Chapter 8 Zephyr not only knows my secret, He knows more!
Daevir's POV
“What else are you hiding from me, Daevir?” Zephyr's voice was firm and serious at this point. I felt like he could read me like the books he had on the table.
“It's not what you think. She saved me, Zephyr!”
“Saved you from what?!”
I shut my eyes in shame. I had to tell him the truth. I had to tell him what I had become.
“A werewolf.” I spat, “We got attacked.”
Zephyr looked taken aback. “A werewolf in the palace?! How did that happen?!”
I cleared my throat, trying to sound as convincing as I hoped. “I didn't understand how the werewolf got into my chambers. I fought him, but he was too strong. Amarien walked in to thank me for standing up to her bullies. He attacked her, and she used her Alpachipa rose charm to defeat him.” I rambled my lies.
Zephyr suddenly looked troubled. He withdrew from the table and began walking through his library looking for a book.
“Alpachipa rose, you say.”
I nodded, avoiding Zephyr's eyes, hoping he wouldn't pick up on my lies.
It was me, Zephyr! I am the wolf!
Zephyr dropped a giant book on the table and began opening it. “It's very strange because the last time I heard of the Alpachipa rose was…” Zephyr paused like there was something he wasn't supposed to say.
I caught up on that before he could change the subject.
“Was what, Zephyr? What aren't you telling me?”
Zephyr suddenly looked sober. His shoulders dropped, and his gaze became distant. “I was hoping your father would tell you this himself. But he seems too caught up in the outer courts with his concubines. He doesn't care.” Zephyr matched my eyes. I saw a seriousness that I haven't seen in a while in Zephyr’s eyes.
Quickly, I lowered myself onto a stool before Zephyr. “Tell me, Zephyr. Tell me everything.”
“There is a secret history you need to learn, Daevir. A secret history your father will kill to get buried.”
The seriousness suddenly dawned on me. There was something I didn't know. How could I have been so blind? Nothing does without nothing.
“It's a secret history about your father's first affair with a werewolf.”
My jaw dropped.
“I know…I know.” Zephyr's gaze lowered in shame. “Darian had always hated Werewolves. He still does. But…he met Annah Tetrah of the South as a teenager. These were days when there was no war.”
“But there has always been enmity between humans and werewolves. Legends say it goes on from the beginning of time.”
Zephyr scoffed. “During your father's days, it was not. There was a divide between humans and werewolves, but it's more of indifference than hatred.”
My heart palpitated at where this was going. The hatred for werewolves has always been smeared in my mind by Emperor Darian himself.
“Since the mixture of species was not popular those days, Darian's affair with Annah was kept secret. She was the daughter of the Alpha of her pack, and he was the emperor in waiting, just like you. It was a great sacrifice to be together.”
Zephyr signed. His head bowed. “It was just a matter of them they they both eloped and had a secret marriage. No one in the kingdom knew. The marriage remained secret until Annah got pregnant with a son. Darian’s son.” Zephr looked up at me. “This was long before Darian met your mother and had you. It was his first son.”
My eyes widened. “I have a brother?”
Zephyr nodded. “Not just any brother. A werewolf brother.”
I felt my skin begin to crawl. Where was this going? How does that make me a werewolf?!
I couldn’t ask these questions out loud, though I wish I did.
“Darian never mentions any son that came before me. There has to be a mix-up somewhere.” I spat.
Zephyr shook his head slowly. “There’s no mix-up, Daevir. You see, these were the days when werewolves and humans became very hostile towards each other. But there were no wars yet, and the divide between the two species became very evident. And the only way Annah could be protected in the human kingdom was to have her identity protected by Darian. The kingdom realized he had a wife, but no one knew she was a werewolf.
Darian soon got tired of sticking with his one wife, Annah. After all, polygamy is accepted in the human world, unlike the werewolf world, where they have one mate for life. Darian began looking around while Annah was pregnant and began his infidelity.
Zephyr bowed his head. “Things got worse when Annah gave birth to a pup and not a human. The whole kingdom was outraged. A werewolf on the throne?! Darian, pressured by his council, needed to give his people an explanation. And so he did. Annah was called into the council with her pup in hand, hoping her husband would defend her. But, he didn’t.”
As Zephr spoke, my eyes settled on the charm Amarien gave me. The roses had wilted. It’s only a matter of time before they become ineffective.
“Darian accuses Annah of infidelity. He claimed she had debased herself to mate with a wolf. She was banished with her son at that moment; they barely left the place with a piece of clothing. They were spat on and stoned on the street. Annah returned to her pack with her pup, yet they wouldn’t accept her and her hybrid pup. She was banished again. No one will accept them anywhere.”
I leaned back on my chair. That has got to be the saddest thing I’ve heard my father do.
Yet a question pricked my mind. “Did they survive?”
Zephyr nodded ominously. “They did. Stronger than ever. Legends say Annah got a pact with an evil force that made her powerful enough to raise her rogue son on her own. And the son? He grew up to be a powerful Alpha. An Alpha with a thirst to end the human race once and for all…”
“What are you talking about?”
Zephyr matched my eyes with an intensity so harsh it shook me up.
“I’m saying. You have a brother, Daevir. And his name is Alpha Theron of the South.”
My hands shook, and the charm dropped from my hands, crumbling onto the floor. My eyes blur with tears.
What is Zephyr talking about?!
Alpha Theron, my arch-nemesis. The one who hunts my people in broad daylight. The one I swore to destroy if it’s the last thing I do.
He is my brother?!!!!