"Liliana. Liliana, come back to us," Marcus demanded as he grasped her arms and shook her. His eyes frantically searched her face looking for any indication she was responding. "Damn it. Wake up."

Aro grasped one of her hands and collapsed to his knees with a gasp. Tears flooded his eyes. "She is drowning in agony. We have to save her."

In a flash, Caius was on the bed and straddling her waist. He rubbed at her skin hoping the contact would get through. "Don't you do this, Liliana. Don't you fucking dare."

Marcus raked his hands through his hair. "It's not doing any good. None of it is doing any good." All he could do was watch the bonds fade little by little along with what was left of her life.

Caius cradled her face as tears flowed down his. "Come on, baby. Don't do this. Come back to us. We need you. I need you. You can't leave us."

Aro sat on the floor with his head buried in his hands as he wept. Suddenly, all three of them gasped at once as a jolt of pain hit them in the chest. Aro looked up, his face contorted in horror. "Is she..."

Marcus shook his head. "No, she's not gone. Not yet. It must be the block slipping." And just like that he realized what needed to happen. He could only hope his mate was able to cooperate and that it wasn't too late.

He pushed Caius out of the way and grabbed her to cradle her in his arms. He sat on the bed with her sideways in his lap. "Liliana, listen to me my love. You have to let go. Release every block. Stop worrying about everyone else and let them feel. You are dying to protect everyone and it is so not worth it."

Realizing what was going on, Caius grasped her hand. "Let them feel. Let us feel everything you've been protecting us from. We deserve it. They all deserve it. You must stop this."

Aro leaned over her but didn't touch her. "Come on, Liliana. You're too strong to just fade away. Fight this. Let go. Just let go. That's all you have to do."

"Think about yourself first for once," Caius demanded. "If you can't do that, think about us. We'll die without you, little one. Quit fucking blocking everything."

Tears dripped from Marcus' eyes onto her as the bonds faded to the palest gray. He leaned forward to press his lips to her forehead. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no," he muttered against her skin. "Give us all the pain. Let us carry the burden for you. We would carry it for an eternity rather than lose you forever."

A wave of emotion washed over them stealing their unneeded breath. Pain and frustration. Sorrow and worry. Anger and apathy. But behind it all was love. So much love from their mate despite how everyone had been treating her.

Marcus laughed in relief when all the bonds he could see flowing from his mate glowed with their true vibrant colors. All the interference, all the faded lines and twisted emotions broke with the release of the blocks. It was only when they were gone that the three kings realized how much had been missing with that link to their queen obstructed.

Unfortunately, the only change in her appearance was that her eyes were now closed. She still did not move. Not even the twitch of a finger. Marcus kissed her head again before placing her on the bed beside him. "She seems to be out of danger for the moment but who knows how long that will last if she doesn't wake. We don't even know if the blocks fell because she was responding to us or because she was too weak to hold them."

"Does it matter?" Caius asked as he began to pace the floor. Now that the connection was fully restored between him and his mate, he was more anxious than before. He felt more than before.

Someone pounded on the door.

"Enter," Aro called as they were in his rooms.

The door opened to reveal a frantic looking Demetri. Liliana's official guard, as well as her makeshift one, stood behind him. "Everyone wants to know what happened? How were we manipulated so? There is a bit of a minor panic. What is wrong with our regina dei fiore?"

Aro sighed and rubbed the back of his hand across the light beard he'd grown. "Gather everyone in the throne room. We'll address them shortly. Jasper stay if you will."

Jasper didn't hesitate to enter the room while the others dispersed to do as they were told. He moved to the side of bed and took her hand in his. "What happened?"

The kings exchanged a look wondering just how much they should share with him. They didn't want the major to make an appearance. Finally, Marcus decided to just tell him the truth. "We nearly lost her. Once the blocks fell, she came back to us."

"You foolish, foolish girl," Jasper chastised, his voice taking on a far deeper southern accent than usual.

Caius eyed him carefully but the Hale appeared to be himself. For the moment. "What do we tell the others?"

Aro ran a hand through his hair. "What we must." He shifted his attention to Jasper. "Please remain with her. We shall return shortly."

***

The kings had only been gone a couple of minutes when Liliana opened her eyes. Jasper sat beside her on the bed holding her hand with his head bowed and his eyes closed. "I was beginning to think they'd never leave."

Jasper jumped up from his seat. "What the fuck, princess?"

She huffed a laugh and swung her legs off the edge so she could sit up on the bed. "Calm down, Jazzy. You'll sprain something."

"But...you were just..." His face shifted from confused to angry in an instant. "Were you faking the entire time?"

"I wasn't faking anything, asshole." She ignored him gaping after her and headed into the bathroom to put her hair up, only to groan when she remembered none of her stuff was where it should be. "Come on. I need my stuff."

She sped to her room, briefly noting the mess her mates had left behind when they returned her things. She put her hair up and made a headband from a bandana. She quickly dressed and accessorized. By the time she finished, she looked very much like the woman that first appeared before her mates hoping everything would work out. Of course, she decided to forgo shoes because why wouldn't she.

When she went to head to the throne room, Jasper stood between her and the door. "Explanations first, princess."

"Short, short, short version is the blocks I put up to try to protect everyone only helped to weaken the bonds. And with the blocks in place, they couldn't heal even though Sebastian was gone because he's a thorough fucker. When I lost the blocks, it fixed everything, including me. Now, let me go surprise my mates or I'll toss you out of the way."

He shook his head and stepped to the side.

"Thanks, Jazzy," she exclaimed as she dashed past him. He followed at a much slower pace.

***

The chatter in the throne room was louder than normal. Typically the coven would stand patiently and wait for the announcement, but now they were all too concerned for the queen. Something was wrong and they had all contributed to it even if they didn't understand why they would do such a thing.

The brothers stood in front of their people with little space between them and somber expressions on their faces. Aro raised his hands. "Quiet, dear ones. We would like to return to our Liliana's side as soon as possible so please let us say what needs to be said so we can do so."

"It has recently come to our attention that Sebastian and Bianca had been working to undermine our coven for years," Marcus announced. A murmur moved through the crowd with the announcement but it wasn't loud enough to disrupt the announcement. "More recently, Sebastian was using his gift of manipulating emotions through bonds to turn us all against our queen. He believed it to be appropriate punishment against her and us for the death of his mate, Bianca."

Several cries of 'traitor' rose from the group but there was no telling which of the pair they were referring to.

Caius shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. "Enough." He wasn't that loud, but his tone was firm and that was enough to shut them up.

"You all felt the bonds repairing themselves. As you can imagine, this affected Liliana far more than any of us and she is recovering. For the time being, the three of us and those we deem fit will be the only ones allowed to see her," Aro announced.

He gestured toward the door, telling his brothers that their speech was over and it was time to go.

Before they could move, the heavy door swung open and their queen stepped inside. They froze, once again unable to move in her presence. Her gaze moved between the three of them, unable to pick one to focus on. She'd forgotten how amazing it was to be in their presence with no outside influences playing with their emotions. Gods, she'd missed them. A tear flowed down her cheek but for the first time in a long while, it was one of happiness. She was so relieved to be home. Because they were her home even if she'd been unwilling to admit it before.

Marcus ran his eyes over her from head to toe. She was stunning. Her mere presence still took his unnecessary breath away. Their mate was standing in front of them, something he wasn't certain would ever happen again a mere hour ago. And even more beautiful than her was the vibrant gold true mate bond running from her to the three of them. Perfect.

Caius took a step forward, his eyes wide, his hands twitching to hold his mate. She'd never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment. They'd nearly lost her and seeing her in front of him now with that smile on her face made his knees weak. He couldn't fathom how the fates thought he deserved a woman like her. How any of them did, but he was oh, so grateful.

Aro was the first to move. He was in front of her in an instant though he hesitated to touch her. Afraid if he did, he'd find she wasn't real at all. Finally, he swallowed and held out a hand. She intertwined her fingers with his. Elation flooded through him. She allowed him to see everything. And he smiled upon realizing that she'd been aware of everything happening around her while they took care of her. When he saw that they held no blame in her eyes, he could contain himself no longer and cradled her face in his hands while he kissed her.

He swept her up in his arms. "Brothers, come," he ordered before he disappeared out the door in a flash.