Melvina blushed around her neck. “Ehee, not true.” Even though she knew it was true. She brought her stool closer to her friend, hoping that maybe this would be the talk that would set them on the path of healing, the both of them, especially for her. “You know what, I will go first.” Sheila conceded, seeing that Melvina was at a loss of words. She understood why though. The latter had a lot to put together. A lot to explain. “I’m sorry for being too hard on you for your choices. Wait first, sorry for blanking out on you. I’m sure that had caused you to blank out too. I had asked you about Mr Kletch, and then ghosted you. He is still around though right?” Melvina nodded. “Still hale and hearty. Still doesn’t talk a lot, and barely around. He spends most of his time in the human towns, probably because seeing us, his kins people, reminds him of the war, and the mate that he had lost. So, he chops wood, and then we don’t see him for quite a long while.” “Do you think he is around
Leonarya cussed, threw away her working cowries and the other magic inclined stuff lying on the black table in anger, after trying for the umpteenth time to conjure up the spying demons. She knew that they were gone, that they had been buried somewhere she could never know, but she didn’t know what else to do if not trying the more, or trying to do something, instead of lazing about and thinking about the fallacy of her plans and magic. She hadn’t bargained for the vampires to be put to play in this story of hers. She hadn’t counted the betrayal of her daughter too. No. Not hers. But Sheila’s. Freya. Leonarya knew she hadn’t been the best of mothers to the girl, but she would like to believe that she had tried. Would she have tried in that trying way if she had her own children with her? Leonarya shook her head, and slumped into her black throne seat. She knew that she would do better. There was just this thing about the bond between you and your real child. But she would like
Leonarya felt her knees slacken at Kyran’s words. Her mother was here? Was the woman that foolish? She even forgot, or rather didn’t deem it necessary at the moment to slap Kyran for using the Queen title on her mother. She had told him more than once not to do so. But she relegated the disobedience to shock. She was shocked too. “Where is she?” Leonarya asked, wondering that perhaps the gods were in her favor this time around. “She is in the outer court.” Leonarya nodded, and then waved him out of her presence. Kyran took a bow and hurried, wise in knowing the unstable state of Leonarya. Leonarya, whose mind had started down the memory lane again. But Leonarya shook herself out of it the next second, shook herself up, and walked out of the room. This was the wrong time to walk down the memory lane. This was no time at all. Yet, she couldn’t stop the torrent of memories that assailed her mind as she traveled the corridors to go and meet her mother. She couldn’t even help the r
A sheen of tears fuzzed up Zipfarah’s eyes as she stared at her daughter sporting a winning smirk on her lips. Did she have to do this? Zipfarah thought, wondering how they had come to this point-where she would kill her successor. “I didn’t lie, Leonarya. You are my successor. You are the oldest.” Leonarya shook her head with a sad laugh. “If Tempest was still alive, would I have being your successor, mother?” Zipfarah didn’t bother answering, didn’t bother lying. Tempest would have been the successor, and they both knew it. Zipfarah wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Yes, she was still angry that Leonarya had killed Tempest, but she had never thought it worth her own head. How could she lose two of her daughters over a human male? She didn’t understand the complications of their relationship but her daughter, Leonarya, wasn’t one to deal well with rejection. Yet, Zipfarah found it stupid that all this feud had been because of the man. She had thought that she had taught them
Tempest watched with wide eyes as Kyran-she still remembered the child who had a weird crush on her when he was but a child- escorted her mother into the dungeons. She quickly intensified the cloak she had put on around her and Ketura. They had come here to rescue Margo, but it turned out that they had been divinely led here, for this moment. If they had come a minute later or before, they wouldn’t have known that the Queen was in captivity. But how? How had her mother become present here? What about the community? What about her children? Tempest felt her heart rate spike, a deadly action in the midst of witches and wizards. “Tempest, be calm. You will give us away at this rate. At this rate, we might not be able to rescue Margo or your mother. We won’t be able to find out either what is going on back at the community, what is going on with your children. At this rate, Leonarya would find out that you are still alive. At this rate, our efforts all these months will be in vain.”
Ketura let out a sigh of relief at a mission accomplished when she and Tempest, who was still in her copied state, dropped Margo and Zipfarah on the longest couch in their sitting room. “I will be heading back to the containing room. Or rather to my place in the other side of the forest. You can come over to communicate with me whatever information you have. I still don’t think it’s a right idea that any of them know of me yet.” Ketura nodded, understanding what Tempest was talking about. They couldn’t afford a hole in their plans now, holes they couldn’t predict how it would come about, and so they would altogether eliminate anything that might look like something to trigger a hole. “We can leave them here. I’ve already activated the safeguards. We can talk in the adjourning room. I think that they would be out for more than an hour.” Tempest gave a slight nod, and headed to the particular room in question. “So, we have achieved the first phase of the plan. What do we do next?
Emma Makonel. Why not Emma Drackson? When was the name changed? Or was it her real name? Emma cocked her head to the side, unconsciously ruminating on this matter and the other details of the dream. However this one stood out. A change in her name. “Emma, what are you thinking about?” The question drew Emma out of her thoughts into the present, into the real world where she was having dinner with her family. She noticed the three were looking at her with a querying look, and shrugged her shoulders, indicating nothing. She wondered what her family would do if they found out what she had seen this last month in the place where they had sent her to school, and bit back a chuckle, imagining her father’s incredulous face. Emma Makonel. She would use the google after dinner, after the family meeting that her father had claimed they had to have after this dinner. Her mother looked like she wanted to inquire more, but then stopped short as if held back by an invisible force, and retur
It took about ten minutes for Emma’s father to gather his thoughts and speak again. Emma couldn’t help the feeling that whatever he said would change her life forever, would shake her orbit more than her orbit already has. She kept her resolve to stay and listen as steel, no matter how hard whatever her father had to say would hit her.“The woman’s name is Tempest. She had been an ex-girlfriend. My first love actually.” The fact that her father could speak of another woman so lovingly in front of his wife was quite disturbing, but seeing the resigned look on her mother’s face, Emma knew that the latter had accepted her place in the man’s life. Tempest. The woman who still had the larger portion of her father’s heart. Tempest. The name sounded familiar for some reason. Where had she heard it from? Emma tried to remember, but nothing was coming up, or rather her mind chose not to stress itself. It was rather full, and then concentrated on whatever her father was saying. “She di
Emma’s eyes were as active as anything active as she watched the elders slowly walk into the hall reserved for judging cases, like Annabel’s. As she watched them, her feet kept dancing on the floor in a funny unsteady motion; she was unsteady. One, one. Then two, two. Then one two. Once, Amelia had looked at her, with a piqued eyebrow. ‘What is that?’ Her eyes seemed to ask, but Emma had given no answer. What is it? It should be what are they?! When they were hurrying over to the hall, after convincing the guards that they would be around for the trial too, her sister had whispered that the cabin, her parent’s cabin, had been burnt by the master, Slediv. It had brought Emma up short, making her stagger on her feet for two reasons. That Slediv had really traced them, even without her then, and that the cabin was burnt; the loss it meant for her parents. Would they regret helping her then? Prescott didn’t think so. But Emma was still worried about it, just like her mind had tried
One week later:Emma had run to the clinic, immediately Adah had burst into her apartment with the news that Annabel and Amelia were awake. Over the couple of days in class, they had bonded over gossip, and training, seeing as the latter was the only one that had been sincerely interested in her. Emma had run with Prescott in her hands, and Adah right behind her. And when she arrived at the room she had frequented daily with prayers, and saw her sister and her friend chatting tiredly, she let out a scream of happiness and hurried over to them. “Amelia! Annabel!” She called gaily, garnering the attention of the two females sitting cross-legged on the same bed. Before they could let out a shout or smile of their own, Emma’s hands were already around them. “Oh my goodness, I am so happy for both of you…” she paused. “but give me a heartache again, and I will skin you both alive..” Annabel and Amelia divulged bouts of laughter, with the nurses. Prescott and Adah weren’t left behind,
Caden sighed in relief at his mate’s words, wanting to believe at all costs that the years he had spent with her, that the love they had shared, hadn’t been in vain. He didn’t know what he would have done otherwise. Cry, brood? Neither was acceptable in these times. And so, he wasn’t moved when his son piqued an eyebrow at his mate’s words, or when his daughter’s lips turned up—in disgust or curiosity, he wasn’t sure. But he didn’t care. He just hung on to the thread that his mate was spinning with. “I didn’t cheat on my mate, I’m sure he would have found out if I had done so, considering the mate bond and all that…” There was a pause, where relief sunk its foothold the more in Caden and his children. “So, if that’s what you are thinking, Caden… if that’s what you all are thinking, cut it out. I was surprised too when Claire had met me with the news at first, and I didn’t tell you, Caden, because I wasn’t sure how to explain the phenomena to you. I knew you held the lineage of you
Chyra didn’t know what Clem was talking about—the end of the world, and all that—but she knew that she was to blame for Claire rejecting her mate considering what she had soaked into her daughter’s mind about the alpha’s family, about how the Luna seat was her birthright. She also knew that she shouldn’t be working with Arnold. But she was too proud to concede to that, to concede to anyone, and so she shrugged her shoulders to Clem’s question. In the next second, she saw why that had been a wrong play on her part. When she saw Clem fume in anger, when she saw Claire glare at her stinkingly, when she saw her mate watch her like she was foolish, she knew that she had made a mistake. It would have been best if she had kept quiet, than giving off that nonchalant attitude. But her pride held her back from apologizing. Why should she apologize for being a mother caring to give her daughter the best? “Mother, are you so daft that…” Clem was saying when his father shouted him down. Caden
At this point, Clem didn’t know what to think about his sister, Claire. He had thought that their parents had been her motivator to reject Curtis, to follow Curtis up and down, to join the meetings that prince Nathan held with the others, but from the thick astounded silence that dwelled in the room, it could be safe to say that his sister had been acting on her own, without any external influence. He didn’t know what to think of that. He looked at his mother; she looked more shocked out of her shoes and mind than his father, quite expected since the mother and daughter duo were quite close, since his sister had no mind of hers, except put into place by his mother. As much as he was not happy with his twin, he was happy that for once his mother had no part to play in her recent escapades. “What do you mean…Claire?” Caden asked, pushing himself ahead, his elbow resting on his knees. “What do you mean when you say that Curtis is your mate? When did that happen? When did you find out?
What Claire saw first when she stepped into her father’s room was her parents sitting in the living room, with Clem, their backs hunched, the air filled with pregnant silence, waiting. They were waiting for her. She knew it from the moment she had dropped a note in Clem’s mind that she was on her way home. That he hadn’t bothered with a response, should have been enough to let her know that her twin was still angry with her. But she had held out hope, until she had reached the borders of the pack and he hadn’t been waiting for her. This was very different from the times they had quarrels. She knew, however, that this quarrel was different. She had denied her mate, because of the throne; had gone ahead to push Emma away from the pack; and when Derek still hadn’t chosen her, she had returned to Curtis because he was an Alpha. Would she have returned to him if he wasn’t that? She didn’t know. That was the truth. She didn’t know. She might have gone back to Curtis, even if he wasn’t a
At Wind Winders Pack.“Dad, what is this? What was Zoe doing in my room so early in the morning?” Curtis questioned, a second after he rushed into the dining room where his parents were having breakfast. He had slept in obviously, but he didn’t care. Yesterday’s training had been rigorous after all. He darted his eyes between his mother and father; his mother’s widened eyes told him that she had no idea what he was talking about; quite expected since this turn of event hadn’t been part of their plans. Hence, he trained his eyes on his father; the old man just continued eating his breakfast like he hadn’t spoken. Curtis thought of repeating himself, but thought better of it. He walked up to his father, and took away his plate of food; an act that he wouldn’t have been able to try before; an act that might have spelt his death; but considering his father’s few options of allies, he knew that he had a chance to live. And so, when his father glared at him heatedly, he didn’t quake in hi
“Hey…how are you feeling?” Emma whispered, touching Prescott’s head softly, as she watched him open his eyes for the second time. The first time, she had screamed and had called for the nurse in charge of his treatment, not minding that Adah was with her. Nothing could have dampened her joy. She had just checked on Annabel and Amelia, who although their vitals were stable, was still asleep, yet out of coma. According to the chief nurse, a week was enough for them to wake up now. Then she had checked on Prescott, and only touching him with fondness had elicited the response of his eyes opening. Emma had been overjoyed. “Prescott, can you hear me?” She asked softly, dragging a seat to herself, whilst Adah watched on, not understanding the communication method of the squirrel and Emma. Like the people in the community, she had never seen a talking animal, or rather an animal that communicates as Emma had painted Prescott to be. Her friend who was in the upper echelons of the community
No professor spoke to her, and Emma couldn’t help but wonder why. Had Prince Shiloh ask them to avoid her? Or had professor Brooks’ defeat scared them away from her? Well, if that was the matter, then she believed it was for the greater good. She had no interest in making affiliations after all, so long as they taught her what she wanted to know, and treated her fairly. “So, do you think you can cope?” She heard Adah ask, and turned aside to see her new seat mate. The mischievous glint in the latter’s eyes made her smile, howbeit small. “I believe I can.” She answered, before getting on her feet. She took her bag which Gira had provided that morning and slung the straps across her shoulder. It was time to go home, or rather check on her friends. Classes were done for the day. “Where are you going?” Adah asked her, getting to her feet. As they walked toward the door, a couple of the students swiftly moved, and stood before the door, causing Emma to furrow her eyebrows. But she chose