93 - Deirdra, Elaida and the Golden Luna
93 - Deirdra, Elaida and the Golden Luna
Nick
The witch seems deep in thought, and stares at me, horrified. Something in the way her eyes go hollow tells me, though, she’s not in fact looking at me. I just happen to be in her front.
What do her words mean? In what sense could we lose Nel? I’ve noticed she never addresses her as ‘Nel’, always strictly as ‘Eleanor’ and I wonder why, but I guess it’s not an issue to point out at this moment. Before long, the door to her house opens and two women, younger than her, enter looking bewildered.
“Where is Eleanor, mother?” asks a dark-haired one, that I would never associate with Linda given their appearances. They look worlds apart.
“Not why I called you here, Irena.” Linda scolds her.
She turns to me again with a somber expression.
“If you care about her, which I am certain you do, you will help us. I’m not strong enough to deal with such an artifact. That’s why I summoned them here.”
“I won’t do anything, unless I know what you think my pendant might have to do with this story,” I insist.
Exasperated, she lets out a deep breath and, seeing as she has no other alternative; she begins to narrate.
“The reason the coven believed Frida should be eradicated wasn’t only that her father was a werewolf Alpha. With her mother being a powerful witch who wielded all types of magic, it was only a gamble what would pass on to the child. Our genetics tend to be selective and there are many old prophecies concerning a mighty dark witch bound to arise from the union with a wolf. She would basically be the utmost battle weapon and would readily turn feral unless kept in balance. It never made sense how such a creature would be kept in balance. Most interpretations were that she would be paired to an equilibrium witch and would therefore bear no children, staying loyal to her female partner, thus ending the dangerous bloodline. But perhaps it’s not that simple…”
“They assumed Frida could inherit these traits from her mum and turn out to be this witch?” I ask, and she nods.
“But then the danger is long gone. It wasn’t Frida. She wasn’t mated with another woman. She had a male fated mate and we all know the rest of the story… It’s sleeping next door…”
“That’s only part of the rest of the story…”
She rubs her eyes that have turned red. Could it be that the aloof witch got emotional?
“Frida’s magical powers never manifested. Either Deirdra bound them to ensure her staying hidden as well as possible, or the clash of her two powerful legacies created a conflict that never allowed enough space for them to bloom. The coven was never supposed to learn that Frida was alive. The plan was for them to conclude she died along with her mother in that battle.”
She hesitates, and I really don’t like the way her face frowns. I can tell what comes next won’t be agreeable.
“Our mothers’ first idea was to bring the child to her sperm donor, but he refused to take this responsibility out of fear of the pack learning the truth about his infidelity. So the next best notion was to plant her under the coven’s nose. Sometimes the most ideal place to hide is where no one will ever think to search, right in open view.”
“Wait, wait, wait… I thought we had agreed to use no more riddles. I’m not the most patient man on this planet, Linda.”
I really don’t like where this is heading…
“The biological father’s clan was the Black Moon, Nicholas. And then they took this crazy risk to bring her to the Golden Moon despite its lifelong entwining with the coven. That’s what leads me to the conclusion that Deirdra had bound her daughter’s powers to protect her.”
This can’t be… What is she implying? They’ve all mentioned Frida’s father was an Alpha. But that would make us…
She peeks at me with a sorrowful expression. I guess my shock must be depicted on my face.
“It’s not my story to tell, and it’s not why we’re having this conversation. Just keep in mind the Moon Goddess makes no reckless mistakes. Anyhow, their plan worked for long enough. Frida grew up in your pack, as you already know, and she reached adulthood. Until Charles fucked up and included Milton in the equation. Luckily, it was the same time that she met Alex and together they fulfilled her mother’s request, to flee and come to us.”
“How much of this does Nel know?”
“Not my story to tell, either. You will have to discuss this with her…” she says, and she continues with her description.
It’s almost like a fairytale. Nel grew up unaware of the fact that a big portion of her hometown was inhabited by witches, including the two women who had arrived some time before and were her best friends at high school. She shared some more details about Nel’s childhood and her relationship with her parents. How they were always on a sharp alert, believing that if it was somehow known that there was a child, the entire coven would come after them. My mentor learned, of course, that Frida was not dead and kept scouring the country from side to side to find her. And apparently he did in the end…
“Why are you so sure that Milton wasn’t acting out of personal revenge?” I ask. “After all, Frida did ruin his life forever…”
She laughs wryly, looking out of the window. When she turns her glance my way again, I swear it could have darted flames strong enough to leave me just a pile of ash on her carpet.
“Milton and Frida were never supposed to have an ordinary marriage. He was just to secure she wouldn’t procreate, and she was his passport to staying in the pack, close to his fated mate. I wouldn’t wish for such a life either…”
More questions arise as she speaks than the answers I get. Why does it have to be so complicated? I never knew that Milton had found his mate. And how could he stand to be adjacent to her or him and be married to someone else?
“Enough with the History of Southville wolves… Come to the point. How is all that connected with my pendant and why should I allow you to inspect it?”
“Unlike her mother, Eleanor’s witchy side is now out in the open. And we’ve all seen how smoothly it works. Have you ever heard of a single wolf killing a warlock before? The man certainly knew what he was up against. They didn’t just send some novice scouters. At the duel in your territory, it was merely an attempt to wipe out a possibility. This time they seriously meant to ensure their job, whatever it was, would be carried out to perfection.”
“But it was because she shielded him…”
“Elaida did much more than shield him. They just both didn’t understand it. And that’s what’s scaring me.”
“You mean… the prophecy?”
She nods.
“But… Nel isn’t paired with a female witch either… And why did you call her that?” I trail off, unaware of how much she knows about us. She hinted it enough, but maybe she’s just trying to fish out of me what Nel’s not sharing with her.
“I wouldn’t be a witch, if I didn’t perceive that much… And to answer your second question, Elaida is her true name. Babies with a witchcraft heritage have an inborn true name linked with them since birth that is like the signature of their magic. But in our case, it was too risky to use it, so we came up with something as close to that as possible. That’s why I need to check this object,” she concludes, and I must admit she has a point, so I pull it from my neck and stretch my hand for her to take it.
If she’s surprised by my move, she doesn’t show it. All three of them concentrate on the artifact, chanting similarly to the way Linda did before. To me, as an external spectator, they appear to be repeating the same words again and again, getting louder each time. Even though it looks simple, I can see it drains them. They are sweating and shaking. Linda’s hand is still open, the pendant is slightly soaring over her palm and swirling around like crazy.
After what strikes me as forever, it lands back to her palm and its lifeless status, and Linda opens her eyes again. The two other women slump down on the nearest sofa, pale and shattered. It takes quite a while before any of them can in fact focus on me or their surroundings in the room again.
“What do you know of the Golden Luna, young man?” Linda finally asks.
What on earth does the Golden Luna have to do with this? That’s pack history, even worse… ancient lore nearing a myth. The first Luna of our Pack with her golden hair, who found the stray crazed wolf who had just killed his own family and nursed him back to his health. She was supposed to be a wise woman, very kindhearted and her tenderness reinforced him to believe in life and get over the curse that turned him feral and forced him to kill his own parents and brothers, all the Alpha family of our predecessor Silver Moon Pack. Together they reunited the pack and for that he renamed it after the Luna that was the genuine treasure he would cherish forever.
I turn to my pendant again, with a brand new point of view. I never realized it represented the birth of our pack, and now I wonder why. It’s pretty obvious after they hinted at it. The weird globe, half a sun and half a moon, gold and platinum melding together in one elaborate design. But I still don’t get how this connects with our case.
And then it dawns on me... There are several paintings of the Golden Luna in our old books. A stunning woman with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes, as gorgeous as a goddess. But not one of them shows her in a wolf form, because, even if nobody ever mentioned it, she apparently wasn’t a shifter, but… a witch…
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Hello everyone! I'm super excited to be back! In our next chapter (which will most probably upload the day after tomorrow) our girl wakes up... Get ready for an unpredictable turn of events!!! Plz share ur comments and thoughts! Thank u!