Chapter 1
Chapter One
Violet
Ifind my mother in her quarters alone, busy with her needlework. To see this once vital Queen alone thus breaks my heart.
“Violet,” she says, her smile bright as she sets the needlework aside.
“I’m leaving for a research trip.”
Her face falls. “This is very sudden.”
My practiced words elude me. I love my mother. I miss my late father every day, along with my younger sisters. It was the happiest of times when we were all children, and mates and husbands were distant considerations.
The silence grows pronounced.
She knows.
My mother’s expression shifts to one of dread. “You too?” she whispers.
I nod, swift. The stinging at the back of my eyes surprises me—I am not one for undue sentimentality.
“Please don’t go, Violet,” she says. “I can find you a match quietly. Your sister does not need to know.”
“It won’t work,” I say. “We both know Elisa and how her life has twisted her up. Suspicious of everyone and everything, any correspondence of this nature would be a risk.”
My reasoning is sound, although there is more to this that I choose to keep from my mother. Namely, I do not want an alpha. Despite my three younger sisters finding their happily ever afters, I have spent too long living in a home with one of the worst alphas.
It has left scars.
What if my alpha turns out like Elijah?
What if he doesn’t like my dedication to research?
What if he tries to change me?
I am too old and set in my ways.
And besides all of this, my omega markers are off, the scent is easy to disguise, and there is no hint that I might experience a heat.
In my soul, I already know that an ordinary life and mating are not for me.
“I understand,” she says, although her eyes are clouded with shadows.
“You should leave too,” I say. “Stay with Clarissa or Rosalind. Both would welcome you…” I am not sure my mother, a former Queen, would ever find happiness in a rustic centaur village where Rebecca lives with her mate, but who am I to judge?
“I have been thinking about it,” she admits, her eyes growing distant. “And I fear what Elisa might do without any steadying influence.” Her gaze returns to me. “An omega needs a mate. I’ve heard it can make them unwell if they do not have one.”
“I am not yet at that stage,” I say. “Not yet ready for a mate. If the signs change, then I will take action.” Only what stage am I at?
“My research suggests I’m an omega caught on the cusp of awakening.
Maybe I will never show the full signs. Maybe this is normal; maybe some omegas never fully reveal…
” My voice drops to a whisper. “Maybe what happened to my sisters has broken me.”
“Oh, my sweet daughter.” She enfolds me in a tight hug. “There was a time when being an omega was celebrated. How your late father would weep to see the changes in our once prosperous land. I wish I could bring her to her senses…”
She leans back and places her hand on my shoulder. She is a tall woman with gray at the temples of her dark hair. A beauty in her younger years, she is a different kind of beauty as she ages gracefully.
“It is too late to try. She will not heed you. Her mind has grown bitter and twisted. Her mate is not a good man. I always thought he changed her, but with hindsight, she was always this way, and time and circumstance have merely revealed what was there.”
My mother nods, her expression forlorn. “Where will you go?”
I smile, a genuine one this time. “Where I go is a secret.”
“Oh, child. You cannot give a mother so little and then disappear.”
“It is for the best,” I say. “Rest assured, I shall be having an adventure.”
Her return smile is rueful. “You have always been different, always bent upon your scholarly pursuits, always clear upon your path. And strong, so very strong. Not even Elisa could break your spirit. Of all my daughters, you always had such clarity of purpose and thought. But an adventure? Traveling alone. That would be far too dangerous, and doubly so given your nature.”
“I have two beta men I trust, whom I have trusted all my life, and they will accompany me. We have talked about it at length.”
“You are set upon this course,” she says.
“I am.”
She doesn’t argue. “When will you go?”
“When I am ready.”
“You’re not going to tell me that, either, are you?” she says.
“No. Only that it will be soon.”
She cries a little, and I hold her hand.
We talk about happier times, about the mischief of my sisters, about Rebecca, who has a little centaur babe, about Rosalind, who is pregnant with her third child, and Clarissa, who is expecting her first…
about how wonderful it would be for my mother to visit them.
“I’ve never seen a centaur baby,” I say. “Did you know that they are human babies until somewhere between four and six, when they change into a centaur? Some very rare ones can shift forms, but more often they become a centaur, and they do not change back at all.”
My mother laughs, happiness shining in her eyes. “Who would have ever thought that my dear Rebecca would mate a centaur and be happy about it?!”
“There are worse things than centaurs.”
My mother raises her brow. “And I dare say you would know, given all your research… like what?”
“Bear shifters, for one. They are aggressive and disagreeable, and they war with everyone. The dark fae are unquestionably evil. Then there are griffins…”
“Griffins,” my mother says. “There was a distinctly wistful note when you mentioned them. Please tell me you’re not going to chase after griffins.”
“Of course not.” My denial is stringent and, hopefully, quick enough. “They are cruel and unfeeling, and even more disagreeable than bears.” My research suggests they are also noble, and perhaps, given so little is known about them, the other tales are merely exaggerations…
I have thought about centaurs often—their lore is riveting—and more so since Rebecca accepted one as a mate. But griffins have always been my secret fascination.
“I wish you well, Violet.” My mother hugs me once more. “Know that wherever you are, my love is with you. Go. Have your adventure. And when you are ready, find your one.”
And so it is that I am poised to go on an expedition, one that will take me across seas and far away, one that will take me to other lands, and the highest mountain ranges where the griffins make their home.