Maeve
“Look, this line, right here—” Mom and I were standing behind Troy, leaning over his shoulders to peer down at the neat, faded scrawl just above his finger.”
“What does it say? I can barely see the ink!” I narrowed my eyes, wishing the rectory had more than archaic candles to light the dim room.
“King Hector–his na is right here. He was the king ntioned by Charles in his journal. Look, he did in fact marry Alouette... and they had a son.”
Mom was silent as she scanned the page, her brow furrowed in confusion.
“That ans there was a break in White Queen line at so point, right? Can that... can that happen?”
“Your family believes it can,” Mom broke in, looking confused, like she was thinking of so long-forgotten mory or conversation. “He told once that if Rowan had a daughter, she would be in line to my throne. It was a discussion we had before you were born, Maeve. Before we knew you were a girl.”
“But would... say a female cousin of a White Queen hold the sa powers as the White Queen herself? There’s no ntion of Onya, the White Queen in Charles’s journal, having any other children.” Troy turned to face Mom.
“Perhaps, but I’m not totally certain. There are no texts on this, you know. All there was... was the nas of the queens etched into the temple in Winter Forest. That wall was destroyed. We might never know who the Queen after Onya was, whether Aloutette beca the Queen after her mother, or if it was soone else. There is the library in the castle in Winter Forest, but I’ve never seen any text in there that discussed this.”
“So if I don’t have a daughter, Rowan could? And she could rule?” A strange glimr of hope tightening around my heart. How close I had co to death for my sons... I knew in my heart I could not sacrifice myself just so the pack lands could have another White Queen.
Suddenly Troy jumped up, nearly knocking both and Mom to the ground. He was pale, frozen in place for a mont before he turned to us, fear etched into every curve, every line of his face.
“Oh, Goddess,” he breathed, the words ant for no one but himself. He slowly looked at , sheer pain flashing behind his eyes.
“Troy, what is wrong? Are you hurt?” Mom had her hands on his arms, trying to get him to look her in the eyes, but he couldn’t.
“Rosalie,” he said, looking past the both of us at the far wall. “Please don’t take offense to what I am about to say. But I must know. I have to know if Rowan and Hanna have been intimate. Have they—is there any way at all that Hanna could be pregnant?”
I gaped at him, then at Mom, who looked just as shocked as I was.
“I assu so, Troy. They’re mates for Goddesses sake!”
“We need to go to them, right now. Hanna she—oh, how did I not realize this before?!”
“What the hell is wrong with you!” I shook him hard, damn near ready to smack him to get him to snap back to reality before his gaze finally left the far wall and settled on .
“The tomb. There were inscriptions... carvings everywhere. I didn’t think... I could read it. I had seen it before. On the map, I was sure. But I didn’t understand what it ant until right now, this very mont.”
“What?” Mom was shaking her head, anxiety creeping into her voice.
“That crazy old woman was right, Rosalie. About Hanna. The moonstones, they weren’t—we did bring the Moon Goddess back. She just... she hasn’t been born yet. She will be the twenty-first White Queen. Rowan and Hanna’s daughter.”
“But,” I stamred, at a loss for rational thought, “what does that have to do with Onya, and Alouette?”
“Nothing. At least I thought nothing. But... the expedition the king sent out to retrieve the moonstone in order for Onya to allow Alouette to marry King Hector ca back without it... which ans he either married her by force, or Onya allowed it... but—”
“That would have caused a break in the White Queen line,” I mumbled, seeing the big picture.
“Exactly,” Troy breathed, running his fingers through his hair.
“Ethan ntioned sothing like this to Rowan, long ago, when Maeve first arrived in Mirage to rule alongside Ernest,” Rosalie said softy, sitting down. “He said Rowan could rule over Winter Forest in the future if he had a daughter. I argued that wasn’t how it works, that the powers had to be direct... through a daughter of the queen.”
“Do you think Tasia destroyed the Temple so we couldn’t figure this out?” I asked in a soft tone, my head beginning to pound.
“Possibly. We might not ever know. I don’t plan on asking her,” Troy said firmly, closing the book and walking away from the dusty desk, tapping his finger on his lip as he paced.
“She’s getting ready to rid the world of the White Queens. She destroyed the temple. She’s going to take the stones and kill Hanna. That’s what we know, and all we need to know. It’s ti to finish this.” Mom rose from her chair and left the room.
***
Troy
Rowan and I were standing on the terrace outside of the atrium, overlooking the fields of long, brittle yellow grass. Hanna and Maeve were standing in the field talking to each other, too far enough from where we stood to be heard.
A heavy blanket of fog was rolling around their legs, whispering through the grass. The sky was gray, thick with moisture, and slled like rain.
Inside the castle, Rosalie and Ethan, as well as the other “elders” of the family, such as Talon, Georgia, Vicky, and Paul, were holding a conference with Eugene of Red Lakes. It was likely Ethan was telling him exactly what was going on, and how his family was connected. I felt my stomach tighten, knowing how close we were to battle. But I could barely wrap my head around what the battle would possibly look like.
The castle was already heavily guarded by warriors. I could see them walking through the fog along the periter of the castle’s grounds, little specks of black in the distance.
My gaze settled back on Hanna and Maeve.
“Is she pregnant?” I asked Rowan.
Rowan gave a dirty look, then settled, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I don’t know. It only happened once.”
“Once is enough,” I grunted, leaning on the terrace, “or twice.”
“You don’t really believe what that crazy old woman from Lycenna said, do you? That Hanna is going to the mother of the Moon Goddess? It’s insane, Troy. I don’t believe it for a second.”
Duck was running through the grasses in a wide circle, his tongue lolling. Pete and Kacidra had arrived only an hour ago, bringing the dog with them.
He playfully lunged at Maeve, who threw a stick far into the field, and he took off like a dart once again.
“I didn’t at first. But I—I believe it now.”
A long silence flooded the distance between and Rowan, filling with the sounds of thunder in the distance and the crinkle of the grasses as a breeze rippled through it. Tasia could move the air, and every ti a gust of wind rattled the windows of the castle, I thought it was her.
But I was just paranoid.
“You both need to stay on the castle grounds. Do you hear ?” Rowan shouted in a fatherly tone, which made Maeve turn her head sharply in our direction to glare.
“Shut up, Rowan!” she shouted back, turning away from us to make a face at Hanna, who laughed.
“We should go with them,” I said, tapping my fingers on the terrace, “I don’t like the idea of them out there, just the two of them. Not with them being the target of Tasia’s—”
“I know,” Rowan said hastily, pursing his lips.
“I know your Dad is going to want us to co to talk to the family soon, fill us in on the plan, but...”
We looked at each other for a mont, then began to shed our clothing down to our boxers.
“No,” Maeve said with conviction as we walked toward them, crunching through the grass. “I don’t want your help or criticism.”
“We’ve all been able to shift for years now, Maeve. This is your first ti.” Rowan shifted without another word, shaking out his coat and sending a sprinkle of damp over the rest of us who were still standing.
I shrugged my shoulders at Maeve, who looked more nervous than upset, and shifted myself. Her eyes went wide, and I realized the only ti she had seen as a wolf had been for a split second before Damian had brought the tunnel of the tomb over .
Hanna turned to Maeve, leaning to whisper in her ear. Maeve hugged her body with her arms, shaking her head.
‘You’ll be fine. Just think about it. Dig deep. You can mind-link. You can feel as your mate. Your wolf is there; you just have to find her,’ I said over the mind-link.
She looked at , panic flashing through her eyes. “What if I can’t do it? I don’t—I don’t feel it!” she said aloud, turning from to Hanna.
Hanna put a hand on Maeve’s shoulder, nodding in encouragent.
I heard a surprised yelp and turned my head to see Rowan running in the opposite direction of us. My ruff prickled to attention, thinking there was so threat.
But then Duck burst from the tall grass, his feet barely touching the ground as he ran from Rowan, who was chasing him.
“Stop! You’re going to scare him!” Maeve cried, but neither Rowan nor Duck seed to be negatively affected by the ga.
Duck rounded on Rowan, playfully baring his teeth, and then pounced on him. Rowan played dead for a mont, pretending to whimper as Duck tried to yank him around by the thick fur of his neck. Duck climbed on top of Rowan, barking in triumph.
The little ga between Rowan and the dog seed to put Maeve at ease. I could tell she wanted to play, too.
‘I’m getting one of these,’ Rowan said over the mind-link as he shook Duck off of him, clacking his teeth at the dog to stop any further attacks.
“Co on, babe. It’s ti. You have to try,” I coaxed, sliding my boxers over my legs.
Hanna looked away, her cheeks pinkening. I shifted and stretched, groaning in pleasure. It had been weeks since I was able to do this, and running the castle grounds had been one of my favorite pastis last sumr when I was pretending to be the breeder.
Hanna nodded at Maeve and then let her robe fall onto the ground. She shifted, and I felt the breath catch in my throat. Rowan turned to her, his head tilting to the side in surprise.
Hanna was a black wolf with deep cinnamon eyes. She was small and lean, which was expected based on her figure in her basic form. But there was a band of white around her neck, and little patches of white and silver along her back. I had never seen a wolf with such markings. Rowan seed very shocked.
‘Your coat....’ he said.
Hanna spun to see the white on her back. ‘It wasn’t like this before—’
Maeve had dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach.
‘Maeve, you’re okay. Sotis—sotis it’s a little painful, the first ti. But mostly it just feels different, new, it’s fine—’ I said through the mind-link, watching as she bent in the grass, falling to her knees.
The grass enveloped her, hiding her from view. A few seconds went by in the silence, the three of us waiting for Maeve to move, to shift, to do anything.
Hanna backed up, her ruff standing on edge as a wolf erged from the grass.
She had done it. She had shifted. But our congratulations were marred by what we saw.
Maeve looked up at us, her wolf eyes just as blue as her own. She was beautiful, large, and powerful.
And totally, completely, white.
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