Page 105 of Forsaken Royals

Now, some dangerous fae wanted me dead, so maybe I wasn’t going to be a Royal because of that. What if the Order figured out who I was? Most of Lex’s family was in town. What if they knew, and they were waiting for the right moment to strike?

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” Jagger said, his voice low. “I swear.”

I took a deep breath. I believed him and trusted him—all of them—to my core.

“It’s time to quit Muddy Mugs, Kitten,” Lex said. “Until we figure this out, working outside of our home adds a level of danger I am not willing to put you in.”

I nodded. “I agree. I will quit.” My guys would take care of me. I didn’t need the job, and once everything was figured out, I would find something else to do to fulfill my need for independence.

We chatted with Raine a little longer before we had to leave. She pulled me into a hug, holding onto me.

“Can I…” My cheeks went hot. “Can we meet up again?”

“Of course. I’d love to have you.” She beamed. “And so would the rest of us. We’re spread out all across the kingdom, and there are just a few, but they’d love to meet you.”

My heart swelled. I had more family out there. I finally had a connection to my past, but now wasn’t the right time to establish those familial bonds—not while I was in danger.

“Once the prophecy comes to fruition,” I said.

“And it will.” Raine hugged me again.

We left, heading back to the portal she’d created. It closed behind us as soon as we walked through the door. I started toward the door of the warehouse, but Lex stopped me.

“We should try to make the prophecy happen,” he said. “If your mother saw that you were going to restore the Aridunn bloodline, and we have the artifact, why not? We should get ahead of the Order if they’re going to try to kill you. And once you’re a Royal, you’ll be stronger, and we can get rid of the Order.”

We looked at each other, silence falling over us.

“Will that work? Can you just…make a prophecy happen?” I asked.

“The prophecy never said how it would happen. Maybe having this knowledge is our key. I don’t see why we couldn’t try,” Flint said. “Raine said it was going to happen under a dark sky. We can try tonight.”

“Tonight.” Jagger nodded, tucking his arm around my waist. “We’ll do it.”

Chapter56

Jagger

The storm of Arden’s emotions bled into our bond the entire drive back to the palace. I understood why. Her whole world—our whole world—had been turned upside down. She had family out there, which she had always wanted, and knew what had happened to her mother.

But so much of it made sense, like why we were drawn to her in the first place and why she was so damn powerful despite her element and shifter form appearing late. She was supposed to be one of us at some point. She was the answer to the question we’d been asking since we’d learned the artifact was the key to unifying all the fae.

Arden, being destined to be a Royal, made the most sense. She completed us and was the strongest female I’d ever known. She’d been given a lot of bullshit in her life, but she was still here.

She rested her head on my shoulder, snuggling against my side. I brought her a little comfort, at least.

When we arrived back at the palace, we ate a quick dinner and headed to the library to look into the prophecy again.

“What are we looking for?” I asked, sitting down at one of the round tables next to a window. The historian wandered through the shelves, pulling the proper books. “If we knew something about how the prophecy was actually fulfilled, wouldn’t we have figured it out by now?”

“The language is vague and open to interpretation, so we can look at it again now that we know more about Arden’s connection to it,” Flint said from the nearest stack. He ran his fingers across the books and stopped on one, frowning before he plucked it out. “This is theNordin Family Journalfrom around the time I became a Royal. I remember writing down details about the event, so that may help.”

He ran his hand along the spine, making the pages glow, before he put it down in front of us. Arden opened it to the table of contents, then skimmed to when Flint was a new Royal. His tidy, even handwriting filled the large pages.

“Fuck, I didn’t put half as much detail into my family journal,” I said, scooting over to look at it. I didn’t expect any less from Flint, though.

“I wanted to make sure I got every detail right.” He sat down on the other side of the table. “I’m glad I did now. Maybe it’s as simple as repeating the ritual down to the letter.”

“Could it really be that simple?” Lex asked.

---