*Sasha*
“We’ve got to talk to Morianne,” I insisted as we left Stone’s detainnt room.
“Sasha, I know she probably has answers, but I’m not sure confronting her is the best course of action,” Lucas argued.
“Why not? We know she knows about the orbs and my powers. She’s already admitted as much to Stone.”
“True. But if she has your powers, we have no idea what she’ll do with them or what she’ll do to us. She’ll know you aren’t a threat to her.”
I sighed and nodded. Lucas was right. We needed to be cautious every step of the way.
“She was dangerous before, and now... well, I’m betting she hasn’t gotten nicer.”
“Okay, so, we’ll stay here under Xander and Lena’s protection. They can be the ones to talk to her,” I agreed.
“Once we find the second orb, we’ll have a better advantage over Morianne. Until then, we should lay low. Xander’s already started the excavation.”
I nodded.
We headed back to our guest room. I took a seat on the bed and absently rubbed my stomach. More and more mories from all the tilines we’d been in were coming back to .
“Is sothing on your mind, Sasha?”
“Our own reality... do you have all your mories from then?”
Lucas creased his brow. He sat beside and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him.
“I think so.”
“Well, I rember thinking I was pregnant the morning before we got pulled into all these other tilines. But I haven’t been in any of these tilines.”
Lucas chuckled. “Probably because sothing has been keeping us apart in all these tilines.”
“True. I just wonder what all this tiline travel is doing to the baby.”
Lucas put his hand over mine, still covering my stomach.
“Don’t worry, Sasha, we’ll be back in our own tiline soon and the baby will be fine.”
“You don’t know that.” I frowned.
“Trust .” He rubbed my stomach a little.
I giggled and sighed. It was hard not to trust him when he sounded so confident and sure of himself. I hadn’t even had the ti to process that I might be pregnant in my own tiline before I was sucked into this craziness.
At the palace, things had slowed down enough that I could start thinking about things like that.
Lucas was right all along. We needed to get back to our own tiline. We had no idea what was happening there, especially with the baby.
Was that what he’d been worried about the whole ti?
Lena sent word that Morianne was being summoned to the palace. She wanted Lucas and to be there to hear what she had to say and to ask questions.
Xander and Lena sat in their thrones. This was a very formal eting.
I stood with Lucas between Xander and Lena. He held my hand firmly. My heart raced in my chest as the great double doors opened and Morianne walked in.
She had taken advantage of when I was a baby. She stole my powers, left defenseless, and used the orbs as a weapon against .
Facing her was harder than I’d thought.
Morianne strode into the throne room, poised and elegant. Her back was slightly arched but she still held her chin high. Her gray hair was braided and she had a nice dress and cloak on.
Morianne leaned on a walking stick as she ca closer to the throne. The stick tap, tap, tapped on the stone floor with each step.
“King Xander, Queen Lena, it is such an honor to be summoned to the palace,” Morianne said. She bowed her head low before them.
When she saw , she paused, and then a cruel smile spread across her lips.
I shuddered and took a step closer to Lucas.
“We’ve summoned you here under so interesting information and the discovery of so artifacts. Since you have ties to magic, we wanted your insights,” King Xander explained.
Morianne bowed again. “Of course.”
I noticed that despite having a walking stick, she didn’t lean on it that much. The stick was hand carved and had a gemstone fixed into the top. The gemstone looked almost mystical, but it was probably an artifact of the church.
“Are you familiar with the ti-altering orbs and the power of the dream dancer?” Lena asked.
Morianne sniffed and her eyes narrowed on again. I could see the fury ignite in her eyes.
I was guessing she hadn’t counted on figuring things out or taking my concerns to Xander and Lena.
“Well, yes, I am familiar with both. Being a keeper of magical mysteries and knowledge, linked to the Lycaon Church, I study many different magics.”
“Did you know that a dream dancer was born in this tiline many years ago?” Xander’s voice was harder and more demanding than Lena’s.
I glanced at him and saw his jaw tense. He didn’t seem to like having a traitor right under their noses, one that was powerful and very loved by her followers.
It was the perfect recipe for a coup to overthrow the royal family.
“I am aware. In fact, I attended to her as a child.”
“And stole my powers,” I blurted out, unable to hold back anymore.
Morianne nodded slowly. “It’s true. I took your powers because your mother told of your father and his pack. She was afraid for you, so I removed that fear.”
“By taking my powers?!” I snapped.
Morianne sighed and shook her head. “Dream dancer powers are incredibly powerful and rare. Do you know what would happen if they fell into the wrong hands? Do you know what would happen if your father’s pack got his hands on them?”
“Regardless of what the dangers were, Morianne, it was not your place to make that decision. Such decisions should be left up to the royal family,” Lena interjected.
Morianne bowed a little lower.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I rely did what I thought was best under the circumstances. There was no ti to send ssages and debate politics. Sasha’s mother told her father’s pack was coming for her. I had to act.”
“What was the danger of her power that you perceived?” Lena questioned.
I bit my tongue, holding back all the harsh questions I wanted to sling at Morianne. Lena was obviously more level headed than right now. It was better for her to ask the questions.
“Dream dancer power is volatile. It is unpredictable and unstable. Without the proper guidance and training, it would turn Sasha dark.”
I gasped. That was what The Immortal had claid in my own tiline. It was what my mother was afraid of in my tiline, too.
Was Morianne telling the truth, or was it more fear tactics?
“Even if she resisted, if the wrong person gained control of Sasha, they could use her power for detrintal purposes.”
“I understand your concerns, Morianne. However, the fact remains that you acted without consulting your king and queen and you never brought this information to us after the fact. From our position, it seems... suspicious.” Xander narrowed his eyes at Morianne.
I was glad he didn’t have a problem threatening her slightly.
“I took her powers to keep them safe. They are hard to contain without the proper safeguards.”
“And you think that we don’t have proper safeguards? The palace is filled with more magical artifacts than you can imagine. We are more than capable of containing them.”
Morianne’s composure faltered slightly. “Your Majesties, these dream dancer powers are linked to the Dark King’s lineage and thus fall under the Church’s domain.”
Xander scoffed and crossed his arms. “I am of the Dark King line. You think that the Church has more of a right to them than a blood relative?”
Again, Morianne faltered. She moved her walking stick from one foot to the other. I could tell she was trying to think of an excuse.
“And your assistance to soone who broke into our vaults to steal the future orb–was that an attempt to prove us incapable? What were your intentions there?”
Morianne glanced from Xander to Lena and then to and Lucas. Her hand gripped the walking stick tightly and I saw how white her knuckles got.
It seed like her composure was slipping and she was running out of excuses.
“The tiline orbs are connected to the dream dancer powers. They’ve already been activated and are dangerous. Keeping the orbs and the power contained where no one can use them is the only way to keep everyone safe.”
Xander stiffened, and the mood in the throne room tensed with him.
“Again, that is not your decision to make. You’re exercising power outside the realm of the Church and the scope of your responsibilities. That could be considered treason.”
“Please, Sire. Everything I’ve done has been for the sake of the realm.”
I saw Xander arch a skeptical eyebrow.
“Well, now that you’ve told us what we are up against, you will return Sasha’s powers to her so she can protect them and use them to fix the damage that’s already been done.”
Morianne sniffed and straightened, her arched spine just barely hunching her shoulders.
“I cannot do that. Even if you do throw in prison. Her powers and the orbs need to be contained and controlled. Not just anyone should have them, especially soone as young and reckless as her.”
Lena stood up suddenly and I saw the power of the Moon Goddess all around her. Apparently, she’d been holding back more than I’d thought.
“That is not your decision to make!” She pointed an accusing finger at Morianne. “You do not hold dominion over magic and artifacts in this tiline and in this realm. If you continue to obstruct us, then you will face worse than prison and charges of treason.”
Morianne smiled cruelly and shrugged, unconcerned.
“I think the Church would have sothing to say about that. My followers won’t just sit around while you imprison and file charges against .”
“Perhaps not. But the Church’s authority and jurisdiction is no less a formality than yours. Power in this realm lies with the king and queen, and we will remind the Church and the people of that,” Lena insisted.
My stomach rumbled. It felt like the confrontation with Morianne would lead to a war that could rip this tiline apart. I couldn’t let that happen, not when I wasn’t even from this tiline. There was no telling how many innocent people would die or get hurt in a war like that.
Morianne gave Xander a challenging smirk. I knew Xander would make good on his promise to lock her up. Morianne was tricky, though, and I wasn’t sure a prison could hold her.
Her hand tightened on her walking stick again, and Morianne clutched it a little closer to her body.
My eyes went back to the gemstone in the cane.
“Lucas,” I whispered softly.
He gripped my hand, letting know that he heard .
“Her walking stick... I think that’s where my powers are.”
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