Daughter of Three Suns

Chapter 32

This time when I ran toward the portal, screaming and crying Edward's name, it wasn't in sorrow or despair. This time it was in astonishment and overwhelming joy. With his free arm, Edward hugged me to him, and I wrapped my arms around my son and my mate. Tears flowing down my cheeks, I alternated between crying and laughing, talking and sobbing.

Not used to seeing their mother so upset, Hope and Ward were soon wailing. While Edward comforted his son, I picked up Hope and settled her on my hip. We faced each other—man and woman, daughter and son, male and female—and shared a smile of such immense happiness that no words were needed.

Finally, Edward reached out and cupped my cheek. "Bella, my mate, I've missed you so much." He leaned over and kissed me lightly, then turned to his daughter. "Hope."

Hope stared at him, then glanced between her brother and her father. "You look like Ward," she finally said.

Edward chuckled. "That's because I'm your father."

"Emmett is Elise's father, but she calls him daddy. I like that word. Can we call you daddy?"

This time, Edward laughed out loud. "My dear daughter, you can call me anything you want. Just hearing your voice and seeing your face is enough to make me very happy."

Footsteps beside us announced Alice and Jasper's arrival. Edward turned to my sister. "Alice" was all he said.

"Grandmother Spirit is good," she said with a smile. Edward nodded, and then she turned to the sand cat at her side. "This is Jasper. He is my … companion." The two regarded each other for a long moment. With a flutter of wings, Charles landed on her shoulder. "And this is Charles, our mother's basherter and our father." Edward nodded and smiled again.

"Is that a bare-rock island?" he asked, pointing to the small pile of rocks where we had been sleeping.

"A small one, but there's food and water there."

Taking my hand, he led me toward it. "Show me," he said. And I did.

…..

While Edward became acquainted with his children, I caught and prepared several fish. Seasoned with wedrok algae and wrapped in kowi leaves, I left them baking on hot coals while I gathered rubus and appa. Our drinking gourds were filled with cold water from the spring, and I used the last of our fanio meal to make small cakes.

I studied Edward while I worked. Hope and Ward crawled over him, patted his face and hair, and asked him endless questions. The fact that he was able to stay in his man form while sitting in full sun was strange to them. I never realized how much they had learned from Emmett and Rosalie's family.

As much as I hated to acknowledge it, I felt an unease around Edward. Maybe we had been separated too long. Maybe it was a mother's protectiveness, or maybe it was the fact he had not changed since the last time I had seen him—not even a little bit. His face was the same; it showed no new lines or aging. His hair was the same length; it didn't appear to have been cut. Most telling of all was the fact he was dressed in the same clothing he had been wearing when we were separated at the doorway. The blood-rimmed holes where Felix had stabbed him were still very evident.

Edward ate like a starving person. Over and over he thanked me, telling me how good everything was. From time to time, I glanced at Alice, hoping to see some kind of reaction from her, but she ate calmly and seemed not the least bit worried or disturbed. Charles and Jasper remained calm, too.

By the time we finished, Hope and Ward could barely keep their eyes open. "Time to sleep," Alice said, leading them to a nearby ledge and settling them there. Hand in hand, they fell asleep almost instantly.

"Go," she told me when I followed her. "Take two mats, some water, and Edward, and go out into the desert. Take as much time as you need to renew your bond with your soulmate. We'll watch the children."

"Is it really him, Alice? He's—"

"What does this tell you?" My sister laid her hand on my chest.

I reached for the bond, the draw I had once felt toward my mate. "It tells me he's still Edward, but he's different."

"As are you. Now go, find the answers to your questions and joy in your basherter's arms."

I gathered what I needed, took Edward's hand, and together we walked away from the small island.

…..

We were standing on the top of a tall dune when he finally spoke. "Your world is beautiful." He turned from side to side, gazing at the golden sand, stretching in undulating waves to the horizon. Scattered dark shapes of distant bare-rock islands broke their progression. "And your sun is huge." Edward tilted his head up to gaze at Mother Sun, then pointed at the red glow on the horizon. "Is that Grandmother Sun?"

"Yes. Can you see how part of Mother has already slipped below the edge of the world?" When he nodded, I continued. "When all her great bulk is gone, Grandmother will be alone in the sky. That's when we celebrate our Anamnesis and Daughter returns. Her heat will be too much for the children, and we'll have to be home by then."

"But we still have time before that happens?"

"Yes."

Edward took both my hands, forcing me to face him. "Bella, I can feel your unease. Tell me what has you so worried."

My eyes roamed his face, his body, his clothing. "What happened to you, Edward? It's been so long, but you haven't changed. You're wearing the same clothing." I touched the holes in his shirt. "The blood is still here where Felix stabbed you with that big needle."

He frowned and searched for words. "I don't know," he finally said. "Everything is blurry and confusing."

"Tell me what you remember." I laid out our mats, and we sat facing each other.

"I remember you and our time together. I remember the ecstasy we found in each other's arms." Edward's hand traced a line down my cheek and across my lips. "I remember these lips." I couldn't help the heat that flushed my face or the giggle that escaped me.

My mate smiled at me, then continued. "I had a plan to trick Aro into releasing my mother and the women from your world in exchange for you and the shapeshifters. As soon as they went through the open doorway, we were going to attack him and leave. I know I used your knife to cut the rope, and I remember fighting with Aro and Felix. I think I must have gotten hurt then."

"You did. I found you in the stairwell. I killed Felix and left Aro to die. Then I carried you to the top of the building. You were bleeding badly and coughing blood."

"Yes. I remember everything hurt and then …" Edward frowned. "James," he whispered. "James was trying to hurt me, and you were protecting me. Then you fell through the portal, and he fell after you."

I nodded. "What happened then?"

Edward shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure. I think I tried to crawl to the opening but it was closed and wouldn't open. I had your bag in my hand. There was a shackle in it that clanked every time I moved. The sun was shining, and I remember lying there, thinking how nice it felt, and then there was nothing for a long time."

"Edward." With his thumb, he wiped away the tear that trickled down my cheek. "Did you die?"

"Maybe," he finally said, after considering my words. "I only remember little bits and pieces. I know I was inside something. It wasn't very big, just large enough for me to fit. There was a lot of red light that felt good, and there was no pain. I could hear thumping, like a heartbeat. Sometimes, I think I dreamed."

"Do you remember what you dreamed?"

"Planets and stars, space and life spreading across the whole of the universe. There were tunnels that connected some of the worlds and beings traveled between them. Sometimes, I thought I heard talking." He sighed, then laughed quietly. "I know it all sounds crazy. The only thing that seemed to make sense was when I would get brief glimpses of you and our children."

"You saw us?"

"Only a couple times. It was when Ward was being born. You were in such pain. I could hear you calling for me. You said you couldn't do it anymore and wanted to stop. I thought I was holding your hand and telling you to be strong."

"You did. Grandmother Spirit came, and you were with her. You helped me get through the worst of the pain. What was the second time?"

"When you were holding our son. You smiled at my mother and told her his name was Ward after his father."

"Both of those happened, Edward. If you were with Grandmother Spirit, then she must have shared them with you."

Tired of being separated from my mate, I crawled into Edward's lap, sitting sideways with my head leaning against his chest. I could hear the steady reassuring sound of his heartbeat. One arm pulled me tightly against him while the other roamed my shoulders and back. "Then what happened? How did Ward find you?"

"I was on top of the tower again. It felt like I'd been asleep and just woke up. When I opened my eyes, a little boy was standing there. He told me to get up, that it was time to go home. The portal was glowing red again. I picked him up, and we stepped through. And then …" He shrugged.

"And then you came home," I finished for him.

"Yes," he whispered. "And then I came home."

For a long time, we sat holding each other. Grandmother's breath moved across us, lifting Edward's hair and caressing our skin. My mate breathed deeply then sighed. "Bella."

"Hmm?"

"My mother. Is she?"

"Well and healthy," I reassured him. "She lives with my mother and Charles. She'll be very happy to see her son."

"And James?" I didn't answer, and he must have felt me stiffen. "Bella, what about my brother?"

I drew away and turned to face him. "I killed him, Edward. When the door closed and I realized you were left behind because of his deceit, I was consumed with so much anger that I threw my staff at him. The knife on the end pierced his body and shattered. He fell to the sands and died. I'm …. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to do that."

"No, no." Edward shook his head vigorously. "You shouldn't say that. He was the one who kept me from finding and freeing my mother. He betrayed me and all the other shapeshifters. James is the one who caused our separation. You were right—"

"No." I placed my finger against his lips to quiet him. "I was not right. I could have explained what he had done. The seers would have listened to my explanation and cast him out into the sands. His life would have been forfeit for Grandmother Spirit to judge. Instead, I took it. Victoria watched her mate die, and Esme watched her son's blood stain our sands. I will never kill again. It is wrong to do so."

We stared at each other until he finally nodded, then pulled me back against him. After a while, I reached for our water and shared it with him, then stood and stretched. Edward was still sitting at my feet, staring up at me. I could see the want and need on his face, and it awakened a deep longing inside me.

With a barely concealed smile, I stepped closer, then rested my hand on his shoulder. "What do you call this garment?" My fingers plucked at the fabric there.

He frowned for a moment, then started to smile as he realized what I was doing. "A shirt," he answered, his smile widening. "What do you call this?" he asked. He leaned forward, running his hands up my legs, pushing my shift up and setting my skin on fire just as he had done before.

"A shift," I whispered.

"Will you take it off, Bella, so I can touch my mate again?"

Covering his hands with mine, I slowly pulled my shift up over my head as he stood. I reached out and ran a knuckle along his jaw and over his lips. "Do you remember what you taught me to do with these lips?"

"No amount of time could ever make me forget kissing you, Bella."

He pulled me hard against him, covering my lips with his. His lips moved—caressing, nipping, then forceful, as if he were starving for my mouth. His hands slid up my sides, over my arms and shoulders, and then grasped the sides of my face, holding me in place.

We finally pulled apart, gasping for air. His great golden eyes glowed, and his nostrils flared when he caught my scent. "You."

"Yes. I want my mate. I burn for him. Take off your shirt and pants, Edward. Become one with me again."

He fumbled with his shirt and loosened the fastenings of his pants. They fell to the sand beside my shift. I stepped closer, running my fingers over his chest, searching for any evidence of his wounds. There were some very small indentations that were slightly paler than his skin. "Do they hurt?" He shook his head. Then my hands were tracing the strong muscles of his back as I pressed my breasts against his chest.

My claws scratched lightly around his hips, across the corded bands on his abdomen, and down between his legs where his want for me hung heavy and waiting. "Do you remember what you taught me to do with this?" I breathed into his ear.

A desperate growl was his answer as Edward pulled me down atop one of our sleeping mats. My legs wrapped around my mate as I pulled him into me. His hands and lips roamed my body—touching, squeezing, reacquainting himself with every inch of my skin. We rocked together, his hips thrusting against me and mine clenching to pull him closer. Our ecstasy built until we both cried out the other's name.

There on the golden sands of my home world, under the benevolent glow of our two suns, my mate and I found great joy.

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Many thanks to Sally for her help. Thank you to all the readers and reviewers. I love hearing your thoughts. There were a few questions about Ward being able to see and go through the portal. If you remember back in chapter 17 Aro said he could see the opening and flew through it to get to that world. So maybe there was something about being male that allowed the portal to open for them.