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Guilt etched into my uncle’s face. “She spelled me, and anyone else, from being able to tell you the full truth. Or help you find it. Only when you found out on your own would I be able to help you.”

My blood froze over. “Spelled?” I whispered.

Balor let out a breath. “This was her home, Aurelia. Your mother was a witch. The fact that I’m able to tell you this makes me know you’ve learned about them – about this place and the immortals that lived here.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “No. You’re lying. I would have known she was a witch. I would have remembered.”

“How much of your childhood do you remember, Aurelia?”

I stiffened. Almost every memory involving my mother was muddled. Foggy.

“She spelled you to forget before she died. And she prevented anyone from being able to tell you. Me. Your father. We couldn’t utter a word. You had to find out on your own. You had to make it to Zolmara on your own. Only then would her spell end.”

I bit the inside of my lip. None of this made sense. Why would shedo that?

“I’ve wanted to tell you for years,” Balor continued. “But I couldn’t. Even if I could, your father would forbid it.”

My chest tightened. “Why? Why would he want me to forget my mother is a witch? Why wouldshewant me to forget?”

Balor opened his mouth, but no words came. He closed it then opened it again, only breathy air escaping him.

My eyes narrowed in confusion. “You…you can’t tell me, can you?”

He cleared his throat. “No, it appears I can’t. The spell isn’t fully broken, then.”

“How do we break it? What do I do?” I was desperate, hungry for more answers. Hungry to find out what else my mother wanted to hide from me, and why.

Balor’s head twitched slightly, and his mouth tried to form words that didn’t come. It was like he was fighting with the spell – trying to tell me something he couldn’t. He struggled for a moment until he found something that he was capable of saying.

“Have you seen the eyes of the wolf?”

An icy chill ran up my spine. “What?”

“It’s an old prophecy. One your mother told me about when you were just a baby.When the princess sees the eyes of the wolf, her fate will be revealed. The prophecy was older than she was. But after you were born, she knew it was about you. So I’m certain she put it into her spell when she—” he paused, his words being taken from him again. “When she spelled you to forget,” he finished.

I clenched my hand over my heart. My own mother was a witch, and she put a spell on me to forget who she was. And something else. Something bigger. I looked back up at Balor. “Do you know? Do you know what will be revealed?”

His silence confirmed the answer was yes.

“And if I asked you to tellme…”

“I can’t,” he replied quickly. “I don’t know what it means…the eyes of the wolf. But that’s the final piece.”

I pursed my lips. “I know what it means,” I said quietly.

He lifted a brow. “Oh?”

“Elias,” I answered. So he was truly tied to my fate after all. Not just by the gods, but by an old witch prophecy that he was meant to fulfill with me.

“Who is Elias?”

“He’s a lycan,” I replied.

A look of surprise panned over Balor’s face. “I thought they were extinct.”

“They are. Except for Elias. He is the last one. And he’s…” I took a deep breath in. “My mate,” I exhaled.

Balor’s face paled as if he had seen a ghost. “That would certainly explain the wolf then, I suppose. You haven’t seen his eyes?”