Chapter 94 Maddy #2
Isme barked a laugh. “Young man, you have a way with understatement. It was a scandal. They announced the betrothal that very night in front of Helena’s entire extended family, the feudal lords that had fealty to her, as well as many honored guests.
It was like a bomb went off when the pairing was announced.
I even cast a spell of protection around Helena and her new fiancé in case someone thought to rush the dais or throw something.
Pairing with a shifter in those days was not forbidden, but it was beyond taboo.
“As Helena had said, shifter alphas had taken brides from the royal family in the distant past, but those had been women later in years or so far removed from the throne that they were barely recognized as royalty. Those pairings were usually allowed, with little ceremony or acknowledgment, to pay off a debt the royal family had to whatever alpha was in charge at the time. This? The ruling queen taking a shifter to be her consort? Unheard of, I believe,” she tapped the armrest of her chair for emphasis, “that it was that moment when the royals as we know them were formed. The queen’s cousins, uncles, aunts, and distant relations were aghast and appalled at the situation. ”
“You’re saying it was that night that their secret society was formed? They began to plan the queen’s downfall immediately?” I asked.
“Not immediately,” Isme said. “They waited in the wings, hoping things would fall apart. It wasn’t an easy romance between the queen and her consort.
Edemas was stubborn and didn’t like having one woman in his bed.
Shifter customs many years ago ran much closer to the animals with which you are bound.
He’d had many women share his bed when he was simply alpha.
That part of marriage was a difficult thing for him at first. But over the next few years, he grew more affectionate toward Helena.
By the time she was pregnant with their first child, he’d grown to not only care for her but truly love her.
The night I helped bring his firstborn son into the world was one of great joy for Edemas especially. ”
“But his daughter was the crown princess, so I thought she’d been the firstborn? Isn’t that how things typically go?” I asked, feeling my wolf stirring as the story unfolded.
Isme tapped the side of her nose and smiled.
“Usually, yes, but the boy was not born an alpha. Edemas and Helena loved him nonetheless, but Edemas knew that whoever took the crown next would need to be an alpha to ensure his pack followed his child. The queen had a very hard time conceiving, taking over a year for their first child to be conceived. She knew what was in Edemas’s mind, and she wanted him to be happy and content.
This caused her to tell him to take a mistress.
Edemas refused outright, stating his love for her had grown so great that no other woman would ever sully his bedsheets. ”
“What?” Nico said, nearly falling out of his chair.
He shook his head in confusion. “No, no, that’s not right.
All the stories, every legend, talks about him having a full harem.
A dozen or more women to pleasure him at his whim.
He had dozens of children with those women to strengthen his line.
Everyone knows that. He did take other women to bed. ”
Isme stared at Nico for a very long time, the twinkle in her eye never dissipating.
Finally, she leaned forward, putting her ancient hands on equally ancient knees.
“And, my dear boy, who do you think spread those lies? Those rumors? They say history is written by the victor. In this particular instance, who won?”
Nico’s eyes slowly widened, and his mouth opened as if he was going to retort, but instead, he slumped back in his chair, looking confused. It was like everything we’d known had been turned upside down and inside out. How much more was a lie?
“Now,” Isme continued. “There is some basis for those stories. You see, the queen continued to have difficulty becoming pregnant, and in those days, a royal family was never safe with only one or two heirs. They desperately needed more children to strengthen their hold on the kingdom. Instead of taking a mistress to bed, they consulted with several doctors and myself on other options that would not require Edemas to take a woman he didn’t love to bed.
Today, we have artificial insemination, but back then, there was no such thing…
But there are other ways.” Isme looked at me and grinned mischievously.
Suddenly crude jokes we’d told in high school erupted into my mind. Girls joking about using turkey basters to get pregnant. My jaw fell open. “Are you serious?” I asked.
She nodded. “We developed a very basic syringe-type device and used that to insert Edemas’s semen into his chosen surrogate.
She was a high-ranking shifter in his pack, and it was believed she would have the best chance of bringing forth an alpha, but miracles do happen.
While this was being tested, Helena did indeed get pregnant again.
This time the child was born a female. Female, but alpha.
Almost unheard of. Edemas was shocked but ecstatic.
He loved his wife and his son, but the baby, Lillian, was the apple of his eye.
She was announced as the crown princess. The firstborn alpha to Edemas.”
My wolf stirred and whined at the mention of the name.
Isme looked at me with a soft smile. Could she sense my wolf?
Even after all these years, was there still a connection to this woman who’d been the one to pull her forth from her mother’s womb?
I put a hand on my chest to calm the beast within me.
“The surrogate ended up giving him four children in total, and Helena two more after the prince and princess. A pair of twins, boy and girl, both born as alphas. The royal line was fully secured, which was good because during the birth of the twins, Helena nearly died, and her womb was rendered dead and unable to bear more children. Not long after the surrogate started bearing children, the royal family rumblings began. They didn’t know the process by which she’d become impregnated.
It was none of their business. Still, they thought that Edemas was betraying the true queen.
Along with the half-breed children roaming the castle and kingdom, the offense was too great. Their plans began to roll into motion.”
“I… I think I know what happens next,” I murmured.
Nico leaned over and put a hand on my back.
Tears filled my eyes, and the memory of my nightmare weeks ago came back—Lillian stumbling upon the conspirators, the chase, the strong hands shoving her in the back.
Tumbling, falling, dying there inside the cold walls of the castle.
. “It was,” Isme paused, a sad look shadowing her features, “a very dark day. I cried for nearly a week after Lillian’s body was found.
The queen was inconsolable. Edemas? He was the only one who truly believed it hadn’t been an accident.
He knew, knew, his baby girl had been murdered.
He became lost in his grief. Helena also began to grow ill.
None of the doctors could figure out what was wrong.
None of my spells or potions worked to heal her.
Edemas became paranoid, thinking perhaps the queen had been forced to participate in the death of his beloved daughter, but those thoughts didn’t last. His love for the queen was too strong to be eradicated by paranoia.
“Edemas called for every doctor, shaman, and healer their fortune could afford, even calling as far away as distant Cathay—modern-day China—for their healers. Nothing worked. Our beloved Helena died one evening in the summer. I had the windows open for the breeze to cool her face, and her twins, barely a year old, were laid in her arms.” Tears stood out, bright and wet, in Isme’s eyes as she described the death.
She shook her head bitterly. “Her body wasn’t even cold yet when her family began pointing fingers at Edemas, claiming that he had poisoned his lady wife to usurp the throne for himself and place his bastard children’s mother at his side.
Preposterous, of course. Edemas, even in his heart-rending sorrow, knew that the queen’s family was already plotting his downfall. ”
She gave a slight shake of her head. “He came to me late one evening and laid out a plan he’d made.
A plan that, for want of a better word, was slightly mad.
It was obvious to him that he was backed into a corner and would die.
He wanted to protect his children and family.
He wanted me to take a vial of his blood, enchant it, and cast a reincarnation spell on it.
He even laid out his convoluted plans to hide it and make it impossible for the royals to ever be able to get it and that only one of his bloodline could receive it.
He created the false vault and had his bravest men trek across Europe to find the best hiding place for the note.
All these things came from the mind of a man blinded by grief, rage, and hatred.
I did his bidding, my own grief making my participation equally focused.
Our plans and spells were put into place right in time. ”
Sinthy stood to remove the empty cups and trays, “Does anyone want any water or anything?”
“No. I’m fine,” I said, wanting Isme to finish the story. Beside me, Nico rubbed his chin thoughtfully. I could tell by the look on his face that he was rethinking all that we’d learned so far.
When Sinthy returned and took her seat, Isme continued.
“I was preparing to leave the castle with the vial of enchanted blood when the coup began. Edemas’s children had gone to visit relatives with his pack, and only the two babies had remained.
A single rider returned a day later, bloody and battered, the last surviving member of the twenty-man protection detail Edemas had sent with his children.
He claimed that a trap had been laid in the forest. An overwhelming force had fallen upon them, and all the men and all of Edemas’s children had been slain.
The single soldier had been allowed to leave and deliver a message.
‘The time of the wolf was over. The royals are coming for the throne’.
Edemas, in a rage, demanded to know why the man hadn’t saved his children and then killed him where he stood.
At that moment, as his own man’s blood pooled at his feet, his sanity was at its breaking point.
“You see,” Isme said with a shake of her head, “there is only so much a man can stand before he becomes a monster. Edemas grabbed me and one of his nursemaids, then put the two babies into my arms. He told me to finish casting the reincarnation spell. He wanted not only himself but all his slain children to one day rise again and descend upon his enemies for vengeance. I did as he asked.” Isme glanced at me again.
“It seems the spell only worked for the poor Lillian, though.” She drifted off in thought for a moment, then suddenly snapped out of it.
“The sound of trumpets and drums filled the night. The royals had arrived and planned to lay siege to Edemas’s castle.
Edemas led me, the nursemaid, and his most trusted soldier to the outer gate and sent us away.
The children in my arms cried and reached out for their father as we rode away.
I glanced back once and saw the look of hopelessness in Edemas’s eyes as the last of his family was taken from him.
“At the edge of the forest, I demanded the soldier and maid stopped. I’d lived my life serving Helena, her husband, and her children, and I would watch how things came to an end.
Safely away from the opposing army, I was still able to see Edemas in the torchlight.
We watched as he shifted to his werewolf form, something he’d done rarely, if at all, since wedding Helena.
I… when the royals forces approached the gates, Edemas did not bar them.
Instead, he ordered them to be opened. To let the army stream in.
The screams… My God, I still remember the screams.” Her eyes flitted up to Nico and me.
“You have never seen a true werewolf. It is… terrifying to behold. The army fell upon Edemas and his men. They were outnumbered a hundred to one, yet still, with their werewolf king at their side, the men of Helena’s house fought like men possessed, driven on by fear of the enemy but also fear of their king.
“I watched in the light of torches and the moon as Edemas himself slew at least three dozen men and twice that many horses. Arrows sticking out of his flesh, yet still, he fought. His talons sliced the air, rending flesh and tearing limbs and heads from bodies. It was an orgy of battle and blood. At some point, fires started in the castle, and the light made the battle even more visible. Toward the end, all of Edemas’s men were slain, yet still, he fought and clawed, standing on an ever-growing pile of bodies.
For a single moment, I let myself believe the impossible—that somehow this one godlike beast could win against the odds.
Then, Helena’s cousin, Count Voster Monroe, rode from Edemas’s blind side.
With one swing of his sword, he beheaded the last werewolf alpha on earth.
Effectively ending the line and the subspecies.
The battle lost, my companions and I took the babies and ran into the night and the unknown. ”