Part Two

“Death visited me earlier. He took me to a place where I saw three old women, they’re known as the Norns. They see the past, the present and the future. If you’re worthy, they will show you and give you a chance to change your fate.”

“Who’s fate? Yours?”

“I have a daughter.” Her eyes were wide with anger, but she controlled her voice.

“How old?” I knew this was the make-or-break moment.

“She was born the day after Kai.”

Adara slapped me harder than I thought she could and stood up. She grabbed the first thing she could find on my desk and threw it at my head. The solid steel wolf statuette connected and cut my cheek open. She wasn’t looking at me, she was crying as she grabbed whatever she could find, and I had to turn my back to her.

“Adara! Enough!” I yelled at her as she slumped to the floor and sobbed. I bent down in front of her and just held her.

“Let me just tell the story. This is as big a shock to me as it is to you. I never cheated.” She didn’t lift her head and I continued the story.

“Her name is Saga, and her mother is a witch. She made herself look like you, so that I…to get pregnant. I did sleep with her once before when you were in Ireland. Jessica did a spell so that I could forget her. By the time Dezrael realized she wasn’t pregnant the first time, we were married and her spells didn’t work anymore, because you were here.” I could feel her heart breaking, piece by piece as I kept talking.

“I’m a half witch, she wants Karani’s power through Saga which she thinks is my first-born child. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes that Kai was born first–” Adara interrupted me for the first time then.

“What did Death show you?” She was adamant, gripping my shoulders hard. I shook my head, and she grabbed my hand. “Tell me!” She said more urgently.

“We were in the clearing setting Kai’s spirit free.” It came out as a whisper and she started crying all over again. I hugged her then and let her cry. We sat like that for a long time. My cheek had stopped bleeding and I stood up pulling her up with me.

“Now I have to go tell Malachi all of this too.” Her emotions were all over the place and it was hard to know what she was really feeling, but she took my hand and walked with me into the kitchen.

“Whoa, that was some talk, Superstar.” Jessica looked at the blood on my face, but I didn’t smile. We sat down at the kitchen table and Malachi looked from Adara to me, but we were blocking him.

“What’s going on?” Malachi questioned as he put Kai in his carry cot. I ignored him for a moment and then I finally looked at him.

“How long have you and Jessica been…you know,” I started asking him.

“A few months.”

“Did you know that she’s a witch?” Shock registered in both their eyes.

“How did you know that?” I smiled sadly. In a way I was glad that he knew she was a witch, they had honesty at least.

“Death paid me a visit earlier this morning. He took me to visit the Norns.” Jessica’s eyes widened.

“The Norns?” Jessica repeated my words in a whisper.

“Okay, I’m going to give you the short version. Dezrael’s a witch and she made herself look like Adara to get pregnant. I have a daughter named Saga, she was born the day after Kai. When she realizes that Saga isn’t the first-born, she will come after Kai. He’s in danger.” Malachi was shocked to say the least to learn he now had three grandchildren.

“I don’t understand the reasoning as to why.” I looked at Jessica, I didn’t think that she wanted to answer him, so I did.

“Dad, I’m a half witch like Mom. If her child is the first-born, she can claim from ancestral powers. Karani was an immensely powerful witch, and she wants it.” I watched his face. I was shocked once again. He knew.

“You knew and you never told me?” Anger made my hands shake. He didn’t answer me.

“I don’t care who is a witch or who did what, I want my son safe! How are you going to do that?” Jessica looked at me, I had shocked her with everything I knew, and I realized that she also knew about Karani.

“I eliminate the threat from Kai by harnessing Karani’s power for myself as her first-born.” Jessica’s eyes were wide, and I saw that she was very uncertain.

“That’s an extremely dangerous spell to do, Kiran. Most witches don’t survive the process.” Fear was evident in Jessica’s voice.

“This is what the Norns showed me, I have to harness Karani’s powers to save Kai.”

“Kiran, you talk about things you know nothing about, as if it’s just easy to do, ‘yeah let me take Kai’s place’, you have no idea even where to start. Dezrael is already a powerful witch on her own, to do a transformation ceremony takes months of preparation. You know nothing of magic!”

“Then you’ll teach me because you’re in this as much as I am. You made me forget her the first time we met.” She shook her head and sighed.

“You’ll need Karani’s heart.” Jessica said finally.

“We cremated her and scattered her ashes in the clearing.” It was the first time Malachi had said anything since I had said that I was half witch half wolf.

“Okay, this just became so much harder. We’ll have to cut out a piece of your liver–” Jessica started and Adara stood up suddenly.

“What? That’s crazy!”

“It’ll be okay.” I tried to soothe Adara but Jessica shook her head again.

“No, Kiran, she’s right. It is crazy because we stop your healing so that we can get to your liver. The pain will be excruciating, but if the spell works it’ll heal immediately afterwards, if not, you’ll die.”

“No, there has to be something else we can do. Can’t you just kill her?” Adara’s question was innocent and I saw something in Jessica’s eyes that I didn’t like.

“No, killing a witch isn’t that easy. She’ll have protection spells around herself and possibly a cloaking spell around the baby. We will have to fight her with magic, weaken her and then kill her. Dark magic is enormously powerful. She would have harnessed another dead witch’s power to successfully do that transformation spell, meaning she’s even more powerful now. No coven will get involved with this.” Jessica answered her.

For Adara, the choice was a difficult one. For me, it was quite easy. I would suffer anything, go to any lengths to keep them safe. I would even cut out my own liver if it meant that Kai would live.

“That’s not all, though.”

I knew they were processing everything I had told them. I had told them so much and I knew that later I would have this conversation again, with James. I thought about what I would tell the pack.

“There’s more?” Adara asked incredulously.

“My daughter, Saga. I have to save her too.”