Page 82 of Bound in Blood

He winces like he’s only just realized what a dick he’s being. “I know, princess.” He looks over my head to Alexandros. “Did he say anything else?”

“He was frustratingly vague.” Alexandros focuses his attention on me. “But he did tell me it was the Skotádi who killed your parents. They wanted to indoctrinate you into their cause, but you killed them all before they could.”

“They’re like the evil version of the Order, right?” I ask.

Alexandros tilts his head back and forth. “That would be an overly simplistic yet accurate way of describing them, yes.”

Axl rests his hand on my thigh and squeezes. “Wasn’t Lucian the head of the Skotádi?”

Alexandros leans back against the sofa and rests his arm on the cushion behind me. “He claims he never was and that on the day of Ophelia’s birth, he was trying to stop the Skotádi from taking her.”

“Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

He blows out a breath, looking incredibly tired all of a sudden. I slip my hand into his and lean into him. He drops atender kiss on the top of my head, and a little of the tension seeps out of him. “I did not detect any deceit in his answers, but then I have learned not to trust my instincts when it comes to my family.”

“Fucker,” Axl says again, his hand still firm on my thigh.

“I suspect he has more answers about Giorgios and his intentions, but for now, it is best not to push him. Whatever the truth, it is clear he has been aware of you for some time.”

“How, though? Did he say anything else about the day I was born? Or how the Skotádi knew I was an elementai?”

His muscles tense, although it’s so subtle I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t so in tune with him. “What is it?”

He sighs and runs a hand through his thick hair. “It was not that they thought you to be an elementai that drew them to you, Ophelia.”

Sitting up, I search his face for a clue as to why he’s become so evasive. “Then what was it?”

“You have to understand that this has no basis in fact. It was written thousands of years ago and is nothing more than the vague notions of a madwoman.”

Panic settles in the center of my chest. “What notions? What madwoman? What are you talking about?”

“There is a prophecy.” He clears his throat and shakes his head.

My conversations from last week with Enora and Giorgios come back to me, along with what Nazeel Danraath said about how I was something more than an elementai. “About the Chosen One?”

He frowns. “You know about this?”

I explain how Lucian called me that when I met him for the first time and about Enora and Giorgios and Nazeel. With each new piece of information, he grows more tense.

Axl’s mouth hangs open. “So, there actually is a prophecy? About Ophelia? That wasn’t Giorgios making up bullshit to justify what he did?”

Alexandros lets out a weary sigh. “There is a prophecy.”

“What the fuck does it say?” Axl demands.

“I do not accurately recall the full text, but essentially, it speaks of a child borne of fire and blood who will be the world’s ruin or redemption.”

“And they think that child is me?” I whisper the words because the thought of being some kind of savior is insane. Insane!

He nods. “Yes.”

My stomach rolls, and I fight the urge to be sick. This is too much to process. I long for the time when deciding whether to have beef or chicken burritos for lunch was my biggest dilemma of the day.

Axl lets out a low whistle. “Wow. No pressure, princess.”

Alexandros wraps me in his arms and rests his lips on my hair. “You are not anyone’s Chosen One but ours, little one.”

I bury my face against his shirt and inhale his familiar scent while he runs his hands over my hair, and it works to soothe me a little. I had no idea Enora and Nazeel were referring to such absurd notions when they spoke of me being chosen, of being something more than an elementai. Alexandros’s and Axl’s concern emanate from them, and it only makes me feel worse. A few short months ago, I didn’t even know magic existed. And now I’m hiding out in a werewolf’s house with my four vampire mates, trying to learn how to use my powers, speaking to people in other countries with the power of my mind, and being watched over by two dragons. So, if the last six months have taught me anything, it is that anything is possible.

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