Chapter 22 A Restless Mind #2
I take a bite, the meat’s smoky, savory flavor hits my tongue, and I nearly moan in pleasure.
I’ve never had meat for breakfast before, but I could definitely get used to this.
After savoring the last bite, I move on to the strawberries, their sweet juice a perfect distraction from the nightmare I had.
As I eat, Mina busies herself around the house. She fluffs the cushions, rearranges the furs, and even checks on the flora growing from the ceiling.
It’s better than her standing here, watching me eat. I’m grateful for her thoughtfulness, even if the house already looks perfectly in order.
As soon as I’m done eating, she takes the bowl from me with a smile.
“Thank you,” I say, standing.
“No need to thank me for such a small thing, Your Majesty. Tonight is your welcome ceremony, so before that, we have a lot of things to do!”
“A welcome ceremony? There’s no need for such grandiosity, Mina.”
“How come! Our prophesied leader had finally arrived and freed us from the barrier. It is a grand celebration.”
I look over at my gown in Mina’s hands—paws, and my eyes widen. The crystal!
My heart pounds as I begin to frantically search the house.
“Your Majesty? What happened?”
“My crystal! Mina! It’s from my mother!” Black dots fill my vision. Where is it? Where did I put it? What is wrong with me?
“A vólkin crystal?” Mina asks.
What.
She takes the crystal out of my gown’s pocket and shows me. Goddesses, it was there. I sigh in relief, but I’m breathless when I thank her.
What is going on with me? Since when am I so unorganized? I have never not known where my belongings are, never lost a thing in my life. Except for my mother.
Mina puts the crystal in my hand, and I ask, “Why did you call it a vólkin crystal?”
She sounds perplexed when she says, “That’s what it is, Your Majesty. Only vólkins carry such crystals. They’re born from energy, from the bond vólkins share with the soul and their mates.”
I blink, looking down at the crystal in my hand. “But this crystal was my mother’s.”
Mina’s ears twitch. “Your mother had this? That’s . . . unusual. Only a vólkin would carry such a thing. Perhaps she—”
“She wasn’t vólkin,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “She was human. She was . . . my mother.” My voice lowers, and I tighten my grip on the crystal, feeling its cool surface.
“Of course she wasn’t vólkin,” Mina says, her calm tone so matter-of-fact that I almost missed what she just said.
“Mina.”
“There are no vólkin females. Well, no natural vólkin females. Except Elder A?na.” She says it so casually, her tail swishing lazily behind her, as though she hasn’t just upended everything I thought I knew.
To her, it’s a simple truth. To me, it’s as if she’s pulled the ground out from under my feet.
And yet . . . why am I so surprised? Since my mother’s death, nothing in my life has made sense.
I’m in a vólkin’s house—a vólkin who calls me his mate—when a few months ago I was throwing knives at vólkin training dummies in the barracks.
I’m speaking to Mina, a vólkin female, who is telling me there are no vólkin females.
I witnessed Arnold being shredded, and instead of falling apart, I’m standing here clutching a crystal I thought belonged to my mother, eating strawberries fetched by a creature I was raised to fear, who insists I’m the leader of a prophecy.
No, nothing makes sense anymore.
“I think y—”
Knock. Knock.
Oh, for the love of the goddesses! I snap my head toward the door, my irritation bubbling over as I call out, “Yes?”
The door opens, revealing one of the guards—and behind him . . .
A dozen nymphí. At least.
Before I can process the sight, they stream into the room, their movements fluid and graceful, like they’re gliding rather than walking. They bow deeply in unison, their bodies glowing in the soft light of the crystals.
“We wish you a good morning, Ethereal Leader,” they say in melodic voices that send a shiver down my spine. The harmony of their greeting feels otherworldly, both beautiful and haunting, like a song.
Nothing. Nothing makes any sense.
And that is how I find myself in the stream, the warm water flowing around me as Mina gently rubs fragrant oils into my arm. The nymphí have taken over the house entirely. Two of them crouch near the edge of the stream, inspecting my mother’s crystal with curious eyes.
The others move, flitting in and out of the house, returning each time with something new—bundles of herbs, strands of woven flowers, or glowing stones that pulse in their hands.
Every time they enter, they bow briefly before me, their fluid movements so synchronized it feels like I’m witnessing a dance.
Mina hums as she works. “They’re quite eager, aren’t they?” she says, her voice amused. Her tail flicks as she glances at the nymphí holding the crystal. “The nymphí rarely visit this part of the village, they’re usually in the forest around ávera, but now that you’ve arrived . . .”
I glance at the nymphí. “They came just to see me?”
Mina chuckles, dipping her paws into the container the nymphí brought to gather more oil. “Of course. You are the ethereal leader, after all. To them, you are practically a goddess.”
“A goddess,” I repeat, the words tasting strange on my tongue. “I’m just . . . me.”
Naked me in front of Mina and all the nymphí.
“That doesn’t matter to them,” Mina says. “They see what you’ve done, what no one else could. The barrier is gone because of you.”
I look down at the water, watching the gentle ripples distort my reflection. A goddess. I want to tell Mina that I don’t deserve such awe, but the nymphí’s presence makes the words stick in my throat.
One of the nymphí tilts her head, her eyes locking onto mine. She rises gracefully and walks over, holding the crystal in both hands. “This,” she begins, her voice like a tranquil melody, “is no ordinary stone.”
My breath catches. “What do you mean?”
She kneels at the edge of the stream, holding the crystal just in front of me. “It carries an energy. Strong, but dormant. It’s waiting for something . . . or someone.”
“Waiting for what?” I ask, leaning forward so Mina’s paw glides down my arm.
She looks up at me. “That is for you to discover, Ethereal Leader. But if you wish, we can shape it into something you can carry. A pendant, perhaps. It may guide you when the time is right.”
My fingers brush over the surface of the water. The idea of altering something that belonged to my mother feels wrong. But if it helps me, if it keeps her close . . .
“Yes,” I say. “Please.”
The nymphá dips her head in acknowledgment, and her golden hair flows as she rises.
She hands the crystal to another nymphá, who immediately disappears into the house, her movements almost too quick to follow.
The others continue their work, their low chatter blending with the quiet murmur of the stream.
Mina’s paws move to my other arm, her touch gentle as she works the oils into my skin. “It is a beautiful crystal,” she says. “And now it will be something even more. Something tied to you.”
“Tell me, Mina,” I begin, looking above her eyes. “Why don’t you have crystals? And does it relate to what you said earlier that the only vólkin female who has them is Elder A?na?”
Mina pauses and turns to me. “Yes.”
I swallow, narrowing my gaze, waiting for her to continue.
“When the barrier appeared four hundred years ago, the goddesses’ powers began to weaken.
As if something was sucking out their spirit.
After approximately two hundred years, the goddesses saw that nothing could break the barrier from the inside, and the vólkins and spirits were becoming desperate.
Being trapped for so long did no good to anyone.
And so, the goddesses’ connection to our world was fading, and they were afraid.
” Mina breathes deep, taking my hand. “The vólkins would go extinct, and the balance in the world would completely disappear.”
My eyes widen at her words. It doesn’t take long to see the profound connection vólkins have with nature. I might have arrived here only yesterday, but the thought of vólkins leaving the earth makes my heart . . . ache. I trace over her paw gently.
“When the goddesses felt that they might lose connection to this land completely, they decided to go against nature for the first time.”
Mina’s words hang in the air.
“Against nature? What do you mean?”
She hesitates, her ears flicking, as though weighing how much to say. “They decided to create vólkin females out of female wolves in the forest, using dark magic, to continue the vólkin race.”
A breath I didn’t realize I was holding escapes me in a rush. “Dark magic . . . the goddesses? I thought they were pure,” I say, half to myself.
“They are.” Mina’s grip on my hand tightens. “But even purity can be forced to act in ways it shouldn’t when the balance is at stake. The goddesses sacrificed their own spiritual energy to save us.”
I can’t help but picture these wolves—wild, free—being turned into something they weren’t meant to be. “And . . . the females? How did you . . . ?”
“We accepted the change and adapted to our new forms,” Mina says.
A shiver runs through me. “And Elder A?na?”
“She is the only natural-born female vólkin. Her connection to the goddesses kept her spirit intact when others began to fade,” Mina explains.
The goddesses broke the natural order to save their creations, but at what cost? The thought of such sacrifices—both theirs and the wolves’—sends a pang of sorrow through me.
“Mina . . .” I rise from the stream, water trailing down my body, and wrap her in a tight embrace. Her fur is warm against my wet skin, and for a second, words fail me. “I didn’t know,” I whisper.
“This is why the vólkin females don’t have crystals or powers like Elder A?na or the males.” She whispers the words into my neck, her arms holding me as tightly as I am holding her.
I pull back slightly, searching her eyes. “But are you—are you truly happy with this life?”
A small, warm curve of her mouth. “I love my life, Your Majesty,” she says. “No female was ever forced. Those who became vólkin did so willingly, and there are some who chose never to have cubs. We are free to live as we wish. Also, I like being able to speak and walk on two legs.” She chuckles.
Her words bring both comfort and guilt. As if sensing my thoughts, Mina tilts her head, her gaze soft.
“We are not broken,” she says. “We are whole. And we stand strong because of our choices.”
I nod. “Thank you,” I murmur, brushing a strand of wet hair from my face. “For telling me.”
Mina steps back, her tail flicking side to side. “Now, Your Majesty,” she says with a playful smile, “let’s not let the nymphí finish all the preparations without us. You still need to get ready for tonight.”
Her tone pulls a smile from me. “Right. Tonight.”