Chapter 12

“Your mother was a Willow Faerie? I’ve heard that they’re very beautiful, and you certainly inherited that,” Selenia said as she sat with me in her room.

It was an hour later, and I was spending time with her while her mother attended a suddenly requested meeting. Aurora had wished to attend it with her, but I had not.

I was still feeling shaken by all of the things that had transpired in the last two hours.

For this, Selenia had offered to take me with her for a while in hopes that I’d feel more comfortable.

Selenia was currently standing behind me, brushing my hair while also admiring it.

I couldn’t deny that I was feeling fairly comfortable with her by now. She came across as very open and friendly, much like Sherry had.

“Thank you. I know that they’re beautiful creatures, but I never knew any personally. My mother died when I was born, and I wasn’t allowed to stay with them because of what my father is,” I explained.

“That’s so awful of them. I could tell very quickly how sweet you are. I’m certain you’d never want to hurt anyone,” Selenia contended.

“I never have, but I suppose fear of the unknown is a powerful thing.”

“You have a point,” Selenia relented. She pulled over a chair to sit beside me. “Between the two of us, I did want to ask you, is Rayne really doing all right?”

“He appears to be. Is there something you’ve heard that’s worried you?” I asked her.

Selenia sighed. “It’s not so much a single thing. I guess you could say that I’ve been concerned because of how much he’s stayed away since he struck out on his own. While I know that my brothers are old enough to forge their own paths, even if they are the main heirs to our lands, I had thought that they’d come back more often. While Rin has since things were settled after he found Aurora, Rayne has not so much.

“It is almost like he wishes to have little to nothing to do with us, and I cannot understand why,” she explained.

I had suspected something like this even before I’d come here. Rayne avoided the idea of seeing his family far too much for it to simply be because of something with me.

But this presented me with an opportunity I hadn’t had before. I turned to Selenia.

“I hope I am not out of line here, but I wish to ask you something. What happened to your family a year ago?”

Selenia’s eyes widened, and I expected her to rebuff me and tell me that Rayne should be the one answering that question, but it was quite the opposite.

“You know nothing of it?”

“Not much,” I confessed, feeling more confident to continue. “I have seen that your mage has awful scars, and Rayne has a large scar on his throat. I was also told that something awful had happened about a year ago, but it wasn’t elaborated on. I considered trying to ask Rayne about it, but he changed the subject when I began to mention it, and Emelio doesn’t speak anything of it. Was it so bad that we should not?”

Selenia hesitated, looking around her room. Her windows were open, letting in the breeze that had picked up, but her main door was closed.

Feeling a bit more confident, she decided to be honest with me. “Yes, it was something awful, but it isn’t something that needs to be avoided. I also can’t fault Rayne for not wanting to speak of it to you. We all know that he carries a lot of guilt over some of what happened, especially where Rin and Aurora are concerned. However, I think that you should know, and I’ll handle my brother if he gets upset. I think Daddy would be on my side anyway, and he won’t be that happy with Rayne when he learns that he’s been avoiding this.”

This was sounding more and more ominous, but also intriguing. What had happened to make Rayne feel so guilty?

“Did Rayne do something to Rin and Aurora?” I had to know.

“Yes and no,” Selenia answered. She looked a little uncomfortable but forced herself to explain.

“All of us are still on the young side when it comes to this world and our birthright, and there were things that Daddy hadn’t gotten to explain to us during that time. But I suppose I should start from the beginning and explain some things about my brothers. I’m sure you’re already well aware of the circumstances surrounding their birth, and that Rin technically was born from a different father.”

“I am. I had heard the story of it from one of my mistresses, and I certainly could tell when I met him that he is a Fox,” I confirmed.

Selenia nodded. “Yes, very much so. Rin has always been a bit different since he was born, and I will say that he understands how you feel being spoken so terribly about in whispers and rumors. From what I know, that happened a lot to him when he and Rayne were little.

“You see, the creatures of these lands truly adore our father, and while there were plenty who accepted Rin and also revered his, there were ones who refused to. They used to whisper about how he shouldn’t be allowed to be an heir under our father because he wasn’t biologically his son. As you’d imagine, Rin has very good ears, much like me and Rayne and our father, and it used to hurt him very badly when he’d hear them say such hurtful things.”

That familiar pain went through my heart.

Yes, I knew how he must’ve felt. It was a special pain that could only be experienced from a quiet distance.

“That had to have affected him so badly. I know what it was like as a young child being told that I didn’t belong, but it was never so maliciously done, and it’s so much like what I’ve been hearing, and I’m grown,” I said softly.

“As I said, you are gentle at heart, and you probably carry more empathy than most,” Selenia pointed out before returning to her story.

“Rin was always proud, even when he was very little. Yes, he was upset over it, but he held his head up and did his best to ignore them. Rayne always stood beside him too, just like our parents and me when I got old enough. But he always had that feeling deep inside of not belonging, and when he was seventeen, he finally decided that he didn’t want to be here anymore.

“He ran away one night, wanting to make it on his own.”

That surprised me. “Was he even allowed to do that? He is still an heir to these lands.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t as if Daddy couldn’t find him if he needed to. Emelio’s always been able to track any of us, and he kept tabs on Rin to ensure that he was okay. Rin also has a Fox uncle who’s a nine-tail, and he taught him a lot in that first year to make sure he’d be okay.

“But eventually, Rin ended up finding Aurora. I won’t get into where out of respect for her, but it was a bad place, and she wasn’t able to talk because she’d been abused so much in the mortal world. Rin knew right away though that she was the one he was meant to find, and he took her in and made her his beta.”

“But there was something more to all of it,” I guessed.

“Yes. As I said, Daddy hadn’t gotten to tell us everything we needed to know, and Aurora was already being targeted because something powerful knew that she would end up being his beta. Rayne had met her by chance before it all really started, and they had become friends, and he was around a lot after Daddy forced Rin to come back to the palace with her.

“Rayne really liked Aurora. He thought she was an incredible survivor, and he wanted to help her in any way he could. But something had other plans, and wanted to use him and her.” Selenia stopped, looking at her hands, which were clasped on her lap. She was nervous now, like what she was going to tell me was going to be really bad.

“I know this is going to sound incredibly bad, and it wasn’t really them in control, but it did happen, and it came close to tearing our family apart,” she slowly went on. “The one who was after our family put a spell on a stone within Aurora to help her talk, and that spell extended to Rayne and controlled him at times.

“Long story short, the spell made them sleep together, and then Rin became so jealous when the spell overtook him that he harmed Aurora. Rayne also ended up attacking Emelio before everything came to a head, leaving him with his scars, and Rayne’s scar came from when he tore the catalyst for the spell controlling him out of his own throat.”

I sat still, letting all of this sink in.

I couldn’t believe something had gotten to their family like that. Yet I didn’t feel angry at Rayne for not wanting to tell me.

He was a proud alpha male, and I would’ve imagined that along with his regrets for what he’d inadvertently done to his brother and Aurora, along with the pain he’d caused Emelio, he also felt thoroughly embarrassed about being used like he was.

It was little wonder he didn’t want to talk about it.

“That’s terrible, and it’s why you’re all worried that he wants to pull away from the family, because he feels guilty about being controlled and doing those things,” I surmised.

“It is,” Selenia confessed. “Rayne has always been so gentle inside. Mama and I like to say that he’s very much like Daddy. He seems tough on the outside, but his heart is beautiful. We know he’s felt guilty about all of that, and so do Rin and Aurora.

“Rin’s always felt bad about a lot of things between them too. He knows that Rayne’s only wanted to be close to him and has only ever looked at him as his brother. He supported him even when Rin questioned whether our father truly accepted him.

“It hurts us to think that Rayne’s still so hard on himself for those things.”

“I know it does, and you’re right. Rayne is very gentle inside, and very caring. I know he’s always accepted me for who I am, and he doesn’t care how I was born,” I told her. “That’s why I haven’t wanted to tell him what’s been happening. I don’t want to hurt him knowing that others think such awful things about me.”

“I understand, but their thoughts of you don’t matter, and Mama is right. They’re awful petty, just like they were with Rin,” Selenia declared.

I was about to respond to her when the two of us heard voices drifting into the windows of the courtyard. It sounded like two males arguing.

Both of us immediately got up to look, and I felt my heart sink. Rayne was out there with Rin, and both appeared to be having a heated conversation.

“Oh dear.” Selenia grabbed my hand. “Let’s hurry out there.”

It didn’t take us long to get out to the courtyard, and both of us stopped about ten feet from them.

Rin and Rayne were facing each other, and though they weren’t making any aggressive moves, it was easy to tell that they were angry by their tones and how their tails were twitching.

“You had no right to do this, even if you did happen to run into her! It was my choice when I wanted to bring her here!” Rayne was saying.

“You never would have if I hadn’t stepped in! You’d keep avoiding us, not to mention leaving her alone far too much!” Rin countered.

“I take very good care of my Luna, so do not cast judgment on what I do!” Rayne fumed.

“You take wonderful care of her when you do not even know what she has been feeling for all your fruitless roaming!” Rin scoffed.

“What did you say?!”

This was looking incredibly bad. Neither of them was going to back down, and now they were tensing for a physical fight. But before either could move, we suddenly heard a male voice issue a stern command.

“Restrain them.”

Webs instantly wrapped around Rin and Rayne’s arms and legs, ensuring that they couldn’t move to attack each other.

I followed Selenia’s gaze to see Jekia coming toward them. Although his expression was passive, it was easy to see the disapproval in his eyes.

I realized that Lana and Aurora had joined us as he arrived, and Lana looked a little exasperated. Even if she’d expected some of this, it probably was the last thing she wanted to witness.

A spider woman moved forward in the branches of a nearby tree, holding the strands of web restraining Rayne and Rin in her hands.

She was a bit different from Spinel. Her coloring was mostly white, and she had deep blue eyes with long white hair that fell over her shoulders and back.

Jekia stood near his sons, nodding toward the spider.

“Thank you, Vishu. Let us ensure that there is no violence in this disagreement,” he stated.

“Yes, sir,” the spider woman complied.

~Vishu~, I thought. ~She’s the same voice that spoke to Rin when he asked to open the webs. Has she been watching from the shadows this whole time?~

My attention was drawn back to Jekia as he addressed his sons.

“What do you two think you’re doing? Have I not told you both to keep your disagreements civil at all times instead of losing your heads?” he scolded them.

“It isn’t always easy when he’s pushed me this far!” Rin countered.

“You are the one who is pushing me! I told you that you have no right to interfere in my relationship, just as I promised not to interfere in yours!” Rayne argued.

“I did no such thing! I brought Luna here because it was the right thing to do, and if you had paid attention, you would have noticed right away that something has been amiss!” Rin accused.

“Do not tell me how to…!” Rayne started.

“Enough!” Jekia stepped between them. Both immediately backed down as he gave them sharply disapproving looks.

“You both know where your guilt lies. Rin, you brought Luna here with nothing but good intentions but did not seek out Rayne to speak of your concerns for her.

“Rayne, you have refused to bring her here for reasons we have been unable to discern and very well could’ve become too complacent in believing that she was adjusting well. Both of you know better than to not admit some fault in such a situation.”

Wow, he was good.

He’d made valid points against both of them.

They appeared to know it too, because both backed down.

Rin looked at Rayne and now spoke much more calmly, “You know I wouldn’t have stepped in like this if I didn’t feel I needed to, Rayne.

“I only want to help her, and I needed to go above you just a little bit this time.”

“Why would you feel the need to go above me? What is all of this about?” Rayne demanded, though not anywhere near as angry now. Instead, he sounded very worried.

Jekia snapped his fingers and Vishu let them go. “We will be getting into that now that I have returned. Come with me,” he ordered.

I decided that I should say something. The last thing I wanted was for Rayne to find out about my troubles this way.

It wasn’t fair to him, and I hoped Jekia would be willing to allow me a bit of time to speak to him privately.

“I apologize for interrupting, but may I speak to Rayne first?” I requested.

“Very well,” Jekia conceded. He turned to Rayne. “We will wait in the north parlor for you, and I expect you and Luna to join us once you are done speaking.”

“Yes, sir,” Rayne agreed.

I drew in a deep breath, hoping that I could get through this conversation we needed to have. At least we would be allowed to do it privately, and I was determined that I’d keep my resolve.

I knew how I’d come to love Rayne. I’d do anything for him, even bare the soul I thought was stronger than it was.

I just hoped he’d forgive me for not doing it sooner.