"So that’s what happened," Donovan murmured quietly when Es was done recounting what had unfolded at the inn. His expression was unreadable, but Es could see the weight of it in his eyes. If he wanted to be honest– he had chosen those warriors specifically for this sa reason. They were the type of n who were more than willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in. And they had.
But Ultima... it never occurred to him that the bastard would show up. Not to Es at least.
"He took the book," Es continued in a soft whisper. "Everything happened so fast during the attack. I— I didn’t even think to grab it. By the ti I realized, it was already too late to do anything."
Donovan pushed himself off the wall, his jaw tightening. "So what do you intend to do about it? Do you have any plans?"
"?" Es’s gaze dropped to the floor. Her thoughts imdiately swirled with guilt, each one more suffocating than the last. "I don’t know. I’m too afraid to think of anything right now. I keep making the wrong choices. Maybe it’s better if I stop offering solutions altogether."
"What are you saying?" Donovan’s expression shifted slightly as he took a step forward. "Is that it then? You’re just going to give up and give Ultima exactly what he wants?"
Es shook her head softly, turning to him with tired eyes. "No, that’s not what I ant. But people are dying, Don. Ultima is always one step ahead of us– always. He even knew exactly what inn we were staying at. Everyti we try to fight back, we lose soone else. How am I supposed to stand up against sothing like that?"
Es shifted her gaze to the window, watching the rain as it fell in a quiet, steady rhythm. "You know," she began, her voice low, "the true bearer... he’s tied to Uncle Irwin too. I learned everything after I arrived– about their history, and the truth Irwin has been hiding."
She turned to face Donovan, her expression troubled. "Aunt Clandestine told the truth. The true bearer is a Morgrim, just like you. And because of his connection to Irwin, that makes him one as well. It explains so much now... his ill state... the decline. He could be suffering from the very sa thing your father tried so hard to escape."
Donovan opened his mouth to speak, but she cut in gently.
"Given how fractured your bloodline is, I suppose it was easy for him to disappear into the background. No one ever questioned his lineage that much, because your family... they never truly acted like one."
Those words struck Donovan harder than he expected. She was right, and deep down, he knew it. His strained relationship with Leonardo was another thing. Still, he couldn’t believe he had missed sothing so significant. He always knew Irwin was unwell, even before the man admitted to him that he was, but he never would’ve guessed the cause.
"Your father and Irwin were related," Es continued. "That alone makes Irwin a Morgrim, which ans he’s vulnerable to the curse– one your father bent ti and fate trying to avoid."
"Irwin is—"
"A Morgrim. Yes," she confird softly.
"Then why didn’t he–"
"Because Ultima has been planning this for a long ti," Es interrupted. "He’s been playing this ga in silence, and now... the ball is right in his court. I don’t bla Irwin for hiding sothing so important, we don’t understand the situation he was in at that ti, so we can’t point fingers yet."
She paused before adding, "Ultima told there’s sothing inside – a wolf– that he wants. He said it’s the only thing that’s stopping him from ascending... from becoming a god."
Donovan’s pupils dilated, "You have a wolf?"
"I’m not sure," Es shook her head. "I can’t trust the nonsense Ultima is spewing, but what kind of wolf makes one ascend? Like that? Into sothing godlike?
Donovan moved closer, settling beside Es on the edge of the window. His voice softened. "Ultima plays mind gas, sure. But if he says you have a wolf, then maybe there’s so truth in it. Were you able to go through the book before it was taken? Do you rember what was inside?"
Es’s gaze flicked toward Donovan, and for a mont, the mories seed to drag her under.
"Yes... there was a ritual," she replied softly. "In my family, there was a prophecy tied to our bloodline. They believed it could be stopped if my father summoned sothing called the blood wolf. I’d never heard of it before. But it was summoned based on the king’s orders. My father tried to bind it, but during the ritual, sothing went wrong. The wolf’s spirit broke free on that night, and it lashed out. In the middle of the chaos, that’s when..."
She paused, drawing in a deep breath. "....it found . I don’t know how but I absorbed it. Or maybe it consud instead. I’ve been falling sick ever since. I think the reason no one knew was because in the book, it wasn’t stated that the wolf chose , I just happened to have seen it for myself. I can’t tell if it’s still inside , and a part of hopes it isn’t."
"This isn’t mission impossible," Donovan said softly as he pulled Es over, holding her hand in his. "One way or another, we’ll make things work. There are hard tis in life where we’ll be faced with challenges, and the choices we’ll have to make in those monts are just as unbearable, even if it ans having to lose others. Their death shouldn’t be our weakness, but a reason for us to keep going."
He gently brushed a strand of hair from her face, guiding her gaze to et his. "You must be tired."
Es leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She rested her head against his chest.
"I’m fine," she murmured. "Right here is where I need to be."
A smile ghosted across his lips, and he wished he could stay by her side and leave with them at dawn. But, aside from the fact he knew she’d scold him if she still found him here, he needed to make sailor enquiries with Leonardo.
Thinking back to everything she told him, he wondered what prophecy she spoke about.
—--
"One shall rise with a heart split in fla,
Carrying ruin in a lover’s na.
When the stars weep and rivers dry,
The world shall end with a kiss or a cry.
To save the light, love must fall—
And one must die to save them all."
Ultima clicked his tongue when he read the prophecy, and he tore the book in half. His violet eyes glead with cruel intent as he stood at the edge of the mountain top.
"Let’s see who wins at the end of the race, either you or , moon goddess."
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