Heir To The Iron Crown: Dyrith

26 - Tuttugu og Sex

After lunch, Valente said he had to leave to arrange everything for the impromptu ceremony.

He told me he would come back before dinner, and that Renee and her family would have to stay at least till I was announced Luna.

They didn't argue, although Renee seemed to be in a bad mood the whole time.

As I went to see him at the door, he turned to me, holding my hands.

"Can I stay with you here tonight? I don't want to face Aunty right now," Valente asked me.

I nodded my head.

"You didn't have to ask," I told him.

He smiled and gave me a soft kiss, before walking towards the pack house.

I turned around to look at Otto and Renee talking in hushed tones.

As I walked closer, Renee stood up.

She walked to me and held my shoulders.

"I think you should come with us. Come with us to Haykadi. You can lie low there. They know you're here and I don't know if Valente can hold them off Rayne. Please," she said, tearing up. "I can't take the risk of having you gone again. I just can't."

"Neither can Valente," I told her. "Renee, I can't just leave."

"By the looks of the welcome you just got from Sylvia, I think you need more time. Fathilagt may not be ready for a Luna right now. Everything that's happening, it's bigger than us Rayne. I can't have you sacrificed in their game," she said.

"And I can't risk bringing search parties to your pack too. Your pack maybe bigger than ours but you're healers, not warriors. Renee, please understand," I told her.

She clearly wasn't happy, but she nodded her head anyway.

"Okay," she said. "But if anything happens to you, I'll kill Valente. And Sylvia too, for the heck of it," she said.

Otto let out a chuckle behind her.

"You're both clearly Rosa's little girls. You'll be soft as long as someone doesn't get in your way. Otherwise, it's bye-bye asshole," he said, laughter in his voice.

Renee smiled at that.

It felt like the boulder weighing me down by a rope was cut loose after seeing her smile.

"Is it safe to come down again? Ymir wants cookies," Bryn's voice came from the top of the stairs. Ymir was standing behind him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Come down, both of you," Renee said, taking out two plates and putting out food for her children.

"Where's Val?" Ymir asked me.

"He had some things to take care of. He'll be back in a while," I told him.

"So will you watch a movie with us instead, Aunty Rayne?" Bryn asked, sitting up on the table. Renee picked up Ymir, sitting him on the chair next to his older brother.

"Of course," I smiled.

...

We were halfway through the movie when I found the kids asleep.

"They were up really early today. Didn't sleep on the ride here too, they were so excited to see you," Renee said, walking downstairs. "They're just exhausted."

She'd brought blankets with her, as if she knew they had fallen asleep on the couch. She covered them up, kissing their foreheads gently.

I stood up, looking at the sky outside the window. The sun was going to set soon.

I wanted to check something out, before it got too dark.

"Don't go anywhere Rayne," she said, as if reading my mind.

"Did Gramma ever say anything to you about the cottage in the forest behind our house?" I asked her.

"The Marker? Yeah," she said simply.

"What did she say, exactly?" I asked.

"Just that it marked our territory in the North," she said.

"How come I didn't know about it till I turned fifteen," I asked her.

Renee rolled her eyes at that.

"How would you? You never got out of the house except for school," she said. "It was just abandoned, old, dingy. Nothing significant."

On the contrary, I knew of it's significance.

"I want to go check it out," I said to her.

"No, you won't go anywhere. Especially alone," Renee said. "I warned you before about the traitor problem, remember? This place isn't safe for you right now."

I scoffed.

"This is my home Renee-"

"It was. It was your home, our home. But things have changed," she said.

"You're just being paranoid," I told her.

"And for good reason," she replied, holding my hands.

I sighed.

"Then come with me?" I asked her.

"What's there to see at that scary old cottage?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Scary?" Ima chuckled. Renee really could be a drama queen at times.

"I saw something on my way here, out of the ordinary. I want to see what it was," I told her.

"Care to elaborate?" she asked, her skepticism visible on her face.

"I can't explain it okay? I just want to go check it out," I said.

She looked at her children, and then seemed to pause for a minute. I knew she was mindlinking Otto.

After the secret conversation with her mate, she sighed heavily.

"All right fine. Let's go."