“What time limits are we talking about here? It doesn’t make sense that no sooner than you both bring me here, do the Ancients find out and threaten to knock down the door. It seems to me they were waiting to see if Marren did find me before making their move.”
“It is certainly possible. Not everyone is trustworthy. The time limit depends on the person. A hunting group is granted shorter times because there’s no real livestock supply on our realm. Ultimately, it’s up to the Ancients as a collective. Marren agreed to report back every year to state his progress and to ask for more time. I did that for him a few of those times. The last was rather unpleasant.”
“Why?” I asked, amused at the way he spoke his words.
“I had to bring Farrah.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Farrah is one of the servants. She’s taken a liking to me, and I—let’s just say I don’t share her interest.” He shivered as though an ice cold wind encompassed him.
“I thought you had to share a heart song?” I had to stifle a giggle.
“No, that is a rare thing. Mostly only Ancients experience such things.”
“So, why did you bring her?”
“She was to be the go-between. Their informant. However, when she arrived, she swore allegiance to Marren. He believed her until recently.”
“Why, do you think she’s the one who told the Ancients about me?”
“She’s gone missing since before the Cyrs arrived. Marren’s been searching for her, and he was told it was her by another servant.”
“Do you really think she was the one who told the Cyrs about me?”
“Beyond a doubt,” he said.
“I don’t understand. Why would she do such a thing?”
“That’s the other part of my story.” He took a seat next to me on the bench. “Once the races settled in the immortal realm, Marren’s grandmother told him of a vision she had. One of him reuniting the races, both mortal and immortal, but it wouldn’t happen until he found his heart song.”
“I thought he was the first?” I distinctly remembered him telling me he had no family left.
“He’s one of the first—a direct descendant of the first.”
I pursed my eyebrows and stared at the floor in front of me trying to make sense of all the information. It bothered me Marren still held things from me. I bared my deepest darkest nightmare to him, and he still seemed inclined to not fill in the blanks.
Enid continued. “You see, he needs you for more reasons than just because you and he are bound together in spirit, but because there are races on our realm who want to come back and can’t. They never wanted to leave this realm. Most believe we are only living a half existence, and that’s not far off from the truth. We are meant to live with humans in unity on common ground. There’s even word the mortal realm will slowly unthread itself from the immortal world and become lost in the Netherworld.”
“I need some air.” It came out nearly unintelligible. I was dizzy with confusion and conflicting emotions.
Standing on the balcony to mull over everything that had been uncovered, I couldn’t help but believe this was the underlying catch I was waiting for when I first arrived. The stone of the balcony had warmed to the point it burned slightly when I touched it. It seemed as though spring rapidly changed into summer, along with many other things that had rapidly changed. Me, to name just one, and my change seems to be the most profound of them all. Not just because I was changing from human to werewolf but because of the way my life has been changed as a whole. I was wanted. I was held and loved and accepted, instead of being shunned.
I turned to face Enid and asked, “Why be so threatened by a man who wants to save the world?”
“Your friend, the one who taught you to fight, are you aware of who he is?”
I was confused by the change of subject. Still, I was running out of energy to process anything else. “Danst? Yeah, he’s dead to me. He’ll really be dead once I get my hands on him.”
“I’ve been looking for him since Marren found out he was set up by your father, who discovered what Danst is.”
“What do you mean ‘what’?”
“He’s half-elven. It explains why he’s incredibly skilled at fighting and how he was able to teach you so well.”
“Wait. Tarn set him up? To get rid of me? That low-life, bottom dwelling—Ah!” I scrunched over as a wave of searing pain tore through my stomach. My knees buckled, hitting the floor hard enough to crack. I braced myself on my hands and knees as a series of cramps overtook my body, and every muscle ripped from my bones. Each wave was worse than the one before and seemed to hang on to me longer.
As the pain left, leaving me nauseated, I wondered if having my intestines removed would feel the same. I pressed my head against the marble, its coolness helped calm me further.
When I breathed even enough to speak I said, “I don’t believe it. All this time I thought Danst had turned his back against me. He was protecting himself. I shouldn’t expect any less of him. He still could’ve warned me.”
“A’lainn, are you okay?” Enid asked worriedly.