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“Yes,” she says softly. His eyes flash red for a moment, letting his anger slip through. “They told Zypher that she is their mate and the queen. She more or less made Zypher submit to her after removing him from the council. We left and went to Morwen’s office. In short, he was removed from his position as mayor. They publicly announced that she would be crowned as queen in a week. We will be coming there in two weeks.”

“If…” I start to say.

“If she agrees. And she hasn’t yet,” Leli finishes for me.

“Why haven’t you agreed?” He asks, his eyes turning to me. His demeanor with me is far different than with Leli.

“To be blunt, I spent the five years being owned by someone who has let almost forty people assault me regularly. Never mind Morwen and being assaulted by that guard. I have been hurt and alone my entire life. I’m not confident that this isn’t a trap. There is so much that I don’t know, but when I ask Leli, she tells me she is forbidden from saying. I need more than having to have blind faith in people I don’t know. I very well could be walking into another situation where I get repeatedly raped again. No one is telling me anything,” I say honestly. I notice his anger when I talk about the rapes.

“Lilith,” he says before pausing. “I can promise you that no one in this country will harm you.”

“I appreciate that, but words aren’t enough when I’ll have no way to escape if you’re lying to me.”

Mazvyn turns and pulls a necklace from where it’s hanging on a wall behind him. “This belonged to your mother,” he says as he holds it up so we can see it. It’s an identical witch’s knot to the one in the box. “It was a symbol of their coven. I’ve kept it where I can see it every day for the past twenty-three years, as a reminder to myself that I had to find you… For her.”

“You’ve had it since she died?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says. “When I received word that she went into labor with you and she had been captured… I made a promise that I wouldn’t stop until I got you back. I’ve had people in that country looking for you since you were a month old.”

“Wow…” I say quietly. This man has dedicated more than two decades to finding me in memory of my mother. No one would do that if they were plotting against me. He also seems genuine. There is something about him that makes me want to instantly trust him. I didn’t question following the wisp, so why would I question this? “Okay.” I say quietly.

“Okay?” he asks with a smile.

“Yeah,” I sigh. “We will fly there in two weeks. We need to give it some time for things to settle after the ceremony.”

“Did they face consequences for assaulting you?” he asks.

“Morwen definitely did,” Leli laughs, making me smile.

“Zypher lost his seat on the council and his home. Morwen was removed from his position and put into a janitorial position. The guard… I’m not sure.”

“Daemon and Callum are… Feeding him to a lake monster,” Kael says.

“That doesn’t even shock me with Daemon,” I laugh. “Yeah, so they were punished or killed.”

“Alright… I have many more questions, but they can wait until we can sit and talk face-to-face. We will know when you are close, so I will meet you when you land,” he says. “Kael, right?”

“Yes,” Kael replies simply.

“Who will be flying you all here?” he asks.

“I will. The plane belongs to us, but I am more versed in longer travel,” he says. “Do you have any shifting restrictions in place that we should be aware of?”

“No. You all are free to shift. Daemon is the Dragon shifter, yes?” Mazvyn asks.

“Yes.”

“Just be sure to tell him to stay on land and not to fly out over the water. He won’t be able to see the barrier, and it won’t be fun for him if he hits it.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him,” Kael says.

“Lilith is your mate. Do you have any questions or concerns?”

“No. I feel that the necklace and your dedication to finding her speaks for itself,” Kael says. “I can’t promise you that Daemon won’t be overprotective, but he and Callum will be respectful unless given a reason not to be.”

“Understood,” Mazvyn says.

“I’ve kept the line open for a lot longer than I should,” Leli says. “I will reach out again if something happens, but assume no news is good news.”