I nodded, but that didn’t seem as easy as he made it sound. Liam’s dad now had the sword, and it could control Liam’s mind. This was going to be harder than I thought.
We made a plan to work today on getting the boys settled in and then move out tomorrow to seek the rest of the crystals with Liam’s help. After Liam’s men examined their new home across the river, we all got to work. By nightfall, the bridge was done, three huts had been built, and the trenches for plumbing were dug with piping laid that diverted water from the river into their homes. Liam’s mom was back, living with Mara, and his brothers were running wildly around the forest, laughing with abandon. It was a good sight to see.
Not all of his men seemed so enthused though. They seemed relieved to be here among the crystals’ energy, but when they passed me, they gave me glares that made it clear I would have to earn back their trust. Cam was still being cold to me as well.
It was clear I was not their Queen.
“Once we get the fence finished to keep anything from the dark forest out, it should be a decent home for now,” I said to Liam, surveying the men sitting around the fire and eating what the farmers had brought in.
“It’s great. Better than we’ve ever had.”
I frowned. “That’s not true. Your farm was much nicer.”
He nodded. “But I didn’t have a permanent crystal, much less three of them. You can’t really feel it, can you? Maybe because you’ve never gone without it for more than a few hours. Coming here…it’s like we can finally breathe.”
Emotion constricted my throat, and I nodded. “Well, you have a permanent home here now. I’m a Queen, so I can say that and make it law or something.”
He chuckled and looked over at me. The firelight danced across his face, making his eyes look like they held hot lava. “Lily…” He sighed. “I’m really sorry about your mom… Maybe if you had met me sooner and she’d seen that we weren’t the evil creatures she’d been taught or that we were soulmates—”
I waved him off. “I don’t think we can live in the past anymore. It won’t do any good. Let’s just move forward.”
He nodded, his fingers reaching out to brush the back of mine. It was like he was asking permission to hold my hand. That small brush of his skin held a promise of more.
I flipped my palm upside down, and his fingers laced through mine as we held hands and watched the dying firelight. Butterflies fluttered nervously in my belly as we took this new step forward.
New Liam and New Lily were just going to have to take things slowly. I still loved him, and I hoped love was enough.
Chapter 7
The next morning, we all met at the blue door. Liam’s men look hardened from sleeping on the dirt floor of the forest, but they also looked… restored. Like they’d finally found a place to call their own. I’d overheard them giving input to the builders on certain ways things should be built. They were invested in this. The huts were circular in shape with one main circle for the kitchen and living room and then three smaller circles around the main one to partition rooms. Each hut could hold three men, each with his own room, or six men with bunk beds. Liam and his brothers would all live in one for now.
“The huts should be done by tonight. My people are working round the clock,” I told Liam as we waited for everyone to gather.
He nodded, tracing the spot on his stomach where his dad had gored him. But he’d ditched the crutches, and Kira had done another healing on him, so he looked good to go. What did that do to a person? To have their own father turn on them like that? I must have spoken that out loud because Liam turned to me, boring into my eyes with his blue-eyed gaze. “It does nothing. He was dead to me years ago.”
I wanted to believe him, but the quiver in his voice gave him away.
The door opened behind me, and Mara popped her head out with a small bit of syrup on her chin. “Sorry I’m late. Your mother makes the best waffles,” she told Liam.
He grinned, and I was so damned happy the water had healed her cancer and we had a safe space for her now. Double happy that she and Mara seemed to have bonded and grown a friendship.
We all slowly trickled into Mara’s house, packing the place from wall to wall, Jasper, Elle, Liam, and his sixty men. It was a large contingent, much better than I could do on my own.
“To Montana?” Mara asked, twisting the dials on her desk as Liam and I strapped into the harness on the seats.
Everyone else in the house would hold onto something firmly, and Mara would have to move her entire house with us to the blue door. Liam had tracked the sword to Montana, but it was in the middle of nowhere. So while we slept last night, Mara had created a door from a little shed that was out near the land.
Liam nodded, and then everything spun. I heard a thud coming from the hallway, and tried not to grin. Someone wasn’t holding on tight enough. After the spinning sensation stopped, I looked at Liam.
We’d been through so much together, and yet… he felt a little like a stranger now. It was sad and weird, and I wasn’t sure how to go back to working together. Who would take the lead? How would we—
Liam stood and looked down at me. “I’ll go for the sword. You hunt for the crystals. Once I meet up with you, I can control my
