Page 18 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

I had nothing in common with those names. There was no cause to lump me together with them when they were all the same.

They were all Primordials.

I swallowed, taking the moment to stop and think about the words Fenrir had growled into my mind, trying to connect the pieces. But they were all impossible, a complete betrayal of everything I’deven considered to be true about myself. I didn’t evenwantto allow Macha’s insinuations to pull at the fragments of my knowledge surrounding the Primordials.

“Khaos.”

The golden-eyed man who claimed to be my father in the Void when I drew too much power from him was Khaos.

The father of everything and nothing.

Shit.

TWELVE

ESTRELLA

“How is that possible?” I asked, staring down the Morrigan where they studied me. None of them said a word, seeming frozen. They didn’t know what I knew, didn’t know what Fenrir might have revealed and wouldn’t risk giving me information I did not already possess. They couldn’t hear the whisper of Fenrir’s voice in their minds the way I could, I realized, leaving me to wonder exactly how he could speak to me now but hadn’t chosen to do so before.

“You keep your mind closed to all but your mate, but your walls are weakened without your magic and I am stronger in the place I call home.”

I jolted all over again, certain I would never get over the press of his mind upon mine. The way the words were growled felt like a comforting caress. It felt like…

“Being petted.”

This was fucking ridiculous. “Stop that!” I snapped, raising my hands from the fur on the back of his neck. It made it so that I didn’thave hold, but even in my panic I trusted Fenrir enough to know he wouldn’t risk me falling.

He huffed, expelling the breath from his lungs in something that felt distinctly like a sigh. I snapped my mouth closed, squeezing my eyes shut as I drew in a few deep, steadying breaths. If my mental walls were weakened without my magic, then that meant that the silence I felt from Caldris was truly a result of Tartarus itself. A blockage meant to keep me isolated, no doubt, and one that I wanted to break through as soon as I could find a way.

“You cannot hear him because Tartarus’s wards silence all magic other than its own, even the mate bond. You and I are both part of this place.” Fenrir confirmed the path of my thoughts, offering a little reassurance as I tried to understand what the Hel was happening in my own head.

“How is it possible that Khaos would be my father?” I asked the Morrigan, feeling the press of each of their stares on mine. Nemain was the one who parted her lips first, her glare settling on the wolf who’d spilled the secret they weren’t meant to share.

“Oops.” Fenrir tilted his head to the side, fidgeting on his front legs in a move that made his chest rise in something like a shrug.

“He bound us to secrecy, but not you?” she asked, her glare deepening as Fenrir raised his head high in pride. I had the distinct feeling that no one and nothing could bind him, the stubborn ass.

He growled, his body rumbling beneath me. “Heard that.”

“How?” I repeated, ignoring the fact that now that he was in my mind, I couldn’t seem to shove him out. I wasn’t strong enough to shield my mind from his intrusion any longer, leaving him to run rampant through my private thoughts.

My hands trembled as they touched his fur, realization settling over me. The wards had stripped away my magic, rendering me effectively human against an immortal creature and harbinger of death. He could slide into my mind and communicate with me because I was suddenly completely defenseless for the first time since the Veil fell. I was used to my body being vulnerable, but my mind had always been my safe space.

I’d known what it was to be human once, when the only beings around me were human or at the very least lacked all magic. Now I was surrounded by it, and the disadvantage it put me at felt all too familiar.

I turned to Fenrir, asking the question while I waited for the Morrigan to give me their vague attempt at an answer that would only leave me with more questions. Maybe now I would at least haveFenrir to fill in the gaps of information I did not possess. “Why didn’t you speak to me earlier then? Why wait until now?” I asked, letting my thoughts run rampant.

“You’ve been a bit busy…”Fenrir trailed off, his deep growl laced with humor and sarcasm and things that a wolf shouldn’t be able to convey. It was so Godsdamn disorienting. “I didn’t intend to tell you at all until after you’ve won, but watching the three dance around answers irritates me greatly. I’d eat them if it wasn’t frowned upon.”

“Your father,” Nemain said vaguely, as if she couldn’t quite force herself to say his name. Even with me acknowledging the truth, the binding he’d placed to protect his secret held steadfast. “He has several children. It is not uncommon for a Primordial to procreate. They are not bound by the same curse the witches placed upon their offspring, because they are nature itself and cannot be contained.”

His other children.

Rheaghan. My now deadbrother.

Mab. My cunt of a sister.

I was going to be sick.

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