Night Forbidden (31 page)

Epilogue

R
emy heard a rustling in the bushes and, heart thumping in warning, looked up. Dantès went on high alert, his ears upright and tail still.

She’d been on her own for a week, missing Dantès, when yesterday, all of a sudden, he showed up. She’d half expected Wyatt to be right behind him, but the man never materialized. Of course, she’d purposely picked up her pace and made Dantès stay with her so he wouldn’t go back and
lead
the guy to her.

The rustling stopped and she peered into the deep undergrowth, noticing that Dantès seemed to be alert but not apprehensive, which was a good sign. She should find shelter for the night soon.

She’d lost her gun when Seattle took her, but managed to steal it back out of his truck after Wyatt and Elliott found her. Now, she hefted it in her hand, aware that she had only five bullets.

Each one would have to count.

The crystal had stopped burning and glowing, although it was still warm to the touch and seemed brighter than before the burning incident. Whatever happened to it had been temporary, but Remy didn’t know whether something had permanently altered it.

What she did know was that she had to go back to Envy. There was someone there who might be able to help her. An Atlantean named Ana, who, according to Theo, had become friends with Quent and Elliott and a guy named Fence.

If anyone knew what to do with the crystal, Remy suspected, it would be her. And if she had to get tough about it . . . well, she had her ways.

Grandpa had entrusted her with this crystal, and she would do whatever it took to find out why.

Just as she was about to put the gun down, a shadow emerged from the undergrowth.

Dantès gave a short bark of recognition, but Remy silently commanded him to stay, and he did—despite the fact that he quivered.

She aimed her gun as the silhouette came into full view, and her hand jerked in shock as she recognized him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, aware that her heart was pounding uncontrollably. “How the hell did you find me?”

He just smiled his tight, humorless smile and sat down as if he belonged there.

“A
re you certain?” Fence asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. Ana was on the other side of the door, and he didn’t want to get her hopes up unless . . .

George glanced at Elliott and they both nodded. “I was the one who did it before,” Ana’s father told him. “There’s no reason it can’t be done again. It just took me some time to prepare, and I didn’t want to mention it until I was certain it would work.”

“And if something goes wrong, I’ll be here,” Elliott said. “Actually doing the surgery. There’s no risk.”

No risk . . . but the biggest fucking gift ever.

“How did you manage it?” Fence asked, looking from one to the other. His heart was growing lighter by the moment.

“Ana’s original crystals came from the Atlanteans, just like these,” George said, showing Fence the small box containing eight conelike gems in it. At the base, each was no bigger than a pea, and hardly as long as the width of his pinkie. “I was the one who adapted the original ones before Ana was even born, so they could be implanted in a demiblood. I even wore several myself for a few months to test them out.” He smiled crookedly. “I had nine months to work on it, you know.”

“But he never let the other Atlanteans know that he’d worn them,” Elliott said. “And that also explains the alteration I noticed in his lungs, when I scanned him. The remnants of the crystals there.”

“But since I’m a pure blood land-person,” George explained, “the crystals eventually stopped working for me, and they drew too much of my oxygenated blood. So this implantation wouldn’t work unless the recipient was of Atlantean blood,” he cautioned. “There are some crystal elements inherent in their genetics now, after so many thousands of years, that makes it . . . well, anyway, you don’t need all the details. These are Kaddick’s crystals. It took me some time, but I’ve prepared them for Ana just the way I did originally, by slightly altering their chemical makeup. This will ensure they’ll be accepted by her body.”

“And you’ll be able to implant them in her again? And she’ll be . . . the way she was?” Fence was exuberant . . . not because he cared whether Ana could breathe underwater again, but because he knew how much she missed it. Because he’d seen her grief, and could only begin to understand the loss she was experiencing.

And . . . there was the whole aspect of underwater sex, too, of course. Motion in the ocean. Navel maneuvers. Slip the sub.

The mental jokes came fast and thick, and it was all he could do to keep from laughing out loud.

“Yes, indeed,” George said. “Ana will be the way she was before.”

Elated, Fence knocked on the door to their room and opened it to find Ana looking at one of his underwater maps.

“This is good,” she said, glancing up. “But you’re missing— Dad? Elliott? What’s wrong?” She stood, her expression growing apprehensive as she looked at the three of them.

Fence came over to her, swooped Ana up in his arms and murmured, “Now about that underwater sex you were hoping for? Well, sugar, we’ve got it covered.”

About
the Author

J
OSS
W
ARE
has an English degree and an MBA from the
University of Michigan. After more than fifteen years in sales and marketing,
she owned her own business and worked in a variety of roles for two startup
companies. She’s traveled to London, Paris, and Tahiti, and currently resides
with her family near Ann Arbor, where she writes full-time.

Joss loves to hear from her readers, and
encourages them to visit her website for updates and sneak peeks of future Envy
books.

www.joss-ware.com

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