StormWe finish our usual training and lessons with Isadora, and then, for some reason, she is summoned. I know she's already worked with Mum today, so I'm not sure why they want her."Hey Babes," I turn, hearing the voice, and watch as Julian walks over, his arms wrapping around me."What are you doing here?" I ask, feeling confused, as it isn't the usual time he comes."Seeing you, why else?" he laughs, and my eyes roll. "Fine, I may have lost my job," he shrugs, and I laugh."Well, you need to leave," I reply, kissing his cheek. Something is going on."Are you okay? You have that look that says you sense something and are about to go on a hunt to get answers," he says while smirking, and he's right."I do sense something. Isadora went to see my parents, which makes no sense as they were meant to be open to people coming in today. Which, based on one look outside, was suddenly cancelled," I explain.My mum doesn't cancel these events without a really good cause. So something is goin
Storm POVMy mum looks at me, and I wait."Quinn is the son of a friend of your dad's," she explains."Then why haven't we seen him before?" If he's the son of a friend, surely we should have seen him before now?"His mother was that friend. She tried causing trouble before you were born, saying Quinn was one of theirs. She was forced to leave for lying."Wow, I'm shocked. "Bailey?" I ask, remembering now. I saw the videos of the wedding and celebrations, and I know a lot about what happened around that time.One person who appeared on a lot of cameras in the days up to the wedding was Bailey. Whilever she was there, my mum wasn't. Then she was gone, she wasn't at the wedding or anything."Yes. The fact is, he's having issues controlling his magic. It's not safe for anyone right now to be around him alone." Her words have me nodding."You all think it's a plan to cause trouble?" I ask, sensing that is the bigger issue. His magic isn't, it's who is mother is that's causing them to be c
Storm POVI've done what my mum suggested, spent time with Julian, and not rushed into things. I feel like I'm delaying the inevitable, which makes me feel worse.Julian's arms are wrapped around me. "You've been unusually quiet. Something is going on. All night, you were different. Then today as well," his eyes focus on mine.He's not wrong. He stays one night a week. Usually, I talk about everything that's happening all week, but there's not much to tell him."Your wolf was back, Storm. Now it's gone again. Why?" He peers at me, and I'm scared of hurting him. He's going to find out, though. I know that Dad is back today, which means Quinn will likely be forced to interact with us."I love you," I smile at him, and his head tilts."You say that in a way that makes me feel like there's a 'but' coming?" He sits up, and I hear the knock. I walk to the door, and William smiles at me."Your Highness, you're late for food. The family are waiting," he explains."I need another five minutes,
QuinnWhoever she was, she walked in the room, and I instantly felt grounded. She looked so beautiful, and I couldn't stop staring at her.That was days ago now. I've avoided people, I only leave this room when one of their guards knocks and tells me I need to see Isadora, who is a witch.She's convinced the magic isn't the issue and I am. That made me laugh. I told everyone else that the magic isn't out of control, I am. My mind, but they refused to listen.All this feels alien to me, like a new world. I'm not used to anything. I didn't even sleep in the bed the first night because it's not something I ever used.I know my job here, but I'm conflicted. I don't want to let my mother down, but at the same time, I'm worried. I lean against the wall, my knees drawn up while holding the sketch pad and pencil in my hands.I've drawn her over and over. I believe her name is Storm, I'm not sure though. That's what King Darius had shouted and she listened.Storm.It's ironic her name represen
StormI stand feeling conflicted."Go speak to Julian, explain the situation, and then find Quinn. Right now, you need to explain to Julian," my mum smiles, and I nod.Walking through, I go into the other room and see him pacing. Opening my mouth to speak, he stops me by speaking to himself."How long? How fucking long have you known about your mate?" He shouts, and I try to work out the words."A few days. Today was only the second time I saw him." I whisper."Only the second time? You make it sound like it's nothing!" He continues to pace. "You said you loved me today! How can you do that when you know your mate is living here, that close by?" He shouts, and William steps forward."It's fine, William; please give us space." I look at him, and he glances between us."If you continue to shout at the princess and swear, I will have you escorted out," William snaps and storms out."Where does this leave me? Us? Is there even a us?" Julian looks at me."I don't know. I've spent the past
StormWilliam is standing close by, and I am guessing that is Darius’ order after what just happened.I stay standing with my mum. She told me to calm down first, and she was right. My raging emotions right now won't help. It certainly won't help Quinn, who likely doesn't know how to stop himself from feeling what I do.We talk for a short while until I am calm again, only when I finally feel calm and ready, William rushes past us."What's going on?" I ask as I see other guards following. We move and follow William, getting towards the main gates, where everyone is."What's happened?" My mum looks at Alpha Tony."Quinn tried leaving, but they stopped him," he explains. I push through the guards and soldiers, with my mum following. As I break free, I see Quinn facing my dad and Darius.Wow. I know they said he does fire magic, and I'm not entirely sure what I thought I saw or what I expected it to be. It's real fire, which shocks me.How isn't it burning his hands? I'm not even sure ho
QuinnI'm not sure what I did to make Storm hate me, but she did. She shouted and made me aware I should leave. For some reason, I had a strong urge of wanting to stop her from hurting.My primary focus was on protecting her and stopping her from hurting, so I did as she told me and left or tried to. Only they stopped me, and things began to get worse. The hurt and panic that flooded me when Storm confronted me was still right there.It meant when they refused to let me leave, I panicked more. More of the fact she would hate me even more when she realised I was still here. I tried begging, I tried to threaten, and nothing worked.Which made everything bad; I lost control. I know I did, as I couldn't control the fire. I couldn't separate the emotions from the magic. Their attempts to stop the fire seemed to only make it worse.I pull the wet, frozen shirt from my body. I still remember it. She just appeared in front of me, and I saw the ice water flying towards her. I'm not even sure h
StormI walked out of the room and towards the kitchen."Princess Storm, may I assist you?" May looks at me as I'm about to open the kitchen door."No, thank you, I'm just getting a drink," I smile at her and walk into the kitchen. Grabbing two drinks, I walk back out and see my parents."I don't know much yet," I say quickly."We were making sure you're okay," My mum says while smiling."I'm fine, but he has no idea about werewolves. He's never shifted, either. He also doesn't know about bonds, mates and things. So that won't have helped and would have confused him when he felt my emotions," I explain."You can't shift until we have seen him do it and know he's safe." Darius looks at me."You think he has a darkened wolf?" I ask."I'm unsure of everything right now; Grant had the research, so until he shifts with us close by, you need to keep your distance when he does." My mum explains, and I nod."That's fine," I reply, knowing that there is a chance his wolf is darkened."Has he s
Asher POVI look down at Katla. She's only a few days old. After speaking with Zyra, she decided that the space in the mountains would be a retreat—a place for us to escape to, somewhere Katla could get used to what it is like to live in the Dragon Kingdom.We have spent a few days there, but not many. Apparently, she wants to be in the palace close to the others. Part of me feels like that's because they were her support while I was hiding away.It's shown her what having a family around can do. We're close, minus Aurelia. She seems to be thriving with the Bears and keeping her distance. Other than returning that day when I was going crazy and needed help, she rarely came back. We've adjusted and got used to that, however.She wants her life away from here; she wants her own life, not one that is connected to us. She should have that if she wants it."Hey."Turning, I see Elijah walk to me.He laughs slightly and takes Katla from my arms. "You look exhausted; fun night?"It's only 4
Asher POVI walk out of the room and go to where I know they will be. As I step into the office, they turn to face me.Darius shakes his head. "You should be with Zyra.""I was, but considering this is brought on by the Dragons, I should be helping." I walk further in and look at the papers."Nothing to help with," my dad shrugs. "His son is clean, Seraphine can tell. Things were explained to him. He had no idea about the arranged marriage and, to be honest, was shocked, as he apparently had a mate."So the son won't be an issue. Is that what he's saying?"Look, both Eliphas and Durnalin are in the cells, away from each other. The son has gone. Apparently, he has a whole life with his mate. His dad told him the dragons had requested their presence at events." Darius explains.It makes no sense, though. "Why? Why would the dragons want the warlocks there?" How didn't his son question it?"Apparently, because Eliphas and his son are the strongest warlocks, they invited them to make a un
Asher POVI wait and watch."Prince Asher, soon to be King, tell me something." He walks to the bars and leans against them. "Where do Warlocks belong?"My head tilts; they belong wherever they want to. I don't understand his question."See, there is no answer as we don't belong anywhere. There is the werewolf kingdom, fae, dragons and everything else. Witches and warlocks are forced to live in one of those kingdoms, with no real power."So this was all about getting power? My body is pushed back, and my eyes widen as I see King Drakon reach through the bars—his hand clamps around Eliphas' neck.I guess he's fixed, and his curse is gone. My dad and Darius drag him away, and I watch Eliphas drop to the floor, clutching his neck. The blood runs down from where King Drakon's nails dug in."We need answers; killing him won't get them." My dad turns and faces Eliphas."Apparently, this was all for power." Which still makes no sense."It wasn't just for power. We wanted our own kingdom, our
Asher POVI'm anxious. It's been two days since the curse was lifted, and I'm glad to be back to normal. All that is at risk, though. Tonight, I have to be close to whoever is pretending to be King Drakon. That then risks it happening again, and if it does, will it start slow again or begin where it was removed?I've noticed Elijah, Storm, and Aurelia are quiet. Whatever was done has worn them out, which I didn't want."Are you ready?" Zyra hugs me, and I nod. I'm not. We need answers and to figure out who it is."Be careful, okay?" I don't like that I'm not going to be there."It's you who needs to be careful. You will be in a confined space with him. If anything goes wrong." She looks at me worriedly.Wrapping my arms around her, I smile. "I'll be fine; once he's in the cell, he can't do anything." I kissed her and gave her a final hug before walking away.Getting to the cells, I sit in one and wait. I'm hoping the plan works. If we can get him in the cell, then his magic and power
Asher POVI can see Zyra is struggling, and I don’t blame her either. She just found out her brother is missing.“Look, when Seraphine checked trying to find out the issue with him, she saw King Drakon, but it wasn’t him. Whoever it was is who we believe Cursed Asher.” My mum grasps her hands and smiles. “We’ve got people tracking down where your brother really is. There’s a reason for this, and it’s you, Zyra. Seraphine could sense the curses were put on Asher and Elijah to try and push you to return home.”Zyra looks around the room and seems increasingly worried. “What about Ryker? Is he okay? Does he know?” She waits, and I don’t know the answer to that.“I’m sorry, we don’t know. You need to stay here, Zyra. We have a plan, and we’re hoping Seraphine can uncover more when the person comes here.”She nods and sits, looking lost.“We are expecting Seraphine to return late tonight or early tomorrow. If they can’t fix the issue, then we will keep working to.” My mum smiles and hugs h
Asher POVAfter about an hour of sitting in the cell with Zyra, I ordered her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, but she shouldn't have been sitting in the cells with me.So, I've been alone for hours, waiting to find out their plan. They hadn't thought this through. I need to leave the cell to go to the room. As soon as I step out of this cell, it will come back. Then what?I'm willing to agree to anything right now if it gets me out of this cell and back with Zyra. The footsteps have me standing, and I watch my dad and Darius walk towards me."What's your plan? How am I to do this?" They haven't thought it through."You need to shift." Darius looks at me.I laugh at him. Is that some kind of joke? "You want me to shift, so that what? I can kill people easier?"My dad sighs and steps forward. "Please do as you're told. You won't understand why we're saying you can shift, but shift. Into your wolf, not dragon."Of course, I won't understand; they haven't explained it to me. If
Elijah POVI sit in the office; Seraphine has left. She's meeting her family halfway in the hopes they have something that can help. Merfolk are powerful creatures with extraordinary abilities.Curses and such are something they specialise in."We're going to request that King Drakon attend a celebration for Zyra's pregnancy. It means we can get what we need and figure out who it is and what their aim is." My dad looks at me, and he makes it sound so simple. This isn't simple."He's going to ask why Asher isn't present, then what?" We can't lie and hide him. "It will look suspicious.""Not if Zyra invites him, she won't know, remember. She can invite him, and whoever is portraying King Drakon won't suspect anything. We're going to be honest and explain something is wrong with Asher, and he's not well."So we're not hiding the issue."He could be in the cell for weeks, so we've had things moved down there for him. The plan is later to test how he is with someone in the cell with him. T
Asher POVI watch as Elijah glares at everyone and backs up more."Elijah, we need to know." My mum steps towards him."I saw him once, just once! You all need to focus on Asher, not me! He's the one that is cursed, not me!" He shouts and steps back. He backs into my dad, and he grabs Elijah as Seraphine steps forward and grips his head.His screams echo around the cells, and it's all over just as quickly as it starts. His body falls to the floor, and he cradles his head."Well?" Darius looks at Seraphine."You're going to need a warlock, or I'll need to contact my family and see if they have something to clear the curses." Her words make me look towards Elijah. So, he is also cursed."Asher's curse is to make him push everyone out and make him think he has a mad wolf so that Zyra leaves. Elijah's was to hate Asher, likely to intensify it." Seraphine smiles slightly. "There's no mate, Elijah. The curse is what's stopping us from having a baby. There's no third mate." Her words have hi
Asher POVNo one speaks, likely because they know what I said is the truth. I need to die; there is nothing they can do to change that."Explain the process, what happened, how it started, when it happens." Darius pulls a chair over and sits outside the cell.I laugh. "Why do I need to talk? Why do I need to explain? You're proving you believe me by keeping me locked in here and being too afraid to come near your own son."Nothing I say can change that."Asher, I'm not opening the cell because I don't trust you to try and run. So explain it to me, tell me how it's progressed, and let's be sure that is what is happening." He waits, and I watch my mum, Elijah, and dad sit with him."It began with whispers. The words were barely audible, but I heard whispers in my ear. They got louder and began to sound like words. Whispers were one thing, but then I began to see people dead and my wolf above them." It was a warning to me to hide, to push them away, and not let them close to me."When do