Chapter 10 Who Am I?

Chapter 10 Who Am I?
Aurora’s POV
I sat there motionless long after Uncle Nicholas stopped speaking.
The word itself still felt strange in my mind.
Uncle.
Family.
Dragon.
Not witch.
Nothing made sense anymore.
I looked down at my trembling hands resting in my lap and suddenly they no longer felt like mine. All my life I had believed myself to be a witch. I had learned spells, practiced magic, hidden my scent, concealed my identity and lived in fear of the Werewolf Kingdom finding out the truth.
And now they were telling me that even that truth was a lie.
A spell.
Just a spell.
My throat tightened painfully.
“Why would Maa do that?” I whispered, barely hearing my own voice. “Why would she hide something this big from me?”
The room fell silent.
I could hear the crackling of the fireplace behind me and the faint sound of the crystal chandeliers chiming softly whenever the wind entered through the balcony.
Queen Fiona sighed softly and moved closer to me. She gently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear exactly the way Maa used to do whenever I was upset.
“Because she wanted to protect you,” she said softly. “Your mother loved you more than her own life.”
I clenched my fists.
“Then why didn’t she trust me enough to tell me the truth?”
“It wasn’t about trust,” Uncle Nicholas replied calmly. “It was about survival.”
I looked at him, my eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“You don’t understand,” I whispered shakily. “My whole life… I felt different. Even among witches I always felt something was wrong with me. I kept wondering why I was so powerful when Maa barely taught me anything. Why my magic behaved differently. Why I could sense emotions so intensely. Why spells reacted strangely around me.”
Memories flashed through my mind one after another.
The way charms sometimes exploded around me.
How plants bloomed near me whenever I was emotional.
Why animals trusted me instantly.
Why water reacted to my moods.
The strange dreams.
Stella.
That woman dressed in white.
I pressed a hand against my forehead.
“I thought I was going crazy.”
Drake, who had been unusually quiet till now, finally spoke.
“You are crazy.”
I glared at him instantly.
He smirked.
“A little less now though.”
A laugh escaped me unexpectedly.
Small and broken.
But it was there.
Queen Fiona smiled softly while Uncle Nicholas shook his head at Drake.
“Idiot boy.”
“Runs in the family,” Drake muttered.
For the first time since arriving here, the suffocating heaviness in my chest eased slightly.
Only slightly.
Because the moment silence returned…
Christian’s face appeared in my mind again.
His blue eyes.
His smile.
His touch.
And then the pain returned tenfold.
I lowered my gaze immediately.
I did not want them to see me breaking again.
But Aunt Fiona noticed anyway.
She sat beside me and held my hand gently.
“You miss him.”
It wasn’t a question.
My lips trembled.
I nodded slowly.
The mate bond inside me ached painfully at the mere thought of him. It felt incomplete, restless… wounded.
“He must hate me now,” I whispered.
Drake sighed dramatically and leaned back into his chair.
“Well… from what I heard, the Alpha King is currently tearing apart half the forests searching for someone.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Uncle Nicholas gave Drake a warning look.
“What? She deserves to know.”
I turned toward him anxiously.
“What do you mean searching?”
Drake crossed his arms.
“He lost his mind after you disappeared. The Werewolf Kingdom has been searching nonstop since yesterday. Search wolves everywhere. Borders sealed. Intelligence departments activated.”
My breathing grew uneven.
Christian…
“No one knows who they are searching for,” Drake continued. “Only that the Alpha King is furious.”
My chest tightened painfully.
I remembered the look in Christian’s eyes before I disappeared.
The hurt.
The betrayal.
The rage.
Suddenly I could almost hear his voice again.
Aurora, you are mine.
A strange warmth spread through my chest unexpectedly.
I gasped softly and pressed a hand over my heart.
The bond.
It felt… stronger.
Not painful this time.
Just intense.
As though emotions were flowing through it.
Possessiveness.
Anger.
Obsession.
And beneath it all…
love.
So much love that it hurt.
I closed my eyes.
Christian…
Uncle Nicholas observed me carefully.
“The bond is stabilizing.”
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your mate has emotionally accepted you despite everything.”
My breath hitched.
“No…”
“He may hate witches,” Uncle Nicholas said slowly, “but his soul recognizes you as his mate. That connection cannot be broken so easily.”
Tears gathered in my eyes again.
I wanted to see him.
I wanted to run back into his arms.
I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything would be alright.
But then reality struck again.
He thought I was a witch.
And wolves hated witches.
Especially Christian.
I suddenly stood up, overwhelmed.
“I need air.”
Before anyone could stop me, I hurried out of the study.
The palace corridors blurred around me as I walked aimlessly. Golden crystals embedded into the walls glowed softly, illuminating the grand hallways with warm amber light. Massive glass windows overlooked floating mountains covered in mist and clouds.
Everything here looked magical.
Beautiful.
Peaceful.
Yet my heart felt like a battlefield.
I finally stepped into one of the crystal gardens outside and inhaled deeply.
The night air was cool and smelled faintly of flowers and rain.
The garden itself looked unreal.
Crystal vines wrapped around marble arches while glowing flowers bloomed beneath them in shades of silver and blue. Waterfalls cascaded from floating rocks nearby, their waters sparkling beneath the moonlight like liquid diamonds.
I slowly walked further inside.
The silence soothed me a little.
Suddenly footsteps sounded behind me.
“You always run away dramatically.”
I sighed.
“Go away Drake.”
“No.”
I turned around to find him walking toward me casually with his hands in his pockets.
His golden dragon eyes studied me carefully.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“At least you’re honest.”
I looked away.
“I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Drake’s teasing expression softened slightly.
“You’re still Aurora.”
“It doesn’t feel that way.”
He walked beside me quietly for a while.
“You know…” he began slowly, “when I first met you in Grade 5, I thought you were weird.”
I frowned.
“Excuse me?”
“You used to carry six books everywhere.”
“I liked studying.”
“You corrected teachers.”
“They were wrong.”
“You bit me once.”
“You deserved it.”
He burst out laughing.
And somehow…
I laughed too.
A real laugh this time.
Warmth spread through me unexpectedly and for a moment things felt almost normal again.
Drake looked at me quietly after that.
“Whatever you are, Aurora… it changes nothing.”
My chest tightened.
“You are family.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Family.
I had one.
Not just Maa anymore.
I quickly looked away before he noticed the tears gathering again.
Too late.
“Aw don’t cry again,” he groaned dramatically. “You’ll flood the palace.”
I slapped his arm.
He grinned.
And then suddenly—
Pain shot through my chest.
Sharp.
Burning.
I gasped and stumbled.
“Aurora?”
My knees weakened instantly.
It felt like fire spreading through the mate bond.
Anger.
Violence.
Rage.
Christian.
I could feel him.
Not properly.
But enough.
My breathing quickened painfully as flashes entered my mind.
A black wolf.
Golden eyes glowing violently.
Forests shaking.
Wolves bowing their heads.
And Christian roaring my name.
“Aurora!”
I clutched my chest tightly.
Drake immediately caught me before I collapsed.
“What happened?”
“The bond…” I gasped shakily. “I can feel him…”
The air around us suddenly trembled.
The flowers nearby began glowing brighter.
The crystal vines shook violently.
Drake’s expression changed.
“Aurora…”
I looked up at him fearfully.
And froze.
Golden light was swirling faintly around my hands.
The ground beneath my feet cracked softly.
The flowers around us bloomed instantly.
Magic pulsed through the air in terrifying waves.
I stumbled back.
“What… what is happening?”
Drake stared at me in shock.
Then suddenly Uncle Nicholas appeared beside us.
His eyes widened.
“The seal…”
The golden aura around me flickered violently again.
Pain exploded inside my chest as Christian’s emotions surged through the bond once more.
Possessiveness.
Obsession.
Need.
And suddenly—
a deep male voice echoed faintly inside my mind.
Mine.
I gasped sharply.
Uncle Nicholas’s expression darkened instantly.
“He’s getting closer.”
Fear gripped me.
Not because Christian was searching for me.
But because a part of me desperately wanted him to find me.