me, and some time passed, she opened up a
little. I could see she missed Danial, and that she was upset,
because she’d thought I would be staying with her and Theo. I told
her it wasn’t her fault that I’d decided to stay with Dev, and told
her again she was welcome to stay here, if she chose to. But she
refused, saying that even if no one else needed her, Briar did.
    “She’s missing Dad,” she said sadly. “She
walks around his door, and cries for him, and also up in the
office. And every time T comes out, I can see how upset she is,
that he isn’t there—”
    “Bring her with you and come here to stay,” I
urged. “Briar can spend time with Danial, and it may do her good to
see he is alive.”
    “No,” Elle said. “I can’t come and live here.
You know Theo would never go for it. He didn’t want me to come
today. I’m all he has left, Mom.”
    It was in her voice that the real reason was
she couldn’t live here with Venus, couldn’t see us together every
day and think of how I now had a daughter of my own blood.
    I felt awful, feeling her hurt. “I’m sorry
you’re caught in the middle,” I stopped walking and hugged her
tightly. “You always seem to be caught in the middle, Elle.”
    “It’s okay,” Elle said quietly. “And I will
bring Briar on Friday, when I come again.”
    “You know I love you,” I said, not letting
her go. “You know it was love of you that led to me having Theoron
with your dad, and my other children—”
    “I know,” Elle said, her voice wavering a
bit. “T told me, one night we were talking.”
    We had a good rest of the walk, and when she
hugged me good-bye, she almost squeezed the life out of me. But on
Friday, T appeared with Briar in her cat carrier, but no Elle.
    “Where is Elle?” I demanded.
    Theoron shrugged, and handed me Briar. “Theo
said it was too dangerous. He said he’d lost one child, he wasn’t
going to lose another. Elle is under house arrest, practically.
She’s furious.”
    Having a new stepmother figure probably
wasn’t helping. Elle remembered Tasha too well. But there was
nothing I could do. Maybe Theo was right, that I was putting her in
danger.
    Briar was overjoyed to see Danial, and curled
up next to him immediately, purring. When T went to leave, Briar
refused to be captured, running from room to room to evade us,
until finally T agreed to let her stay.
    “Work on Theo, please?” I said, as I hugged