Chapter 58 Maddy
MADDY
My whole body was shaking as I read the letter.
Each word I read seemed to hit me deep in my soul.
My birth mother’s handwriting, the information she was giving me, the pictures?
It was all too much. I put the letter down as my wolf began to stir.
Was she reacting to my emotions? Or was it the story itself?
In my mind, I spoke to her again. Are you the reincarnation of Edemas’s daughter?
Her hesitation was almost physical, something I could feel inside my brain. There was something she wanted to say, but she was afraid. Then, in the deepest part of my mind, in a voice so small I almost missed it, she answered. Yes.
I gasped, feeling the weight of that statement slam into my chest. Nico put an arm on my shoulders. “Hey? Are you okay?” he asked.
Shaking my head. “It’s true. My wolf. She just told me that it’s all true. She’s the reincarnation of Edemas’s daughter.”
“Seriously?” Nico wouldn’t have looked more surprised if I’d slapped him.
“Yeah.”
“What else is in here?” Nico said, digging through the envelope. We hadn’t finished the letter, but I was curious too.
He tugged out a small, folded stack of papers wrapped in a rubber band.
The band was old, dry, and rotted, and snapped apart when he tried to pull it off.
Once unfolded, it was obvious what they were.
The masculine block letters were not my birth mother’s handwriting.
These were journal entries. They were from David Samuels.
My birth father. I immediately set my mother’s letter aside and took the stack from Nico, beginning to read them.
May 9th,
I had another dream last night. It was the same as two days ago. So damned real. I’m going to write them here so I can try and piece together what they mean.
I was in a strange building, like a castle or something.
It felt really old, ancient. It was dark, but there were candles and torches along the passageways and rooms. I was angry about something.
Not just angry, but heartbroken. There was a man leading me along the passage, he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t hear him.
We came around the corner, and there was a girl lying on the floor.
She was young, maybe around my age. Nineteen or twenty?
Not sure. When I saw her in that dream, I can’t even describe how I felt.
I was so sad, and I screamed. Not even a scream really, but a howl, like my wolf was sad as well.
The girl was obviously dead, her eyes staring up lifeless, and a huge pool of blood spread out from her hair.
That’s when I woke up. What does it all mean?
May 19th
Another dream. Thankfully, this one was different.
I really didn’t want to see that dead girl again.
Although, this dream was worse in some ways.
I know I was in the same castle as before, but I was outside, walking along a parapet or something.
I was yelling at a man beside me. The guy was wearing familiar colors and kept bowing to me as I spoke.
He was some type of servant. I couldn't make out the words, but I knew I was not happy with something he was telling me. The dream was more emotional than the last one. Betrayal, paranoia, anger, sadness, and panic were all boiling inside me. When I woke up, I was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. I’m starting to think I know who these dreams are about.
If that’s the case, what does that mean?
June 11th
Am I ever going to have a good night’s sleep again?
This dream was strange in a lot of ways.
I was fighting with a woman. She was beautiful and familiar, though I don’t remember ever remember seeing her in my waking life.
She was asking me to stop making children.
She seemed to be angry about my harem. I was angry.
Didn’t she understand I had to have more children?
The only shifter child we’d had was our daughter, who was now dead.
The rest had been born with my blood but were not able to become werewolves.
I had to have heirs, and they needed to be shifters.
Her anger was enough for me to start to fear her.
Was she going to betray me? Could she do something like that?
My dream flashed to a massive room that was full of gold, jewels, silver-adorned weapons, carved alabaster, jade statuettes—so much treasure that I couldn’t even focus on any one thing.
I knelt and placed a small chest of gold coins on the ground.
I turned and stepped out, sliding the big stone door closed behind me.
Next to me, an ancient witch stepped forward and placed a hand on the door, and began chanting, sealing it with magic.
June 23rd
I dreamed that I was in a dungeon—maybe?
The walls were rough and seemed to be made of rock instead of the stone of the castle I’d been dreaming of, but this still felt familiar.
I thought I was deep in the bowels of the castle.
There was the same twisted old crone of a woman standing beside a fire.
I was afraid of being betrayed. Possibly even by my own wife.
This was my last chance to make sure my bloodline would live on.
The old witch took my hand and drew a blade across the back of my wrist. A flash of pain, then my blood ran in rivulets off my arm.
The witch caught it in a glass vial, and capped it with a small cork stop, then dipped the top into thick, red, melted wax.
I was wrapping my wound in a cloth as she murmured incantations over my blood.
Hope swelled in my chest as she completed the spell, then sealed it away in the vault.
If my fears proved to be true and I was cast down from the throne and all my family killed, this blood, strengthened by the spell, would bring my distant descendants back to full power.
God willing, this small vial of blood would allow the werewolves to again walk the earth.
I woke up this morning, after that dream, feeling good for once. There was an excitement inside me. A feeling that was matched in my wolf. This dream had not been as nightmarish as some. It actually filled me with hope.
July 2nd
This was the worst one yet. I almost had to run to the bathroom and vomit when I woke up.
I was standing in a different chamber, and my hands were covered in blood.
I was screaming when the dream started—on my knees and screaming in rage and loss.
Beneath me, on a massive bed, was a beautiful woman.
Her eyes were closed, but her throat was open.
It was a massive, red, gaping wound. Blood had gone everywhere.
Somehow I knew that this woman was my wife.
This was the queen, and someone had murdered her.
Two family members dead. Both killed while inside my castle.
The more of these dreams I had, the more difficult it was to separate myself from this person in the dreams. It did feel like I’d lost my own wife.
I didn’t think I could feel more heartbroken than if I woke up and Gabriella was lying there dead.
That sounds crazy to write down, but it’s true.
My wife and daughter. Seeing my queen like that, I knew my daughter’s death wasn’t an accident.
I was being betrayed. There were rats in those walls.
Just before I woke up, I felt my mind starting to crack apart.
I was going to lay waste to my enemies. I’m sure now.
It’s Edemas. I am Edemas. The reincarnation of him.
July 30th
Nearly a month. I almost thought I was through with it.
I was ready to put the nightmares behind me, but last night I experienced something I can barely describe.
I was lying on the floor, staring off down a hallway.
I could hear the sounds of screaming and crying.
Children, women, and men. Then the awful wet sounds of swords and axes piercing into flesh.
The screams tore at my heart, and my rage was like a boiling hot fire in my chest, but I was weak.
Above me, a man came into view. I knew him.
He’d been the captain of my guard. I’d been betrayed one last time.
Beside him were my queen’s brothers and cousins.
They’d killed their own blood to take my crown.
I tried to shift, but I was too weak. The men raised their swords, and before they did anything, I croaked out a warning, telling them I’d be back.
I would return along with my daughter to avenge our family.
The blades glinted in the candlelight as they slammed down toward me.
The stories of Edemas are false. He wasn’t a mad psychopath.
He’d been driven to revenge by betrayal and the deaths of his wife and daughter.
I would have done the same thing in his place.
This changes so much. The only thing I can’t understand is why my wolf is showing me these things when I sleep.
What am I supposed to do with this information?
I can hear my wolf whispering that it wants revenge, but I have no clue how to go about doing that.
The royals are going to find me. I know they are.
Now that Gabby’s pregnant, what will they do if they know I have a child?