Chapter 37
“In due time?” I shake my head as I set down the chalice.
“We don’t have time, Alara. I’m having a baby.
His father is out of the picture. I’m expected to kill my stepfather because of some warped prophecy.
If I do, I risk alienating my mother, who I love.
The last I heard, the vampires, lycans, and demons are at war.
Yet all I saw in the ether were dead bodies decomposing.
And you tell me I’ll learn everything in due time? ”
“You will not kill your stepfather,” she says.
“That’s what you got out of that tirade?” I take a step toward her. “You’re right. I won’t. As much as I’d love to be the one to take out the bastard, I can’t.”
“You can,” she says, “but you won’t. That task is not for you.”
“Then why did—”
“None of that is important right now. Before you can understand why or how things are as they are, you need to learn to harness and focus the power of your vampire heritage.”
“What power?” I demand. “I have the power of mind control. I can move quickly. What else is there?”
“So much, Hannah. So very much. Power that even your father doesn’t know.”
I widen my eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Your father spent a lot of his life denying who he truly was,” she says. “That’s why he married your mother, had you and your sister. He turned his back on his heritage, and indeed he’d probably still be doing so if his blood ties hadn’t called him to the throne.”
“Yeah, the reluctant vampire king. I’ve heard it all. As reluctant as he was to assume the throne, I’m even more reluctant to be his heir. Especially after what he did to Rogan and me.”
“Say what you will about your father,” Alara says. “I’m not his biggest fan either, but he’s been a good king for our kind.”
“If he’s a good king, why aren’t you his biggest fan?” I can’t help asking.
“That’s a long story, and one for another time. But his intelligence is unequaled, and his cunning is as well.”
I scoff. “You don’t have to tell me that. He had me convinced I was the blood mate of an alpha werewolf.” My need for Rogan pulses through me, and I hold back a whimper at the sense of loss it evokes.
“He had his reasons—ones which, once you know of them, you’ll understand.”
“Tell me, then. Before we go any further with this. Tell me. Why did my father have to break my heart?”
“Hannah,” Alara says. “Sometimes there are more important things at work in the world than the feelings of two individuals. Sometimes the whole has to be considered.”
“You mean the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? You’re really quoting Star Trek to me?”
“I don’t know what Star Trek is,” she says, “but the wisdom is old and powerful. Of course the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It’s how it’s always been.”
“I still don’t get it. Why would convincing Rogan I’m his mate have anything to do with the good of the many?”
“You’re not ready for that information yet, Hannah.” Alara casts her gaze on a large stone against one wall of the underground chamber. She stares at it, and—
I gasp.
The stone moves, levitates in the air.
“It’s a trick,” I say under my breath.
“It’s no trick, Hannah.” Her voice is robotic. She’s clearly concentrating on the stone. “It’s something all vampires can learn, though very few do.”
“Telekinesis.”
“To put it in rudimentary terms.” Alara moves her hand, and the stone falls gently back to the ground. “But it’s so much more than that.”
“You think I can learn?” I ask. “I’m only half vampire.”
“That,” she says, “is what makes it more than possible for you to learn all our ancient powers. You bring something else to the table that no one else does. Your father knows that, and so do I.”
“Exactly what do I have that no one else does?”
“Your humanity,” she says. “You’re capable of so much more than you could ever imagine. But first, you will learn to focus your power, harness it, and bring it to life.”