Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ISLA
I get off the phone after putting the plans for dinner into motion and feel a wave of gratitude for the staff, whose competence has made this daunting life a bit more bearable. If Asher is to ascend to the throne sooner than anticipated, it will undoubtedly be stressful, but at least we won’t be alone—a thought that brings me a layer of comfort.
A knock sounds at my door and I cross the bedroom to answer. “I was hoping to ? —”
My eyes blink rapidly and air begins to leave my lungs at a rapid pace. I try to process what’s happening, but even seeing the sharp blade protruding from my chest doesn’t seem real.
I attempt to reach for the black hilt to remove the dagger, but my arms are immobile, failing to respond. My legs give out next, no matter how much I attempt to draw on my wolf’s inner strength.
“Help… me…” I croak as I collapse to the floor.
Confusion and fear muddle my thoughts and my vision swims, but I no longer forget who was standing at the door as it closes quietly .
Estee.
Grief unlike I’ve ever known pulses inside me, eating up every flicker of joy I was just experiencing. Even back then, my sister was my best friend. It doesn’t make sense why she would hurt me, let alone kill me.
Yet I know that was her. She stood there, silent and… I blink, focusing harder on the memory. Her eyes. They were dark, almost black instead of their normal blue.
It’s hard to breathe, but I force myself to focus and talk to Asher. I need to make this make sense. I need to understand what actually happened.
“Estee stabbed me,” I tell him, sitting further up and wiping the tears from my face. “But I need a minute. I need to go back.”
His shaking hand reaches for his shirt and he slips it over my head. “I’m right here. You’re not alone.”
Asher’s jaw is so tight that his words are almost garbled, but he gives me the time I ask for, staying quiet as I force my mind back into those final moments.
Estee stands rigid in front of me. I only have seconds before the door closes, but I was right. There’s something off with her eyes. She’s not herself.
Relief floods through me, but I fight to stay in the memory.
Darkness begins to envelop me and my body becomes cold, no matter how hard I fight to stay conscious. If I could remove the blade, my wolf energy would heal me. Yet none of my extremities will respond to my commands.
I hear the quiet thud of footfalls from inside my room, which further confuses me—yet also brings me hope. A shadow looms over me and I try to see who’s there, but my vision is completely gone now. “Help,” I manage to whisper again .
“Shh, it’s going to be okay,” a garbled voice says. “I’m going to fix everything.”
I try harder to focus, to conjure the image of whoever has joined me, but I can’t force my eyes to see something they never saw before. This isn’t the same as when I couldn’t see Estee at my door.
My mind reels as I try to identify who’s speaking, or even their scent, as the intruder picks my body up, but I’m fading fast and my thoughts are singularly focused.
Asher .
My eyes burn as I come out of the memory, hoping to never return. There’s nothing else but sadness for me to find there. All I know is I need to find Estee and now . She must have remembered what she’d done and that’s why she ran, but there isn’t a single part of me that can accept she hurt me willingly.
I don’t know how or why any of this happened, but I do know I’m going to figure it out. Whoever that final person in the room with me was holds the answers and I won’t stop until I unveil who they were.
“Damn it, Isla.” Asher snarls, yet his touch is filled with the utmost gentleness. “Talk to me.”
“Use your telepathy thing,” I tell him. “I need Grayson right now. I need him to tell me where Estee is.”
His teeth grind together as he starts putting his pants back on. “I’m going to fucking kill her myself.”
“No, no, no.” My head shakes frantically. “There’s no way she did this on her own accord.” My hand covers my mouth as the amount of pain she’s truly been in slams into me. “Oh, God. She’s been hiding away, thinking she’s… I need to get to her now. ”
Asher’s face pales. “Are you seriously considering consoling the woman who took you from me right now?”
I step into his personal space and poke a finger against his chest. “Let’s get a few things straight. Estee is my sister, my best friend, and she is just as much of a victim in all this as I am. You won’t make her feel guilty or threaten her or anything in between those two things. I love you, Asher, but you have to trust me on this. I know Estee. She didn’t end up with me on Earth because she’s guilty.”
The bond pulses between us, wrapping around my chest and pushing my inner strength to new heights. I don’t expect that since I’m facing off with the man at the other end of that connection, but there’s no way I’m going to let him take charge right now.
My sister needs me and Asher is going to respect that.
“Fuck, Is.” His hands scrub over his face. “This is a lot.”
“This is progress,” I tell him, choosing to see this as a good thing. “Maybe she’ll know who the shadowed figure in my memory is.”
Though I’d think she’d have returned if she did. Estee could out that son of a bitch and relieve herself of the guilt. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I just need to get to her now.
A fiery growl echoes around us. “What shadowy figure?”
Oh. Oops. I guess I didn’t finish explaining my vision to him. Rectifying that, my words only serve to increase my mate’s rage, his emotions so tempestuous that their smokiness fills my insides through our bond.
“Are you sure there’s nothing else you remember? That there’s nothing else to see from that day?” His words are barely audible thanks to the tension still riddled within his jaw.
“Yes,” I tell him confidently. “I wasn’t conscious much longer after getting stabbed. I couldn’t even tell the gender of the person speaking.”
Something that frustrates me still, but my priority isn’t there right now. Estee is going to have answers for us. Even if she doesn’t have them yet, we need her, and she needs me.
“Where is Grayson?” I ask, knowing I can’t wait any longer.
“He’s already on his way to find Estee,” Asher replies, helping me stand. “We’ll go back to the castle, get dressed, and wait for him.”
I look down and realize the only thing I’m wearing is Asher’s oversized shirt that falls to my mid-thigh. As glad as I am to remember more so that I can get my sister back, this couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“I’m sorry, Asher,” I tell him through our new mental connection. “This was our moment and I ruined it.”
His head shakes as he pulls me closer, holding me with love and tenderness. “You didn’t ruin anything. You’re here, we’re bonded, and you have your wolf. There is nothing that can take away from those things. We might not feel the same about this particular memory, but that doesn’t change how much I love you.”
“I love you, too, and thank you for that.” I push up onto my toes to kiss him again. “I’d like to shift again and go find Estee myself, though. Find out where my dad is and tell him we’ll meet him there.”
Asher’s lips graze over my forehead. “Of course, Mate.”
My skin tingles and I have to concentrate on staying upright as he does what I’ve asked. He might not like my plan, but seeing how quick he is to support me is everything.
I wait patiently, breathing in and out and testing out my new sensations. When I first got here, I was impressed with the way I didn’t tire easily while traversing the stairs. Now, it’s like I could sprint up and down them a dozen times and still not be out of breath.
My wolf’s spirit lingers just beneath the surface, ready for action and waiting for my approval. She’s patient and resilient. Hell, she’s a warrior.
It seems impossible that I could have ever forgotten her now that I remember and I hate that it took so long, but as she remains close and very much aware of what’s happening, I don’t sense any resentment.
It wasn’t our fault.
The thought is mine, but it’s almost as if the words came from her and peace settles over me. We had no control, but we do now and I’m not going to sit by, waiting for things to happen.
We’re going to figure out who took our life and who cursed us to Earth and…
“Holy shit,” I mutter as I realize what else I’ve just figured out. I grab Asher’s wrist, tugging until I have his full attention. “If I die again, I’m going to end up back on Earth. I didn’t just appear there. I’ve lived dozens of lives there.” None of them lasting longer than forty years and each filled with a lonely existence until I found Estee again. Though I don’t tell Asher that once I continue. “I was human for the last five hundred years. Whatever happened to me back then, I was cursed.”
That kind of dark magic hasn’t existed in our world since before the Great War. I don’t know how someone found an object that was capable of doing this to me, but I do know one thing.
They won’t get a second chance at taking my life.
There’s no way I’m going back and losing Asher again. It doesn’t matter if he’d know where I was this time. One way or another, I’m going to figure this out before it’s too late.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” Asher promises, and while the sentiment behind his statement is appreciated, I know this isn’t up to him.
This is on me.
“Grayson said we need to head east in the forest,” Asher adds, taking my hand. “Estee has been hiding out there.”
The eastern part of our island is desolate. The river doesn’t extend there, meaning there’s very little animal life, and the things that do grow there typically aren’t edible.
Damn it, Estee. Why couldn’t you have trusted me with what you saw?
“Let’s go,” I tell Asher, giving him one more kiss before stepping away and calling my wolf forward. Just as the shift starts to happen, I realize I should have taken Asher’s shirt off, but it’s too late. Well, maybe not. If I’m bonded to Asher, even if done unconventionally, I should be considered part of the pack now, which means his powers are now mine, and I shouldn’t lose my clothes when I shift. I guess we’ll find out soon.
As I appear on four legs and my wolf gives our body a solid shake, there’s no questioning which direction we’re supposed to go in. Gods, I really love just knowing these things now.
Another random thought comes to be, unrelated to the situation, but it feels just as important to remember how we came to be.
The twin moons of Lunara exist because the god who created us had twin children. One son and one daughter. He dedicated this world to them, thinking he was giving his children something to play with. Little did he know that his children would give us the ability to be like them so that they would have friends to play with. Though that only lasted so long before they grew bored of us.
There’s a deep sense of peace from remembering who I am, where I come from, and what I want. For so long, I’ve been lost. Centuries of living half-fulfilled lives, never finding love, never having a family of my own.
My lives were spent alone and miserable until this last one. I don’t know why the gods chose this life to bring Estee and me back together, and I might not ever know, but I do know I have zero intentions of taking this second chance for granted.
A howl builds within me and as we let the hollowness of the last five hundred years go, I know there is nothing and no one who can hurt me again.
Asher’s wolf joins us, his head rubbing against our front flank, eliciting a deep rumble from both wolves. It isn’t fair to just get everything we ever hoped for and not be able to bask in the light of our bond for as long as we want, but Asher and I have eternity to spend together.
Estee needs me now.
Together, mine and Asher’s wolves run at top speed. Our claws dig into the earth, propelling us forward at an unmatched pace. We run for miles and there is no slowing, not for any reason.
Asher’s mind is distracted as he communicates with not only Grayson, but his head advisor, Malimorte. I didn’t know Mali before, but I hope to know him better now. I chuckle to myself. He wasn’t alive when I was murdered, so I can at least cross him off our suspect list.
Everyone else, though, is fair game.
My mind goes through all possible options, without bias. It doesn’t matter how close I was with someone. Besides my parents, Estee, and Asher, it could be anyone.
I hate to think that, but I have to be smart about this. Was it one of the dozens of women who were jealous of me having Asher? Or someone within the pack who wanted to see the royal family shaken?
Worse, I have to consider that Asher’s dislike of Noen’s and my friendship wasn’t unfounded.
I may not have seen it before, but that boy was in love with me. Had he decided that if he couldn’t have me himself, nobody could?
With how close he’s gotten to Asher over the years, I hate to think so, but I need to find a way to remain impartial to this situation. I can’t let emotions cloud the facts.
Someone wanted me gone and once I figure out why, then I’ll be one step closer to figuring out who.
“We’re here.” Asher’s voice carries through my mind, disrupting my thoughts.
My wolf takes a deep breath and it doesn’t take much effort to scent my sister, or blood.
Without explaining myself, I barrel toward a patch of sparse trees. I don’t know what I’m going to find, but I can’t hide from this. Not even when Asher pleads with me to let him go first.
I come to an abrupt halt, my heart hammering in my chest, as I finally get eyes on Estee.
Tear tracks stain her cheeks, she’s still wearing the same dress I last saw her in over a week ago, and fresh claw marks have crimson dripping down her chest.
My wolf relinquishes control to me and in the next second, I’m running toward where my sister is and joining my dad, who’s pressing his hands over the gaping wound on my sister’s chest.
“Estee, stay with me,” he pleads with her. “I can’t lose you again.”
“I don’t deserve…” Her frail voice fades as I get next to her.
“I’m here,” I tell her. “And none of this is your fault. I know what happened. I know you stabbed me, and even if we don’t know why, I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. We’re going to find the asshole responsible. Don’t make me do this on my own.”
Her eyes flutter open and closed, unable to stay in one position for long. “I hurt…you.”
There’s no way I’m going to let her suffer like this. As much as I want to strangle her for leaving me, I know I would have done the same if the roles had been reversed. Still, I’m not going to let her go.
I turn around, thankful when I find Asher right behind me. “Your blood.”
He’s already on it, a cut on his wrist, open and ready. I move over and tilt Estee’s head back. “You’re going to live and the hurt is going to go away, Estee. Someone did this to us and I need you by my side to make sure they pay. ”
She doesn’t make any other sounds as Asher feeds her his blood that should help heal the wounds she’s inflicted upon herself. It looks like she was trying to tear her heart from her chest and I hate that I didn’t go find her before. Yes, I was annoyed that she left me, but I should have known better.
Estee has never been selfish. Everything she’s done has always been for the betterment of others. She must have thought I would be better off without her, but even before I knew who she was to me, I knew I never wanted to do life without her.
Seeing her holding the dagger that took me out doesn’t change that. Not in the slightest.
As the wounds on her chest start to stitch themselves back together, I vow to make sure she knows that first and then I’m going to make her furious with the person who took away our lives, and then…
We’re both going to get murderous.