From the Ashes |18+| ✔️

51: Choices

"So, you will not kill me?" She chuckles, a delightful sound casting me an amused look.

"Why would we ever do that?" Lifting her hands from my belly, her grin settles, as does her humour. "You had said you didn't understand how the blanketed effect you had cast upon yourself began to lift the moment you made contact with Kyrios." Focusing on her words, I soothe my tummy as the pup always seems to move at the sound of their dad's name. "It was I, I, who cast the mate bond between you and the King. I knew if I interfered, some of the Fates would likely have my head, but I could not stand by any longer and watch what you put yourself through in an attempt to save all humanity. What Kyrios put himself through... at the loss of you.

"I watched you grow up... both you and the Lycan, together. The bond was always there between the two of you - but you struggled. Battling with the oath you took never to get emotionally involved," she recounts. "When you confessed your love to him, I already knew he felt the same. My heart broke at the scene within the courtyard. After centuries of denying your feelings for one another—it no longer set well with me or with others, it would seem.

"Then, the deception was cast to keep you apart... to weaken the mighty noble King. Tartarus, Artemis, Chaos and myself decided at that moment to cast the bond." She pauses, turning to pet a petal of a chocolate brown specimen. The colour turns to a bright blue with every stroke. Fascinating.

"I would like to admit it was for the sole purpose of love that I chose to do as I did. But it was mainly to give you a leg up on Porteous. He had you at a disadvantage with your lack of strength, memory and, most of all... your ongoing civil battle with your now irate mate. It all worked in Porteous' favour, so I had to make the playing field fair." Digesting this information makes me question many things.

"Did the other Fates figure out who cast the bond? And why?" I query as we begin to stroll along once again. She nods with a tight grin. "And nothing came of it?" I furrow my brows in inquisitiveness.

"Oh, something did. But since you were so confused with Kyrios and Porteous constantly invading your head, they let the act be." Gaea looks up toward the moons and smiles lazily. "Even in your state, and constantly fighting the bond... you were just and thought of others first. Trying to figure out what was happening around you," she laughs softly. "And we all know that the mate bond is believed to be all-consuming."

I snort in compliance, causing another laugh from the elder Goddess. After a moment, another question picks my brain. "How did Porteous have access to my thoughts? I recanted that gifted ability the moment he massacred the human leaders underground."

"Ah, yes... that was an unfortunate time," she sighs in remembrance. "It was a tiny implant that was inserted through your left ear canal into the brain where your thoughts are formed before spoken. Cynthia fabricated a mechanism similar to telepathy. It was basically a two-way transmitter with its flaws. He had to be aboveground to use it, and it would cause severe pain to all that had them embedded when in use." Really?

"But he heard my thoughts," I question. "And the shifter's eyes would milk-over much like the landsiders turning a deep ebony whenever the Kings or Alphas communicated with their people."

"Yes, Cynthia, being of Alpha blood, was capable of bonding with the newly-shifted wolves once Porteous figured out a spell to do so. They were trained and used as plants throughout the century. Of course, they never really report anything that was detrimental as Cynthia was, after all, your ally." She pauses.

"We always knew when Porteous had messed with someone by their eyes milking over." She looks away momentarily. "As for Porteous reading your mind, he really wasn't. He was speculating and guessing from the vibrations and how you would react to his words. He was a master manipulator, and you, my dear, can be an open book."