18. The Prophecy
eighteen
The Prophecy
*AZADEH*
A ylin, the witch who has pledged her loyalty to Gillean, is living close to the castle in her own little cottage. I’m not sure what I expected. An elderly lady, maybe; a mysterious or even creepy old woman, but what I didn’t expect is to meet a beautiful, ageless-looking woman, sitting in a steaming hot spring when we meet her.
“The king,” she says lazily, stretching slightly before getting out of the water—completely naked. She has luscious curves and long, grey hair, and she doesn’t look older than thirty. Caelan groans in annoyance, grabs the towel that’s lying in a corner, and hands it to her.
“I would prefer it even more if you’d rub me dry,” she says with a wink.
Caelan blushes at her words while Gillean glares. “Aylin!” he huffs.
“Alright, alright, don’t be so grumpy. It’s about time that Sine returns. You need to get laid.” She grabs the towel and drapes it over her body, just barely covering her breasts and behind, with it. Her eyes gaze over us until she meets mine. For a moment, she just looks at me, a secretive smile curling her lips.
“All players have made their appearance, it seems,” she muses.
For a moment, it’s silent, then, Aylin ushers us inside her cottage, dropping her towel midway and walking to her wardrobe to get dressed. The men respectfully turn their gazes away, but I assume she doesn’t really mind the audience. When Aylin steps in front of us again, she is wearing the tightest pants and shirt I have ever seen on a person. In a way, she still looks naked. At the same time, I feel drawn to her confidence and to how she isn’t afraid of being herself. Somehow, her bold attitude and the way she isn’t embarrassed at all impresses me.
“You are nothing like I expected,” she says to me, sounding amused.
“Neither are you,” I say. “What did you expect?” I want to know.
“Someone who would be easily embarrassed,” she deadpans before a smirk curls her lips. “The prophecy just turned a lot more interesting.”
“The prophecy?” Endellion asks. He turns to look at his father. “Don’t you think it’s about time to fill us in on what you know? I think we can safely say that your announcement about how you will choose your heir was just an excuse to set something bigger in motion.”
“Announcement?” I ask them.
“Before you came, Dad told us he would make one of us his heir,” Flinn says. “But we’d need to melt your heart, as in make you leave behind your trauma, and show some true empathy towards you.”
I stare at him before turning to Gillean. “What?”
The tip of Gillean’s ears turns red while Beta Quinn just rolls his eyes. “It really was a bad performance, my king,” Quinn confesses.
“We didn’t even buy it one second,” Flinn points out with a glare.
“Even I didn’t,” Caelan says. “The moment I spent some time with Azadeh, I figured your little test, as you called it, would be impossible to win.”
Gillean looks seriously flustered while his sons keep glaring at him. I can sympathize with him, but at the same time, I can understand their frustration. In a way, he has played them like figures of a chess game.
“How about we start from here?” I say carefully. “I understand you are angry, but we are here now, and we have the chance to finally find out some truths.”
Caelan looks at me, his gaze softening. “Alright, I’m willing to listen.”
“But, no secrets anymore,” Endellion says, a hint of annoyance in his tone while he glares at his father.
“He is right,” Flinn agrees. “No secrets!”
Gillean sighs. “You have to understand that I don’t know a lot myself. Ever since you were born, your mother and I researched as much as possible. That’s how my lovely Sine met Aylin a couple of years ago.”
“Sine freed me from my chains,” Aylin clarifies. “Quite literally. A demon was holding me captive.”
“Aylin then joined us here, and from then on, our search was more fruitful.” He pauses. “But, for the longest while, we were just as clueless as you are.”
His explanation makes his sons relax their stances. Endellion turns to look at me, his silver eyes looking at me with warmth. “You set everything in motion.”
“I think I did so, quite literally,” I admit before I start telling them what I told Gillean today, about my dreams, about Favian and Favia. Gillean adds his part of the story afterward.
“This is what Azadeh and I talked about today,” he says before turning to Aylin. “The boys said they are feeling the bond between them changing.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“The triplets have a bond connecting them to each other,” Aylin explains. “Most werewolves have such a bond to their families—the stronger, the better—as family is of utmost importance to us, but for the triplet princes, the bond to their family is like a circle, tying them to each other, but not to someone else.” She pauses. “Imagine fate like a tree. The strong stump is the bond to our family and later to our mate. The tree grows with time. It reaches out its branches in different directions as it tries to reach the place with the most light. Some branches die down, some are smaller, some bigger. There is not just one fate a person holds; there are many, and the mate bond, for example, is one of them. For the triplets, they didn’t have this tree of life in them. They just had a tight connection with each other.”
“To a point, it would hurt one of us if the other got hurt,” Endellion explains.
“I will carry the same wounds Ende or Caelan have,” Flinn adds.
“We can feel each other’s pain stronger than we should be able,” Caelan adds. “That’s why we are called the triplets without a fate.”
“But, now the sun is shining on you,” Aylin says. “And with the sun, suddenly the bond between you is loosening, and branches start to build themselves.”
“Is Aza the sun?” Endellion asks.
“That’s what we believe,” Aylin admits. “We didn’t know of her existence at first. Only when King Naseem suddenly offered his daughter to us, and she was said to be the Desert Princess with the gift, also called the Princess of the Sun, we realized finally things are set into motion.” She pauses. “You boys might have been born without a fate, but it doesn’t mean you can’t develop one. And Azadeh was always born with a fate that we believe intertwines with yours.”
“It’s hard to wrap my mind around it, but it makes sense,” Flinn says. “Because ever since Aza is here, we’ve felt a change.”
“The void I felt,” Caelan admits quietly. “Where my mate was supposed to be, it’s not that empty anymore. Something is there.”
“Are you saying the void is filling itself?” Aylin’s eyes snap up, and when Caelan nods, she reaches out her hand. Caelan places his in hers, while she closes her eyes. For a moment, she doesn’t say anything, but when she opens her eyes again, she looks surprised. “It’s true… a bond to an unknown mate is forming itself.”
“Is this true?” Caelan looks at her both in fear and hope.
“Why would I lie?” she asks shortly.
“Does this mean we all will feel it?” Flinn asks hopefully. “I could swear that I feel my fate changing, too.”
“With time, I believe so.” Aylin frowns. “Fate is peculiar, though. Yours and Endellion’s paths might differ from Caelan’s.”
“I don’t understand how I come into play here,” I say. “I understand that I might have set things into motion. But how?”
“You have a gift,” Aylin explains. “Sine and I believe it’s much more than what your father believes it is. No one of your ancestors has reached their full potential, but you… you might be able to do it.”
“What’s the difference between Azadeh and the former princesses with this so-called gift?” Flinn wants to know.
“I’m here,” I say quietly. “I am here, while they never left their home and had to settle for lonely lives.”
Aylin nods. “I came to the same conclusion.”
“Tell them about the prophecy,” Gillean urges.
Aylin takes a deep breath. “On the day of your birth, your mother received a vision, a prophecy. I will tell you now.”
We all nod, looking at her expectantly.
“Brothers of three, Born without fate,
two sides of a coin, Held by loneliness,
Princess of the sun,
Born with the gift,
Makes night turn to day,
Makes day turn to night,
Brings fate to the fateless
One to hold
One to protect
One to love
One to heal
One to save
Through great loss
Will come great strength,
For the woman in white
Is searching
For what’s lost”
My head is pounding when Aylin has finished and judging by the looks on the faces of the triplets, I’m not the only one. All of them have furrowed their brows. Flinn is looking curious, Caelan worried and Endellion thoughtful.
“This is a lot.” Flinn comes right to the point.
“No kidding,” Caelan agrees.
“We need to allow things to take their natural course,” Aylin says. “The moment Azadeh stepped onto our lands, the prophecy finally kicked off. I don’t think we will be able to intervene in some parts. Your fates are forming, and we won’t be able to manipulate them, but we need to find the two sides of a coin, Favian and Favia.”
“And the woman in white,” Gillean adds. “She was the one Azadeh saw during the blizzard, and it’s safe to assume that she might have her hand in it. Also, Aza said that Favian was scared of her.”
“If we go by what we know, then the woman in white might be a deity or blessed by one. Finding a deity won’t be easy,” Aylin says.
“Then, we need to research properly,” Endellion says. “If she is a deity, there has to be information about her. Knowledge is power.”
My heart skips a beat when I hear his words. Knowledge is power, just like I always say. Endellion shares the sentiment, and something about that makes me happy. I have no idea what all of this means, but I have the strong, excruciating feeling that a lot of the outcome might lie on my shoulders. But, how am I going to do this? I’m not even aware of what’s truly going on. How can I change something I don’t know anything about?
My eyes wander towards Caelan, who has a slight, hopeful expression on his face, probably for realizing he has a mate out there. Gillean looks expectant and almost excited, while Flinn looks like the wheels in his head are turning. When my gaze meets Endellion, I feel a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
He probably has a mate out there, too.
It’s good, though, werewolves are all about their mates. I’m happy for him, yet my chest squeezes painfully.
“I’m going to step outside for a moment,” I say.
Endellion looks up at me, his eyes glazing over with worry. I make sure to keep up the facade, though, and smile at him before stepping out into the fresh air. It’s still afternoon, although it feels like it’s midnight.
How did I even stumble into all of this? My life used to be so uneventful, so full of… nothing. I swallow thickly. Even though I am involved in the biggest mess, I still don’t miss my old life. At least here, I finally feel at home. I have people who are interested in me as a person. None of them knew of the prophecy. They all approached and befriended me on their terms. I am happy here, finally.
Yet, I feel tears filling my eyes.
“Azadeh,” Endellion says quietly. He closes the door behind him and steps outside, too.
I blink my tears away, smiling at him. “Did you need a bit of fresh air, too?”
Endellion doesn’t answer. His eyes seem to bore themselves into my soul. I turn away from his gaze, trying to step away, too, feeling how my heart beats so fast it might jump out of my chest at any time. He takes my hand, holding me back. “Why are you so sad?” he asks softly.
“I’m not sad,” I say.
“You are…” He looks insecure, nervous almost. “I can see it. Is it something I did? Aza, the prophecy, it doesn’t mean anything to me if it makes you unhappy. You don’t need to do anything; we don’t expect you to. We are just happy you are here.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” I whisper.
“We will figure it out together,” he says softly, “because none of us knows. And while we research, we’ll also keep preparing for the masquerade and enjoy the ball. We will show you the country, because prophecy or not, this is your home now, and I want nothing more than for you to like it.”
“Why?” I raise my head to look at him. “Why does it matter if I like it here?”
“Because you are the light,” Endellion swallows, holding my hand even tighter. “To me, you are the light,” he adds quietly.
My heart takes a careful leap. “You might find a mate,” I say.
“I don’t need the mate bond to know what’s real and what’s not,” he says. “But what do you want, Aza?”
I look at him thoughtfully. What do I want? I don’t know what I want, because never before in my life did anyone consider my wishes.
“Think about it,” Endellion encourages me while he offers me his arm. “You have all the freedom here to do and be whatever and whoever you want. Maybe it’s about time you start to consider your own wishes and dreams, and not live for other expectations.” He pauses, wincing. “I apologize. I didn’t want to sound condescending or pushy.”
“You didn’t sound condescending,” I say while taking his arm. A smile curls my lips. “Just a bit pushy. But you are right; maybe it’s time to learn to be myself.”
I have no idea who I truly am or what I truly feel, but one thing is for sure: this is the place I belong. And I will do everything to protect it, and find my own fate here.