Page 110 of Tangled Hearts

She nodded. “Come on.”

The moment we stepped into the house I knew we had made the right decision in coming here and we just might have a chance at bringing the guys back.

Oria and I didn’t even make it through eating before we were falling asleep. They showed us to a room, and we were both asleep within minutes. We woke up just as night was falling. They provided us with clothing and more food. Right now, we were in an expansive library, sitting at a table as Oria explained what had happened and who she was to the woman and her mates.

“You said, one day you hoped you could return that favor and I’m asking for it now,” Oria said, looking at the woman whose name was Katarina.

“What do you need? she asked, with no hesitation.

“I need supplies,” she said. “I need to make a powerful enough magic-canceling potion to affect her enough that I can hurt her or kill her.”

“Will it work?” Aeon asked

“I… I don’t know,” she said, as her cheeks grew pink. “Laima has been getting stronger for years. I’ve seen her kill a dozen men with a snap of her fingers.”

“If she’s that powerful, why didn’t she come yesterday?” I asked.

Oria turned to me with her brows furrowed, but a glimmer of hope was in her eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s getting weaker? She hasn’t gotten any healing from me in months.”

“Is that how she’s stayed alive?” Lucien asked. “Because two hundred years to stay alive as a witch is a long time.”

“Yes, I was healing her?—”

“Wait, you've been imprisoned for two hundred years?” The biggest shifter, Zev, said, leaning forward.

“Yes, not at the same place, but yes, it's been two hundred years,” she said, having a hard time keeping his gaze.

Zev was the alpha and he exuded power. I don’t think he was doing it maliciously, but even I could feel his dominance.

“Anyone think it's strange that we and Oria were imprisoned at the same time?” Zev looked at his pack.

“You think Caston’s family imprisoned her too?” Aeon looked confused. “But what?—”

“Wait, Caston?” Oria shouted. “He was the one who called Laima away. He needed her help, and she talked about renegotiating her terms at the tower. She also said she would talk to his mother.”

“What if our situations are connected?” Aeon looked around the table. “Caston said something about making the world pure. What if there was a reason we were all imprisoned? They needed to weaken our pack and?—”

“They needed to weaken the Fae,” I said. “We went back home and there was nothing left.”

“Were your mother and father’s names, Georgios and Isona?” Zev asked.

Oria looked at me.

“Yes, they were her parents,” I said. “Oria doesn’t remember much from before she was taken. It’s only coming back in bits and pieces.”

“It seems Caston’s family was trying to take out big families. The less powerful paranormals were, the easier it would be to raise a god war,” Lucien said. “Isn’t that what Caston said was on the horizon?”

“That’s what Gray told us one of their informants said.” I looked over at Oria.

“That’s what Addie said,” she said, looking over at me. “She also said ‘If she gets her back, she is the catalyst that will start the war, and she needs to be hidden.’”

Oria repeated Addie's words verbatim.

“That’s why we took you away. It’s why we decided you needed to be saved,” I said. “I know you hate that we made the decision for you, but if a god war is on the horizon, then we need to do whatever it takes to stop it, even if that means we die.”

Oria stood abruptly, knocking the chair over. “So that I can live a life without my mates?” Her eyes watered. “I save the world, but my payment is to live alone, again?! I told you I don’t want to be alone. I lived in a tower for two hundred years alone with my cat, but I won’t do that again, I can’t.”

She whispered those last words as tears fell down her face.

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