hapter 128
Chapter 128
ATASHA’S POV
“How certain are you that I may have fac blood?” I asked, my frown deepening as I leaned against the edge of the study table.
It had been a week since Matron Yara left the northern border. Strangely, the days that followed had been almost… calm.
The red moon still hung above, and the beasts never stopped pressing against the walls, but the onslaught wasn’t the endless tide it had been before. Now, the attacks came in smaller waves, dangerous but tolerable. Some nights, I even managed to sleep without being startled awake by the bells.
Cassian had made his stance clear after my ability was revealed: I was only to heal those whose wounds were fatal, the kind that left no room for delay. Anyone else would have to wait for Mendez or the other healers.
Beyond that, I spent my hours in the study or the infirmary, learning from Agape and, on occasion, Mendez himself. Agape showed me how to prepare salves and balms, teaching me what each herb did, how to mix them so they would not burn the skin or turn bitter in the wound. Apparently, fae’s are specifically good at creating these things. It was tedious work, but it grounded me.
Now, with Agape and Prince Kaelith seated across the table, I found myself staring at them, waiting for an answer I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear. The fire in the brazier cracked faintly, filling the silence that stretched too long.
For the first time since Agape had told me there was a possibility, since he’d dared suggest that I might carry fae blood in my veins, I finally forced myself to speak the question out loud. It had taken me a week to gather the nerve, and even now my palms pressed against my skirts to keep them from trembling.
Agape’s fingers brushed over the pages of an old book. Prince Kaelith leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, his sharp eyes fixed on me as though he was just as curious about how I’d react as he was about the question itself.
I shifted under their scrutiny. “You’ve both spoken about corruption, about how stones twist anyone with fae blood. But how can you be sure that’s what I am? That I’m not just… different in some other way?”
The words came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t look away. I forced myself to hold Agape’s gaze, even as unease tightened in my chest.
The test was already set, it would happen once the red moon passed, which could be any day now. I couldn’t afford to sit in silence anymore. If there were truths about me that I didn’t understand, even the ones I dreaded to hear, I needed to face them before others forced the answers out for me.
“I thought you would never ask,” Agape said at last. “To be honest, letting us stay here is already more generosity than I expected. I am not ungrateful. I do not force knowledge where it is not welcome. If you were not ready to hear it, then I would say nothing.”
I nodded slowly, even as my stomach twisted. He wasn’t wrong. Cassian had made the decision to shelter them, to let them remain inside the outpost until the red moon passed. I hadn’t been told the details. I hadn’t asked, either. Whatever bargain had been struck, it wasn’t mine to meddle with. Still, curiosity lingered in the
19:39 Sat, Oct 4
Chapter 128
back of my mind. Why them? Why now? Why agree to something Cassian would normally refuse?
But this wasn’t about Cassian. Not right now. I drew in a breath and forced myself to meet Agape’s gaze again. “I need to know,” I said firmly, my fingers curling tight against my skirt.
Agape inclined his head. “Then let me start with this. What do you know about the fac… and about humans?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “I haven’t seen a fae before.” I hesitated, glancing at him. “Well… aside from you.”
That drew a short chuckle out of him. He turned his head toward Prince Kaelith, who leaned back in his chair, his arms still crossed. Kaelith gave him a small nod, almost like granting permission.
Agape’s mouth curved into the faintest smile as his gaze returned to me. “Then you should know the truth. This is not our real form. It cannot be. Not here. If we did not hide it, we would not… belong.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the change happened. His pale skin darkened in a blink, deepening into a rich brown tone that caught the firelight. His sharp, almost skeletal features filled out into striking lines, strong yet ageless. His hair lengthened as it turned white, not the washed–out color of age but bright, like snow spun into silk, flowing past his shoulders. The face that had once been severe and lean now looked powerful, even regal. He looked like an older man, yes, but with features so well–shaped it made me stare.
My mouth went dry. I couldn’t stop myself from staring.
And then my gaze slid toward Prince Kaelith. His form blurred too, shifting as though a veil had been lifted. His skin darkened, his pale mask replaced with something warmer, stronger. His cheekbones stood out, sharp yet noble, his face transformed into one that could have belonged to a carved statue of a young king. His dark hair spilled longer, richer, framing the pointed tips of his ears that were impossible to ignore now.
I froze. Both of them… looked so different, so unreal yet so alive as they sat across from me, no longer hiding what they were.
“You…” My voice cracked before I could finish the thought. My heart thudded in my chest, torn between awe and unease.
Agape tilted his head slightly, watching me closely, his long white hair brushing against his shoulder as he moved. “This is what we are, Lady Atasha. This is what we have always been. The forms you saw before… those were masks. This is the truth.”
“Tell me, Consort… what do you know of your wolf?” It was Prince Kae who spoke.
The question sliced through me. My wolf. Or rather… the absence of her.
Heat rushed up my neck, and I hated that my hands trembled where they clutched the table. My wolf had always been the stain on my life, the flaw that made me weak, unwanted, cast aside by my own blood. But sitting here, with their sharp ears, their unnatural beauty, their unmasked truth… another thought clawed its way up before I could stop it.
What if I didn’t have a wolf because I wasn’t supposed to?
My chest tightened, my heart pounding so hard I thought they might hear it. I stared at them, at their sharp faces and their steady gazes, and a cold shiver raced down my spine.
19:39 Sat, Oct 4
Chapter 128
What if I wasn’t a werewolf at all?
AD
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