Page 47 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

Taking a deep breath, Aru wrapped his arm around Gabi's shoulders, pulling her attention back to him. "There is something I need to tell you. A secret that I've been keeping from you."

She lifted her head, and the look of worry that flashed across her face made his gut clench. "Is something wrong? Do you need to leave?"

He hurried to reassure her. "It's nothing bad, but it's important, and I need you to vow that you will not tell anyone. Not even Dagor and Negal know, and it's important that it stays that way."

Gabi nodded. "Just tell me. The anxiety is killing me."

"First, I want you to know that I kept it from you not because I didn't trust you but because I was protecting my sister. It is something that Aria and I have been hiding our entire lives, but I was forced to share our secret with the Clan Mother, and, by extension, Kian. And now, with recent developments, I must also share it with Kian's sisters and their mates. But you deserve to know first."

Gabi swallowed. "What's going on, Aru? You are scaring me."

He tightened his grip on her hand. "Aria and I share a telepathic connection that allows us to communicate instantaneously regardless of distance. Over the past two nights, we've been facilitating contact between Queen Ani of Anumati and her granddaughter Annani. That's why I needed to leave the weddings every night to be at the Clan Mother's cabin at precisely one o'clock in the morning for the nightly meeting."

"That's incredible, Aru. Why is it such a dangerous secret, though?"

He sighed. "I told you about my home world and the king ruling it. His wife is not his fated mate, and she is not his ally. She is the heart of the resistance, and she's grooming her granddaughter, the only legitimate heir to the throne, to one day take his place."

"Oh my." Shock rippled across Gabi's face. "Now I get why your sister is in so much danger. But Dagor and Negal are part of the resistance. Why do you need to hide this from them?"

"So no one can pluck the information from their minds. The Eternal King's spies are everywhere, and they might even infiltrate the resistance. Some of them are rumored to be mind readers. No one is safe, not even inside their own minds, unless they keep their shields up at all times, the way Aria and I have learned to do. Telepathy of any kind is a rare and highly sought-after skill on Anumati, and even rarer is the ability to communicate verbally mind-to-mind like Aria and I can. If we had been discovered, we would have been either eliminated or conscripted to the king's spy service. That's why we hid it from everyone, even our own parents."

Gabi's fingers tightened around his. "If you kept it a secret, how did you end up working for the queen? Did you and your sister offer the queen your services?"

"I wish we were that brave or that altruistic." Aru's mouth quirked in a sad, wistful smile. "The Supreme Oracle found us. Queen Ani tasked her with finding people with our specific talent, and as soon as our abilities manifested, the Supreme sensed us. But she waited, biding her time until we were old enough to be properly brought into the fold."

He went on to explain how he and Aria had been recruited into Ani's service. "We were brought to the sacred temple that stands as one of the only bastions of safety from the King's spies. Aria was hired to become the Oracle's personal scribe, her telepathic bond with me allowing her to relay messages and information instantly and securely. I was drafted into the interstellar fleet, and my posting on the patrol ship tasked with monitoring the sector where Earth resided was not a coincidence. It was all part of the queen's plan, a gambit to find a trace of the exiled gods. Again, Negal and Dagor have no clue about any of that. They wonder why I was chosen to be the team commander despite my youth and inexperience, and they suspect some nepotism, but that's it. It's crucial that they never find out."

"This information will never leave my lips." Gabi reached up to cup his cheek, her thumb brushing gently over the curve of his jaw. "If you want, you can thrall me to forget all of this. I don't need to know."

He shook his head. "There should be no secrets between bonded mates. Telling you has lifted a heavy weight off my chest."

Gabi's eyes suddenly widened. "Did the Queen know that you would find her granddaughter on Earth? Did the oracle tell her that?"

Aru shook his head, a rueful smile tugging at his lips. "For some reason, Earth is veiled from the Oracle's sight. That is why the queen needed to have boots on the ground, so to speak. She hoped to find out if any of the exiled gods had survived and made a life for themselves on Earth. Discovering that the beloved son she had lost had fathered a daughter and his legacy lived on was as much of a surprise to the queen as it was to us. A very joyous surprise, I might add."

"Naturally." Gabi's eyes shone with tears. "That is such a tragic and heartbreaking story, but also so full of hope and love."

He glanced at his phone and noted with a start how much time had passed. "I think you will have to wait to visit Karen after the luncheon with the Clan Mother and her family. It's almost time for us to head over there."

35

KIAN

"Here you go, sweetie." Kian put the tray over Allegra's highchair while Syssi put a bowl of cooked veggies in front of her.

Allegra regarded the peas and carrots with such distaste that Kian could barely stifle a chuckle.

"Tha!" She pointed at the breadbasket.

He turned to Syssi. "Can I give her a piece of baguette to chew on?"

"Only if she eats at least some of the veggies."

Allegra slumped in the highchair with an air of resignation that would have made a surly teenager proud, gave her mother an accusing look, and then picked up a piece of carrot and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Good girl," Syssi encouraged. "Eating your veggies is important. Try the peas, too."

Struggling not to laugh, Kian turned his attention to Amanda and Dalhu, who were similarly engaged with Evie. Their daughter was much more amenable than Allegra and didn't make a fuss as Dalhu fed her some mush from the bowl. But then, she was younger than Allegra, and her personality might still change. So far, she seemed to take after Alena more than Amanda, but she still might develop a forceful personality like her mother. No one could have ever accused Amanda of not being assertive.

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