The Messenge (Iva and Nick) novel Chapter 406

Come Back to me

lay across the enormous bed with one arm beneath her head, staring through half-lowered lashes at Lori, who was sitting beside the window with Youssef in her arms, making ridiculous little faces that had her son kicking his tiny legs and answering with delighted sounds.

A smile appeared on Iva’s lips before she could stop it.

There was something almost unbearably beautiful about watching Lori hold him so naturally, as though no time had passed between them, as though she had never disappeared from Iva’s life and missed everything that had happened while the world had been tearing itself apart around her,

Tears gathered in Iva’s eyes.

They were not tears of fear this time.

They were tears of happiness.

Her son was safe.

Her best friend was alive.

And somehow, despite everything that had happened, she was lying in a beautiful room inside a

castle surrounded by people who apparently belonged to a life she had forgotten.

Iva closed her eyes for a moment and slowly massaged her temples.

Pain exploded behind her forehead.

Her entire head felt as though it were on fire.

She swallowed hard.

Then another wave of nausea rolled through her stomach.

Iva opened her eyes.

For the past several hours, Lori had been filling in the missing pieces of her life, giving her everything she could remember, answering questions whenever Iva could find the courage to ask them, and sometimes stopping altogether when Iva became too pale to continue.

It had shaken Iva to her core.

Her runaway.

Nick.

Her father. The lies.

The betrayal.

The drama that had followed her through every stage of her life.

Her being The Messenger.

The kidnapping.

The pregnancy.

And then the revelation that had been hardest of all.

Caleb.

Her fated mate.

Iva turned her face toward the ceiling.

She had spent so many hours believing Caleb was the monster from her nightmares, the man who had once held her captive and wanted to reclaim her as though she belonged to him.

But Lori had told her something completely different.

There had never been a cage.

There had never been slavery.

There had never been the abuse she had imagined.

Caleb had not been her captor.

He had been the man who loved her.

Her mate.

The father of her son.

Nick had manipulated her.

Her father had played his own part.

And somehow, while she had been trapped inside a maze of lies, she had nearly lost Youssef

before he had even been born.

Iva’s stomach twisted.

Her son.

Her precious little boy.

The thought became too much.

Her throat closed.

She suddenly sat upright.

“Oh, Goddess.”

Lori immediately looked toward her.

“Iva?”

Iva pressed one hand against her mouth.

The nausea surged violently.

She pushed herself from the bed and hurried toward the ensuite bathroom, barely reaching the

toilet before she was sick.

Lori followed immediately, Youssef still safely cradled against her.

She crouched beside Iva and rubbed her back.

“Eva, are you okay?”

Iva could barely answer.

Her body shook as another wave passed.

When it finally eased, she remained leaning against the side of the toilet, breathing heavily while

tears streamed down her cheeks.

Lori looked genuinely frightened.

“Do you want me to call a healer?”

Iva shook her head.

“No.”

“You don’t look well.”

“I just need some rest.”

“Iva-”

“I’m serious.”

Her voice was weak, but she managed to push herself upright.

“I think everything is catching up with me.”

Lori studied her face.

There was no arguing with the exhaustion visible beneath Iva’s eyes.

After a moment, she nodded.

“All right.”

Iva rinsed her mouth and leaned against the basin, staring at herself in the mirror.

The woman looking back at her seemed familiar and foreign at the same time.

She wondered how much of her life was still buried somewhere inside her mind.

How much would return.

How much had been permanently damaged.

And, most terrifyingly, what would happen when she finally remembered Caleb?

Because there was something she could not ignore anymore.

The moment he had held Youssef yesterday, something about the sight had felt right.

The photograph had felt impossible.

Lori’s memories had felt impossible.

Always Caleb.

She remembered the photograph.

She remembered his face when he had told her that they were fated mates.

She remembered his expression when she accused him of lying.

And suddenly she remembered something else.

The way he had looked at Youssef.

Not possession.

Not pride alone.

Something deeper.

Something almost sacred.

Iva closed her eyes.

She was too exhausted to keep fighting the memories.

Her body slowly relaxed beneath the covers.

Thoughts became fragments.

Fragments became shadows.

Reality began slipping away.

She was floating somewhere between desperation, confusion, and sleep when she suddenly heard the bedroom door open.

Iva did not move.

She heard footsteps approaching.

Slow.

Careful.

Someone stopped beside the bed.

She could feel their presence without opening her eyes.

For several seconds, there was complete silence.

Then she felt a hand gently touch hers.

The contact was warm.

Careful.

Almost reverent.

Iva’s breathing changed.

She knew that touch.

She didn’t understand how.

But she knew it.

A man’s voice came through the darkness, low and broken with emotion.

“Come back to me, my love.”

Iva’s heart squeezed.

“I missed you so much.”

Her eyes opened slowly.

She could barely see his face through the darkness, but she didn’t need to.

Her heart already knew.

Caleb.

He was sitting beside her bed, holding her hand as though it were something precious, his thumb moving gently across her fingers while he watched her with an expression filled with years of longing.

Iva stared at him.

And for the first time since waking without her memories, she did not pull her hand away.