Chapter 42

42

REYA

I wake up with a start. The voices calling to me again—drawing me to them. The urge to go to them and find out where they are coming from is a dominant force in my mind. I look around me and recognise Raegal's room. How did I get back here? Did he come for me?

"You're awake!" He appears in the doorway that leads into his bathing chambers. He's dressed casually in a white shirt, open and showing off that sinful, muscled chest of his, and tight trousers that cling to his thighs just perfectly.

I sit up and wince, feeling like a bus has hit me. My head feels like it weighs a tonne. He's at my side before I can blink, pressing a hand to my forehead and scanning my face to check if I'm okay.

"I'm okay," I assure him, gently pushing his hand away. "Saveya?" I ask as the memories from last night assault my mind and ramp up my heart rate.

"She's fine," he says, brushing a lock of hair from my face. "She's resting in the infirmary. Jasiel is ensuring she is getting the best care."

I blow out a steady breath. "Thank crystals! I'd never forgiven myself if anything had happened to her."

Raegal's brow furrows in concern. "Eretreya, what were the two of you doing out in the woods?"

I look down at my hands and chew on my lip. "Can I trust you, Raegal?" I ask, daring to look up into his eyes.

He places one of his hands over mine to stop my fidgeting. "On my word, Terror." He doesn't blink once or pull his eyes away from mine and I believe him.

"You came for us last night?" I ask him, needing to confirm a few things before I share my innermost thoughts.

"I did. I heard you call for me and when I found you…" he chokes out, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "When I first saw you slumped over your friend, I thought you were dead. Those mutts were surrounding you and protecting you from me. They wouldn't let me anywhere near you both at first."

I nod my head, remembering how they encircled us and at first, I suspected they had been preparing to attack us. How wrong I was. Can I trust this man before me? I've always viewed him as my enemy, but he's shown up for me time after time and proved to me otherwise.

"Raegal, this is going to sound crazy," I tell him, and I pause and look out of the window across the valley. "I suspect I may be of Night Borne descent." I study his face, needing to see his gut reaction to my words.

He doesn't seem shocked.

He nods his head and squeezes my hand. "I know."

I do a double take. "You know?" Wait. What did he mean he knows? "How long have you known?"

He holds his hand out as if to ask me to hold off on my anger. "Finding you last night confirmed everything, but I've had my suspicions something wasn't right from the moment we met."

"So, you thought I may be of Night Borne descent and you never considered speaking up until now?" I ask him, pulling my hands from under his and hugging my waist.

He shrugs his shoulders at me. "What was I supposed to say, Eretreya? That I suspect you could be related to a long-lost realm of people that no one has seen or heard from for over a hundred years. I didn't believe it for so long because it seemed too crazy to be true."

He's right, it is crazy. Even when I had my own suspicions, I denied it for some time due to how ridiculous it seemed.

"Why did last night confirm it for you?" I ask him, chewing anxiously at my bottom lip.

"Well, you healed your friend from a mutt bite and the mutts protected you. I also asked Jasiel to dig into your mother's past after I found this in her workshop." He leaves me to walk over to a bureau and retrieves something from inside. He comes back over to sit next to me on the side of the bed and holds out a small black notebook. Confused, I take it from him and when I open it, I recognise my mother's handwriting.

"It's like a guidebook to Asen. She made notes of everything from the currency to ways of speaking and dressing, to holidays and traditions. She was trying to learn as much as she could so that she could blend in."

I flick through the pages and seeing her handwriting brings me such comfort. "How was she here in Asen? Do you suppose her parents found a way to escape before the realm closed?"

He reaches for my hand again and strokes his thumb in circles on my wrist, distracting me from our conversation. "Terror, there is no easy way for me to say this, but it was your mum that came to Asen around a hundred years ago. For her to have travelled to another realm, one which had no open gateway would have taken tremendous power. The type of power of a royal."

"ABD," I say aloud and Raegal tilts his head at me. "When I was packing to leave for the valley, I found a handkerchief hidden in a drawer. It had the emblem of the night realm on it with the initials ABD embroidered on it."

"Asterin Briar Darkhand," Raegal says, blowing out a long breath. "The heiress to the throne."

"Wow, okay," I exclaim. "Saveya and I suspected that could be the case."

Raegal's eyebrows arch. "Saveya knows?"

I nod my head. "I had to share my suspicions with someone, and she helped me research in the library."

"Eretreya, what were you doing out in the forest last night?" he asks me again and I swallow nervously.

"I had to confirm my suspicions once and for all," I tell him. "I knew one way to do that was to find the mutts and see how they react to me."

His jaw tics and he remains silent before he leans in and softly grips my chin with his hand. "You realise how dangerous that was? They could have killed you, Terror, and I wouldn't have been able to save you."

I watch the look of fear cross his face. This is a man who fears nothing. Why does he care anyway?

"What would it matter to you?" I ask him and he flinches as if I've struck him. He leans in closer, and I gulp, my heart pounding at his nearness, those lips just a breath away from mine.

"It matters because you're mine, Eretreya Briar Lockwood," he says it with such conviction and possessiveness, and it should irk me, but it has my heart doing cartwheels in my chest.

"I'm not yours," I protest weakly, glaring at him.

He smirks and he reaches for my waist, sitting me on his lap before I have a chance to protest. He takes my face in his hands, forcing me to focus on him.

"Lie to yourself if you want, Terror, but we both have sensed this visceral connection since the moment we met. You crave my closeness, just as I crave yours. You are aware of my presence when I enter a room without even needing to see me. My caress sets alight a fever inside you that can't be tamed and when we fuck, it's like nothing else in the world matters but that moment between us. You're mine, Terror, and you need to accept it." He reaches for my wrist and turns it upright. "This mark on your wrist was my shadows trying to mark you as mine, because they knew before I did that you are my true blessed mate."

I suck in a breath as my heart pounds in my chest. "You marked me?"

He chuckles. "Trust you to focus on that. Yes, I marked you and when I claim you as mine, I'll place my mark on you, and no one will ever doubt that you're mine. There is nothing and no one that will keep you from me."

"I'm not your mate," I argue. "There is no way the gods would have placed us together."

He smirks as he cups the back of my neck and pulls me closer, running his lips softly over mine. "It is ironic. It appears they may have a twisted sense of humour." He coaxes my mouth open, and I try to resist him. I really do, but it's like trying to resist breathing. I lean into him and kiss him back. He is right. Nothing compares to this. But how can I be with him when I'm plotting to take down his people? How can I sit here and let him kiss me when I plan to assassinate the royal prince he serves?

"Stop," I whisper against his lips, and we pull apart, our chests heaving. "I can't do this. I want you, but it's just physical. There is nothing deeper between us." I remove his hands from my waist and climb off him, needing to put some distance between us. "I need to see Saveya."

I can feel his eyes on me, and I can't bring myself to make eye contact with him, because if I do, I know I'll find myself back in his arms before logic can prevail.

"I'll take you to her, but first you need to eat and replenish. You brought someone back from certain death last night and your energy stores are depleted. Why was she with you last night?"

I walk over towards the large balcony doors and stare across the valley. "It is my belief that she followed me out there."

I feel him come up behind me and I tense. His scent surrounding me and muddling my thoughts. My body aches to lean back into him.

"But you were here at the barracks, and she was at the mansion," he says, and I choose not to respond, because I don't have an answer for him. I need to speak to Saveya first and find out why she was out there by herself last night.

"I'll ask for breakfast to be brought up," he says, touching my waist before he leaves me in peace. I place my hand on my chest to steady my beating heart. His words have left me in a state of great confusion. How can I be his mate? Does this mean at the reaping he will pick me? What if someone else chooses me before he gets the chance to? The idea of someone else choosing me sends a chill down my spine. Did I want to be with Raegal? If he chooses me, we'll get married, and I'll be his forever.

Raegal takes me to visit Saveya a short while later and although she looks pale, she's sitting up in bed and smiling when we enter her private room within the army infirmary.

"You're awake," I say, breathing a sigh of relief. In fact, she looks well.

"I'm fine," she insists. "I don't need bed rest, despite everyone's insistence." She sends a pointed glare towards the healer, who ignores her completely.

Raegal hovers behind me but if I'm to have a frank conversation with my friend, then I need him to leave. "Could you give us a few minutes alone?"

He frowns at my request, and I know full well he wants to question Saveya about why and how she was beyond the wall. If my suspicions are correct, then she followed me down the tunnel and I can't have her sharing that information with Raegal. "I'll speak with the healer, but I want some answers from you both."

I take a seat on the side of her bed and scan my eyes over her, checking for signs of the venom.

"Reya, I'm fine. Thanks to you," she says with a smile, grabbing hold of my hand tightly.

"Shush," I whisper, looking at the door to check no one is within hearing distance. "No one can know I healed you. You can't tell a soul, Saveya."

She nods her head and lowers her voice. "I won't. I know you could have only healed me if you were Night Borne."

I rear my head back. How does she know?

"I read it in a book when we were researching. Is he aware?"

By he, I assume she is referring to Raegal. "He knows. Saveya, did you follow me? Were you at the barracks?"

She flushes under my scrutiny and takes a sudden interest in the hem of her nightgown. "We keep each other's secrets, right?" she asks me, looking conflicted, and I nod.

"Of course."

"I was meeting someone and was making my way back to the mansion when I saw you disappear behind the temple. So, I followed you down that tunnel and into the village."

"Who were you meeting?" I query, noticing she omitted that part.

She bites at her fingernails, something I've noticed she does when she's anxious. "Look, don't get mad, but I was meeting with a soldier. You remember the one I met when I was with you and Arkynn?"

At first, I shake my head but then I recall when we'd delivered that note to Raegal's office and bumped into Ark on the way out. "The scath soldier?"

She flinches in reaction to me calling him that. "He's called Eryx, and I think, no, I know, we are in love."

I whizz around to check the hallway. "Saveya, do you realise what will happen if you're caught?"

She straightens her shoulders and looks me straight in the eye. "So, it's okay for you to sleep in the commander's bed every night, but not okay for me to have a lover?"

I wince. She has a point. "I'm in the commander's bed to hide my scent from the mutts."

She snorts and rolls her eyes at me. "So, you two haven't had sex? Don't take me for a fool, Reya."

"That's beside the point. I'm not claiming to be in love with anyone," I say with a hiss. I pinch at the bridge of my nose. "Okay, Listen," I say leaning in closer to talk into her ear, "When the commander asks, you tell him you had your suspicions I was sleeping with him, and you snuck out to the barracks to confirm your suspicions and you followed me. He can't know about that tunnel, okay, so when he asks how we both got out of the valley undetected, you say nothing."

She reaches out and places her hand over mine. "I won't tell him anything you ask me not to, I swear. But don't suggest I stop seeing Eryx, because I can't. I love him and I can't stay away from him."

I can tell by the determined expression on her face that she won't listen to reason. "Just promise me you'll be careful," I implore

"I promise," she assures me as she pulls me in for a hug. "I still can't believe you're Night Borne."

I laugh. "Me either." I pause, wondering if I should ask her my next question, but I needed to talk to someone about it. "Hey, have you ever heard of true blessed mates before?"

Saveya wrinkles her nose as she thinks. "I think I read something about them in one of those books you had me pouring over in the library. It's a union gifted by the gods. The book said something about true blessed mates being chosen before birth." She taps her ching thinking. "There was also something about them being able to talk into each other's mind. That's all I can recall. Why do you ask?"

I shake my head and smile at her, thinking back to the conversation I had with Jasiel before I reached Shadow Valley. "No reason, just curious. Do you want me to stay a bit and keep you company?" I reply still stewing on my thoughts.

She shakes her head and pats my hand. "You can't afford to miss any classes if we're going to get you into a top five spot. Go, I'll be fine, I promise. I'm hoping they'll let me return to the mansion at some point today. I feel healthy as a horse."

She looks great, if not a little pale, considering she almost died last night. Raegal comes back in, and I convince him she's still recovering and too tired for his questions. Saveya plays along and yawns and says she needs rest, and he reluctantly agrees to leave her in peace for now. He returns me to my rooms before anyone notices I've been gone all night.

"You're never going to tell me how you got beyond the walls, are you?" he asks me as his shadows disperse, and he holds me prisoner by my waist.

"No," I reply honestly. "Raegal, without the pendant and the absence of the amethyst, will my night magic reveal itself? What if it comes and I can't control it?"

He tucks a loose lock of my hair behind my ear, never taking his eyes off mine. "I won't let you lose control, terror."

"You can't be here all the time and I suspect it's happened once before when I was annoyed," I confess to him.

"When Shalia was screaming about rats everywhere in the sparring ring?" he asks me, and I nod my head. "And what emotion were you experiencing?" He smirks. "Jealousy, perhaps?"

I scoff. "I'm not jealous of her!" I protest. "She was just annoying me with the way she was fawning over you. It was pathetic."

He fights a smile. "Whatever you say, Terror. I must go. Until tonight."

"Raegal, before you leave. There's something that has been playing on my mind," I share. "If my mother is truly a princess of the night realm, then why did the night mutt attack her and why did the venom kill her? Surely, if she is of the Night Borne, then the mutt's venom wouldn't have had a fatal effect."

Raegal nods his head, frowning as he considers my question. "I think—and I could be wrong, Terror, because I don't know enough about your people—but I think the mutt reacted before realising who she was. It ran into your mother, and it appeared as though the mutt's reaction was a defensive one."

He's probably right. The mutt was retreating into the safety of the forest, away from the threat of Raegal and his men.

"As for the venom," he continues. "I honestly don't know. You would, as you say, assume the Night Borne aren't affected by the venom of a creature from their realm, but clearly that isn't the case. Unless your mother's Night Borne magic has weakened after so many years here on Asen, therefore making her more susceptible to the poison. I am sure there will be an answer to your questions somewhere in the great library. Now I really must go," he says, gently brushing his thumb across my cheek. "Until tonight, Terror"

I smile at him, grateful for his thoughts on the matter. "Until tonight."

He is right though, only a Night Borne can answer my questions and regardless of the answer, it won't change the fact my mother is no longer here or that a creature from her own realm killed her.