Chapter 106 I couldn’t move.

Chapter 106 I couldn’t move.
/Edlyn/

For a few seconds, I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t even breathe properly. I just stood there staring at the enormous creature that had stepped out of the forest, trying to convince myself I had heard wrong.

My father.

The words kept repeating in my head, refusing to settle into anything that made sense.

That’s my father.

But my father was dead. Both of my parents were dead. I had spent years believing that, had cried for them, missed them, dreamed about them in the quiet hours when the ache was worse than usual, and had eventually forced myself to accept that they were gone and weren’t coming back.

So how could the creature standing across the battlefield be my father?

“Edlyn.”

Nelson’s voice pulled me back to the present. I looked at him, and his eyes were fixed on me, worry written across every line of his face.

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay.”

“I’m trying.”

Luca came to my other side, his hand finding mine immediately. He didn’t ask whether I wanted him there. He simply took my hand and held it, steady and certain.

Nelson reached for my other hand a moment later, and somehow, with both of them beside me, the fear inside my chest became a little easier to carry, like something splitting the weight between three sets of shoulders instead of one.

Moon was unusually quiet. Vamp was too. That alone told me how serious this was, more than anything the creature across the field could have said.

“Say something,” I whispered.

Neither of them spoke.

I looked from Nelson to Luca. “Please.”

Nelson squeezed my hand gently. “We’re here.”

Luca nodded, his voice low and sure. “Whatever that thing is, you’re not facing it alone.”

A small laugh escaped me despite everything, surprising even myself. “You two know that’s not very reassuring when you’re calling my father a thing.”

Luca’s mouth lifted slightly. “I don’t know what else to call him.”

“Maybe father?”

“We haven’t established whether he deserves the title.”

Nelson glanced at him, something like reluctant agreement passing between them. “For once, I agree with the vampire.”

I looked between them, something warm cutting through the fear for just a moment. “You two are agreeing too much lately.”

Luca shrugged. “Don’t get used to it.”

Nelson actually smiled, and somehow that tiny, fragile moment made my chest ache more than anything the enormous creature across the field could have caused.

Because only a short while ago, these two men couldn’t stand being in the same room together. Now they stood on either side of me, holding my hands while an ancient army surrounded our kingdom and something impossible waited in the trees.

It was ridiculous.

It was terrifying.

And somehow, in the middle of all of it, it was beautiful.

I looked down at our joined hands. “Do you know what I keep thinking?”

“What?” Nelson asked.

“I used to think having a mate was supposed to make everything easier.”

Luca laughed softly. “Whoever told you that clearly never met us.”

I smiled, some of the tension easing from my shoulders. “No. They definitely didn’t.”

Nelson rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, slow and soothing. “I can’t promise things will always be easy.” He looked up at me, his eyes steady. “But I can promise you won’t face them alone.”

Luca’s expression softened into something rarer than I usually saw from him. “Same.”

I stared at them both. The two kings. The two men who were supposed to hate each other on principle, bound by centuries of rivalry neither of them had chosen.

My mates.

“I love you both.”

The words slipped out before I could overthink them, before I could second-guess whether the moment was right for something that big.

Both of them went completely still.

My face immediately flushed warm. “I mean…”

“No,” Nelson said quietly, stepping closer before I could take it back.

“Don’t take it back.”

I looked into his eyes. “I wasn’t going to.”

His hand moved to my cheek, his palm warm against my skin. “I love you too.”

My eyes stung, tears gathering faster than I could blink them away.

Then Luca touched the other side of my face, his thumb brushing gently along my cheekbone.

“I love you, kitten.”

I smiled through the tears. “Even though I’m apparently the daughter of some ancient supernatural being?”

“Especially because you’re apparently the daughter of some ancient supernatural being.”

I laughed, the sound cracking slightly at the edges.

Nelson shook his head. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

Luca leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss against my forehead. Nelson did the same on the other side a moment later, their lips warm against my skin.

For one small moment, the war disappeared entirely.

There were no Collectors. No armies. No strange prophecies. No mysterious voices whispering through the sky. No gods.

Just the three of us, standing together in the eye of something enormous.

I closed my eyes and wished, desperately, that I could freeze that single moment in place. Because deep down, I had a horrible feeling that everything was about to change, and not for the better.

Then Moon finally spoke, her voice reaching me quiet and careful.

Edlyn.

Her tone wasn’t frightened. It was sad, heavier than I’d ever heard from her.

I know him.

My eyes opened. What?

Moon hesitated, like she was choosing her words with unusual care. Not him exactly. His power.

Vamp stirred inside me too. I know it too.

I swallowed hard. What is he?

Neither of them answered, and that silence scared me more than anything either of them could have said.

I looked toward the creature again. It had stopped several meters away from us, massive and unmoving. Its body was covered in dark scales, but there was something strangely familiar about its face. Its eyes.

I knew those eyes.

I had seen them before. Not in my memories, not the ones I could reach easily. In my dreams.

A little girl stood in a field surrounded by fire. A man carried her in his arms. She couldn’t see his face clearly, but she remembered his voice, low and urgent against her ear.

“One day, they’ll come for you.”

The memory hit me so suddenly that I staggered on my feet.

Nelson caught me instantly. “Edlyn?”

I grabbed his arm, steadying myself. “I remember.”

Luca moved closer, alarm flickering across his face. “What do you remember?”

“My father.”

The creature across the battlefield lifted its head, and then it spoke, its voice rolling across the distance between us.

“Edlyn.”

My entire body reacted to the sound of it. I knew that voice. I had heard it when I was a child, not clearly, not often, but I knew it, buried somewhere deep beneath years of grief and forgetting.

My eyes filled with tears. “Father?”

Nelson’s grip tightened around me protectively.

The creature took one step forward, and every warrior around us raised their weapons in a single fluid motion.

I lifted my hand. “Don’t.”

Nelson looked at me, alarmed. “Edlyn…”

“Don’t attack him.”

“You don’t know what he is.”

“I know his voice.”

The creature stopped moving. For the first time, something almost human appeared in its expression.

Pain.

“You’re alive.”

My throat tightened painfully. “Why did you let me believe you were dead?”

He looked past me, toward Seraphina. She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his eyes or mine.

I turned toward her, anger rising fast beneath the grief. “You knew.”

She didn’t deny it. “Yes.”

My anger sharpened into something harder. “You knew who I was.”

“Yes.”

“You knew my parents.”

“Yes.”

“And you let me walk around thinking I was alone in the world?”

Seraphina’s expression shifted, something pained crossing her features. “I was protecting you.”

“From what?”

She looked at the enormous creature standing across from us.

“From him.”

My father closed his eyes, something like grief passing over his massive, scaled face.

I felt Nelson tense beside me. Luca’s fingers tightened around mine, both of them bracing for whatever came next.

My father opened his eyes again, holding my gaze. “You were never supposed to awaken this soon.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

He looked at Nelson, then at Luca, his expression hardening into something colder.

“It means the moment you formed bonds with both of them, the ancient blood inside you began to awaken.”

Nelson stepped forward, his jaw tight. “Are you saying we’re responsible?”

“No.”

My father looked at him steadily.

“They are responsible.”

He pointed toward the dark forest, where shadows still stirred at the edges.

“The ones who have come for her.”

Luca’s eyes narrowed. “Then tell us who they are.”

My father looked at all three of us in turn. “The first army wants her power.” He paused, something grim settling into his expression. “The second wants her blood.”

My stomach twisted painfully. “And the third?”

His expression turned colder still.

“The third wants her dead.”

Nelson moved closer to me. Luca did the same, closing the small gap between us until I was surrounded on both sides.

Neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to. I already knew exactly what they were thinking.

They were going to protect me. Again.

But this time, I wasn’t going to stand behind them.

I stepped forward. “If they want me…”

Nelson immediately looked at me, alarm sharpening his voice. “No.”

I turned to him. “You didn’t even let me finish.”

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Luca nodded, his expression just as unmovable. “And the answer is still no.”

I frowned at both of them. “Both of you are impossible.”

Nelson smiled faintly, despite everything. “You’re just realizing that?”

I rolled my eyes, and despite the fear still coiled tight in my chest, I laughed.

For a moment, my father watched the three of us with an expression I couldn’t quite place. Almost like he was seeing something he never expected to witness, something that surprised him more than the battle raging behind him.

Then he whispered, quiet enough that I almost missed it.

“Perhaps the prophecy was wrong.”

I looked at him sharply. “What prophecy?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze lifted toward the sky.

The clouds had turned completely black, swallowing whatever moonlight remained. Lightning flashed across them in sharp, silent bursts.

Then the ground shook beneath all of us.

My father’s face changed, something urgent and afraid breaking through his composure.

“They’ve found you.”

I felt both my mates move closer, pressing in on either side of me. Nelson drew his weapon. Luca’s eyes turned red, bright and dangerous in the darkness.

I raised my hands, and the power inside me began to rise, warm and insistent beneath my skin.

My father looked directly at me, and for the first time since I had seen him standing there, he looked afraid.

“Edlyn.”

“What?”

“You need to remember who you really are.”

The ground split open behind him with a sound like the world tearing in half. A wave of darkness erupted from the forest, spreading fast.

The second army had arrived.

And this time, they weren’t coming for my kingdom.