Eternal

AURELIA

Aurelia wasn’t sure how much time had passed. But a sense of satisfaction washed over her, pushing away the memory of the punishment she’d just endured.

The sting on her ass had faded.

The eternal dungeons.

She’d heard the stories. These were the dungeons from the castle’s songs and legends, the ones belonging to the king. These were the dungeons where sane wolves lost their minds.

Dungeons where the tame turned wild. Dungeons that could break a man from the inside out.

These were his dungeons. They held the worst of the worst, even more treacherous than those in the silver cells.

Yet, she felt a strange sense of joy.

She managed to tear the blindfold from her eyes and take in her surroundings. He hadn’t anticipated that being sent to the dungeons was exactly what she wanted.

She hadn’t expected the spankings, though.

But in the eternal dungeons, with no guards and no interaction for a long time—just as the king had promised—she had plenty of time to project herself to the fae.

“Aurelia,” Cathan greeted as she appeared in his sanctum.

“You’re mad at me,” she said.

“No, I’m not mad,” he replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Disappointed then. You’re so powerful—if you wanted him dead, he’d be dead. But instead, you sleep with him, and you become queen.

“It’s risky for you to be here, and it’s clear to me that you’re no use to me.”

There it was again. She was of no use to him. She was of no use to the king. Why was everyone always using her?

“But—”

“Aurelia,” he said slowly, his voice dangerous. “We don’t have the same goals, no matter what you want to believe. I can’t trust you to follow through. So, our alliance is over.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but instead, she left and projected herself elsewhere in the fae world, finding comfort in its beauty. Adalric had warned her about an ally betraying her, leading her down a rotten path.

Maybe it was a good thing to end her partnership with Cathan, so he couldn’t betray her and she wouldn’t look foolish.

She’d never fully trusted him. And this was it.

Her body back in the eternal dungeons was in pain, but at least she felt it less. The frostbite was less severe with her mind mostly absent, and the distance created a dulling effect.

But pain was still pain.

Her projection sat in the middle of the woods she’d found herself in. She couldn’t feel anything around her, as much as she wanted to.

She yearned to breathe the fresh, pure air of their kingdom. She longed to touch the beautiful nature that thrived and never died. She wished to be free.

But she was chained to the man she’d planned to kill. She would forever be free of his burden.

She could still feel him. His anger, his loneliness, his emptiness. It was as if he were already dead. But it was hard for Aurelia to feel sorry for the king, given her current situation.

She was lucky to have the fae world as a refuge for her mind. Because she knew what happened to the minds of his other prisoners in his eternal dungeons.

She was sure the dungeons lived up to their infamous reputation.

No fae were kept there, which was why magic could be used. It was strictly for werewolves, as fae would be killed on sight. She would be killed on sight.

She wanted to kill him. And he didn’t know it yet, but he wanted to kill her. Because revenge seemed to be on the minds of all the men in her life: the king, Cathan, even Lochlan.

“Aurelia,” a familiar voice called out from behind her, making Aurelia snap to attention.

“Ellathoria,” she greeted.

“I sensed you were here,” Ellathoria said with a sweet smile. “You look upset, my child.”

Aurelia stayed silent, staring at her hands. Without Cathan, how would she get what she wanted?

She could never trust him, and he was perhaps a shaky ally to begin with. But now she had no plan, no vision of the future.

“I know you’ve been visiting Cathan,” she said, catching Aurelia’s attention. “As I said, I can sense when you’re here, in our kingdom.”

“It’s over.”

“Do you like him?” she asked. She was implying romantically, of course. Aurelia shrugged and shook her head slightly.

“He’s quite smitten with you. But all he really wants is revenge. And you can’t trust someone like that. He wanted to use you for his own gain.”

“I know,” Aurelia replied.

“What do you want, Aurelia? What do you really want?”

“I... I want... an end to my suffering, an end to all the chaos. I don’t want to suffer anymore,” she confessed.

“We can’t end a war without fighting first,” Ellathoria said. Aurelia furrowed her eyebrows at this statement, waiting for her to continue.

“This war started hundreds of years ago, and the fae have just sat by, hiding behind the border.”

“I thought you wanted peace.” The fae scoffed and relaxed her features with a gentle smile.

“Peace, little wolf, was never an option. But I’m the peacemaker on the council. I’m the rational one, the one who doesn’t want bloodshed. But there will be blood.

“The war can only end when we fight again and we win. Because the werewolves don’t want peace, and they never will. They’re too proud.”

“They are,” Aurelia agreed, understanding every word of Ellathoria’s confession and knowing it to be true.

“You want your suffering to end. That only happens by ending the war, making sure the fae win. Come with me, Aurelia.” She turned and began to walk. “I want to show you something.”

“What is it, Ellathoria?” she asked as she was led through the woodlands.

“Call me Ella,” she replied, avoiding the question.

The scenery changed, perhaps darker in tone, as they moved through the forest trees.

The birds chirped to each other in harmony, as if they were forming a choir. The trees swayed in the light breeze, rustling their red, orange, and green leaves.

She yearned to dance among them, to break free from the chains that had bound her for as long as she could remember.

She’d never been an ordinary girl. At twenty, she felt too young to be anyone’s mate. Yet here she was, a queen trapped in the king’s dungeons.

Her heart ached. Her chest throbbed with a pain that was almost unbearable.

Why was this her life? Why was this her destiny? Why had she been born into this? This prophecy had been written before she’d even existed. Once again, she was a pawn in someone else’s game.

There was no one she could trust. Not really. She couldn’t be sure of anyone’s true motives.

They stumbled upon a cave, and Ella stopped. She turned to the projection of the young wolf.

“Follow me,” she said, igniting a torch with a small spell and stepping inside.

Aurelia followed, though she was wary. She was just a projection. She couldn’t use magic, but others couldn’t use it against her either.

“Where are we going?”

“This is it,” Ella announced, illuminating the cave walls.

Aurelia squinted at the engravings. She tilted her head, trying to decipher their meaning.

“These caves have been here since before beings were created,” Ella explained, “before the time of werewolves and fae.

“They weren’t discovered until we were driven from the werewolf kingdom and settled here.

“I didn’t tell the council about them, because they tell a story I couldn’t understand. I thought it was just a myth, made up by someone with a wild imagination. Until I met you.”

Aurelia’s gaze flicked from the engravings to Ella.

“These engravings, they’re pictures and runes. The runes are in an ancient language of our people, one that died out centuries ago. I’ve tried to read it, along with others I’ve asked for help.

“Until someone could read it.”

“Until I could read it,” a strange voice said, startling Aurelia. A man stepped out from the shadows of the cave. He had golden hair and piercing blue eyes. Just like hers.

“Who are you?”

“I am Cirillo. I am your father, Aurelia.”

She stood there, stunned. Her eyes locked with the stranger who claimed to be her father. Her chest felt heavier with each passing second. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“The runes, they foretell a prophecy, about you. I am older than both Ella and Cathan. I’ve been in hiding since before our people were purged from the werewolf kingdom.

“And I thought I was trapped away from the new world the fae created here, because I couldn’t leave fast enough.

“Hundreds of years, and I couldn’t get home. Until I met a woman in a village who stole my heart. She was my mate. And she was a werewolf.

“It was unheard of, so rare to have a mate of a different species. She already had a husband and a child. But he was a soldier in the king’s army, and he’d been killed. And I was her mate.”

“She gave me shelter and hid me from her village, from the king. We had a child, an impossible child. You.”

“Then you left her,” Aurelia said quietly. “You left me.”

“Your sister, she knew what I was, even as a nine-year-old. I stayed with your mother until she died giving birth to you. It felt like the world was on fire, and I was burning with it.

“Every part of me shattered. And I knew I couldn’t stay. Your sister threatened to tell the Alpha, and I found out I could cross the border, somehow.

“So... I left. I left my daughter. I left you. In the care of a nine-year-old.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you would survive. Hybrids don’t. They never do. I never imagined you were so... special.”

“What do you want from me?” Aurelia asked, her eyes narrowing. Anger was building inside her, a spark turning into a flame.

Her head was spinning. She’d been hit with every twist and turn, every surprise. But meeting the father who’d abandoned her was the biggest shock of all.

He was a man she’d barely thought about in her life. She hadn’t had the time. She’d always assumed she shared a father with Olympia, until she found out she didn’t.

But with becoming queen and everything that came with it, wondering why her father hadn’t been there for her hadn’t really crossed her mind.

And now here he was. Healthy and alive.

“Aurelia,” Ella started. “We want to help you. And we need your help.”

“I couldn’t be there for you, but you’re suffering now because of your mate, the damn Alpha King. If I’d been there, he would never have laid a finger on you.

“I promise you that I’ll do whatever is best for you. You can trust me, and I’ll prove it to you,” Cirillo said, his voice full of conviction.

“If you want to stop being used by people who don’t care about you, join us in our fight for survival and peace.

“You don’t have to suffer anymore. You don’t have to live in chaos. You can have a world like this, full of life and love. We need you.”

All Aurelia did was nod. But it was enough. And the game was back on, with a new team. One that included her stranger of a father.