Beneath the surface: Forbidden love

Marisela

Regret and worry intertwine within me like a pair of serpents, their fangs sinking deep into my conscience. Regret gnaws at my heart, a relentless presence, as I replay the past few hours.

Worry, on the other hand, is the looming shadow of the future, casting doubt on the paths I've taken. It's the relentless "what now" that gnaws at my peace, like a storm cloud on the horizon. I fear the consequences of my decisions and their impact on what lies ahead.

Kael returns a few hours later. He was surprised to see me still awake when he walked in. I couldn't sleep at all since our argument.

"I thought you'd be asleep" he says, clearly still upset.

I sigh and look down at my fingers. So many things were swarming through my mind which made it difficult to sleep. Rosa kept playing in my mind and my worrying only worsened.

''I didn't know she was poisoned.'' Guilt flows out through every word. Kael doesn't respond, he doesn't even look my way.

''How?'' I get up off the bed and slowly walk towards him, ''She looked fine when I was with her, How could I have not noticed anything wrong with her."

''None of us knew, Marisela.''

''I don't understand, what happened?'' I ask him. Kael eventually sighs and finally looks at me. For the first time since our argument, I could actually see how much he's been hurting. This only made me feel even more guilty.

''One of the guards found her outside the castle gates," he tells me. "She looked fine but after, she started to complain about a headache so we took her straight to the pack doctor, only he didn't find anything wrong as well.'' Kael stops for a minute and walks over to the balcony, I follow quietly behind, not sure if I was supposed to, but then he starts to speak again. ''She only got worse and none of us knew what was wrong.'' He grips hard on the railing, his knuckles turning white. He was hurting, and I felt like it was my fault.

I feared for Rosa. How did I not know?

I slowly walk towards him. when I am finally stood behind him, his back was to my front. I wanted so badly to comfort him, but I didn't even know how to do that.

''We did all the tests,'' he speaks, his voice sounding far away, ''and we still didn't find anything wrong, I don't understand what's wrong.'' My heart was slowly breaking as I listened to the pain in his words.

''Kael,'' I hesitantly place my hand on his back, I could feel the electricity swarming through me from the touch. I know Kael felt it too. He's body still slightly tensed. ''I need to tell you what happened.'' Slowly after some time, he nods his head and turns to me. His face was cold and distant, but his eyes, God those eyes... They held so much emotion that it was breaking me inside.

I lift my hand and touch his face. He closes his eyes briefly as he leans into my touch. At least he didn't flinch away.

''I think I know what happened.'' I tell him and his eyes instantly open. "But I can't say for sure who did it, I'm still not certain on that."

''I know I told you, you needed to rest, but-''

''Its okay, Kael, I'm fine.'' I tell him, he looks at me and nods slowly.

As the sun starts to set, I feel a slight breeze, so I pull him back into the bedroom and towards the bed.

''Please sit.'' I tell him and he complies, but I don't follow him, instead I stand before him, raking my brain on how I would put into words what has happened.

Suddenly, I start to feel hot. Like I was burning up inside. It was a foreign feeling. Kael watches me quietly. I start to pace back and forth trying to calm myself down.

''Hey.'' He gets up off the bed and walks towards me grasping my arms, forcing me to stop walking. The moment he touches me, the strange heat is gone.

''Calm down, princess.'' He tells me, ''breathe.'' I do as he has says, and after a few moments, I look up at him.

''Okay, I'm ready now.'' I tell him and he nods in understanding. Kael walks back to the bed and sits, his eyes on me.

''We woke up in some kind of underwater cave,'' I begin, ''Rosa was already awake, she was the one who woke me up. I don't know how long we were out, but I was able to find a way out for the both of us. When we eventually reached the surface, I told your mother to go straight to the castle but I didn't follow her.'' Kael's eyes darken slightly in anger but I ignore it and continue.

''When we were down there, I felt like we were being watched, so I swam back down into the cave. After some time I almost gave up, but then someone resurfaced. It was a woman... another Siren.'' Kael watches me, listening to every word. I could see his jaw clenching.

''I was so confused as to who she was, so I started to ask her questions, but she never answered me, at first I thought she didn't understand me, but then she spoke in Aquan, I knew then that she was one of the old ones- like my mother.'' my voice grew softer towards the end. I look down at my feet, avoiding Kael's heated stare. The sun was no more and the moon was out.

''Why did you go back, Marisela?'' He asks, "why couldn't you have waited for me?" I turn around to face him, knowing how angry he was, but even then I couldn't give him an answer that would lessen his anger.

''Because, something told me to follow her." I tell him, "I can't really explain what it was, but believe me, I wanted to go back to you, but-I- I had to know." I sigh. "So I followed her deep into the ocean. We swam for a long time. Eventually, another Siren joined us, only this one was a male.... he.. he's...'' my voice starts to break. Kael notices my change in mood and is immediately by my side. He was hesitant at first, but then I felt he's anger ease. He surprises me when he pulls me into his arms, holding me. Comforting me.

I wanted to let my tears fall, but I fought against them. I wasn't going to cry, I had to tell him what I found out.

''Who was he, Marisela?'' he let go of me forcing me to look at him.

''He...'' Breathe Sela .. ''He said he was my father Kael.'' He's eyes widened at the news, but he quickly composes himself. The shock still very evident on his face.

''How?''

''That's what I wanted to know as well. At first I thought he was lying, but then he mentioned my mother. He said she kept me hidden away from him all these years. And that she wasn't even my mother.'' I tell him still not believing the words that come out of my mouth.

''What do you mean, at first?'' He asks me.

''Well, I've been thinking about it. I'm not saying I believe him- but growing up I always wondered why I looked nothing like my father, I tried so hard to find anything about me that resembled him.''

"Surely that can't mean anything, most people don't look like their parents." He tries to reason. I nod in agreement.

"I suppose you're right," I say, "but there was just something about him that was so familiar, I couldn't understand what it was." Kael nods his head in understanding, but is silent for a minute and so was I.

"Did anything else happen?" He asks me. I think back on the conversation I had with the man earlier, then I remembered something that was important.

''Yes, there is something else." It was as if a light had gone off in my head. ''He said that he saved us." Kael looks confused and I try to explain more.

''He said that they were saving us," I look at Kael, choosing to be very careful with my next words. " from Cory." Kael's eyes go dark, and he's body tenses up almost instantly at the mention of his friends name. "Cory and those other men were going to kill us Kael, and he-who claims to be my father- got to us right on time."

"That son of a butch." I hear Kael say to himself.

"Kael you have to believe me, I don't think Cory was at fault, I think he was compelled, this isn't his fault." I try to tell him.

Kael is silent. Awfully silent, to the point that it scared me a little.

"Do you trust him?" He asks me after a long silent moment. I wasn't entirely sure who he meant, but I think I had an idea.

"I honestly don't know anymore, Kael." I tell him honestly. "I have so many questions of my own, and I've been trying to put the pieces together myself, but none of which are making sense."

"Do you think maybe it's time you speak with her?" He asks. This time, I was positive I understood what he was getting at. It was the one thing that has been on my mind since everything has happened. "She's the only person who you could get answers from."

"I'm not sure if I can trust her anymore," I sigh, "but you are right, I thinks it's time I speak with my mother."

...............

It has been exactly two days since my kidnapping. My parents are to be arriving in Calarrad later on this evening. Rosa has slowly been getting better day by day. Her lab results came back yesterday evening. They found traces of wolfsbane, that's what had been making her sick. The doctor immediately put her on a drip, and she's slowly been making progress.

Kael- on the other hand- is more cold and distant than usual.

He has assigned three of his best guards to keep watch over me while he's not around. Some times he would come in and check on me himself for about an hour and then leave when things got too awkward-but not without leaving me with victor or Dimitri. I know they sensed some tension between Kael and I, but they never said anything about it.

Ronaldo hasn't left Rosa's side since. I haven't seen him for the past couple of days too. The last time I saw him, he didn't look like himself, but I couldn't blame him, the love of his life was lying helplessly in a hospital bed. I couldn't begin to understand what he was going through.

I was however- beginning to understand the meaning of having a mate and how strong the mate bond actually is

As for me. I was angry and confused.

Angry at my mother for possibly lying to me all these years about who I really am.

I've always thought that I looked nothing like my father, I always thought my mothers genes were just really strong and I got everything from her.

But, the longer I thought, a lot of things stopped making sense to me. For instance, my hair. My hair glows when I'm in my siren form, my mothers hair never glows. The only other siren I've seen hair that glows is the man who claimed to be my father.

I wanted so badly for none of this to be true, but the longer I kept thinking about it, the more I started to believe in the possibility that maybe, just maybe, my mother has been lying to me for years.

I have currently been in the library almost the whole day, trying to keep myself busy. Trying to find something in any of these books that would tell me I was just being crazy. And so far I haven't found anything. I hadn't seen Kael the whole day either, I guess we were still avoiding each other. He's been training his warriors non stop since Rosa and I were taken. If he wasn't training, he was in back to back pack meetings.

Speaking of training, I haven't seen Maria since the events that took place. Actually, no one has seen her. The whole island thinks her whole family are traitors, given what has happened with both her mother and Cory. As for her dad, hes been put down in the cells with Cory, but he went willingly. It was indeed a selfless act given that he was an Ex Gamma.

I did try to speak with Layla, but she couldn't even bring herself to see me. I understand why though, my mate has hers in a cell.

Argh! When did things get so complicated.

I started feeling hot again, only this time it wasn't as bad. I took a sip of my ice cold water, it helped cool me down a bit, but that lingering heat was still there. It was a strange feeling all through out my body. It comes and goes, but recently I've been getting a lot of hot flashes. That's why I've been walking around with a bottle of ice cold water.

Just then, I hear a knock on the large wooden doors. A young boy walks in.

''Luna.'' he bows in respect. I nod my head in turn, still not quite used to the address.

''The King and Queen of Greemalia have arrived, they are waiting for you in the foyer.'' he announces.

It took me a second to comprehend what he had just said.

''Thank you.'' I smile at him. He bows once more and turns to leave. Once the doors are closed, I take in a deep breath and count to five before letting it out.

Whatever happens, you deserve the truth.

I leave the library and head down to the foyer. I am instantly followed by the guards that Kael had assigned to me. With each step getting closer to my parents, I could feel my heart beat increase.

This is it.