Secret Worlds (305 page)

“Dammit. Stay here. Please, stay here.” He patted the bed firmly in time with the last two words.

I nodded, frightened by the change in mood and let my sight follow him as he grabbed a shirt then walked through the doors as though he ran into battle.

I stared at the door after it had clicked closed, waiting for a quick return. When he didn’t, I thought through my options. I could stay put, which was something I didn’t like to do, or I could find out whatever I could about what set Marren off. I hopped to the floor and walked to the bench where my boots sat. After I pulled them on, I stared at the door still considering my options and taking into account what happened the last time I did something against Marren’s wishes.

Something set him off. Something he needed to protect me from…something that made him eager and on edge. Staring at the door wasn’t going to give me the answers I needed. I approached the door and laid my hand on the handle, taking a deep breath before turning it—hoping it wouldn’t be locked.

Enid stood on the other side of the doors with his robes on and arms crossed over his chest.

“It figures he’d find a way to stop me,” I muttered.

“A’lainn, what is it you think you’re doing?” he spoke in a stern but quiet tone careful, to not let his voice travel.

“I wanted to see what made Marren demand I be kept in the room instead of with him.”

He moved toward me and in an even lower voice said, “Our guests can, and most likely will, kill you if they discover who you are.”

I nodded. “The Ancients.”

Even though it wasn’t, it came out sounding like a question.

He nodded slowly.

“I thought they were here to make sure Marren didn’t break any laws? How did he know they were here?”

“What has happened has gone a little further than that, especially since they arrived unexpectedly. It’s of utmost importance you stay here.”

“Not acceptable.” I started marching down the hall, stopping as Marren rounded the corner with his eyes on fire and fists clenched. He covered the distance in only a few strides.

“I thought I told you to stay put,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I thought I told you I wasn’t one to stand around and wait. Besides, I got worried.” I turned, finding Enid directly behind me.

Marren grabbed my arm tightly and drug me back to the room with such a rush it was difficult to keep my footing. Once we stepped through the doors, I yanked my arm from his hand.

“What do you think you’re doing, dragging me like that?” I said, spitting out my words.

“Do you not understand when I tell you to do something, I need you to do it?”

I didn’t think it was possible for him to glare at me with so much anger and hate. I bit back the hurt and dug deeper into my own anger. “What I understand is your insistence on keeping me in the dark and only allowing me more information when you see fit.”

“You need to stay here because I don’t want anything to happen to you. It would kill m—” He pressed his lips firmly together and propped a hand on his hip and lowered his gaze to the floor.

I realized then, his anger wasn’t directed at me but at the situation. I closed the space between us then rested my hand on his arm, forcing him to set his eyes on me again. “Why are you so concerned with losing me? You spent so much time trying to get me, and now your only concern is losing me?”

“I’ve waited for you for so long.” His hand cupped the back of my neck. “I can only have you once. If you die, all hope is lost.”

“Why would all hope be lost?”

He sighed as if to surrender, no longer able to fight me. “Relena, I’m not the only threat to the other Ancients. I must go. Stay here. Please.”

He pulled me into him and kissed me gently. In it, I experienced his fear, his overwhelming love, and an urgency behind it all that made me want to keep him in the room with me.

“Enid, do not leave her side unless I say otherwise. No one else is to come in this room. See to it she remains comfortable.”

Enid nodded once. “I will protect her.”

With a nod in return, Marren left the room.

“Where does he run off to all the time?” I asked myself more than Enid.

“He’s setting up the Ancients in our guest quarters, so they aren’t around or close by you.”

“I hadn’t realized there were guest quarters.”

“By the stable,” he said in a matter-of-fact manner.

“Convenient. Where is this place?”

“East of here.”

“Hmm…” I walked to the balcony. “Are you a werewolf, too?”

I remembered Marren said everyone was, but it didn’t explain some differences I saw.

“Yes…” It sounded like a question.

“Why aren’t your eyes black like Marren’s and the rest of the servants?”

“I’m not a bloodline. I’m what they call a half-breed.”

I gazed at him quizzically.

“It means I was once human. I don’t completely belong to the therianthrope race.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Did he turn you, also?”

He nodded, almost as if he wasn’t sure if he should tell me too much.

“Was it incredibly painful for you too?”

“Excruciatingly.”

“Did it happen gradually? I mean, did your change start with senses changing and crippling spasms of pain?”

“No, mine happened all at once.” He paused with his eyebrows scrunched together, as though he worked through a complicated puzzle. “I would say your experience is partly to blame on Marren being your heart song and partly due to him changing you during the blue moon.”

“Speaking of the heart song, why are the Ancients so angered by that? It seems odd someone would be so upset by me wanting to be a part of your world.”

“It’s because of a prophecy Marren was told when our kind was first banished to the immortal realm, and because they fear he is already stronger than they are with the allies he’s accumulated. They’re worried about an uprising.”

“An uprising? Why would Marren do that?”

He acted as though he didn’t want to share more than he already had.

“Please? I want to know. It will help me to stay sane while I’m cooped up here.” I took a seat on the bench in front of the bed and waited for Enid, who stood near the balcony staring out over the trees, to begin.

“When the immortal races—non-humans—were banished from the mortal realm, there was a war against us, fueled by the fear of humans. Of course, it was them who were responsible in the first place.”

“How?” I asked.

“A group called the Denai, a powerful sect of sorcerers, grew hungry in their greed and quest for power. They formed an incantation allowing them to absorb energies of any living thing or creature, giving them more power than any other race in the world. They became the first vampires. Some continued to ascend in power, absorbing enough to become gods.”

A shiver ran up my spine, remembering the picture of the vampire from the book. “Let me guess, they were exterminating numbers too quickly, causing attention to fall on them, and because of their indiscretion, the blame fell to the immortal races.”

“Which forced us to leave this realm.” He moved to take a stand in front of me.

“The humans banned together, deciding an eye for an eye was the only way the indiscretion could be settled. Many people lost their lives. Families were ripped apart…” His voice cracked as he shifted, walking to stare at the mantle of the fireplace. A few moments passed in silence.

So that’s how he lost his family…

“As a result, the Ancients of each race came together, forming the Council of Ancients. They put their magic together to create a new realm closely mirroring this one, so the immortal races could live in peace instead of fear.”

“How has that realm remained hidden for this long? It has to be hundreds of years old, and no one has even accidentally come across it?”

“By the laws the Ancients created,” he answered. “Protections were put in place to prevent anything but our kind from going through, rules to abide by. Anyone, who wished to cross over into the mortal realm, could do so if they stated their business and abided by the time frame they were given. They had to keep our world secret from everyone and live in secrecy, which is why we live this far from Hafton—or any other town for that matter.”

“I thought you were here—”

“A lot longer than we should. Marren couldn’t risk going back without you.”

“Why? Couldn’t he just go check in and come back?”

“The heart song is what binds you to each other. You two belong together, whether you accept him or not. If he left this realm without you, there was a possibility that you would be dead by the time he would be able to come back. Especially the time between the first night he saw you and the night we took you from the Cyrs.”

“What time limits are we talking about here? It doesn’t make sense that no sooner than you both bring me here, do the Ancients find out and threaten to knock down the door. It seems to me they were waiting to see if Marren did find me before making their move.”

“It is certainly possible. Not everyone is trustworthy. The time limit depends on the person. A hunting group is granted shorter times because there’s no real livestock supply on our realm. Ultimately, it’s up to the Ancients as a collective. Marren agreed to report back every year to state his progress and to ask for more time. I did that for him a few of those times. The last was rather unpleasant.”

“Why?” I asked, amused at the way he spoke his words.

“I had to bring Farrah.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Farrah is one of the servants. She’s taken a liking to me, and I—let’s just say I don’t share her interest.” He shivered as though an ice cold wind encompassed him.

“I thought you had to share a heart song?” I had to stifle a giggle.

“No, that is a rare thing. Mostly only Ancients experience such things.”

“So, why did you bring her?”

“She was to be the go-between. Their informant. However, when she arrived, she swore allegiance to Marren. He believed her until recently.”

“Why, do you think she’s the one who told the Ancients about me?”

“She’s gone missing since before the Cyrs arrived. Marren’s been searching for her, and he was told it was her by another servant.”

“Do you really think she was the one who told the Cyrs about me?”

“Beyond a doubt,” he said.

“I don’t understand. Why would she do such a thing?”

“That’s the other part of my story.” He took a seat next to me on the bench. “Once the races settled in the immortal realm, Marren’s grandmother told him of a vision she had. One of him reuniting the races, both mortal and immortal, but it wouldn’t happen until he found his heart song.”

“I thought he was the first?” I distinctly remembered him telling me he had no family left.

“He’s one of the first—a direct descendant of the first.”

I pursed my eyebrows and stared at the floor in front of me trying to make sense of all the information. It bothered me Marren still held things from me. I bared my deepest darkest nightmare to him, and he still seemed inclined to not fill in the blanks.

Enid continued. “You see, he needs you for more reasons than just because you and he are bound together in spirit, but because there are races on our realm who want to come back and can’t. They never wanted to leave this realm. Most believe we are only living a half existence, and that’s not far off from the truth. We are meant to live with humans in unity on common ground. There’s even word the mortal realm will slowly unthread itself from the immortal world and become lost in the Netherworld.”

“I need some air.” It came out nearly unintelligible. I was dizzy with confusion and conflicting emotions.

Standing on the balcony to mull over everything that had been uncovered, I couldn’t help but believe this was the underlying catch I was waiting for when I first arrived. The stone of the balcony had warmed to the point it burned slightly when I touched it. It seemed as though spring rapidly changed into summer, along with many other things that had rapidly changed. Me, to name just one, and my change seems to be the most profound of them all. Not just because I was changing from human to werewolf but because of the way my life has been changed as a whole. I was wanted. I was held and loved and accepted, instead of being shunned.

I turned to face Enid and asked, “Why be so threatened by a man who wants to save the world?”

“Your friend, the one who taught you to fight, are you aware of who he is?”

I was confused by the change of subject. Still, I was running out of energy to process anything else. “Danst? Yeah, he’s dead to me. He’ll really be dead once I get my hands on him.”

“I’ve been looking for him since Marren found out he was set up by your father, who discovered what Danst is.”

“What do you mean ‘what’?”

“He’s half-elven. It explains why he’s incredibly skilled at fighting and how he was able to teach you so well.”

“Wait. Tarn set him up? To get rid of me? That low-life, bottom dwelling—Ah!” I scrunched over as a wave of searing pain tore through my stomach. My knees buckled, hitting the floor hard enough to crack. I braced myself on my hands and knees as a series of cramps overtook my body, and every muscle ripped from my bones. Each wave was worse than the one before and seemed to hang on to me longer.

As the pain left, leaving me nauseated, I wondered if having my intestines removed would feel the same. I pressed my head against the marble, its coolness helped calm me further.

When I breathed even enough to speak I said, “I don’t believe it. All this time I thought Danst had turned his back against me. He was protecting himself. I shouldn’t expect any less of him. He still could’ve warned me.”

“A’lainn, are you okay?” Enid asked worriedly.

I glanced up, catching him staring down at me with wide eyes. His pupils were dilated, only a small band of blue was left.

I nodded. “I think I deserve a nickname for you.”

His eyes returned to normal and held a light in them that was a relief compared to the sadness that once clouded them. He didn’t try to hide his smile. “Very well, what do you wish to name me?”

“You said you called your daughter A’lainn and that I reminded you of her.” He nodded. “What is the term for a father in your native language?”