Princess of Faerl

*Aranelda*

My mind was in a messy state when Hep came to grab me for some sparring. Dad, Scott, Scottie, and Khalith were with him too. Guess this is meant to be the male bonding activity. I sucked in a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face. I had to pretend I was fine while I was feeling both of my mates in distress. Though Eliza’s distress was worse than Stacie’s. I was going to have to talk to my sister about that and maybe consult Selene or Helios.

On our way to the dojo, a figure stopped Hep and I. It was shrouded like a black cloud. “Greetings, brother gods. I am Kali. I come to you because one dear to you is walking a path that will put them into my care. She may not survive unless you intervene in a timely manner. I cannot tell you who, as you will figure out there is only so much we can do or say to affect the course of events. But the sun may stop shining for a time if this were to come to pass.” Once the words were spoken the cloud disappeared. I looked at Hep.

“What the fuck was that about?” I scratched my head, thoroughly confused. I hadn’t attained god status, yet. So I felt at a loss.

“It means, be careful and watch those you love closely. Someone is about to move onto the realm of the unliving and it will make you, or Helios, very sad, is my guess. You both are tied into the sun, so to make the sun stop shining would mean a huge bout of depression.” He stroked his chin.

“You got that out of that mess?” I couldn’t believe he could understand it all.

“Well, I’ve been a god for a few hundred lifetimes. You pick up a thing or two about the riddles of the other gods. Besides, Kali is a goddess that is more like a mother than a reaper. So more than likely, it’s a good soul that is in turmoil.” His eyes seemed to pierce through me, “You can’t think of anyone that would fit that description, can you?”

I shook my head, “I can think of too many, that is the issue. This will work itself out, I’m sure. Right now I need to be ready for what will come tomorrow.” I took a deep breath. Tomorrow would answer a lot of questions. Right now, I didn’t know who would be upset by my actions, but I had to show up with both my mates. Not just one. I hadn’t been able to talk about this with either of them. Since they had been introduced as my mates at the coronation, I couldn’t simply say, oh well one can’t be up here because she rejected the other, or something like that.

I did decide, though, I cannot mark one without marking the other. As it stood, I’m not a god yet, and I’m still with my abilities to mark them. This will crush Stacie to not be able to mark me right away, either. But I have to do what’s best for all three of us and not be greedy. Or was holding out being greedy? I wasn’t sure any more.

We got into the dojo and started to stretch and light spar. Khalith paired up with me while my dads paired up. Hep kinda served like the master of the dojo. He walked around giving us advice, telling us where to strike and how, what body movements we needed to correct. After about three hours we were all pouring sweat and tired.

I looked over at Scottie, “So, tomorrow… Are you proposing to Lily?” I winked at him.

“Aye, that I am. Khalith made an amazing ring for us. I’m just hoping I don’t mess it up.” His nerves were definitely getting the best of him.

“You’ve been together for a year, she’s clearly into you, and she’s known you’ve been mates this whole time.” I announced and he looked a bit shocked.

“Wait, what?” At that point we all stopped what we were doing and looked at him in astonishment. “What are you talking about? We just really like each other. Yea I’m part witch or whatever, but I don’t get a mate, do I?”

I busted up laughing looking at the other guys around, “Who’s gonna tell him?” I shook my head, “Scott, have you been keeping secrets?? Just because you don’t *need* to consume blood doesn’t mean you’re not a vampire.”

Scottie’s jaw fell agape. “Dad, what is he talking about?” His eyes wide as saucers.

“Well, it seems your mom put me in a dormant state to keep a leash on me, but yes, I’m a vampire. I didn’t find out when I was 18 because of your mom. She plays the long game, apparently.” He shrugged, “I didn’t think much about it and forgot to say something.”

“I told Stacie a while ago that she was part vampire. I’m just shocked no one told you, dude.” I clapped him on the back, “Welcome to the non human club.” The look on his face continued to be priceless. I wish I had my phone so I could have taken a picture.

“So why don’t I crave or want blood?” His question was completely valid.

“Because your witch half is stronger than your vampire half. If you drank it, though, you may develop a liking for it. Up to you if you wish to. Just if you’re going to mark Lily, you need to drink before you do. None of us want to come in there to stop you in the middle of that, but we will if you get out of control and we need to save her.” Scott Sr had a grave look on his face, “Alisee is strong enough that she shopped me, but Lily is much younger. It would be harder for her to stop you.”

Scottie nodded as if he were in a daze. “Too much to take in, my friend?” I asked him.

“Just a bit. Why don’t we get back to kicking each other’s asses so I don’t have to dwell on this?” I couldn’t agree with him more. An unsettling feeling washed over me, which I assumed was both of my mates being in each other’s presence after they had rejected one another.

Elena said their bond wasn’t completely severed so I was hoping they could fix things, at some point. Thinking back on Kali’s words, a chill ran up my spine as Scottie’s fist connected with my face. “Dude, you didn’t even try and block it. Are you trying to pity me or something?” He looked perturbed.

“No, just had a really bad feeling.” I shook my head, “Lucky shot, let’s do this for real.” We went our hardest and did a bit of ‘King of the Hill’. Surprisingly, Khalith kicked all our asses.

“Pops, you got to brush up a bit. I know you’re strong an all, but getting out of the forge and getting some agility going wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.” He ribbed at Hep.

“Boy, Imma whoop you! Where do you think you got your fighting skills from, any way?” Hep glared at Khalith.

Without missing a beat, Khalith laughed, “From Ma… Who else? She taught me everything she knew in each life. I got some mad skills after she dealt with the space weirdos. They got some killer tech and killer moves. But the dragon aspects have some magic that is beyond anything I’ve seen. Someday I hope Ma will introduce me to Raza and I can learn from her too.” Khalith ducked out of the way of Hep’s heavy fist. “Whoa Pops! Gotta be faster than that!” He kept ducking and weaving until Hep was damn near out of breath. “Also remember, I’m a thousand some odd years younger than you, so I got you beat in agility and in youthful energy.” He stuck his tongue out at his dad and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey, dad, what do you say you and I get some spar time in too? Teach me some family tricks?” Alaric’s eyes lit up like a damn Christmas tree in the darkest night.

“I’d like nothing more.” Alaric and I went off to his study, “Let’s start with our family history.” I had never been so excited to learn in all my life. Now I get to discover where I came from. Maybe even I have past lives to learn about.