Chapter Forty-One

I stared blankly at Magnus Camden Oswy Odin and didn’t if I wanted to laugh in his face, cry hysterically, or scream.

A shiver went down my spine when the divine man before me sighed. He seemed like he’d rather he said nothing, or wasn’t even here to begin with. But I saw Ryan England sending him a meaningful look, and I felt goosebumps rise all over my body, feeling like something was about to go down. Something significant.

“I think it’s time to tell you things you ought to know,” said Ryan and looked at his wristwatch. “But before then I need to speak to you, Fred, Apollo. Is it alright if we leave for a couple of minutes?”

Apollo and Fred nodded with utmost seriousness and rose to their feet. Magnus glanced once more at me before he stood up as well and ordered Bastien to keep an eye on me. Then the four of them left.

When the infirmary door closed after them, I turned to look at Bastien. “So you’re a healer,” I started a conversation, unable to bear the silence.

He seemed bored. “I didn’t know you could realize it depends on my looks alone,” he replied.

I shrugged. “You remind me of Maria, the healer helper of Fred. You omit the same gentleness as she does.”

A slight flush colored his cheek. “I’m, er, thanks?” he looked at me hesitantly.

My lips twitched. “You’re welcome.”

“So, um… You’re the Spirit of Chaos,” he stated, rubbing his neck in discomfort.

He was charmingly adorable, and my lips cracked into a smile. “Yes I am,” I said, “or more accurately, I’m hosting the Spirit of Chaos, Tempest.”

Bastien nodded. “I know. Ry and Mag talked about you,” he lowered his gaze. “Apollo updated them when your Spirit… awoken.” He flinched for some reason.

“I didn’t know they were in direct contact with Apollo,” I said, surprised. “He told me he can’t exactly stand them.”

He shrugged, his gray-blue eyes still planted on the floor. “Personality-wise, they’re not on the same wavelength,” he murmured. “But I don’t think he ‘can’t stand them’. More likely, he doesn’t like them much, but they have to work together sometimes, so he doesn’t really have a choice - “

At the same moment the four returned to the infirmary, cutting him off. Apollo, Magnus and Ryan’s face was somber, while Fred’s was carefully blank, even though his eyes glowed red.

My gaze, though, couldn’t wander off from Magnus. He said he was my brother, and I couldn’t get over the shock. How exactly is someone who looks like him my brother? How?

They sat around my bed again, and Magnus turned to look at me, but before any of them could say anything, I had to know something. “How did you bring my control back to my body?”

“I did it,” Bastien answered, “it’s a healer’s technique.”

I nodded, and returned my gaze to Magnus. “Now surprise me.” I winced a little. I wondered what else they had to tell me that I didn’t already know.

Ryan and Magnus exchanged glances with Apollo and Fred, who nodded stiffly, as though he didn’t want them to speak at all. Ryan took a deep breath, closed his bright eyes, and sighed. “Everything began in the year 1782, when a baby called Rosangela Martinelli Wayne was born.”

I blinked once, then twice, and the third time… I felt the blood rushing out of my face. My hands squeezed the blanket that covered me, and my lips pursed while my eyes widened in shock and… fear. But I kept my silence, swallowed the shock, and forced myself to listen.

“Lucia Martinelli was a young Italian woman, who was a simple peasant,” Ryan said quietly, his eyes still closed. “She lived in Venezia of the 18th century in poverty, working a few jobs at the same time, one of which being that century’s version of a stripping club.”

Ryan opened his eyes and stared at me sadly. “At that time, the first Alpha of the Millennium moved from city to city to go on adventures, while Casimir, the then-Alpha, did his job. Christopher, like Casimir, took himself human lovers from time to time, because there were barely any immortal girls who could live with them for eternity. Moreover, rumors started that the Alpha could never have a Mate, mortal or otherwise. Those rumors were proved to be false when Christopher landed in Venezia.”

His smile was sad. “Lucia worked at one of the inns, that version of a stripping club, and it was there Christopher’s best friend at the time, Asher, took him for a wild night out. Once Christopher’s eyes landed on the Italian dancer, he felt his entire world changing. Everything was suddenly brighter, more colorful, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Lucia Martinelli, the mere, peasant, mortal girl, was the Mate of the first Alpha of the Millennium, Christopher Wayne.”

My mouth opened in shock, my eyes almost popping out of their sockets, and I saw the people around my bed were going through the same ordeal. Apollo’s chin hit the floor while Fred’s eyes were bigger and even more bright red. Magnus sighed, Bastien seemed surprised as well from the little tidbit, and I didn’t know what to do, how to respond, and if I even needed to respond.

“I know it’s a low to swallow,” Ryan flinched. “But there’s more, so please allow me to continue.”

I bit my lip and nodded weakly. He took a deep breath, and stared out of the infirmary window when he resumed. “Lucia fell in love with Christopher at first sight, and Christopher, after one night in Venezia, made Lucia his, with the Mating Bond and everything. But he couldn’t risk his title and his high stand, and he was forced to ask her to conceal their relationship. Lucia wasn’t so happy about it but she agreed - because she loved him more than anything else.

“Two years after their Mating, the worst war in the world broke. Millions of people died, cities and countries were exterminated, and the world was on the verge of a human-and-werewolf-made apocalypse. Lucia got pregnant at that time and had you, Rosangela Martinelli Wayne and bearer of the Spirit of Chaos, Tempest. No one knew about Spirits back then - except the Spirits holders themselves, of course - and so no one knew that the first girl in history to be born to a werewolf and human was actually one of the most powerful Spirits in the universe.

“Before Magnus and I knew about your existence, no one but Lucia knew who was your father, who left Lucia after he impregnated her and disappeared, and you grew up in that time and made calamity in the world, whether on purpose or not. You turned into a horrible monster that people were scared of. When Magnus found me, after I’d already been frozen into my immortality. He told me we needed to stop what happened in that time. So I jumped in time to the year 1783, when you were only a year old, and I chased Lucia, who then looked like an old bat, since she let herself go after Christopher left her, and I brought you to the year 1993, where I put you in the orphanage.”

He took a deep breath and spoke again. “Christopher told us everything, and that’s why we knew about all of this. Christopher is also Magnus’s father. The two might not be in the best relationship - “ he glanced irritably at Magnus “ - but we forced him to tell us then about Lucia and you in exchange to Magnus stop trying to make contact with him. Because after Christopher heard of Lucia’s death two years after your birth, he took lovers one after another, and one of them was an English human woman from the high class who’d brought Magnus to the world when electricity was practically invented, and so Christopher wanted no relationship with Magnus. So Magnus promised that to him in exchange for information about what happened back in the 18th century and when we found it all out, we did what we did.

“Ever since then, Magnus couldn’t help but worry because the time travel caused your Tempest to lie dormant in your head. So we agreed that every three years he will come visit you, and then erase your memories along with the memories of the others who saw him with a concoction Vermilion cooked for us. But when you were ten and Magnus came to visit you, his Spirit let him know that you were still not ready for Tempest to wake up. So Magnus and I decided to wait a few more years before we tried again - but it was too late by then. A year and a half ago, when you left the orphanage, Magnus called them and found out you were no longer there. We knew then it was too late, and that someone else will awake Tempest. We planned on Bastien to do it, but eventually… It didn’t work out this way.” Ryan lowered his gaze, sadness written all over his face. “And now Tempest is free, and you still don’t know how to control her.”

I buried my head in my hands, unable to look at him, or Magnus, my half-brother, or anyone else. I didn’t know what to think. Inside me a storm of emotions raged, and I wanted to puke but forced the nausea back. I took a few deep breaths and knew I had to ask some questions - and I had a lot of those, believe me.

“How did you and Bastien come together?” I found myself asking the first question that popped into my dizzy head.

“We adopted him when he was only three after the death of his parents,” Magnus replied automatically and dryly, as though trying to hide his feelings.

My breaths turned shaky. “Where is Christopher Wayne living now?”

“Somewhere in Brazil,” it was Fred who responded, his voice monotonous as well, but less indifferent than usual. It actually was… softer.

I didn’t want pity, especially not from him, but I focused on the more urgent things right now. “How is it possible I’m the first person who’s half-human-half-werewolf?”

“There never was an occurence of a werewolf Mating or even sleeping with a human. After all, werewolves are repelled by humans,” Apollo explained quietly.

“And if I’m really half-werewolf, why can’t I shift into a wolf?”

“Because you need to be a full werewolf for that,” Magnus responded. “I asked Christopher the same question because I’m like you, a half-werewolf.”

Another deep breath, tears tingling my eyes. “Alto, the Spirit of Time, is inside you, Ryan, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Ryan responded at once.

“And the Spirit of Electricity is inside you, Magnus,” I stated, feeling the tears softly drop down my face.

“His name is Vadim,” Magnus replied, his voice breaking a little.

That’s what did it; I couldn’t hold everything in anymore and I let myself burst out crying in front of the five. Inside me Tempest was unusually silent, letting me get it all off my chest like I needed to, and I felt my body shaking from the force of my crying. “Leave, please,” my voice cracked, raspy, and so soft I was sure they could barely hear me.

But hear me they did and they left. I cried harder. I was sure everyone had left, and it suddenly made me feel like I couldn’t bear it on my own, that I needed someone - and just then I felt a pair of warm, muscular arms wrapping around me, followed by a whisper. “I’m here, my angel…” and I melted, letting everything out, hugging Fred so tightly, it was almost like I was holding on to him, and let him hold me while I broke down, unable to stop thinking of the events of the past day.