Chapter 29 HER SEQUESTERED LIFE
WILLA’S POV
“Home sweet home!” William exclaimed as he stormed inside my house like he owned it.
I had long given up on making him stop barging in unannounced. I had also ceased my attempts at making him shut the hell up about how Grandpa tricked me into agreeing a compromise that was more in their favor.
“Here we go again,” I mumbled to myself.
In just a few seconds, William would prance into the kitchen and say his usual jab about my pseudo-independence.
“Three. Two. One,” I whispered, counting down for my brother’s pesky presence.
I wasn’t disappointed when he strutted in, bringing a tray of fresh eggs and a bag that was full of packaged red meat.
“How’s the air here in the moorland of Wolverham?”
A long sigh was all I gave him as a response.
“Fresh? Different from the rest of our territory?”
“Please shut up. It’s been years.”
“And yet, it never gets old.”
Yes. Despite my plans to leave, I still ended up staying in my pack’s territory.
Grandpa did keep his word to help me find a place to move and settle down. But the place he found was a two-storey cottage in the east moorland of Wolverham. He had argued how it ticked off every criterion of my needs: sequestered, quiet, and safe. It was also a location that quelled my parents’ objections to my plans.
I would have argued about it, but Grandpa held my trust vaults against me, leaving me with no choice. Because I wouldn’t be able to find and keep a job while heavily pregnant, much less while raising an infant on my own.
The only consolation I had about the entire thing was how Sarina laid out multiple layers of protective spells that would ward off attention and unwanted guests. She had also cast a Know-Me-Not spell on me and the twins, assuring me that Gallahan wouldn’t ever know about us or accidentally stumble across us and our home.
“So anyway,” William, who was still in the mood to pull my leg, drawled as he started to stock up my freezer with the red meat. “How’s the weather in this part of Wolverham?”
“William, please,” I said softly, without tearing my gaze away from the apple I was peeling. “Not today. Not for the next ten days.”
William faltered for a moment. “The twins?”
“In the back garden with Grandpa,” I answered. “I ought to bring them snacks.”
He nodded. Still, his gaze wandered around the kitchen, as if to make sure none of my children would be within earshot for what we were about to discuss.
“Are you worried about the Ascension Rite?”
I put down the peeled apple and began to slice it. It took me a while to finally answer, “Not worried. More like scared.”
My admission caused William to completely halt what he was doing so he could regard me with a stern look as he said, “Don’t be. It will be alright, Willa. You’re just overthinking it.”
“Am I really?” I asked in a whisper, scooping the apples into my hands and putting them neatly on the charcuterie board that was already quite full.
“Yes, you are. It’s been six years since that day in the forest, and Gallahan hadn’t found you yet.”
I rinsed my hands under the cold stream of water from the faucet, which I harshly turned shut right after. “The twins turned five a few months ago, Will. The Know-Me-Not spell will completely disappear once they go through the Ascension Rite, and Gallahan will feel the parental blood link. So even if there is little to no chance he will be present during the rite, he will still know about them, and I know he will look for them. They are his heirs, so I am certain he will search high and low for them.”
“But what if he doesn’t.”
I carried the charcuterie board and set it on the dining table. Then I pulled out a chair and plopped down ungracefully, saying, “Doesn’t what? Doesn’t feel it? That’s impossible, William.”
My exhaustion bled through my voice.
I had been worrying about the Ascension Rite ever since the twins turned four, and the nearer the special ceremony got, the more anxious I became. It had even reached a point where my nights were spent just tossing and turning in bed, instead of peacefully sleeping.
“I’m not dumb, lil sis,” William scoffed.
He haphazardly put the rest of the meat in the freezer, but I didn’t have the energy to spare to scold him about it. I would just have to organize it at a later time.
“Of course, he will feel it,” he continued to say as he washed his hands on the sink. “But what if he doesn't recognize what he is feeling when it happens?”
I couldn’t help the withering look I sent his way.
“What?” He chuckled. “I mean, come on. His skull probably doesn't have anything else in it apart from hatred for humans. If you pop his head, it’ll likely deflate like a balloon with how empty it is.”
His attempt at lighting up the mood carried no effect.
It didn’t even manage to pull even a hint of a smile on my lips. Maybe because I knew Gallahan was a smart man.
With one elbow propped up on the dining table, I massaged my temple to soothe the brewing headache and said, “You think that a man who led the Culling Army for years and conquered multiple kingdoms despite the League’s ceaseless efforts to thwart them is brainless enough not to realize he suddenly has a parental blood link with a child somewhere in this continent?”
William shrugged and joined me at the table, taking the chair across from mine. “People can be smart at war strategies, but be utterly losers at something else. Maybe his parents broke their parental blood link with him so soon. That’s why he had become the ruthless man that he is.”
“That’s mean,” I mumbled.
“Sure. But it’s possible.”
“Hm. It’s still an unlikely possibility though.”
“Okay. Let’s tackle this the other way. It’s been six years, yeah? After you left Gallahan, he must’ve had his fair share of clandestine affairs. Once he feels the parental blood link form, there is a chance he doesn’t even know who he had sired a child with.”
I fought hard to keep my face neutral, even though an ache had unfurled in my chest at the mere thought of what William was suggesting.
For it to even be entirely plausible, it would mean Gallahan had slept with someone else nearly as soon as I was out of the picture.
It stung. Excruciatingly so.
And even though I knew I didn’t have the right to be hurt about it because I was the one who left, I still couldn’t stop the pain as it burst bigger and bigger, collapsing around my heart until it was squeezed tight.
Somehow, I was still able to reply in an even tone. “Hm. Possible. But he and his father could always check for any new names added to the record of their ancestral lineage. You know it magically documents the existence of a child, legitimate or illegitimate, after they complete the Ascension Rite. Every old werewolf clan has one, William, and Calisto and Gillian’s name will surely appear in the record of the Wick's ancestral lineage.”
Before William could make further attempts to assuage my fears, two small voices chimed in.
“What’s Wick’s ancestral lineage?”
“And why will our names appear in it?”