It had still been dark when Aida woke up Tempest and Galan. Now, the three of them, Samual, Adria, Rainey and Tristan stood waiting not too far from the castle. They were expecting company and had come out to meet them.
Adria had told Aida that she had been contacted by someone, a Dark Druid, seeking asylum. The message had come through her dreams, a simple message that resounded over and over and over again.
Tell Adria we want to talk to her. We will come to the Lycan kingdom at daybreak. Victoria.
At first they had thought it was a trap, some kind of lure to get at them. To be honest, they still thought it was.
When Aida had asked Adria how she had received the message, and she told her, Aida had frowned. A locator spell. The spell could have been attached to something that Adria had had on her when she left her prison. It had been sent directly to her, the message meant specifically for her.
Despite her still weakened state, Adria had insisted she wanted to be there, in spite of Tempest's protests. She now stood amongst them, awaiting the incoming people.
Dean, Otis, Reed, Leon and Marc as well as Ceres and a few of the warriors stood about fifty meters behind them, ready for anything. Now, as they waited, the rays of the sun started to peek from the belly of the horizon. As the light started to lighten the sleeping earth, the two people they had been waiting for came into view. They walked towards the group, stopping a few meters in front of them.
"Aida," Victoria said softly. "We mean no harm. We had to come to you."
Aida nodded, watching Victoria and Liam. "It has been a really long time. Why have you contacted us now?"
"Noah is ready to attack," Liam said. "We can share information that can help you, help us all."
Aida watched them intently, focusing on what they said, how they said it. She probed their minds, checked their vitals as they spoke. If this was a trap, she would know.
Victoria looked at her and a small smile flittered to her lips. "Are you satisfied, Aida?" she asked.
Aida cocked her head, her eyes still focused on the pair in front of her. She straightened her head and her eyes blazed for a moment in warning. "Nothing indicates deception, Victoria, but you know as well as I do that there are ways of hiding the truth. If I find anything, anything at all, that shows me that your intention is infiltration, I will roast you from the inside without a second thought ."
Victoria nodded once. "I will expect nothing less."
"You're the one who gave me the key to the collar," Adria said suddenly.
Victoria nodded. "I was hoping the Queen of the WereSabres would be able to do something useful with it. I wasn't expecting that it would teleport you away, though."
Adria nodded back, a small smile on her lips. "Thank you. I don't think anybody expected that to happen."
They walked back to the castle in silence. Liam and Victoria were surrounded by the group and the little glances that Tempest shared with Galan were not lost on Aida. She would drill her about it later.
When they reached the castle, the guards headed away and the remaining Royals headed to the conference room. As they entered the hall, however, a large figure started walking towards them.
Enoch frowned as he watched the entourage enter the building. He snarled as soon as he saw Liam then his face broke as he saw Victoria. He quickly schooled his features but Victoria growled at him.
"You!" she snarled. "It's because of you she's dead."
Enoch shook his head but nothing came from his lips.
Victoria made to attack him, shifting partially into her werewolf, but Liam held her back.
"My office, all of you. Now," Tristan growled and the power in his voice made everyone stop moving. With a warning look at everyone, he put his hand out for a Rainey to take before they headed to the office.
Aida noticed that Tempest was watching both Victoria and Enoch with a puzzled look on her face, as though she was trying to figure something out. Her eyes kept sweeping between the two of them as though she was looking for a piece that was missing from an incomplete picture.
As they all followed the King and Queen, a deep silence stretched between all of them. They walked quickly and quietly into the office and when the door had been shut they all looked at each other.
"Why is he here?" Victoria asked, her eyes blazing.
"We want to know the same thing about you," Galan said. "Maybe start with that."
Victoria took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "There has been an unexpected development," she said. She said nothing more for a moment, then she took a deep breath. Tears gathered in her eyes and her lips trembled a little bit.
Liam took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Natasha is back. We don't know how."
Enoch growled. "Impossible," he snarled. "She died."
"Yes," Victoria hissed, "at your hand."
Enoch looked startled, a look of extreme sadness coming into his eyes. "You think I killed her?"
"Didn't you?" Victoria asked, taking a step towards him. Liam pulled her back.
"No, I didn't. She meant the world to me," Enoch said. "When I found her she was already dead.
"Liar," Victoria accused.
"You seem to have more information than what we have right now," Tempest said with a raised eyebrow. "Please do share so we're all on the same page."
"Enoch and Victoria had an affair and he's the reason she's dead. I found her body and I saw him," Victoria spat as she pointed to Enoch, "leave the place I found her. He killed her."
"Ok," Aida said. "We have established that Natasha died. Victoria, you said earlier that she was back. What did you mean?"
"Exactly that," Liam told them. "Her spirit or ghost or whatever the hell it is is back at The Establishment."
"The Establishment?" Rainey asked.
"It's what we call Headquarters, where everything happens," Liam explained.
"She attacked us. I cast a revealing spell and we saw her," Victoria explained. "She was dead but not dead."
There was more silence following what Victoria and Liam had shared. A knock on the door had all eyes turning towards it. Leon stuck his head around the door and waved to Tempest.
Tempest froze, her eyes widening as realization hit.
"Oh. My. God." She turned towards Enoch and Victoria then back to Leon.
*
It was like looking at a picture where you changed the colour of certain features in an individual but overall you knew exactly who you were looking at. Looking between them again, Tempest could see it clearly. But how?
"Marc. Get up to the office. Now," she sent out to her other brother.
"Was Natasha ever pregnant?" Tempest asked, her voice harder than she had intended it to be. She beckoned Leon over to her then took his hand. She walked him gently over to stand between Victoria and Enoch. Gasps echoed around the room as everyone saw it.
It was then that Marc walked into the office. Tempest saw his eyes widen as he too made the connection.
"Who are you?" he demanded as he marched up to stand next to where his brother stood.
"What you are suggesting is impossible," Liam said. "It was over a hundred years ago. These boys can't be a day over twenty-five."
"Oh my god," Victoria whispered as she dropped into a chair. She looked up at Liam and took a deep breath. "Natasha was..." she took another breath. "Natasha was pregnant. She told me it wasn't Noah's but she hid it. She was a powerful sorcerer and she hid it. But how would this have happened?" She looked up at the two men who stood near her, her eyes wide.
After a moment, Rainey's soft voice spoke up. "Well, there was that little story about Sleeping Beauty.
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18 December 2020
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