by Petra Landon
“Tasia” called out Duncan’s voice. She heaved a silent sigh of relief to stride into the room, towards the chair that was Duncan’s usual perch. A group of Shifters had hidden him from her sight.
A few Shifters, Hawk amongst them, surrounded Duncan’s chair. Duncan’s glance took in Tasia’s face brimming with suppressed excitement.
“Raoul?” he arched his brow.
“If I could” she said quietly.
“Let me check” he made his way unhurriedly to the Alpha’s Room.
“Tasia” Hawk drew her attention. “These are my were-pack mates.”
When Duncan came back ten minutes later, it was to find Tasia amidst a throng of curious Shifters. By now, she had been at their Lair for longer than a few weeks. Many of the Shifters were starting to get singularly curious about the wizard who had been extended Pack protection, resided at the Lair and worked for their Pack. Her inclusion in the Alpha’s latest foray to Chicago on a matter for Faoladh had not escaped their notice either.
“He’ll see you now” Duncan informed her.
“You too, please, Duncan.”
“Of course.”
“Hawk” she asked softly. “I need your help on this.”
Hawk extricated himself promptly from his were-pack mates to follow Duncan and Tasia into the Alpha’s Room. Raoul looked up as the three walked in. He held his cellphone in his hand and leant casually against the large desk.
“You have something for me?” he asked Tasia.
“I believe so but first I need to verify something with Hawk, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, Tas” Hawk responded easily. “Fire away.”
“This might be a little awkward” she warned Hawk. “Just bear with me. I think I know what Lady Bethesda is up to.”
Hawk’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Yeah, sure. No worries.”
“On the flight back from Chicago, you said that your grandfather embraced your parent’s marriage in the beginning.”
“Yes” he responded, his confusion at her question obvious.
“So his disagreement came later?”
“Yes, when they decided to have children.”
“Was that because he felt that it would put her life in danger?” she asked delicately.
Hawk nodded soberly.
“Because it’s dangerous for Shifter women to have children?” she continued tentatively. This was a sensitive topic for the Shifters. So, she attempted to tread very carefully. It was difficult for all powerful Chosen to procreate but Shifter women had it especially hard.
“Normally, yes” Hawk replied. “But my mother was special. She had very old magic in her, inherited from her Navajo ancestors. It allowed her to suppress her power for short bursts of time. It’s an extremely dangerous and delicate magic to perform for it needs precise timing and can be a difficult balance to get just right. My mother made the choice to use her control over her magic to try and have children, a choice my grandfather didn’t agree with.”
“She was successful but the use of this particular magic took a toll on her. That is what eventually caused her death and that is what has Atsá so heartbroken” Duncan chimed in quietly.
Tasia turned to the Alpha, a silent spectator while she directed her questions at Hawk.
“For a wizard with great power, there’s one more advantage to giving up her magic” she remarked softly. “One that we haven’t taken into account.”
A flash of understanding hit Raoul. “The children” he muttered in sudden comprehension.
“Yes” she nodded. “When you told us of her starting a second family, all the little pieces we’ve been gathering together finally fit a pattern.”
“Good Lord” Duncan exclaimed softly, drawing Raoul’s attention. Their eyes reflected an identical dawning realization.
Hawk, watching them with a bewildered expression on his handsome face, interjected “You’re saying that Lady Bethesda gave up her magic to start a new family” he shook his head in consternation. “But why? She already has Sienna.”
“The Prophecy” Raoul reminded him steadily “This whole thing has been about that prophecy. Every single meticulously planned action of hers, from the very beginning.”
“Yes” Duncan agreed. “Based on her past actions, we made the assumption that her intent had been to stymie The Prophecy from ever coming true. But if I understand what Tasia is getting at, then our assumption is incorrect. Her goal has been to make it come true with her as the central figure in it.”
“First she made sure to eliminate all other potential candidates. Then she set out to make it come true after divesting herself of her considerable power” Raoul murmured softly.
“That’s cold-blooded, Alph” Hawk, who’d finally put everything together, burst out.
“Yes, even for a wizard” he acknowledged with a quiet irony. “That’s cold-blooded indeed.”
“I don’t get why she’s so driven to make this particular prophecy come true?” Tasia shook her head incredulously.
“Power” Raoul’s answer was dispassionate. “This whole thing is a power play. A daring one and a long shot, but at its core, it’s a simple power play. Her husband is known for his accurate predictions and he makes one the night that the wizards gather together to choose their representative for the CoC. She’s denied the role of leading the wizards and so decides to use his latest prophecy to realize her ambitions.”
“I don’t see how this is about power” Tasia’s confusion was obvious. “How does making the Oracle’s prophecy come true help her realize her ambitions.”
“If the three powerful half-siblings the prophecy talks about do truly shake the very foundations of our world, then the mother who birthed them is the only family they’ll have in common. She will potentially wield enormous influence over them and their actions” it was Duncan who responded to her.
“Yes, The Prophecy did foretell that the three Chosen women would be born of different fathers” the Alpha murmured thoughtfully.
“She must be selecting the fathers very carefully, Raoul” Duncan said urgently, as a sudden realization smote him. “This local chieftain she married in India is probably a Chosen of immense power.”
“The thought has occurred to me” Raoul nodded. “Everything points to her pre-selecting the potential fathers before she started out on her venture.”
Raoul contemplated the phone in his hand absently. There was much to digest. It was also time to come up with a new plan of action. They would need to throw away all their old assumptions, gather more information on Lady Bethesda’s missing twenty-four years and examine each bit of detail carefully again to make sure that they didn’t miss anything.
“Sienna’s reaction to Lady Bethesda …” Tasia stopped, trying to convey her confusion.
Her words drew everyone’s attention but it was Duncan who understood what she was attempting to say.
“Yes, Sienna dislikes her mother today” he acknowledged. “But who is to say that her mother will not have any influence over her in the future. If there’s one thing that we have learnt about Lady Bethesda, it is that she plans meticulously. No detail is ever left up to fate. I’m sure she has aces up her sleeves she believes will allow her to influence her three daughters, even if they’re not receptive to her at first.”
“I was on the phone to Faoladh just before you came in here” Raoul interjected as Tasia reflected on Duncan’s words. “And he confirmed that twins, a boy and a girl, were born to Mathilda Redmayne and her husband, Tribhuvan Rathore, in India.”
“A second daughter” Hawk muttered under his breath.
“Whom she abandoned soon after their birth” Raoul pointed out. “Want to bet that the abandonment was a preamble to start a third family with a third daughter to complete The Prophecy’s foretelling!”
“So what do we do now?” Hawk asked as they stared at each other, the implications of their discovery and its consequences on their world, only now starting to sink in.
&nb
sp; “First, I talk to Faoladh. He needs to know about this. His team needs to urgently trace her whereabouts after she left India” Raoul said decisively. “Then we get Sienna and Jason in here to give them this news. Between Jason and Faoladh, the wizards will be apprised of this. After that, we throw out everything we ever believed about Lady Bethesda and start from scratch again. She has a lot more up her sleeve – of that I’m sure. The only way to beat her at her game is to be a few steps ahead of her. As of now, we have some serious catching up to do.”
“I’ll give our wizard friends a heads up to meet us in here in say half an hour?” Duncan arched his brow in query at Raoul. “They’re both out in the Pack Room.”
“Yeah, thirty minutes should do it.”
As she walked to the door in something of a daze, albeit a triumphant one, the Alpha called out softly to her. “Good work, witchling.”
Tasia acknowledged his words before slipping out with Duncan and Hawk. She followed Hawk to where his were-pack mates were still congregated around their Were-Alpha’s usual perch. Duncan strode up to Jason and Sienna. Sienna shot an inquiring glance at Tasia as Duncan murmured something to Jason and her.
Tasia glanced around at the gathered Shifters, oblivious for now to the momentous revelations that had just taken place in the small room next to the Pack Room they were gathered in.
“I sense a big wave coming. Unless we’re able to stop her in time, Lady Bethesda will unleash a tsunami the likes of which our world has never seen.”
The Alpha’s words to her last night were turning out to be prophetic. Or at least more prophetic than she had anticipated. She had been a part of this investigation into Lady Bethesda’s past from the very beginning. Yet as Tasia glanced around the crowded Pack Room, a sudden epiphany smote her. She had never given the wizard or the entire matter that much thought. Instead she had done what was asked of her almost mechanically. It had been a job for her - a way to repay the Alpha and the Pack for their protection initially and later, a way to use her magic. She had missed her magic. How she had missed her magic!
But now, suddenly their world was faced with a conspiracy of epic proportions. One imagined and created meticulously, brick by brick, by a powerful, cold-blooded, ambitious and seemingly ruthless wizard who allowed nothing and no one to stand in her way, not even her husband or daughter. They knew of her alliance with the Lombardi vampires. Who knew how many other alliances Lady Bethesda had forged to help her realize her ambitions. From the very beginning of their investigation into the break-in at The Vault and the allegations against Lady Bethesda, it had been clear that hers was no ordinary crime. Every step of the way, little by little, they had stumbled upon evidence of her subtle machinations and clever foresight. Tasia could not quite see how the wizard planned to dominate the Chosen with her tenuous influence over her offspring. After all, she had abandoned all of them without a second thought and had used at least one in her plans without any consideration for the danger her daughter had been placed in. Yet the Alpha and Duncan seemed to recognize the wizard’s stratagem as a long term play for power. She’d sensed disquiet in normally unflappable Duncan for the first time and it worried Tasia. The dangerous secrets she held so close to her own chest would be in danger of exposure if the Lombardi Nest or its former relationship with her father was investigated. The past her father had so carefully refrained from sharing with her might have skeletons with the potential to cause untold damage to her fledgling and rather tenuous relationship with the Pack. Most of all, she was apprehensive for the future – hers as well as that of her Chosen brethren! Something dark had been set in motion twenty-five years ago by a merciless and vindictive Magick with no thought to anything except her own personal ambitions. For the first time, Tasia felt apprehensive about the havoc and destruction Lady Bethesda had been working to bring to fruition on their world so fastidiously.
Oblivious to the Shifters around her, Tasia pondered on how things were going to change. A storm of epic proportions seemed to be slowly gathering steam to set their world into turmoil and upheaval. When the storm came, she like many other Chosen would be left vulnerable. Unless she were to put her faith in people who’d been complete strangers to her only a few weeks ago. Tasia had a feeling that like her, the many Chosen factions too would need to take a leap of faith and trust each other if they were to prevail over the forces being amassed by Lady Bethesda. It would take determination, tenacity and powerful partnerships to defeat a plan that had been in the making for twenty-five years by such a ruthlessly ambitious Chosen.
“Tasia” Hawk called out softly, concerned by the unfocused and strange expression on her face.
“You okay?” inquired Sienna’s solicitous voice beside her.
When Tasia glanced up, it was to find Jason LaRue gazing down at her, his brown eyes full of concern.
“Raoul is ready for us” Duncan announced suddenly in his usual unhurried way.
“I’m fine” she assured her well-wishers as she stood up to follow the others to the Alpha’s Room. She had friends who cared about her, she reminded herself. As well as allies who looked out for her. She was not alone anymore. That was progress of a kind.
The door to the Alpha’s Room swished open and the Alpha stood silhouetted in the doorway.
“Take this downstairs, everyone” he announced. “The Pack Room is in use.”
That was all it took. Shifters started drifting out and a young Shifter moved to take up his position as sentry by the open door. The Pack was run like a well-oiled machine – he wouldn’t have it any other way. She could have done much worse than an association with his Pack, Tasia mused. Whatever his faults, Raoul Merceau was not a man to take any kind of threat to his Pack lightly. And for now, she was part of his Pack. Tasia glanced at the Alpha only to find the gold eyes fixated on her, a strange light in them that she found difficult to interpret.
The Shifters and their Alpha might not be easy to cohabit with but they had been honorable. And he had been scrupulous about keeping his promises to her. More than scrupulous, if she were honest. It was time she returned the favor by trusting him as he had asked her to. It was time to let go of self-doubt, apprehension and ambiguity. No more running from the shadows of the past – this was where she made her stand. It was time to trust the Shifters and their Alpha.
“So we’ve had some trouble bridging the gap between us in the past. But contrary to what you believe, we’ve already made an auspicious beginning. You have entrusted some of your secrets to me and I’ve trusted you with information about this mission that only a few of my Shifters know. At some elemental level, we both trust the other to keep our secrets. How many new allies have such a promising start?”
The Alpha was right. Just because her life had taken a direction she’d been unprepared for, it didn’t necessarily mean that she couldn’t make a success of her partnership with the Pack. She had much to offer them, she knew that. The future was suddenly more uncertain than before. And, like the Alpha had so presciently stated, the time would come when she’d find herself in urgent need of powerful allies and champions. It was time to batten down the hatches and prepare for the stormy seas seemingly headed their way.
SAMAPT
The End
Note from the Author
Thank you for reading The Prophecy. I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the journey with The Rainmaker. Please consider writing a few lines about The Prophecy on Amazon. Candid reviews by readers like you are the lifeblood of indie authors. They help us hone our ability to tell a story and bring our work to the attention of others.
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Books by Petra Landon
SAGA OF THE CHOSEN
A rollicking urban fantasy tale of adventure, intrigue, suspense & romance
BOOK 1 –
THE PROPHECY
BOOK 2– THE RAINMAKER
BOOK 3 – THE SIREN
BOOK 4– THE PALADIN
THE WAR CHRONICLES
SciFi Romance & Space Opera tales with passionate love stories, swashbuckling adventure & thrilling action
THE MERCENARY
THE STARFARER
THE ZENKOTI FABLES
An episodic adventure series, set in space and on exotic worlds
STAR CHILD – AWAKENING
Subscribe to Petra Landon’s Mailing List to be notified of new releases.
No spam. Only a handful of emails a year.
www.petralandon.com
AMAZON | GOODREADS
A standalone SciFi Romance & Space Opera adventure
A spirited and resilient girl, a fierce warrior with a mighty heart, a fiery passion amidst the embers of war & a love that will alter the fate of their corner of the galaxy
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EXCERPT
One
Saakshi surrendered to temptation, casting a surreptitious glance at the large gray-skinned male seated at a distant table. An aura of danger and unapproachability radiated from him, his aloof mien a stark contrast to the good-natured bonhomie of the other patrons in the alehouse. The corner table, away from the crowds and shaded by the awning branches of an artificial tree that bordered the Promenade, served to accentuate his distance from the other customers. She suspected that the table had been carefully selected to allow him his solitude. A brief lull in the mad crush of patrons to Trader Pik’s provided a welcome respite to the overworked server girls. It allowed Saakshi to rest her aching feet, catch her breath and restock the bar with clean goblets before the next horde of customers swamped them again. She also used the opportunity to sneak a quick peek at the Hadari’Kor male. As she had half expected, the alien male’s dark eyes rested on her. As their gazes tangled, Saakshi’s heart gave an uncomfortable lurch. She glanced away hurriedly, snapping her eyes back to the bar to resume polishing the goblets vigorously.
