Skylar
I hold the page up in my hand while blocking the bond so that Dmitri cannot feel the guilt that is seeping through me. While the tears downstairs had been real, I used the opportunity to get some privacy, though I know if I just asked him, he would have given it freely.
There is no mistaking what the paper in my hand is. It is the missing page from the book Raina and Ally were currently hard at work deciphering. Elsabeth's book. So much for Gael being in possession of it. At the back of it was a handwritten translation of the page.
In the letter from my parents, they said that under no circumstances can I trust anyone with the details on that page, for my protection. Always for my protection, I think bitterly. The same words Ben, my aunt, and my uncle said when I found out my parents were the ones who arranged for me to be cursed. To cover what I am. But every curse needed a way to be broken, they just never thought this one would be.
I take a deep breath, my eyes skimming over the letter beautifully written in my mother's cursive handwriting. She started by saying that if I was reading the letter then that would mean they were dead. She followed with heart-wrenching words about how I was the best thing in their lives and that they wish they could see the woman I have grown to become. They then go on to explain that they, my mother and her mother, my grandmother, come from a long line of distinguished witches. The trait is passed along to those females chosen rather than every female in the family. Her sister, my aunt, never inherited the trait.
This explained why my grandmother had been so good at making medicinal herbal tinctures and balms. My naivety once again astounds me as I remember my grandmother's journal, all the incantations written amongst the recipes. I wrote them off as ramblings and perhaps some new age wiccan fad my grandmother was into, never thinking her to be a real witch. Never thinking that a supernatural world existed that I was not aware of. Where all the fairy tale creatures actually exist.
I refocus on the letter, my mother's words explaining some of what caused this. When I was born it was assumed I had not been chosen, the normal identifying mark not present on my skin, a small flower-shaped birthmark. While that was not present, I was marked with two snake-shaped marks on my wrists. Looking at my wrists, I now know these to be the true marks I was born with and not the cover that was created with the curse. The ones that looked like a botched tattoo job that I used to hide with large chunky bracelets.
They consulted with a very old witch, whose name was not mentioned in the letter, a friend of the family, and one that was part of the witch elders. This witch remembered seeing these birthmarks somewhere. That somewhere being this torn-out page of Elsabeth's book. She had access to the books in the archives and had removed this page from the book, its contents too dangerous not only for my safety but for everyone should it fall in the wrong hands.
It appears that accessing the book caused some suspicion, not within the High Council, but on the outside. That's when my parents described seeing men in military-style boots and strange uniforms with what we now know to be The Guardians symbol on their pockets, following them and lurking outside the house.
Knowing what I was, my parents, with the help of the old witch, arranged for a warlock to curse me, the curse erasing all memories of my childhood, covering the marks on my wrist, and hiding what I am. They assumed that because I was unable to smell scents, there would be no way I would be able to mate, thus leaving the curse in place. They never accounted for my synaesthesia, my ability to see colors, fate ensuring that Dmitri and I would mate no matter what, breaking the curse.
After The Incident, when I stayed with my aunt and uncle at my house in Willow Falls for the week, I asked them about my parents and their death. Memories of that time I had lost as a child started coming back and I was curious as to what had happened. They said that my parents were acting strange, saying that people were following them, and they were in trouble. They explained that they arranged for a warlock to help protect me. My aunt and uncle feeling uncomfortable and confused with the situation traveled to Maine. But when they arrived, the warlock was gone and had completed casting the curse, the same day my parents and I were in an accident.
While I tried remembering the accident, only fragmented bits of that day could be recalled, nothing that helped uncover the truth about what happened.
What I didn't understand was why the hunters stopped looking for me. If they were following us and had been involved in the accident, they would have been aware I was alive. Why not take me then, if I was their goal? Perhaps the warlock somehow threw the hunters off my trail, but why?
My head, which initially was only slightly pounding from crying, now had a full-on headache on the go. I place the papers on a vanity next to the basin, rummaging around in my toiletry bag until my hand finds the headache tablet container. Popping the pill box open I dish out two pills before chasing them down with some water. My face looks puffy and red. I would need to stop crying if I was going to look half-decent for tonight's event.
"Skylar, are you okay?" Dmitri's voice has me jumping, my hand on my heart not helping to slow down its erratic beating. I felt like a kid who's been caught.
I knew I could trust Dmitri and I would eventually show him the letter and torn page from the book, I just needed a bit of time to understand everything myself first.
"I'm fine," I say loudly, grabbing the papers and folding them carefully in half so that the torn page is hidden.
Dmitri is standing on the other side of the bathroom door his face filled with concern.
"If you don't feel up to it, we can cancel going to the event tonight?" Dmitri says, his eyes roaming my face.
"No. It's fine. We have already confirmed, and we came all this way. I just have a headache but I took some tablets so I should be good to go momentarily." I smile at him, hoping this eases the concern oozing from him. "Besides, I haven't really been out in ages. This should be fun."
I smile wider, though inside I am dreading tonight. People. Lots of people. I was not a social butterfly. Butterflop is more like it. But I wouldn't mind putting on a nice dress and getting my mind off everything, not to mention I would be in this gorgeous man's company while doing it.
"Oh, I got you a dress for tonight. Don't feel obliged to wear it if you already have something planned." Dmitri says, heading over to the closet where our bags are standing. "Andrea had it delivered here earlier after I picked it out."
His body shields the dress he grabs from the rail, my curiosity piqued. He turns around, revealing the most beautiful dress I have ever seen in my whole life.
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