SWNOVELS : Chapter 9
The Night King’s frown deepens, his jaw clenching with distaste at my demand.
‘But I’ve only just found you,’ he protests. ‘We have already missed out on so much. My baby girl is a grown woman, and I am a stranger to her. I lost Vanessa, and I will not lose you as well.’
‘Please. You don’t understand…’
Lucy, Nico, Amara, and even Mark… they may not be my blood, but in my heart, they are the first family I’ve ever had.
‘I know you and I have already lost so much time together,’ I try to explain. ‘Believe me, no one is more hurt by that than me. But you said it yourself, and I told you already: I am not a child anymore. I can’t just disappear and start over like nothing happened.’
I reach out instinctively and take his hand, which is freezing to the touch and twice as large as my own.
‘I’m glad you found me. Truly,’ I tell him, and I’m surprised by how much I mean it. ‘There is so much I want to ask you and so much for me to tell you, but I can’t just leave the Rovers behind. I can’t leave my mate.’
He narrows his eyes at me, curious but unconvinced. ‘But you said you are not their Luna, and this Tristan fellow has not mated with you.’
I wince.
That’s a delicate conversation.
‘No, but they are my friends, and Tristan is my mate. You may be my father, but they are my family. Tristan hasn’t marked me, but he cares about me. He’s protected me, given me a home, and helped me grow. Whether it’s official or not, it doesn’t matter. I am bonded to him, and I will not abandon him. You have to take me back.’
There’s a sudden change in the Night King’s expression, and his scarlet eyes soften, a small smile playing on the corners of his lips.
‘You love him.’
I pull my hands away from his as if he’d stung me, and I curse under my breath.
I didn’t say that. I hadn’t even thought it. I had not admitted it to Marco, or Tristan, or even to myself.
But as my father’s words play over and over in my mind, I cannot bring myself to deny them, so I find myself answering almost unintentionally, my voice shaky with awe and unexpected certainty.
‘Yes.’
I do. I really, truly do.
‘I love him,’ I say softly, my cheeks still damp with tears.
Even if he doesn’t feel the same way. I know he does not trust the mating bond. He only brought me into his home for the sake of his pack. But I don’t care. All my life, I’ve been denied a sense of belonging, but even with his own reservations about me, Tristan has treated me with kindness and respect. He is a great king to his pack of peculiar misfits and a good man, and I love him.
‘Very well then, princess.’ Marco nods, a compassionate fondness softening his sharp features. ‘It sounds like you have spent enough of your life trapped by others. I will not do that to you as well. You may not be a child anymore, but you are my daughter. I would like to do right by you, even if I am late to do so.’
Better late than never. Thank the Goddess first impressions aren’t always right.
Relief floods me, and while I knew he was my father even before he said it, this is the first time it feels true. This feels real. I have a family. I have a father who wants to do right by me. I have a mate that I have unintentionally and unwittingly fallen in love with.
‘Thank you.’
The Night King inclines his head in a slight bow before offering me his hand.
‘Although you will have to tell me all about this Alpha of yours some other time. I do hope, for his own sake, that he has a good reason for not mating with you.’
My hand freezes in midair before I can take his.
The mark! I was so caught up in the discovery of my parents’ love story and my concern to get back to Tristan… I completely forgot about the bloody mark.
‘Actually, he does!’ I say suddenly, unable to hold back my excitement. This is the final piece of the puzzle, and I can’t believe I almost forgot it. ‘There is one more thing I want to clear up with you before you take me back.’
‘Oh?’ He arches a brow.
I pull the strap of the pastel blue sports bra to the side of my shoulder, exposing the mark. I can’t believe I’m still standing here in my sports clothes. When I get back to the Villa, I’m going to tell Lucy all about the adventure I had in the ridiculously aesthetic workout clothes she picked for me.
‘This mark over my heart, I think it’s some kind of spell. Whenever I try to get close to my mate, it hurts me. Last time the pain was so intense that I passed out from it,’ I explain, and my father’s eyes narrow. ‘We figure it had something to do with my past and my lineage, so… can you remove it?’
There’s a strange look in his eyes that makes my excitement fizzle out like an extinguished candle. He presses his lips into a thin line, his gaze reluctantly drifting up from the mark to meet my own.
‘Your mother was worried something like this might happen,’ he says, shaking his head.
‘Something like what?’ I can’t keep the anxious edge out of my voice.
‘I’m sorry, but that mark is not a spell, and it is not my doing, princess. It is a curse.’
I figured as much. It certainly felt like a curse. But if it’s not because of my father, then why is this happening to me?
‘In her letters, Vanessa mentioned having nightmares after she became pregnant. She said the Moon Goddess was angry. Selene’s greatest gift to wolves is the mating bond, and your mother and I disrespected that. We chose each other even though we could never be mates.’
I don’t understand. So I’m cursed because my parents weren’t true mates? It’s not common, but it’s also not unheard of for a wolf to defy the will of the Goddess and mate with someone who is not their true mate. That sort of union is extremely rare and highly frowned upon, but I’ve never heard of someone being cursed for it.
The confusion must be apparent on my face because my father goes on.
‘Vanessa and I defiled nature itself. Wolves are children of moonlight, but nightwalkers are creatures of the dark. We were created of opposing magic, born to be enemies. We tried to deny our connection, but I cared for your mother too much, and love made us both brave. I never thought something bad could come from my feelings for Vanessa, but your mother feared they would see our offspring as an abomination. Worse still, she worried the Goddess would punish our sin. That’s why she tried to stay with her pack for as long as she did. She thought being among wolves would help, and perhaps if our baby was born among her own kind, the Goddess would spare the child.’
No. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying. I’ve come too far; I’ve been through too much.
‘So I was cursed from birth just for existing?’ I ask, my voice trembling from the tears that once again threatened to spill from my eyes. ‘This mark, the pain it causes me, it’s some sort of divine punishment for being a freak?’
I’m shaking, and my father brushes away my tears, his thumb cold against my flushed cheek.
‘Do not say that,’ he says sharply. ‘You are not a freak. You are the daughter of Vanessa Massen and Marco Silas, princess of the night. You are more precious to me than any title or treasure, and I would give anything to make things right. None of what has happened is your fault, and you should not be made to suffer the consequences of my choices.’
But I have.
‘So what? There’s nothing we can do?’ I ask, my voice pleading.
There has to be a way to fix this. I can’t just be damned until the day I die… can I?
‘Sweet girl… the gods are never fair, and fate is rarely forgiving. I’m so sorry.’
So that’s it.
My parents desecrated the laws of nature, and in retaliation, the Goddess cursed my heart so I’d be doomed to be without the one I love. It’s a twisted sort of poetic justice. My mother could never mate with the man she loved.
And, as it turns out, neither can I.