Chapter 44: Threads of Her
Chapter 44: Threads of Her
Sasha POV
When the door flew open, Rowan and two guards came rushing into the room. But I was angry and I wanted answers. I was tired of the lies and the secrecy. Jones had just said that he wasn’t my father. But I knew that there was more. Before Rowan could even open his mouth, I spun on him.
“I want whatever you have of my mothers,” I demanded. Rowan was completely taken aback as he stared at me. “Whatever you kept, whatever you have, I want it,” I repeated.
“It won’t change what you are,” he spat out.
“It will change what I know,” I said. Rowan glanced at Jones, who nodded. He then sighed pretty dramatically and pulled the chain from around his neck. Four keys glistened in the light. I watched as he went to a cabinet on the far side of the wall and unlocked it. He pulled out a cedar box and set it on the table.
“Conditions,” he said as he kept a hand on the lid.
“No,” Jones whispered, and Rowan lifted his hand without question. I stepped forward and lifted the lid. Inside was a folded sweater, a baby blanket, and a small locket. I opened the locket, but it was empty. Underneath the blanket was a single photograph. I fingered the sweater before I set it aside. The blanket was thin and frail. I picked up the photograph and studied it for a moment. It was of a woman sitting by the river holding a baby tight to her chest. I had to assume that the woman was Erika and the baby was me. I set the picture aside and frowned at the pair of rolled-up socks. However, when I touched them, I realized that there was something inside of them. I pulled out a small notebook. The cover was plain, marked only by a hand-drawn crescent.
“Careful,” Rowan said. “Some things want to stay shut,” I ignored him as I opened it. Neat lines. Dates. Plants. Moon notes. It wasn’t a diary. It was a spell book. The first few pages were salves and blessings. Then the tone changed. Ink pressed hard. Crossed out words. A title in darker strokes:
PAIR-BOND VEIL.
Hair from the Alpha line. Blood from the child. A token at the heart. Sand from the river bend. Worked on a dark moon. Purpose: to veil the child’s true bond and draw her to a chosen mate until the oath is righted.
I read it again. The same words waited. Not fate. A spell. Kade. Me. Notes followed in short lines: “Safer near power.” “They will hide her if they fear her.” “He will be kind.” “It buys time.” I set the book down.
“She tied me to Kade,” I said. I heard Kade gasp from behind me, and I felt Ronan’s heat at my back. Rowan and Jones didn’t even seem surprised.
“She asked me to keep you safe. She said fear makes packs cruel. She wasn’t wrong,” he said. I lifted the locket.
“Token at the heart,” I whispered as I handed the locket to Ronan so that he could put it on me.
“She wore it every day,” Jones murmured. The chain was cool against my skin. Nothing happened. The weight still said enough. Near the bottom of the page, in small script: If the veil holds, use Severance when the child can stand alone. I turned the page.
SEVERANCE: undoing of pair-bond veil. Requires truth named aloud, a token broken, and blood of the bound.
“She meant to undo it,” I said.
“When you were old enough,” Rowan answered. “Unfortunately, she died first,” I closed the notebook and kept it under my arm. I took the photograph and slipped it into my pocket.
“I’m taking these,” I said. No one argued with me. And then Ronan and I left. Kade stayed behind to do whatever the hell a person does with elders who overstep their boundaries. Ronan and I went to my cabin. I took out the sweater and slipped it on. I set the blanket on the back of the couch as I sat down.
“What do you think it all means?” Ronan asked as he sat down next to me. He took the photo and studied. I opened the notebook again.
“I have no idea, but it wasn’t fate. My mother cast a pair-bond veil to tie me to Kade. She did it to keep me safe. There is a way to break it, and I think that should be our next move,”
“Why did she do it?” he asked. “I mean, to keep you safe from what? Me?”
“Maybe our history? Maybe she knew about it and wanted to protect me from it?” I was guessing. I didn’t know. “But I know there is more to this,” I added, and Ronan hummed in agreement. “Do you think Kade will be ok?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t know. It’s a bit of a shock. I mean, the way you two felt about each other was real…but the initial connection was fake. Magic, but fake,” he said, and I sighed softly. “Maybe you should speak to him about it,”
“And say what? I’m sorry, my mother cast a spell on us?”
“Well…how do you feel about it?” Ronan questioned, and I didn’t answer him right away. I took a moment to truly think about it.
“I don’t like it. I don’t approve. It did a lot of good…Kade and I have a lot of good memories…but it complicated things. It hurt me. It hurt us. If we were never meant to be together, then maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe Delia was supposed to be with him all along, but because of this spell…” my voice trailed off, but Ronan shook his head.
“They aren’t mates, Sasha,” he pointed out. “Even with the spell, Delia would have known,”
“Would she? We have no idea what magic this is, Ronan,” I said softly as I ran my finger over my mother’s handwriting. “We don’t know how this affected him. Me. Delia. And even you,”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Think about it, Ronan. We have always felt drawn to one another, but we never recognized each other as fated mates. It wasn’t until Kade rejected me that you even saw the mark,” I said. Ronan frowned as he considered. “It messed things up for us. It could have messed things up for them, too,”
“Then we need to undo it. Maybe that will help,” he said, and I nodded in agreement. I hated that my mother had done this, but I had to believe she had a good reason for doing it. It was just a pity that she wasn’t around. I would have loved to have asked her about it. All of it.
“If Jones isn’t my father, then who is?” I wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, but we will find out,” he promised. He couldn’t promise me that, but I knew Ronan would try his hardest, and that meant the world to me.