Thane
“Where did you say you found her?”
“By the lake. She was watching Axel and Cosima.” Tyler tells me as I stare at the Fairy huddled in the corner of cell four. “Ace would have ripped her apart, but Cosima begged him not to hurt her. So we brought her here. It’s weird, though.” “What is?”
“She didn’t fight, Thane. She didn’t use her Fairy magic; she just gave up and allowed Axel to drag her here.”
Strange.
‘Think she’s the spy?’
“What else could she be, Jagger?”
‘Someone looking for Emori’s body? The Fairy King could have sent her to retrieve his sister.’
‘Then he’d be a fu.cking fool to think Emori’s body would still be retrievable.’
‘Yes, but it could have been a ploy to find information on what happened to Emori.’
‘Does Emori know this girl?’ I ask Tyler, still with my eyes locked on the Fairy. She won’t be able to use her magic down here, but her mocha skin still shines as if it was natural. Her long black hair is braided to her waist, and her clothes are not of this world. However, she’s dressed like a male Fairy warrior in dark pants and an intricate jacket. She has no weapons, which is weird.
Tyler sighs. ‘Yes, she knows the girl.
‘Well? Who is she?’
‘The Fairy King’s illegitimate daughter.’
‘The fu.ck?’
That sick fu.ck sent his daughter here to spy?
Knowing she could be mauled to death by Royal Lycans?
After what he believed we did to his sister?
Does Astro not care about this girl at all?
Poor girl, her own father fed her to the wolves, not caring if she made it out alive.
‘Emori recognized her immediately. Axel chased her down because she was clearly spying on us. He felt she was a threat, but Cosima didn’t. Axel caught her, and that’s when Cosima told him who she was. Luckily, the girl only saw Cosima, and Emori is knocked out because the shift took too much out of her.
‘I don’t know, Thane. Emori was so upset thinking we’d execute the girl. Emori said her niece would never hurt anyone, that Astro would have forced her to do this!
‘That doesn’t excuse anything, Ty. Once I’ve interrogated her, she’ll be put to death.
Tyler disagrees; I can tell by the way he sighed. But I will not allow this spy to live, no matter who she might be related to. That’s not how this works! ‘The Fairy is Lyric’s cousin.’
‘I don’t care, Jagger!’ I cut him off.
“Open the door.” Gary, the guard on duty, nods and opens the door using the panel on the wall. The doors slide open, and the Fairy, using the wall to steady herself, gets to her feet. Her eyes are wide but on me the whole time. “Do you have a name? Or do I call you Fairy?” “Taylen. My name is Taylen.”
“What business do you have on my land, Taylen? Don’t bother lying; I’ll know.” “My father.”
“The Fairy King.”
Taylen nods. “He sent me to find my aunt. He knows that you captured and killed her; he felt it. But he wanted to make sure we could bring her body home. He said we needed to give her a Royal burial. I tried to explain that you wouldn’t have kept Emori’s body this long, but he wouldn’t listen.
“I know that’s not the real reason he sent me. Astro didn’t care about Emori; that man cares for no one, not even me.”
“The real reason?”
“He wanted information on Lyric.”
Anger fills my veins like molten lava. “You’ve been spying and taking back information?”
“No,” Taylen shakes her head vigorously. “Someone else was spying. But they weren’t doing their job fast enough, so Astro killed them. He sent me in place when he felt Emori’s light go out. He said, as family, I’d be able to find her body faster than anyone else. “I’m not a bad person; I swear I’m not. I didn’t want to do this, King Thane. I didn’t want to come here. But the only person who ever loved me,” The Fairy swallows hard as a tear falls from her eye. “My aunt is dead. I just wanted to make sure…” “What?” I push when she fails to continue.
“That it was true, that my aunt was truly gone. I wasn’t going to give Astro any information on Lyric. I saw her, she’s beautiful, her and Harmony. They look just like Aunt Elena. I would never do anything to hurt them. I’m not like my father; I swear I’m not.” I wish I could sense lies from the girl. It would make killing her easier, but I don’t. It won’t stop me from killing her, but Lyric might have other ideas. This girl is another family member, a member she knew nothing about. Maybe I won’t tell Lyric about this. ‘Then Emori will. Don’t be a fool, Thane, don’t break Lyric’s trust. Whatever the reason this girl is here, I don’t think it’s to hurt Lyric. Sure, she’s strong, but there’s something not right with her. ‘What do you man, Jagger?’
‘I know she’s in a magic-suppressing cell. But I don’t think this Fairy has magic as other Fairies do!’
‘She’s Astro’s daughter, a Fairy Princess. She’d be stronger than most, Jagger.’ ‘Hmm…’
“You will be sentenced for your crimes tomorrow.” With that, I walk away.
“What about my mate?!”
I know not to engage with prisoners. They will say anything to keep you talking and get into your mind. They will do anything to make you feel sorry for them and connect with them, so you’ll let them go. Regardless, I turn to face the Fairy. “Why should I care about your mate? You should have thought about them before you came here looking for trouble.”
Tylen walks closer to the cell bars. “My mate is one of you.” I squint my eyes. “We haven’t come face to face, but he scented me just as I did him. I’m not just a Fairy; I’m half Lycan.”
“LIAR!” I bellow even though I know she isn’t lying. I couldn’t sense it before, but I smell the Lycan within as I breathe in.
Why didn’t I sense it before?
I wasn’t looking for it, that’s why. The smell of Lycan on the girl came from Tyler when he grabbed her.
Besides, why the hell would anyone think this girl was part Lycan?
She lives in Valnor with her messed-up father. He doesn’t allow anyone but Fairy folk to live there.
What made this girl so special?
Why must Astro breed with Lyric if the man already has a daughter?
Nothing makes sense!
“I’m not lying, I swear to you. I know you have many questions, and you also don’t care for the answers. But my father is not a nice man. My mother was a warrior for the Lycan King, for you.”
My eyes widen, and anger fills my veins once again. If one of my warriors slept with that monster and bore his child, I’ll kill them! Because if that person is still here, they could be passing information to Astro!
“I know what you’re thinking, but my mother wasn’t with Astro willingly. Astro attacked her from behind, so she stood no chance against him. I don’t know what happened between when Astro took my mother and my birth. All I know is I ended up with Astro, and my mother was gone.
“Why he took me, I’ll never know because he hated me. I was an abomination, a mistake he has to rectify. He threatened to kill me constantly, tortured me, and swore he’d come here and find my mother if I didn’t do as he said. Only this time, he’d kill her in front of me. I don’t even know who she is, but I have always dreamed about her.
“Astro didn’t care about me. All he cared about was finding Lyric and killing anyone who got in his way. The only person who ever cared about me was Emori. When she died, it broke me. Astro was livid, and he sent me here to find out what you’d done with her and any weakness surrounding Lyric.
“I came in hopes that I’d see my mother. I don’t know what she looks like, but I hoped I’d know her if I saw her. Astro doesn’t know I know anything about my mother or where she came from, but I do. But you see, Astro didn’t care what happened to me when he sent me here. He sent me here, knowing you could kill me. That’s how little I mean to him.”
‘Thane, Tyler speaks through the mind link. ‘Do you remember years ago when Amelia went missing for weeks, and no one could find her? Then she suddenly turned up on our doorstep, battered and a shell of herself?’
I don’t like where Tyler is going with this, but the thought had occurred to me too.
“How old are you?”
Taylen looks at me, eyes darting all over the place. As long as she doesn’t say… “Forty-eight!
Sh.it!
‘Thane, you don’t think…?’
‘Find Amelia. Now!’ Tyler rushes away, and I turn to Taylan. “As for you, you’ll stay here until I figure out what to do with you.”
“Please, King Thane. I know I won’t get to meet my mother, but please, let me meet my mate just once.”
“No idea who he is.” I shrug like I don’t care. Probably because I don’t.
“He’s really tall, like, six-seven. He has skin the same color as mine, but he has blue eyes, not brown like mine. He’s a warrior, but that’s all I know.”
“Don’t know anyone like that.” Which is a fuc.king lie, but I don’t have time for this sh.it.
I walk away and leave the girl in a pool of her own frustrated tears. Like I care!
After ordering guards to ensure no one enters the dungeon, I make my way to my office. Tyler mind linked to say he was there with Amelia. This is not going to be an easy conversation.
“My King,” Amelia bows.
I wave my hand. “That’s not necessary, Amelia. Please take a seat.” She does, brushing down the length of her black dress.
When Amelia is not in uniform, like right now, it’s easy to see how undeniably beautiful she is. With dark skin and darker eyes, Goddess-like beauty is all hers.
“What’s this about?”
“I wanted to talk to you about what happened almost fifty years ago.” Amelia shifts in her seat and swallows hard. “After you disappeared and returned, you never spoke about what happened. Why?”
Sadness fills Amelia’s eyes, and I see how much pain she’s still in all these years later. The day Amelia arrived home, I went to the infirmary to check on her. Physically she was fine, but mentally; Dale wasn’t so sure. Amelia wouldn’t tell me what happened, only that someone attacked her and kept her prisoner, but she never saw his face, so she couldn’t give us a description. Once the man was done with Amelia, he dumped her in the forest and walked away. We never found any sighting, and we looked for days. Amelia never mentioned any baby, and I’m hoping Tyler and I have it wrong, and Amelia isn’t Taylan’s mother. If we don’t, then I have failed Amelia big time.
‘How do you work that out?’
‘Because I’m King, Jagger, I should have sensed something. I should have pushed harder for answers!
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference, Thane. If there was a child, there must have been a reason Amelia kept it to herself. I think that had more to do with Astro than you.’
Jagger is right, but it doesn’t make this any easier to swallow.
“Amelia,” I sigh when she fails to answer. “I know whatever happened to you left you with child. But where is that child now?”
Amelia gasps so loudly it’s almost deafening. She looks between Tyler and me, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. She’s both scared and shocked that I’ve worked things out after all these years.
“It’s okay, Amelia.” Tyler soothes his oldest friend. I can feel my brother’s pain for Amelia. The girl is like a sister to us. “Do you have a child by the man who attacked you?” Reluctantly, Amelia nods at Tyler. “What happened, Amelia? Tell us, sweetheart. Please don’t shut us out anymore; we’re your friends. You’re safe here.”
“He killed her. He killed my baby.”
Oh, no…
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