Page 39 of Forever My Siren Luna
Lachlan sighed, but didn't argue. I felt a wave of guilt, Val whimpering softly in my head. I end up reaching my hand back to take his, grateful both he and my father choose not to say anything about it.
“You said you were going to tell us the full story,” I lifted my chin, staring up at the man beside me. “This necklace? How was it my mother's?”
He stared down at my throat, a soft smile forcing onto his lips, making his thick beard lift at the corners of his mouth. Even his beard is the same color as my hair. Up close, I can see so many similarities in our features that it is almost shocking.
“I gave it to her. In our very, very first lives, I had given it to Lorelei after she refused to leave her brother’s pack to come with me to the sea. She rejected me, but I still had hope that she might one day change her mind. That necklace had power in it that connected me to her. If she simply put it on, I would have felt her and any pain she was going through. She never put it on, though. I never once felt her in my magic. The only time I ever felt anything from the necklace was the moment of your death. It may not have even been the necklace. The magic that was in your body originated from me, so I felt the sharp sting of death and the flickering of something that was inherently mine in flesh leaving this world.”
I nodded. “I used the last of my magic to take my own life.”
King Brennus closed his eyes, unmistakable pain tensing at their corners.
“That never should have happened, Elelira. You never should have gone through what you did.”
“No, I shouldn’t have. That can’t change now.”
“I know. Believe me, I tried to change it. I did not know the nature of your death, but I knew you were too young to die of anything without pain and agony. I thought maybe there was an accident or you were murdered at sea. I have tried to find the reason for your death for so long. I never figured it out. Cedric was the one that suggested it was something more sinister. When he saw you react to seeing your uncle’s men, he connected the dots and came to ask me to allow him to tell you the truth in hopes you would reveal what those men had done to you."
Guilt at my treatment of Cedric came upon me. I was warring over the weight of his betrayal in not telling me the truth from the start. I was being unfair. He was looking out for me from the start.
“I had thought that if your death was something of that nature, you would have told Cedric, or even your mate. I searched for your uncle’s pack and your mate brought me his dead body. He never confessed to having any part in your death. If I had known…,” he closed his eyes, but not before I saw his anger flashing in the emerald green glow, “he would be dead ten times over now. He will be dead soon.”
Thirteen
“Because I’m going to kill him,” I muttered venomously. Even Lachlan squeezing my hand doesn’t rid me of the rage I feel whenever I think of what my Uncle has put so many people through. I was not the only woman that suffered such a fate. I will be the one to avenge all the others as I avenge myself. I will be the one to instill the same fear in him that he drove endlessly into countless victims.
“Death will not come quickly for him,”Val purred wickedly.
“Slow and horrifying,”I agree. “For him and for every last one of his men.”
We have imagined my uncle’s death countless times, and quickly could never describe one of those fantasies.
“Your story doesn’t explain how the necklace came to be mine and why I do not remember my mother having it,” I said, redirecting my thoughts before they got out of hand and Val got worked up.
He sighed. “This was not my second, but my third attempt to save you from death, Elelira. The first time, I used your mate’s sacrifice of your uncle to try and save both you and your mother. I went back to the time you were conceived and didn’t give your mother a choice to reject me. I successfully took her, since it was her I was saving that time, and not technically you. She had all her memories and knew she was with child. She didn’t tell me much, because I think she didn’t want me to suffer from her memories, but now I know that she knew what you both would face if you stayed in that pack.
“I successfully saved her, bringing her with me to the Siren Kingdom. What I didn’t know then was that the magic I used was an ancient magic, one that hadn’t been conjured up in centuries, and that only one life could be spared. The magic was a life for a life, and even though I saved your mother, we both still lost you.”
Lachlan gasped, gripping my hand tighter, so tight that it hurt. I could feel his horror. I could sense his body tensing and Val could feel Killian's mortified fury. His body moves closer to mine, and even though he can't yet feel the bond, I know that he is trying to calm himself by getting closer to me.
My reaction isn't quite so dramatic. I am familiar with death, and it doesn't scare me the way the concept of my death seems to terrify my mate. I let what my father said sink in for a moment, then asked, “I died?”
He nodded solemnly. “In the womb. Your mother had a miscarriage soon after we settled into the kingdom. What was worse than the miscarriage was that your mother still had all her memories. Every last one of them for a child she would never get to meet. It drove her mad, and though she tried, she couldn’t live in a world you did not exist in.”
He grew silent for a long time, staring out into the crashing waves beating relentlessly on the rocks around the cliffs not too far off from where we sat. I could see the ghost of the past, and the horrors he went through in his eyes. It must have been terrifying, because he still looks aghast retelling everything he went through.
“We made a choice. Together. Your happiness and an abundant life was all your mother wanted for you. Nothing else mattered. Not even me, and I was okay with that, because hearing all her tales of the girl we had lost made me just as heartbroken as she was.
“So we both chose you. I chose to try the magic one last time, and thank the heavens and gods above, it worked.”
He slowly reached his hand out, taking the pendant in his hands and turning it slowly, his tear-filled eyes reflecting back the image of the jewels.
“When I brought you back, I knew I could not risk something happening to you. The pendant once meant for your mother, in this life, was never given to her. I saved it, letting her go through all the horrors I now know she faced without a way to reach me, because that was what she wanted. That was why she never told me the truth about what her life was like in her pack. In this life, I saved this to give to you, infusing it with my magic in a way that connected me to you, so I would always know when you might need help. I didn’t consider your Lycan’s anger to be powerful enough to harness the magic for herself temporarily to give you the ability to gain your fins in your time of need. She must be exceptionally powerful to be able to do that.”
“Damn right, I am,”Val snorted proudly, even though she was as choked up with emotion as me.
My throat felt clogged, but I swallowed the lump and whispered. “Did mom know? Was she aware that by saving me she would be killing herself?”
“Yes, my daughter. We both knew. However, I didn’t know the extent of her death. I took great pleasure in avenging her in this life when I found out the truth." His eyes hardened momentarily before they looked back at me, softening with affection. "We were both fully aware of what bringing you back would do to us. When you are weighing your own death, and the death of your child, it was an easy decision. There was never a chance of us choosing differently.”