I could only stare at Kai as he opened the door to his room beckoning me to pass through its doors. I looked back at Dale whose face was frozen with impassivity, as I peered into the room memories swirled through my mind. Could I really do this again?
What had happened two nights ago had been an accident, but this time I was the one requesting it. What if something strange happened?
“You should hurry” Dale said pushing me into the room
My feet dragged against the floor slightly, but before I knew it I was in the middle of the room staring at the two men. My eyes involuntarily went to the bed before quickly moving away, I smoothed my dress nervousness slowly filling me.
I closed my eyes, thinking of the beautiful woman in the vaults and the strength that had flowed from her.
“What did you say?” Dale questioned
I opened my eyes frowning at him, Kai stared at me looking at me with a mystified expression as though I had suddenly become a complex puzzle, that he couldn’t solve.
“Lewanna?” As the word tumbled from Kai’s mouth I realised this whole time I’d been mumbling it under my breath from the moment I’d imagined her face.
“Izarra what else did you see down there?” Kai asked, moving towards me a serious look hardening his eyes.
I searched his eyes, looking for something I didn’t know I was looking for. I could feel a frown creasing over my face as my eyes travelled to Dale, he smiled reassuringly at me his eyes warm and open. I looked back to Kai with a heavy sigh releasing itself from my lungs.
“At the end of the hallway there was a woman… she reached out for my hand…”
“But the light was too blinding for you to hold it” Kai finished
My frown deepened as I nodded in confirmation, how could he have known that. Kai’s eyes seemed unable to hold mine, wavering between fear, respect and bitterness.
“She revealed herself to you” he mumbled
My eyes went to Dale again, who watched Kai with concern as my eyes met mine he gave me the smallest of smiles.
“That was the Goddess in her most vulnerable of forms” he explained
Silence wallowed between the three of us as I took the information in. The Goddess who I had not known in so long had finally shown herself to me. I felt my heart twinge in uncertainty, I didn’t know how to feel. Some part of me celebrated as I realised she had helped me recover the first piece and therefore she wished for me to gain my wolf but at the same time I couldn’t help the sorrow that filled me.
Why now? There had been many dark, empty days in which she could have shone her light on me. Days where I had contemplated whether life was worth so much pain, where I struggled to find reasons to keep going. Where had she been then?
I turned my head away shocked at my own traitorous thoughts, it didn’t matter about then. This was about now and the sooner I remembered that the better. It didn’t matter about how long this journey would take only that I would get where I needed to be in the end and that those that I needed travelled down the same road as I.
“I need to enter the Luna Plane” I finally said breaking the silence
Two pairs of eyes stared at me, eyes full of questions that I didn’t have time to answer. Dale gave me another distant smile before he left the room closing the door behind him, I stared at it for a while perfectly aware of the burning red eyes studying me.
Silence lapsed again and I found myself striding to the window, I opened it the cool dusky breeze swirling past me into the heat filled room. It seemed that the day had passed away without me even realising. I hadn’t even had the time to spend any of it with Cara, still I guess it wouldn’t matter now she was coming with us.
“What does she look like?”
The question slivered in a whisper barely reaching my ears, I turned slightly staring at my hand but ready to answer him this one question.
“The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t describe it if I tried… ethereal is the only word that comes to mind”
I heard him exhale slowly from somewhere behind me, I turned to the window again the breeze playing with strands of my hair.
“Do you recall my reason for not having a mark?”
I nodded at the sudden question
“You have a great task that you must complete”
As I felt his presence behind me, I turned slowly my eyes instantly meeting his eyes. With my improved vision I noted the slight blue circle that surrounded his pupil. His eyes were a cold fire, obviously filled with some kind of remorse.
“Yes, my task is to protect and guide you so you may take your rightful place on the throne.”
“That is a heavy mission to carry”
He nodded, breaking eye contact momentarily to glare at the ceiling.
“It had to be, it is shall be my redemption”
“From what?” I asked
Kai shook his head, his eyes still glaring as though there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t, his jaw tightened.
“You shall know one day” he said his tone frozen, holding back what in was sure was pure frustration. I took a small subtle step backwards, aware that the distance I had placed between us was getting smaller and smaller.
“Possibly even from the moment we enter the Luna Plane” he added as an afterthought
“And how will we achieve that?”
He reached out his hand again like he had before, I looked between it and his eyes, understanding that this time I had no choice but to take it. Slowly I lifted my hand glad that Dale was no longer here, I knew it made no sense but back in the drawing room I felt as though taking his hand would have hurt Dale.
“We need to maintain physical contact, while drifting into a state of deep sleep”
I nodded, my hand laying limp in his large, warm one. That must have been the reason we entered it on that night, we had both lost consciousness and were physically connected at the same time. It had been an accident but it had led to me regaining the first of five.
Kai’s lips twitched in an awkward smile as he led me to the bed, I dragged my feet and he paused turning to me with a frown. I nodded my head towards the long ivory coloured chaise on the other side of the room. He looked to the bed once more and then with the smallest of sighs led me to the long chaise.
He sat close by, our hands joined in between us but the rest of our bodies doing everything possible to avoid one another. Out of the corner of my eyes I noted him closing his eyes, taking in a breath and trying to calm himself.
I tried to do the same thing but too many thoughts rushed about in my mind, I opened my eyes after a minute only to find that he had done the same. Unexpectedly we both laughed, surprising each other with our sudden mirth filled faces. Kai was a handsome man, but even more so when he lost his mask and displayed a face free of his ethereal responsibilities . As he relaxed his face softened, seeming more youthful, it was now plausible to me that he was just a few years older than me. He had always had an old soul to me, sometimes older than even Pietro despite the fact that Pietro had been over a century old.
“Sleep does not come to me naturally” he said with a heavy sigh
“I was like that when I was younger, Fantine…” I drifted off as I saw the slight sadness flash in his eyes, he shook his head with a wide smile still firm on his face.
“Carry on”
I bit my lip looking at my lap
“She used to sing me to sleep” I finished my voice dropping into an ashamed whisper
“That’s what I remember the most…. Her voice. The dream world has never been kind to me, so sleep in itself was always a nightmare. Only her sweet voice was able to remedy them to a level I could bear. I had been too young for Theresa’s ritual but old enough to understand the magnitude of my dreams.”
Before I could sink myself into the guilt that cursed me every time I thought of their sacrifices, the most wonderful of voice sifted through the air singing a song that had coloured most of my childhood. The lyrics gracefully flowed from Kai’s lips, surprising me that his voice could be so beautiful. His eyes were distant with memories that seemed to move through him with reminiscent warmth.
I found myself relaxing and in the back of my mind I could hear Fantine’s wonderful voice joining her son’s. His hand tightened around my hand simultaneously as I began to close my eyes lost in my own happy memories. I let his voice guide me to the land in which I would find the answered we needed to take our next steps. As I drifted off I could just about feel myself leaning into him but I was too far gone to care, soon we would discover the next location, perhaps I would see the Goddess once more.
***
When my eyes opened I found myself standing in what I assumed was the Luna Plane but Kai was nowhere to be seen. I called out his name unsure of myself in this environment. I was answered by nothing but the eerie silence that surrounded me.
I was in an area of wood that seemed completely foreign, they looked nothing like the warm cedars of Lorenae nor the stark pines of Krysta. These trees were tall and willowy each one spaced apart within their own territories. Streams of golden light streamed through them but there was something unnatural about it, the light wavered as though disrupted by some kind of fog. I took a step forward and the another one, slowly breaking out into a jog as I weaved through the trees.
I seemed to have come to the middle of the forest where the trees thinned away revealing a raised mound on which there were many sculpted wolves scattered in a rigid order. I climbed up the mound realising as I did so that it really was more a hill. There were also many more sculptures than I had first thought, each came in different sizes, shapes and forms the ones further behind more worn but still boasting wonderful figures. They also seemed to be paired off in their small areas.
When I reached the very top I paused in my steps freezing as I saw a statue that seemed very familiar to me. It was quite obviously new the black obsidian forming a beautiful black coat that sparkled magically in the light, but what really caught me were the sapphire eyes that smiled. My hand grazed the sculpture smiling as Pietro’s mirth filled laughter boomed in my head.
As my hand connected with the top of the wolf, a flash of light sounded out blinding me. I tried to cover my eyes but it was too late, everything had gone completely white. Beneath me the ground shook, pushing me down to the floor. Whispered surrounded me calling my name, but there was also another noise humming through it all.
I focused closely trying to separate it from the call of my name
“Aloco sancto quaesanctasunt,sacraanimarum”
I felt myself frowning as I listened again for confirmation, the phrase was knew was definitely a mixture of the old tongue and the new, a language the humans called Latin. More commonly amongst wolves it was known as Moon tongue but not many spoke it, and it was reserved only for important rituals.
I listened to it once more, repeating the phrase out loud to solidify the unfamiliar words. The more I spoke the quieter it became around me until I realised I was regaining my sight but also that the whispers had all died out.
I blinked rapidly, looking up and realising that Pietro’s statue was no longer there. I was still on the same hill but in front of me was an empty space and the other sculpted wolves around me seemed to have suddenly become much less worn, a sparkle returning to them all. I stood dusting myself off even though I knew this was not reality and therefore it did not matter whether there was dust on my dress or not.
My hands hovered in the air, my body freezing in surprise as I heard a feminine laugh drift musically through the air. I straightened up trying to locate the source of the laughter, I began to dismiss the noise as my imagination making up things but the sound came again this time accompanied with a deeper laugh that must have come from a man.
I turned around staring down from the top of the hill into the organised trees, after a few moments I was finally able to identify the sources of the laughter. Two youths broke through, a male and a female, chasing one another with amorous filled energy.
The female’s red hair whipped in a breeze that I could not feel, her laughter travelling loudly to my ears, she was ahead of the young man looking back at him with a confident expression. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief as she continued to run with determined strides.
“Cira! Wait!” the boy cried
My breath hitched as I noted his unmistakable white hair, he ran a little faster catching Cira with little effort on his part. They were at the very bottom of the hill and despite my apprehension I found myself moving towards them.
Cira continued to laugh in his arms, despite the deep set frown on his face. Kai looked young, looking to be perhaps nineteen years of age. His face was softer his eyes more open, as Cira smiled at him he softened but his arms never released her waist.
“You know you can’t come here” he said warningly
She smiled up at him, rolling her eyes slightly
“I know, I know. Aloco sancto quaesanctasunt,sacraanimarum” she said her face scrunching up into a pout
“Then why did you come this far?” he asked
For a moment she looked away from him, her eyes staring up at the hill. Although I was sure I had never seen her sea green eyes, something about her haunted me in fact I…
My heart stopped as a wave of frost washed over my body, that young woman was the she wolf who had taunted me for so long, the one who had tried to destroy me and also if my suspicions were correct the daughter of Ava, the wolf witch who had stripped me of my gifts.
I moved down the hill cautiously as I continued to observe.
“I just wanted to see where you and I would rest one day” she whispered
Kai sighed his red eyes also looking up at the countless pairs of wolves. He smiled sadly at her, his eyes reflecting true sorrow as his arms gripped her waist tighter, pulling her towards him.
“I hope we can reach that”
She smiled, her peeking up at him. She seemed unintimidated by his eyes, staring deep into them as though she were staring at the calming waters of the sea and not the fiery depths of a cistern.
“Of course we can, soon he’ll forget his guilt and then I am sure that when you present me as your mate, he shall be pleased”
“Father does not forget anything, besides my mother has already left. Is there no way that you can convince your mother to reverse what she has done?”
I cocked my head realising they were discussing my own situation, I was sure that this was after my first year of being wolf less. I had not yet been put in the tower but it wouldn’t be too long before that happened. Cira, frowned removing his hands from her waist she turned striding away frkm him as he looked helplessly.
“Why do you care so much for this Princess? She still lives comfortably in the castle with her family and the King continues ruling peacefully all is well”
Kai took a small step towards her
“Father says that he’s unstable, that soon her wolf will cry out during her presence and therefore he’ll have no choice but to lock her up or even send her away”
Cira’s eyes narrowed, glaring up at the hill
“So? What does it matter to you?”
His mouth opened and closed, confusion temporarily clouding his face
“She’s just a child, she doesn’t deserve any of this. I can see it already, she will loath herself when she is not even at fault”
“A child?!” Cira cried out
“A child does not look the way Princess Mia does, nor does a child have so many suitors desiring to kiss the very ground she walks upon. Even now with no wolf there are some that still desire her, perhaps you are one of them too”
“Cira do not speak nonsense”
She raised a delicate eyebrow moving closer to him
“The King wanted to join the two of you”
Kai shook his head in disbelief, his eyes shifting in nervousness as he stared at Cira. Long gone was the laughing girl and before me I could already see the bitter, evil red wolf she would become. Her eyes were widening the glowing whites of her, just a glimpse of the darkness that would consume her.
“She is promised to Cullen, he has already been courting her” he stated
“You think he would choose him, when there is a white wolf on his lands?” she scoffed
Silence fell between them as they studied each other, the air was tense with silent fury emanating from Cira, Kai on the other hand seemed calm.
“Do you think she’s beautiful?” Cira asked ending the reign of silence
Kai took a while to answer formulating the correct answer in his mind before he dared to open his mouth. He seemed to know how to handle her, like this burst of anger was something he was used to dealing with.
“Yes, but how could I compare her to you. She is beautiful but you are perfection” he said his eyes boring into her eyes with all seriousness.
She stared at him with suspicion before her lips twitched in a smile.
“I do not even see the fascination with her, we haven’t had a black wolf for nearly a thousand years so why would we need one now? The Goddess certainly moves in uncertain ways, not like the Sun God”
This time it was Kai’s turn to become angered, but before he even spoke she had place one finger on his lips.
“I know I know, I promise I will not mention my mother’s alliance if you stop asking me about that cursed Princess Mia and her precious wolf”
Kai nodded slowly, his eyes flashing with an emotion I found hard to detect. Cira smirked, lifting herself up to kiss him, Kai met her half way and as they began to kiss o found myself looking away. As I turned I saw the Kai I knew emerge from the tree line, he looked as though he’d been running his body drenched in sweat, hair sticking to his face. As he observed the scene in front of him his face fell, an expression of horror and disappointment taking over. I looked at the scene of his younger self and again I was force to look away as I saw that this passionate kiss was going to lead to something else.
Kai seemed to spot me, running over to me grabbing my hand with such intensity I thought it would snap from my wrist. A flash of light passed through the scene splitting up the image and slamming us back into our bodies.
Author’s Note
So this chapter took me a while buuuut I finally got there. Anyway I’m too tired to write a proper note but I’m dedicating this chapter to Legendary Princess just because we have such lovely chats and she’s so cool, love ya girly. Also guys I have three books I really want to recommend to you they’re all in my library and they are War Will Reign by Kemmet, The Kingdom of Sorrow by my twinsy TheFamousUnknown123 and finally The Water Maiden by my veeeeerry good but also evil friend Takeapeek. Check them out I promise you won’t be disappointed! :D (So much for not writing a proper Author’s note!) Oh and Cira is pronounced Seer-ruh