by Lacey Thorn
Chapter Ten
“I’m just not sure that killing Wilhelm is what we need to do,” Aslan said once more.
“How can you still love him?” Aurora demanded. “Did you not see what he did to our mother?”
Aslan turned from them, staring out the window into the never-ending darkness while the rest of them shared looks of disbelief. “By killing him, we become him.”
“Never.” Rory stormed. “I don’t see any of us raping and holding people against their wills.”
“We’ve killed,” he stated. “Without remorse.”
“Only those who attacked us, Wilhelm’s men,” Lynx defended.
“So a life is unimportant as long as it is a life Wilhelm has touched?” he asked.
“That’s not what we’re saying,” Serenity answered.
“Aren’t we?” Aslan said, turning to face them. “We have conditions for what life is worthy of saving just as he does. That makes us no better.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Aurora asked.
“We go to the clearing where you found our mother’s sword, just as Serenity said. Break the curse of darkness and bring light back to our world. Then see what Wilhelm does.”
“Aslan, I know that you love him,” Aurora said, coming over to take his hand. “He raised you, showed you love. But he is not who you think he is.”
“Perhaps he isn’t what any of us think he is,” he murmured before shifting to peer out the window again. “I know what he has done. I have no misconceptions any longer on what or who he is.” He turned to look at them, taking the time to meet all of their eyes. “But don’t any of you want to know why? It isn’t enough for me to know what he did. The knowledge doesn’t explain enough. I want to know why, what he hoped to gain. I need to know.”
Serenity stepped up and took his other hand, squeezing it. “I’d like to know the answers to that as well.”
“Not me,” Rory exclaimed. “I saw my mother raped, locked naked in a cage as if she were not even human. I don’t care what his reasons are. I want to watch him die, even better if it is at my hand.”
“I’m with Rory,” Lynx said. “His excuses don’t matter and that’s all they would be. Excuses, lies. My mother is still alive and I can’t help but worry for her safety as long as he lives.”
“Lydia is safe at the temple with my mother,” Serenity reminded her.
“And I’m thankful for that,” Lynx said. “But shifters aren’t meant to live confined in a temple. We need to run, to feel the earth beneath our feet.”
“It looks like you’re the deciding vote,” Aslan said to Aurora.
“I want him dead, want to hear him beg for his life like the coward he is,” she stated.
“Then it’s decided,” Rory said, nodding.
“No, it’s not.” Aurora shook her head. “We are in this together. I won’t be the one who decides which direction we take. That’s not fair to any of us. Besides, part of me agrees with Aslan. I want to know why. Why was my mother killed? What purpose did it really serve? And I just can’t shake this feeling.”
“What feeling?” Serenity asked.
“He didn’t kill my mother,” Aurora said. “The Danuja woman did. I saw that clearly.”
“And?” Rory prompted.
“And I saw him knock the woman down with a blow that brought blood. I saw him go to my mother and hold her in his arms. I just can’t shake this feeling.”
“Don’t tell me that you think he loved your mother?” Lynx huffed.
“He did,” Aslan stated emphatically. “I saw it too.”
Rory sighed, letting them all know she wasn’t happy. “Fine, we’ll wait to hunt him and put everyone out of the misery of his life. But I make no promises that if the opportunity appears to kill him that I won’t take it.”
“Same here,” Lynx agreed.
Aslan nodded. “Let’s get everyone together and meet at the gate. I’ll have Piers and Seer gather the warriors I’ve selected to escort us and we’ll head out. Perhaps seeing light again will allow us to see things more clearly.”
Rory walked over to him. “There is nothing that will make me hate him less, nothing that will ever excuse what he did.”
“I know,” Aslan assured her and leant down to kiss her on the brow.
Aslan stood silently as they left, lost in thoughts too dark to share. Only when his sisters left the room did he realise that Rory’s little sister was sitting in the corner. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t noticed her before. In fact, he was usually aware of her the exact moment she entered a room. She was Rory’s sister and, though she was no blood relation to him, that made her like a sister to him. He was trying to remind his cock of that fact.
“I didn’t see you there, little sister,” he said as she rose and walked across to him. He’d started calling her that in an attempt to remind himself that she wasn’t for him, but his cock seemed to have a mind of its own where she was concerned. It was the warm brown of her skin, the long, ebony tresses that tumbled and curled around her shoulders. Mostly it was the way she watched him with her big brown eyes as if she could see all of his secrets, as if she were only waiting for him to share them.
“I’m not your sister,” she reminded him as she always did. She stopped in front of him and lifted her hand to caress his cheek.
It took all he had not to lean into her touch, to turn his head and kiss the soft pad of her palm. But she wasn’t for him. He had to keep reminding himself of that as many times as it took.
“When will you tell them?” she asked.
“Tell them what?”
“What you saw in the orb?”
“We all saw what happened to our mothers on that day.”
“No.” She shook her head and her damn eyes sucked him in. “They saw their mother’s lives. You saw Wilhelm.”
“What makes you think that?”
She just smiled at him and went up on her toes, leaning closer, seeming to take advantage of his momentary surprise. He was shocked at the feel of her lips brushing softly over his.
“They need to know,” she said and dropped back to her feet. “They deserve to know.”
“Not yet,” he whispered. “They’re not ready yet to hear what I saw.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” she agreed and turned to leave the room. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at him. “You know that no matter how many times you say it, it still won’t be true.”
“What?”
“I’m not your sister,” she said and dropped her gaze to the bulge of his cock that he couldn’t hide. “And your body knows it.”
With that, she turned and left the room. His cock had come to rigid attention with just the caress of her gaze and he reached down to try and adjust it. The feel of his hand made it even worse, his mind immediately thinking of how hot and tight her pussy would feel milking his dick. But there were things she didn’t know. He sensed she was a virgin and that made her even less of a candidate for mating with him. For his mate wasn’t just his. There were things that were expected of the king’s mate, things that only the king and his mate could know.
Besides, the last time a warrior had mated with a native hadn’t ended so well for either of them. They’d all heard the story, it was their history. Plus, there was the fact he had picked up on as soon as he’d known Rory was his sister. Raine was the real royal of the natives. She would be queen and her mates would have to be accepted by her people. Rory expressed it best. How would any of them accept a son of Wilhelm as her mate? They wouldn’t. And that was all there was to it.
Serenity stood in the middle of the clearing and couldn’t help but go back to the night her mother had stopped here on her way to the temple she now lived in. She glanced towards the tree where she knew Aurora had found her mother’s sword. After all, Serenity had watched her mother put it there.
They had discussed beforehand how to position themselves for the ritual Serenity planned to conduct. They all moved into plac
e, each of the women with their mates behind them. Aslan took his place at the spot directly in front of the tree with Aurora next to him, going in a circle so that it ended with Rory on his other side. Aslan’s cousins and guards were placed around him and Raine stood closer to them than her sister’s mates.
Serenity took all this in as she brought the ritual to the forefront of her mind. It had to be done precisely or it wouldn’t work and she didn’t know whether she would have the power to try to repeat it right away. She withdrew her dagger and watched as her siblings each did the same.
Aslan held his high and in a strong clear voice began. “With blood and magic this spell I weave. Removing the darkness that doth deceive. I call to the goddess to bring her light and ban this darkness from my sight.” With that, he brought the blade to his palm then bent to let his blood seep into the earth.
Aurora raised her blade aloft. “With the strength of blood in my veins, I call on the goddess to wield the reins. Banish the dark and bring the light, showing all the power of your might.” She slashed the blade over her palm and crouched to place it to the ground as well.
Serenity lifted her blade up. “Magic sings beneath the skin, blood atones for prior sin. Blood to blood and soul to soul, take the five and make them whole.” The blade flashed and she placed her palm to join Aslan’s and Aurora’s on the earth beneath their feet.
Lynx was next. She took her dagger and stared at it for just a moment. Serenity worried whether Lynx might have forgotten what she had to say. But Lynx recovered and with head tilted high, she spoke. “Magic within and magic without, pulled together, free of doubt. Where once the dark gave eternal night, we ask the goddess to bring the light.”
Rory was the last and she voiced her part immediately, her words powerful and perhaps just a bit angry, if Serenity were honest. “Magic is powerful but cannot hold, without the blood to unite the soul. Blood and magic merged as one, blood magic an evil undone.”
As Rory’s palm joined the rest of them, Serenity could feel the surge of power as if it came up from the ground itself, binding them to it. The air felt as if it was pressing her shoulders, attempting to hold her in place. But there was more to do and she fought it using all her magic to tug free and raise her Staff into the air.
“Bring the light!” she cried out and it seemed that a great wind filled her ears. She could hear the others joining her chant, but it was as if they were far away. Mist rose from the ground and she was certain there was evil in it as it snaked around her, like icy fingers seeking to break her concentration. She couldn’t let it.
Sweat broke out on her brow and she fought harder to maintain her grip on the Staff. Her skin was so frozen that it burned and her power was draining quickly. Fear fought to consume her. What if she wasn’t strong enough to undo Wilhelm’s spell? What if together they weren’t enough? What if she had messed the ritual up and told them wrong? She would fail.
She was ready to cry when a hand squeezed her shoulder, joined quickly by another. Theron and Thedan united with her and it was as if their touch waged war on the cold. Her fear was fading, taking the mist with it, sinking back down to be absorbed into the earth. She was able to see that all the mates stood together in triads. The only one that was different was Aslan, who had Piers and Seer behind him, a hand on each shoulder. Raine stood between them and the triad of her sister, Rory, and her mates, Lake and Lincoln. Raine had one hand on her sister’s triad and one hand on Aslan’s, joining the two groups.
Serenity was pulled from her observation by the power of Merced’s voice. “Give the command.” He held his free hand up, beginning to chant something. Micah began to repeat his brother’s words and there was a surge of power.
She raised her Staff above her head with both hands and screamed into the night. “By my might, I demand the light.” So saying she brought the Staff down to slam into the earth and felt the explosion of power as it sank in at least an inch.
There was a ripple from the point it rested, which moved like a quake beneath their feet. It breached the circle they’d created with an explosion that dropped them all to their knees. Gold sparks flew up from around them, slowly at first but picking up speed quickly until everything around them was aglow.
Serenity leant her head back and watched the sparks fly higher and higher. Then with a thunderous crash they seemed to join together and the night exploded in bright light that had her rapidly closing her eyes and lowering her head to avoid the intense brightness. She shook her head a few times and finally forced her lids open. Looking around, she smiled.
They’d done it. The dark was gone. Wilhelm’s spell was broken.
Epilogue
Wilhelm fell to his knees, grasping his chest and panting from the intense pain. The spell was broken. He wasn’t sure how they’d done it, but obviously the mage was much more powerful than he had anticipated. He’d seen her and had little doubt that she was the daughter of the priestess he’d dallied with.
“Wilhelm!”
The cry reached him just moments before her hands were on him. Some days when he looked at her he remembered the young woman he’d admired. He recalled how she’d been brought to him, the way she’d started out by bartering with him using her body. But she’d figured him out quickly and learned the key to keeping herself safe beside him. She’d told him that she could help him get the power he craved.
He’d cared for her once, as much as he was capable of anyway. But parts of him had died so long ago, after fate had denied him the woman of his dreams for a mate.
He let his gaze rake over the woman beside him and acknowledged that she was a poor substitute at best. She had her uses, but sex hadn’t been one of them in a long time. He shook her off now, caring little that he knocked her to the floor as he regained his feet.
“I’m fine,” he snarled at her, his entire body shaking with rage. “But you aren’t.” He looked down at her and felt disgust at the way she tried to present herself as a loving, sexual creature. There was nothing loving about her, and sex was just another weapon wielded in her hands.
“What is wrong?” she asked, maintaining her subordinate position at his feet.
Yes, she had always been a smart one.
“The spell is broken. You remember the one you said they would be unable to break?” he reminded her.
That had her up and on her feet swiftly enough. He watched her move until she could see through the window. He left her screeching in fury as he walked out of the room. She’d ceased being an asset to him a long time ago. It had all begun on the night she’d killed Ona, claiming it was for his own good. He should have got rid of her then, he honestly wasn’t sure why he hadn’t.
But all of that was beside the point now. He had bigger issues to deal with. Issues such as the newly crowned queen, Aurora. If only he’d been able to find her and dispose of her when she’d been in infancy. He’d thought to look for her with Lydia, but neither had ever been with any of the shifter groups he’d searched. He’d thought to look for her with the priestess, Serena, but he’d been unable to set foot in the Goddess’ Temple or even on its grounds. But he’d sent a spy in once and been assured that no children were there. Obviously that had been a lie. The mage had come from the temple.
So what did he do now? He knew it was only a matter of time before they figured out where he was and came to confront him. He was beginning to doubt whether he would be able to defeat them. Would they kill him? Imprison him? Torture him? Did any of it really matter?
There were things he had to do either way. The first was to send a missive to the castle, to his nephew, Aslan. It would help that Aslan was also the king. Surely, Aslan would still bear some love for him. After all, it was Wilhelm who had loved and cared for Aslan since his mother died. But what could he say to persuade his nephew?
There was only one thing he could say at this point—only one thing that might give him a chance at maybe being exiled instead of killed. So, sitting down with ink and page, he began to writ
e the only thing he could. Perhaps by sharing the truth his soul might at least find peace. Goddess knew his heart never would.
Also available from this author at Total-E-Bound Publishing:
Finding Home
Lacey Thorn
Excerpt
Chapter One
“I know that you’re as unhappy as me, Andy. I can see it every time that I look in your eyes. There’s no love in there for me. You pull away from me when I try to touch you. You don’t return my kiss anymore. We’ve been engaged for a while now and yet we still haven’t made love. Which would be fine if it was to make our wedding day more special. But I know that isn’t the reason. We tried. We really tried, or at least I did. But I can’t spend the rest of my life with a woman who shudders away from my touch instead of under it. That wouldn’t be fair to either one of us. So I’m cancelling the wedding. I’ll take care of it all myself. Because the truth is that I’ve been seeing someone else, someone who does love my touch. And that isn’t fair to any of us.”
Andrea Michelle Ebans sat in her car in front of her mother’s farm house. It had been three years since her wedding to Bryan had been cancelled. She had left within hours of their conversation. And Bryan had married her sister Chloe instead. Chloe, her affectionate older sister who looked so much like their mother. Her sister was a slim 5’7” with an always perfectly coiffed blonde bob hair cut and big green eyes. She was America’s picture of the beautiful woman. And honestly, most likely a perfect match for Bryan. But it had been hard to admit that back then.
Andy was built more like the women in her father’s family. She stood 5’3” and was as curvy as they came. Her breasts were a large 38DD, and, although her stomach was flat, her ass was quite a handful. She had long brown hair that was prone to curls no matter how much she longed for her sister’s straight hair. In fact, the only thing that they shared was their green eyes.
