Discovery of a Queen: Chapter 26

Caleb and I made love again and again, and a few more times after that, finally stopping to shower as dawn began breaking over the horizon. We’re standing under the spray of the water, still wrapped in each other’s arms, and I really don’t want to return to reality. I want to stay here, soaking in the water and touching my mate, but I know I need to get out soon and tackle the aftermath of being unconscious for a little over a month. Caleb hasn’t said anything about how long I was out, choosing instead to focus on the here and now. Which I’m grateful for, but we can’t avoid this talk forever.

Sighing, I turn off the water, easing my body away from Caleb’s. He’s silent as he reaches for my hair towel, waiting patiently as I wrap my hair up, and then he grabs my body towel. He reaches for his own towel, quickly drying himself off and wrapping it around his waist. I just stand in the shower, dripping slightly, as I stare at him. There’s so much to say, so much to discuss. I want to just curl back up on the broken bed with Caleb and forget the world outside my room exists. It sucks that I can’t do that.

Caleb arches an eyebrow at me, and I shrug. I step out of the shower, quickly making sure I’m dry enough to throw on some yoga pants and a t-shirt. I then quickly braid my damp hair and look at myself in the mirror. I’ve been avoiding this too, but I need to see what I look like now.

The shaved patch on the side of my head desperately needs attention, my cheeks are sunken in a little, and I have black bags under my eyes. I’m a bit paler than usual, which surprises me because you really couldn’t get much paler than I was without being dead. I’m thinner than I was too, which I’m not happy about. But the biggest difference is the slightly haunted look in my eyes. Knowing that I’m different now, changed in a way I’m still coming to terms with, fighting a darkness inside me that could easily consume me if I let it, has clearly left its mark, not just emotionally, but physically too.

“But we won’t let it.” Caleb moves to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning his chin on my shoulder, breaking through my thoughts. “Remember, we’re in this together. We won’t let the darkness overtake you. We’ll learn the best way to keep you balanced. Together.” He places a light kiss on my shoulder where his chin had been and then meets my eyes in the mirror.

He’s right. We’re going to get through this together. I’m not alone anymore. I beam back at him and turn just enough to press a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“Now let’s go. Breakfast should be ready, and we really need to refuel if I’m going to break the bed more,” Caleb teases. I laugh as we move back into my room and eye the bed in question. “What the hell happened to it anyway?” He shoots me an inquisitive look.

“Apparently being part demon means I’m physically stronger than I was.” I rub the back of my neck and let out a nervous giggle. “I sort of punched the bed. I heard it crack right before you came into the room.” Caleb chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and hugging me to his side. “We’ll have to make sure that the new bed is magically reinforced.” He laughs louder and leads me out of the room.

Surprisingly, despite the early hour, everyone is in the breakfast room waiting for us. Kelly and Olivia jump to their feet, rushing over to throw their arms around me. I hug them right back, letting their love and strength flow through our bonds. My eyes meet Darcy’s across the room. She’s nervous and isn’t sure if she should join in on the group hug. Sighing dramatically, I gesture with my hand for her to get in on the lovin’. She thankfully doesn’t hesitate and comes right over to hug me from behind.

And that’s when the waterworks start.

Once the four of us are finished ugly sobbing against each other, we pull apart, wide smiles spreading across our faces. It feels so good to be back with my family and to know that they made it out of the battle with Malick. I notice that the men of our little group are all standing around the table awkwardly, clearly not knowing what to do with a huddle of sobbing females. I roll my eyes and grab my plate, starving and eager to stuff my face now that I’ve had a chance to reconnect with my sisters.

Everything I experienced with the goddesses floods back at the thought. My sisters by bond and my sisters by blood. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do. Looks like we might be in this room for the rest of the day. At least there will be plenty of food.

I settle in at the table, and thankfully everyone allows me time to stuff my face before peppering me with questions. Like this morning, however, I can’t avoid this conversation forever. I’m going to need to have this discussion, bare my soul, and roll with whatever happens after.

“Before I start, I have to know…” I pause, taking a deep breath. “What happened to Malick?”

The silence that greets my question is deafening. Suddenly, Olivia’s finger goes flying to the tip of her nose, followed quickly by Kelly and Darcy doing the same. Good to see we’re still in high school. Dante looks confused. He’s old, so he probably has no idea what the hell is going on. Connor and Malcolm stare at my ladies like they’re examining a science experiment. And Caleb is pinching the bridge of his nose. Through the bond, I can hear him praying to every god and goddess out there to give him the patience to deal with all of them. I snort out a laugh, coughing quickly to cover it up.

Thanks to the bond, however, Caleb knows that I find all of this amusing and shoots me a playful glare across the table. Placing his hands on either side of his plate, he takes a deep breath before speaking. “I’ll tell her.” He sends annoyed glares to everyone else around the table. “She’s my mate, it should come from me anyway.”

More silence echoes through the room.

“He’s gone.” A small flicker of hope flares within me. I heard wrong while I was completely out of my damn mind. “Something grabbed him from the ground and ripped him away right before your attack could touch him.” Everything inside me stops, my heart plummets into my stomach, and I have to fight to keep the bile down. “But you did kill his entire legion.”

“It was pretty badass,” Darcy comments, trying to give me a reassuring smile.

“Where is he?” My voice is shaking with rage. Not at Malick, but at myself. I failed. I fucking failed.

“We don’t know,” Olivia chimes in. “But we’re hunting him down. We haven’t stopped since the battle.”

“But you’ve been our top priority, Ayla,” Kelly interjects, leaning over to grab my hand. “You were unconscious for six weeks.”

Six weeks? My dragon rubs soothingly against me in my mind. She did most of the work while my magic stores refilled, keeping us both alive.

,” my dragon murmurs, and I smile.

My dragon’s pleased hum is my only reply.

It takes me a few moments to process that I’ve been under for six weeks. I knew it had been at least a month but hearing a firm number on it makes everything that happened so much more real. And it was all for nothing, that bastard got away.

Caleb rumbles.

Which reminds me that some of the community died, making me feel even shittier.

Okay, so I feel a little, tiny, itty-bitty bit better about that. But Caleb is my mate, which means that the Council, by de facto, is part of my community. Kelly’s grip on my hand tightens, drawing my attention to her.

“All those who died, died before your attack, Ayla. Those deaths were not your fault. Even if they died after your attack or after you had engaged Malick, they still would not have been your fault. They died while we were trying to break the ward.” She shakes her head when I open my mouth. “There’s no point in arguing about this.”

Well. Fine then. Bossy bit of goods, that one.

I return my attention back to Caleb. “You said something grabbed him from the ground?”

“Yeah. Just this black mass. It came in and scooped the fucker up, and poof! They were gone.” Everyone else around the table nods. “From what we’ve been able to gather, no one saw anything more descriptive from any other angle either. Which is really weird.”

“It’s possible it was another archdemon,” Malcolm cuts in. “But we don’t know any with that particular ability. That’s not to say that there isn’t one out there, but he or she would certainly be a bigger threat than Malick if that’s the case.”

“I think we can agree,” Olivia states, “that whoever it was is a bigger threat than Malick, regardless of their species.” Murmurs of agreement float around the table. “But why don’t you start, Ayla? Maybe that can help us fill in some information and provide some kind of answer as to what happened.”

I sigh, puffing out my cheeks as I do. “Alright. That’s fair enough.” I begin tugging on the end of my braid as I try to figure out where to start. There’s so much I have to tell them it’s a little overwhelming.

“I guess I should start at the beginning,” I murmur. “I’ve…Well…I’ve been keeping something from all of you.” I look around the table, and thankfully no one seems surprised or angry. “I’ve told you all that I’m the last queen. That’s not true.” I glance over at Olivia. “Even before Olivia was gifted queen powers by the goddesses—” I pause as old anxieties rise within me, trying to keep me silent, but I know now that the only way we’re going to be able to move forward is if I’m honest about my sisters. If we can find them, wake them, we may have a fighting chance at whatever is coming. The evil the goddesses hinted at.

“I’m the youngest daughter my mother gave birth to.” I can feel shock radiate through all of my bonds. “My mother gave birth to triplets. I have two older sisters. Sorcha is the eldest, and Isobel is the middle triplet.” I’d almost forgotten that Kelly is still holding my hand. She squeezes it now, offering me her steady belief and strength. “My mother separated us on the day she was taken.” I pause, they don’t know about that. Shit. “Okay, a little side story. My mother didn’t die on the battlefield like I thought, Malick actually kidnapped her. I’ll get to that later. What’s important is that she hid my sisters away, putting them in a magical slumber. It wasn’t until recently that I knew where they were.”

“When are we leaving?” Olivia leans across the table and puts her hand on top of mine and Kelly’s. “We are going to go get them, right?”

I nod slowly. “I hoped that once we talked about everything we would be able to come up with a plan to get them, yes.”

“Well, I’m in,” Darcy says. Everyone else quickly affirms their desire to wake my sisters. Man, I love these guys.

A few hours later, we’re all still sitting around the table. I’ve caught them up on what happened, and they’ve done the same, telling me everything from the time I was taken up until they felt the bonds flare to life again. Now we’re just trying to mull everything over, see if there’s anything anyone might have missed that could help us.

“I don’t think we’ve got anything on who took Malick,” Malcolm says, breaking the silence. Dante, Connor, and Darcy all nod their agreement. “But we’ve got some great insight into his motives.”

“Yes,” Connor agrees. “That prophecy you spoke about, that’s his driving force behind all of this. He wants to open the gates to hell. What we don’t really understand is why he thinks having a child with a queen is going to be the answer. Ayla, you said the goddesses didn’t give you the whole prophecy, they just pointed you in the direction of where you’d be able to find it?”

I nod. “Yeah. I have to start back home in Ireland. I guess more information about the prophecy and my sisters is there.” I shrug. “I’m not sure our cottage is even still standing. I haven’t been home since I left that night.”

“So that’s where we need to go first then.” This is the first time Caleb’s spoken since I started talking. “We head to Ireland, find whatever it is the goddesses wanted you to find, and then move on to locating the sister that’s closest. France, I think you said?”

“That’s right, Sorcha. Paris. In the catacombs.” We stare at each other for a moment, and Caleb’s determination to help me see this through grounds me. “I hate to say it, but I think we need to focus on things one step at a time. I have a feeling that getting what we need in Ireland isn’t going to be all that easy.”

“Malick could be stalking us,” Kelly warns. “If he’s that obsessed with the prophecy and opening the gates to Hell, he’s going to want to keep an eye on us. We aren’t sure if he knows about Olivia or not yet, but it’s really only a matter of time. Word is going to get out and spread like wildfire. We’ve done our best to keep the knowledge within this circle, but let’s be hella real here, that’s not going to last forever.”

“You’re right,” I say to Kelly. “Which is why we also need to focus on training Olivia. I’m going to need to train you and Darcy as well. Just because you aren’t queens yet doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. The goddesses said when the time is right you’ll come into your powers. You two need to be ready. Hell, Olivia came into her powers in the middle of a damn battle.” I still want to facepalm every time I think about it.

“Kelly has been helping me control my magic. My panther is a lot more active, but we’ve been working on finding balance between the two of us again. I haven’t tried shifting yet. My panther told me she’s changed but hasn’t exactly explained. I wanted to wait for you to wake up before trying.” Olivia grins over at me. “It’s all been a lot of hard work, but fun as hell too. I rather like being able to explode demons with my mind.” We all laugh at that.

“We can all work together. It shouldn’t matter where we are. We need to be able to adapt to different environments quickly and efficiently,” Darcy reasons. “We won’t be surprised when we come into our powers thanks to you, Ayla, but that’s only part of the process.” Her eyes bleed black, and I can feel mine do the same in response. “We’re going to need to train hard and with as many different partners as possible. While we’ve destroyed Malick’s legion, it won’t take him long to start finding new followers. He can be very charming. And there’s no telling how they’ll fight. We also shouldn’t stick to a solid routine. Surprise attacks are a must. We’ll never know when they’re going to attack, and we need to make sure that we’re ready in the blink of an eye.”

“You’re right.” I groan. “I hadn’t realized just how much there is to do. And you and I need to learn to control our demonic sides.”

“I’ve had more practice than you, but it’s still good to keep up the effort. I can tell you what’s worked for me, and we can go from there. But it does get easier, Ayla. I promise.”

“We’re going to get through this.” Olivia’s voice is strong, sure, and filled with determination. “We’re going to wake up your sisters, kick demon ass, and make sure that the gates to Hell stay closed.” She looks around the table and nods. “We’ve got one hell of a community now.” Her eyes find mine and stick. “And we’ve got one hell of a leader.”