“Do you mean am I scared of fighting Gil?” he asked.
I nodded.
“No, I’m not scared. I always knew I would have to face him one day.” He winked. I wished I could feel as calm about this situation as he did. I wasn’t the one going into the ring to risk my life.
His uncanny intuition always surprised me. He kept it to himself, which had served him well. I wondered what Gil would have done if he’d discovered Alec was gifted with telepathy. Alec had never told him, and it was information he’d withheld for a good reason. I’d long suspected he had some sort of telepathic ability, but until recently he had not used it with me. I loved hearing his voice in my head. It would be our secret bond until the day we died.
“How could you know that?”
He led me to the sofa where we both sat. Facing me, he cupped my cheeks and stared intently into my eyes. “I’ve loved you since the moment we met. You were but a young girl, and I was a young man, but your father respected me, and I admired his leadership. I remember after one trying day when I felt beaten and ridiculed by the soldiers with more experience, I visited your family’s quarters. Your father had summoned me there to assess my abilities as a leader. I was twenty and already a hardened soldier so you can imagine my surprise when, while I waited, I felt a small, warm hand slip into mine.
“You were there. Only five years old but full of the wisdom that comes from an old soul. I could read your thoughts, and they were calm and soothing as you smiled up at me and squeezed my fingers. You were a cute kid, and in all my turmoil, you gave me a sense of relief and calm.
“Your incessant inner chatter was, at first, confusing as we waited there silently. You held a small tulip in one hand, freshly plucked from the gardens your mother kept. Dirt streaked your skin and dirtied your knees, but you looked more like a princess than any other girl your age.
“Then, right before your father summoned me, you handed me the tulip and spoke to me for the first time ever. ‘Don’t worry,’ you said. ‘My father likes you. He’s going to congratulate you, not scold you. If you were in trouble, you’d never be allowed to come here.’
“Impressed with your mature wisdom, I took the flower. Then you walked away, and I felt an ocean of relief wash over me. You’d given me what I needed. Something that I already knew but didn’t believe. It was the reassurance that I was an able soldier and somehow special, not just a drone. It was because of the flower you handed me with that innocent smile and the knowledge of a thousand years swimming behind those eyes.
“You were right. Everything you said came true. Your father congratulated me and gave me a promotion that would change the direction of my military career. He took me under his wing. He was a military leader himself and had inserted himself into the MarkTier structure easily. When your family invited me there that day, I became part of it and was treated better than my own blood had treated me. I’ll never forget his kindness. And….”
He paused, taking my hands in his and tracing the lines of my palms. It sent shivers up my arms and down my spine. Every touch was more than I could ever ask for, full of unspoken courage and love. “And as I got to know you and your sister, I knew there was only one place I belonged.”
He flicked his eyes back up to mine. They were filled with an intensity I’d never seen in man, ever. “It was always you, Ella. You chose me a long time ago with a tulip. You chose and branded me for you. I will love you forever, until the day you die. Even if you had never been mine and remained with Gil, nothing would change how I feel. I’d never betray you. I’d kill any man who hurts you, for I am yours. Always.”
His words penetrated deep into my mind, touching a place I feared to tread. All these years he’d given me everything and would stick with me to the end. I knew I’d made the right decision immediately, and the smile stretching across my face couldn’t get any wider.
“I knew too,” I said, “but I fought it. I wish I hadn’t, and I’m sorry you had to wait so long.”
“Don’t ever be sorry. Things happen the way they should. Never doubt it.”
Inhaling deeply, I relaxed into his embrace. “Thank you. For everything. I never have thanked you for all you’ve done for me.”
“You’ve thanked me every day. I heard it in your whispers. In your dreams.” He rubbed his cheek softly against mine.
I beamed and took in his handsome face. I reached up and traced the outline of his lips with my fingers, feeling the heat of his skin beneath them. We were pressed together, with just a sliver of cloth between us. That night, we would confront Gil and petition the council to sever our bond. That night, Alec and I would forge a new bond with one another. And this bond would last forever.
Then the real fight would begin.
Chapter Thirty
Lilliana
The ArcKnight palace hovered high above me as I walked the streets of the stronghold. Wearing a hood over my head, it was easy to disguise myself in the evening crowd. No one recognized me. Was I so forgettable?
I had left Jason behind, refusing his help to protect me in the ArcKnight stronghold. It took some convincing, but I managed to make him stay and not tell Ephrem. No one knew this place as well as I did. I didn’t need a bodyguard here.
I paused and looked up. The walls of the castle stood majestic against the darkened sky. I had yet to see a ray of sunlight and wondered if the KelHan pack had anything to do with it. It gave a chill to the air. I didn’t feel as cold as I thought I should, but dressed weather appropriate so as to not arouse suspicion. I could have worn a tank top and shorts and not felt one bit uncomfortable. It was a sobering thought and a reminder of this new power humming in my veins.
I had to find out what was going on and why I’d never been told I was a descendant of the KelHan wolf pack. My mother was going to be my first stop.
I stepped behind a row of the shops and found the doorway I needed. Standing before the tunnels that matched the ones I’d used to enter the MarkTier palace, I grinned to myself. Funny how divided the wolf packs were, but there was evidence of their unity from long ago. Both palaces held secret passages for the royals to come and go without being noticed. Both had a hierarchy that was far too similar to be a coincidence. So many similarities, yet so far apart. It made me wonder what exactly had split the packs so severely that there had been no turning back.
Spreading out the set of lock picks Ephrem had acquired for me, I set to breaking in, fiddling with the tumblers until I heard a satisfying click. My inquisitive childhood was paying off big time. I slipped into the darkened corridor and shut and relocked the door behind me. They really needed to seal up this entrance, for it was far too easy to sneak into. I doubted Gil frequented these halls much. He wasn’t the kind of guy to traipse around dirty, forgotten hallways.
My sister Rafaela, on the other hand, probably knew these halls backward and forward in her sleep. She was all about being prepared for those just-in-case scenarios. Not only that, she was the only reason I knew about them. Our childhood adventures had allowed me a lot of time to wander the halls without supervision. Who cares about a second-born royal daughter? They preferred having me out of the way.
I’d been fine with that. It had prepared me well for this day.
Finding the door I was looking for, I reached out and rapped on the dusty wood. I listened for movement, hoping it would be my mother who opened the door. The last time anyone knocked on this door, I was the one who’d done the knocking when I was eleven years old. Time had flown since then.
The locks clicked in succession, and my mother opened the door. Her smile was all it took for me to step in, close the door behind me and fall into her open arms.
“Lily! My sweet daughter. How I’ve missed you.”
“Mother!” I inhaled her sweet lavender scent. It evoked a flood of memories that stung the back of my eyes and made me force down the sobs. “I need your help.”
She stroked my hair and kept me close for minutes before letting go and leading
me to the nearby reading chairs. I’d never been really close to her, but now I wished I had taken more time to talk with her. Books were stacked on the small table between the chairs where she loved to sit in the afternoons and read stories. She’d read her entire life, and I remembered her telling us bedtime stories when my sister and I were younger.
The thought seized up my throat once more.
“It’s been so long. You’re looking quite pale. What’s been going on?” she asked.
“I….” I wrung my hands together, searching for the words to say. Staring down at the dark gloves I wore to hide the bright rune on my hand, I decided it was all or nothing. If my mother knew about the KelHans and my relation to them, she’d have to see the symbol.
I yanked the glove off and flipped my hand over to show her the mark.
Her lack of surprise confused me. In fact, she didn’t flinch once as she reached over, cupped my hand and peered at the glowing lines. “I wondered when it would show up.”
“What do you know about this?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t want to presume anything about her knowledge of the wolf-gargoyle pack, but there were so many questions I had about them and about me. About us.
She patted my hand gently before letting go and leaning back in the chair. She took a deep, steady breath before she spoke. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen. I was afraid it would while you were so far away. So vulnerable. I’m sorry you have to go through this alone.”
“What am I? Are you one too? Was my father?”
“No. We’re not KelHan. We adopted you when you were born. Your mother was part KelHan and was unable to care for you.”
The world froze as I struggled to wrap my head around her words.
“What?”
But Rafaela was my sister. Wasn’t she?
“Rafaela is our natural daughter,” she said, answering my unasked question. “But you are both my daughters. You’ve always been my daughter.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
My mother’s brown eyes looked tired. I noticed the tiny crow’s feet spreading across the skin around her eyes for the first time. She looked older. Had my banishment been that hard on her? What else was going on at the palace? Of course, it had been hard for her. I was her daughter, no matter what. So was Rafaela, and I imagined her ordeals had been taxing too. It was bittersweet to see the pain I’d caused my mother.
“I wanted to tell you. Believe me, I did. Your father thought it best that we wait until you were older. Then, when he died, I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“So what am I? What does it mean to be part of the KelHan pack?”
“You are an ArcKnight. There is no Kelhan pack. Most of them died after they were banished to the forests. Pampered all their life, they were in no condition to learn how to hunt or survive off the land. They could not return to Temple. The MarkTiers left them for dead, never to return. Their numbers dwindled, and their curse rendered them outcasts in all pack communities.
“There were some, though, that had defected before it all happened. Those KelHans felt the effects of the curse but were not completely affected by it. That means you have the power to transform into a gargoyle at will but are not turned to stone during the daylight hours. The cursed do transform to stone during the day hours and can roam only when the sun doesn’t shine or at night, where they can transform at will into their human forms or monstrous gargoyles.”
My heart struggled to pump. It fluttered in my chest, for I’d forgotten to breathe. I finally took a breath of life-giving air as her words sank in, yet they felt like chains dragging me down to the bottom of a muddy lake, with no escape in sight. How had things gotten so out of control?
“So what does this mean for me? Why are they seeking me out now?”
My mother’s concern was etched on her tired face. I hated to bring up things that happened so long ago, but it was necessary.
“There was an ancient prophecy your mother told me about before she died, shortly after your birth. It was about a curse-breaker who could morph at will and was not held to the curse like the rest of the KelHan pack. This person must willingly sacrifice themselves for the KelHans, lead them, and finally bleed for them. They give up everything to help the pack. Only then would the spell be lifted, letting them roam the world in the daylight once more. It could be you, this person they seek. They must win you over, and you must accept them, love them, as your own family.”
“Then die for them?”
“I don’t know. Your mother never told me if it meant death or just a blood sacrifice of some sort. She probably didn’t even know. The legend has been distorted over the years, and there were none of their elders left to keep the records straight. Now they are all but extinct. I even believe the MarkTiers think they are all dead.”
“So the KelHans might need me to save them?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“I’ve never transformed into a gargoyle,” I said. I didn’t know why that was the first thing that hit my mind, but it was a concern. “I don’t know anything about these powers.”
My mother reached out and touched my hand, turning it back over and examining the rune again. “I wish I had more answers, but there is one more thing I can tell you about the MarkTiers and the KelHans.”
Curious, my eyes widened. “What’s that?”
“I know you’re in love with Prince Ephrem, which never surprised me. He never told you that you were betrothed to each other when we came here, did he?”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
“It’s true. But when our packs had a violent disagreement about territory, they cut us off.”
“He knew this, right?”
She nodded. “He’s eight years older than you. He’s known his entire life since he was thirteen years old and you were five.”
“Why would he not tell me?”
“Maybe he thought it wasn’t valid anymore. I can’t say. Maybe he didn’t want you to know.”
I digested this information, deciding it was irrelevant now. Maybe that was why he’d never told me. There was no point in holding onto the past.
“And what about the KelHans?” I reminded her.
“Ah, yes. Wait here.” My mother stood up and walked gracefully to her room where I heard her rummaging through her things. I patiently waited and didn’t move. I couldn’t currently do anything about what she’d told me, so I pushed it to the back of my mind. There had to be something more immediately useful, I just didn’t know which questions to ask anymore.
“Here.” My mother held out her hand as she returned to the room. “I saved it all these years even though you had a new Ardent talisman made when we joined the ArcKnight pack. This is your talisman from the KelHan pack.”
I got to my feet and peered into her palm. A bright blue stone inlayed in silver was looped through a simple platinum chain. I reached out as she offered it to me and slid my fingers over it. It flared to life as I picked it up and hummed with energy, revving up after decades lying dormant and unused.
“Wow… it’s so alive.” I studied the blue stone as it pulsed with light. I’d never seen anything like it in my life, and the urge to slip it on grew with each passing moment. Whispers fluttered in my ears, filling my mind with information I should have known from birth. The talisman held my heritage, centuries of knowledge, and the agony of my cursed forefathers called out across time, begging me to save them.
I clutched the pendant, not realizing I was crying until my mother pulled me into her arms.
“I’m sorry. I should have given it to you a long time ago. I didn’t want to accept the truth of your pack’s curse. I didn’t want it to follow you into this life. Forgive me if I made a mistake.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. Thank you for giving it to me now. It’s helped me more than you know.” I hugged her back and wiped the moisture from my eyes. No matter what, she would always be my mother. “I have to go.”
She n
odded, smiling through her tears. “Thank you for coming. I know you risked so much returning here to see me.”
“Tell Rafaela I love her too.”
I smiled and headed toward the door in the wall. I paused before I opened it, let out a breath and closed my eyes. It was possible I’d never return there again, and it was harder this time than it was the day I’d been banished.
“I love you, Mother.”
“And I you, my daughter. Be careful out there.”
“I will. Goodbye.”
I opened the door, stepped through into the tunnel and closed it again. I swore to myself I wouldn’t look back. I knew it would break me if I did.
Chapter Thirty-One
Rafaela
I stood before the Royal Court, my head held high and my eyes focused ahead. Alec stood beside me and did the same. We both avoided meeting Gil’s angry eyes as the magistrate banged his gavel over and over. The crowd was on fire, hollering out encouraging shouts and maddening chants. I’d just presented my challenge to Gil, and he wasn’t taking it well.
His response of, “You can’t do this, I won’t allow it,” had earned him a sour welcoming from the crowd, and they had shot him down. It didn’t help that he’d brought his new concubine to the proceedings. She cowered in her seat next to him, trembling as she kept her head down. She had no idea what she’d gotten herself into, and it pained me none to not care.
“I can challenge you for the throne as can anyone in the pack. It’s an old law, but it is a law. I see you as unfit to rule and, therefore, challenge you for the throne of the ArcKnight pack.”
His eyes burned with a violent hatred I’d never had the pleasure of having directed my way. He reserved such disdain for his underlings, but I was no soldier or peon to step all over anymore. My challenge for the throne required a prompt response or he’d forfeit his reign.
“I will never step down. You’re a woman. Women are forbidden to challenge a male counterpart for the throne.”
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