Page 63 of Awakening their Goddess

My insides were trembling, tuning in to Seb and Blake because these two men were not who I understood them to be.

Who the fuck were they?

“Yes, but Ryan doesn’t realise that. I told him I’d vanish them when he was a fifteen minutes away from the house. I preferred him out of the way,” Blake announced. “Let her go. She needs to understand everything before he gets back.”

“Ryan doesn’t know?” I asked.

“Ryan is not one of us,” Blake answered.

“One of us,” I mumbled. “What are you?”

Seb’s wing sank to the floor as he relaxed his firm wings from around me. I observed, mesmerised, as everything relaxed, my eyes searching his face, his chest, as everything but his wings slowly returned to how he normally looked.

“Lacey, this will not be comfortable for you to listen to, but it’s time,” Seb said, reaching for my hand.

I nodded.

“Why did you want Carter to succumb to the dark king?” I begged, tugging my arm away and taking a step closer to the window and to the other side of the kitchen island.

Seb groaned at my retreat. “I didn’t. What I wanted was for you to keep your secret hidden,” he responded. “Gray Trent has been unusually absent lately and the dragon prince too, but Maxim is on the warpath and wants you no matter what. Then there is the king of the elves...”

I chuckled and lifted my hands. “He was sweet when I met him. I’m not worried about him.”

“You're wrong. He is dark and his offspring are murkier still. They will decimate you the minute you glance at them improperly. They are far from sweet. But none of this would have materialised if you hadn’t revealed yourself.”

“Are you the dark king?” I demanded and exhaled. “Just admit it, Seb, then we can speak about how it is going to work. You realise I can’t leave Kane and Aria, and now Blake and Ryan. I love you, Seb, but I love them, too.”

“Lacey, I’m not the dark king.”

“Then where did those come from then?” I nodded toward the wings, which had entirely retreated, not lying limp at his side. I rushed around the counter and turned him around. “Where are they?” I travelled my palms up his back. Nothing but a fine, white but almost microscopic line ran through the midst of his spine.

The sign.

“Explain to her Seb,” Blake griped. “Or I will. Because if you don’t answer her soon, Ryan will return and you’ll have to reveal yourself to him, too.”

Seb squinted his eyes thoughtfully, keeping them closed for a moment. He exhaled. “What will we tell Ryan when he gets back?”

“I’ll handle Ryan,” Blake answered.

Seb strolled to the refrigerator and picked out a bottle of water, passing it to me. I opened it up and took a slow sip. I didn’t know if I wanted to stall the discussion or if I was desperate to hear it, but I had a heaviness in my gut and I knew I was going to loathe accepting what Seb had to say.

Desperate for a greater distance between me and Seb and Blake, I wandered nearer to the kitchen window, providing me enough room to look at them together. I wanted to look at their faces as Seb told me all he knew.

And I knew Blake had something to tell me, but Blake differed from Seb. If Seb’s mystery was something wonderful, he would have told me a long time ago, not now, over a year after we originally met. He’d have sat me down and explained if it wasn’t something he expected I was going to rush away from. He knew it was.

I dropped the bottle from my lips, turned and peered out of the window and up to the sky. Gazing at the depressing clouds all around, but I didn’t know if it was a drizzle or if there was a blizzard ahead.

But there was undeniably a storm of some sort about to arise, presumably the point Seb explained to me exactly who he was.

Seb traipsed around the island and paused beside me and I realised then I’d been in another place entirely.

My eyes bounced at Seb and next at Blake. They glanced at each other; it was a transitory glimpse and a slight nod from Blake; it was as though they were in harmony with one and other.

My focus was now on them, drifting from Blake to Seb, before I took a step backward and stared at Seb, waiting.

I noticed the man now, the one who I felt the initial strong link with, the very moment I met him. I sighed as I gazed at his handsome face, which looked youthful again, sharper again.

“You look older with wings.” I claimed and laughed a scant. I was tense, unease, and I wanted to ask one more time, but I was almost reluctant to beg for the truth again.

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