Chapter 94 Maddy
MADDY
Sinthy brought us tea before sitting down beside her mother. Nico put a hand on my thigh, and I didn’t know if he was trying to steady me or himself.
The elderly witch leaned forward and extended a hand to each of us. “My name is Isme. Wonderful to meet you all. I suppose you want to hear the story. The true story.”
I cleared my throat. “I think we know most of what happened back then.”
Isme clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “You know about legend and rumor. Most of which has been twisted and defiled by the tongues of the so-called royals. I mean to tell you the true story. The story of Edemas, his queen, and… the princess that I can feel living inside you right now,” the old woman said, pointing at me.
Nico and I both sat back. The intensity of the woman made it almost impossible to argue against it. As old as she looked, her voice was strong and powerful. It was probably best if we let her proceed.
“Okay. Sure,” I said. “Go on.”
Isme gave a look of approval and settled herself to begin the story.
“Many years before the royals overthrew Edemas, I was a hired witch. Helena’s family hired me to protect her, as she was to be the future queen of the small country we lived in.
Helena was the crown princess, and because there were often threats of violence, I was hired to be a bodyguard of sorts.
I was a small woman and not incredibly intimidating.
I was the perfect candidate to watch over the young princess.
If anyone made an attempt on her life, I could use my many talents to stop the attack.
It worked well, and the family paid me more than adequately. ”
“Is this before you met Edemas?” I asked.
Isme nodded. “Not long before, but yes. Princess Helena was sixteen years old when I found myself as her guardian. I went everywhere with her and grew close to her, acting almost as a surrogate mother. A few months before she turned eighteen, there was a banquet. Helena’s father invited all the nearby nobles, some distant kings, and other dignitaries.
At the feast, a large burly man strode in and announced himself as King Edemas.
This sent a stir among the crowd. The werewolf alpha was well known and typically didn’t venture out of his pack lands unless it was to go to war.
He and all his line had been very secretive—it was actually quite the political statement that Helena’s father got him to attend.
“Being not only a shifter but a werewolf, he was both well-known and feared. Most of the attendees gave him a wide berth, but I witnessed the change on young Helena’s face when he walked in.
Desire, from the instant she laid eyes on him.
It stirred some misgivings within me, but I was not a bigot.
After all, I was a magical creature too.
Who was I to look down on a shifter? Instead of steering her away, I took it upon myself to introduce the two.
” Isme waved a hand through the air and sighed.
“Disaster. He wanted nothing to do with the princess. It was obvious from the start.”
I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. “He wasn’t attracted to her at all?” It seemed crazy with everything I knew about their relationship. It hadn’t ended well, but it had seemed like they were in love before things went bad.
Isme shrugged. “I think he was attracted, yes. Helena was beautiful and had many vying for her hand. But Edemas was a different kind of man. Strong and powerful, unmatched by any man I’d ever seen or heard of, but he was not very fond of humans.
Mostly because of the way they tended to look down on shifters.
His line had, for many years, taken human wives to increase their power and stake in the lands.
The rumor was, Edemas had vowed never to do such a thing because he did not want to dilute the bloodline more than it already had been.
Already in those days, the children of his line were becoming less and less powerful, with some being born without the ability to become werewolves at all. ”
“Well, how did they end up together?” I asked. I found myself wrapped up in the ancient tale, desperate to find out how it differed from what we knew.
Isme chuckled and shook her head. She took a sip of tea, then continued.
“Well, try as I might, Helena was still a royal child. She was not used to hearing the word ‘no’. After the way he brushed her off at the dinner, she decided to pursue him. She sent lavish gifts to him and his pack. Letters upon letters were sent as well, with not a single reply. During those months, I tried to explain to her that she needed to be careful. While her father and mother were very open-minded, many of her other relations were not as willing to treaty with shifters. The idea of their princess being betrothed to one would bring about trouble she wasn’t ready for.
But…” Isme waggled her fingers in the air.
“A bird must fly. There was only so much I could do to try and prevent her from attempting to be with him.
“Fast forward about three months, and Helena and I were on the way back from a wedding of one of her distant cousins. Our carriage and guard detail were attacked by roadside bandits. There were at least a dozen of them, and the guards were all killed by arrows in seconds. I cast several protective and attack spells, but one of the attackers got behind me and knocked me out before I could do more. When I awoke…” She shook her head in wonder.
“All the assailants lay about the carriage in various stages of death or dying. I could hear the groans and screams. One man, possibly the one who hit me, was beside me. He was doing his best to hold his guts inside his body as they slid out between his fingers. He was crying for his mother. I’ll remember that until the day I die.
Beside the carriage was Edemas, spattered in blood and holding Helena in his arms as though she were a newborn babe.
He’d been on a run through the forest in his werewolf form when he heard the attack.
He recognized Helena and me from the dinner many months before and intervened.
He saved us both, but he only had eyes for Helena. ”
“Holy shit,” Nico muttered. “Twelve armed men? He was by himself?”
“He was indeed. If you have never seen a werewolf in battle, it is… well, I’ll say it is terrifying.
Edemas escorted us the rest of the way home, and when the king and queen heard our telling of the tale, they were deeply grateful to Edemas.
They offered him a position with the royal staff as Helena’s personal head of security.
He laughed in their faces. He was an alpha, he said—a leader of shifters and basically a king in his own right.
He would not bend the knee and grovel as an employee of the royal family.
” Isme gave a little shake of her head. “I could have told them this would be his reaction. The king was understanding but still put out. After that, there was little contact between Helena and Edemas. The old king died a year later from a blood fever. I couldn’t help him no matter what I did.
The queen herself died two years later from what I believe to be influenza.
Though the royal doctors tried everything, she was gone within a fortnight. ”
It sounded like this Helena had a rough life. She lost her parents at a fairly young age. I couldn’t imagine going through that. “Then what happened? She became queen, I suppose?”
Isme leaned forward. “She did indeed. She was the only child of the royal couple and had yet to be married off, so the coronation was held the next month. Many came to give their fealty and respect to the new queen. None garnered more than a passing nod of thanks from Helena until the massive form of Edemas came striding into the throne room. Helena’s crush on the man had waned in the years since her rescue.
Her eyes weren’t the same when he walked in.
Nothing like the first time she’d seen him.
Yes, there was the lust and desire as before, but now there was a more calculated look to her.
She’d had a thought, and it made me a little worried.
“After the celebratory dinner, Edemas was invited to the new queen’s chambers, along with me and a few of her most trusted guards.
There, she offered him something it would be nearly impossible to turn down.
She offered her hand in marriage. In doing so, he would be combining the strength of his pack with the strength of her kingdom.
He initially scoffed at the idea, but she reminded him that many pack leaders in his family tree had taken royalty as mates in the past. None had ever been as high-ranking as she was.
If he became king consort, then he would be the first shifter to ever sit on a throne.
She even offered the title of King of Shifters.
So, for her human subjects, she would be the main ruling hand, and he would be the same for all shifters within their lands.
It was no longer about romance or lust, but about consolidating power. ”
I rubbed my face with my hands. “I’m guessing he couldn’t say no. How could he?”
Isme bobbled her hand back and forth. “It was a close thing. I sat in that chamber for over an hour as they hashed out details, duties, and questions. In the end, Edemas couldn’t get past the idea of bringing his line even more power—to have a station high enough that he could finally look down upon the humans who’d always looked down upon his kind.
Yes, he did eventually agree. In return, all Helena wanted was a husband who would care for her, strengthen her, and perhaps, in time, grow to love her. ”
Nico finished his tea and set the empty cup on its matching China saucer. He cleared his throat and said, “I suppose this wasn’t… an overly accepted pairing?”