Page 155 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

“They’re out of danger. They’re both conscious now. The white witch who healed me, Rebecca, is waiting for them downstairs. The Black Arrows are bringing both of them here.”

Darian reaches out to me from where he’s sitting on the sofa, and I join him, the warmth of his hand offering me comfort. I want to believe that everything that happened tonight was a bad dream, but the scars on my hands and the limp he is walking with are testaments to the events of the past couple of hours.

“You told us you had no clue what happened to Alice,” Darian says to Nara, who is sitting across from us. Lucius, my soon-to-be father-in-law, is sitting on the other end of the couch, his face drained.

“I lied,” Nara admits. “I did retrieve the king’s daughter. He wanted me to raise her, but I felt she would be better off with her own kind. I left her at the orphanage of one of the strongest packs I knew of. I hoped they would treat her with care since she was only a few days old. I hoped that by concealing her darkmagic, I could give her a chance at a better life. I wasn’t aware that the strength of my spell would also suppress her wolf spirit. Seven years ago, I received a call from King Edward. He told me that he had found his daughter and that she was in danger. He said he was sending her to a clinic to be healed. I arrived outside that clinic just a few hours before a young shifter healer escorted Alice out.”

She readjusts her position on the couch before revealing, “I sensed the presence of the baby inside her. She had conceived just a few days prior, but I could tell. I cast a spell that would prevent anybody with any ill intentions from being able to identify her or the child. Then, I entered the clinic, and I found the dead healer. I simply left, having drawn my own conclusions.”

“Dead healer?” Darian glances at me, and I squeeze his hand.

“Mary killed her. The healer had figured out I was pregnant, and Mary was afraid she would tell somebody. She made a snap decision, but she was only trying to protect me.”

Lucius interrupts. “Alpha Marrock discovered the dead healer and informed Edward. The Black Arrows were sent to clean the clinic and make any trace of what had happened disappear. Your friend made a smart decision, Alice. The reason that healer was working outside of the healing center was because of her desire for money. She had been known to ask for payment from the shifters she healed. When she was no longer allowed to work in the healing center, she opened that independent clinic. If the white witches had approached her, she would’ve told them everything for the right amount of money.”

“But then, how did the witches find me?” I ask.

“When you received the mating mark, your fated mate bond became too powerful,” Nara explains. “My spell disintegrated, and the witches were able to track you.”

Darian leans forward. “How old was Serena? It seemed like the spirits of the dark witches knew her.”

Nara sighs. “The gift of healing is a double-edged sword: you can give life, and you can take life. Draining a witch’s magic was a form of punishment in the old times. A dark witch could not do it; only a healer had that ability. There were different ways to drain a witch. The punishment only entailed taking away her magic and absorbing it. Over time, this practice became banned. However, there was something else they could drain along with the magic: the youth of the witch. It is a very painful process that can take years. That is how Serena maintained her youthful appearance. You ask me how old she is, but I do not know. When I was born, she was already the coven leader.”

“Despite that, we were still able to kill her,” I murmur.

“If my sisters had not appeared when they did, you would not have had a chance. No matter how much magic Serena had absorbed, at the end of the day, the dark witches were still more powerful. The dark witch spirits that you saw were some of the oldest ones. They had experience, the kind Serena never gained. Dark witches were always trained in battle magic. Once your daughter comes of age, I will be the one to give her that training.”

I sit up straighter. “But Mira is a shifter.”

“And a dark witch, like you,” Nara reminds me. “We cannot wipe out the white witches or the dark witches because the balancewill become skewed. Both of them have to exist. Only this time, the dark witches will come from shifter bloodlines.”

Darian and I exchange a look, and then Darian says, “I know you’re tired, Nara, but there is something I have to confirm with you. Serena said the white witches had been interfering in the fated mate bonds. She claimed there never was such a thing as the mating gathering or the red threads indicating that a pair of shifters were fated to each other.”

Nara sighs once again. “It’s true. The royal family was aware of it. You would have known sooner, too, had you come to me immediately upon becoming king. Fated mate bonds are more than just two shifters bound together because they complement each other. They are also for the advancement of your kind. An evolution, if I may put it like that. But once the white witches intervened, things changed. The red threads do not appear due to fate. It was entirely the white witches’ choosing as to which couples to put together.”

“But fated couples typically feel a connection to each other from the moment they meet,” Darian insists.

Nara looks away, as if trying to compose herself. “The white witches were healers, but they also had much power within the kingdom. They had the ability and the time to create rumors. As I have said, the kings of each era were aware of all this, but they did nothing. One of the things the white witches did to try to prevent true fated mates from finding each other was to convince your kind that if they slept with one individual multiple times, they would feel the urge to give them the mating mark. In truth, the desire to give another the mating mark stems from the fated mate bond itself. You and Alice, for example. You felt a connection. You were drawn to each other. That is how it works.When King Edward took the throne, he knew that the woman he mated was not his true fated mate, but he had no choice.” She pauses to gaze at Darian for a moment. “You may have gotten rid of the rot within your kingdom, but it’s going to take a long time for the scars to heal. Your kind will have to relearn the very basics. It is not going to be easy, but then, a new beginning rarely is.”

“What about those spirits?” Alice asks quietly. “Mira said—When she first told us about her dreams, she kept saying something about a woman in her bedroom with her. I never saw anybody. Was it one of the spirits?”

“A guardian.” Nara smiles softly. “One of my sisters, I presume. Young witches with prophecies in their blood sometimes have spiritual guardians. It is not uncommon. Now that my sisters have gone, it will be my duty to guard the young Mira. However, she has sufficient protection here, so my physical presence will not be needed till I begin to teach her.” She gets to her feet, looking tired. “Now, if it is alright with you, I would like to return to Arizona tonight. I would like to sleep in my own bed.”

I get to my feet. “You can stay here. We can fly you back tomorrow.”

The dark witch shakes her head. “My heart is hurting. I just saw my sisters after a very long time, and I have been left alone once again. I have to wait for your daughter to grow up so I can teach her what she needs to know, and then I can join my sisters again. The road ahead is a very long one for me. I would like to grieve tonight, in my own home.”

Darian nods, his voice heavy. “We understand. Lucius?”

The old man gets to his feet. “Come with me. I’ll arrange for the private plane to take you right away.”

He guides Nara out of the room, leaving me alone with Darian. I sink into the back of the sofa, my head resting on Darian’s shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s over.”

He kisses the top of my head. “Mostly. My people are hunting down Thomas as we speak. We’re lucky that Lucius managed to get the live feed broadcast working when he did. I didn’t know if it would work at that point.”

“So, Lucius is your biological father.” I look up at Darian. “What will he do now?”

“Manage the palace like he did for the former king. He needs to feel useful. The man was wasting away in that cottage I gave him. After these few hours he’s had to be busy and useful, he looks and sounds like his old self.”

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