Chapter 138 Who is Mira? - Craven's POV
Chapter 138 Who is Mira? - Craven's POV
I stared at her. "Try me."
Mira's fingers tightened around the edge of her dress. She still wouldn't look at me. I had known Mira for years before I moved into a different settlement. She had hidden many things, though most weren’t anything I would worry about.
But this was different. There was fear in her eyes. Fear of what would happen if she told me the truth.
"What do you know about the last queen?"
Her gaze finally lifted to mine. "Nothing that will help you find Adele."
"That isn't what I asked." I took a step closer, not leaving her room to vanish. "Mira."
She sighed. "You've always been terrible at letting things go."
"I've had decades to practice,” I murmured.
"And yet you still haven't improved."
I didn't smile. "Tell me."
She looked away again, toward the woods where Darren had disappeared. "I know what happened to the last queen."
My body went still. "She died, right?”
She nodded. “But not many remember who all her mates were or who her main one was.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Craven, I never wanted to be the one who told you about it, because it would…change things.”
“Change what?” I pressed.
“Your brother was one of the mates to the last queen,” she said, then looked away.
“Wait, no, he can’t be,” I whispered, glancing behind me. “Corwin is—”
“Older than you by a century,” she said, her voice low. “He was around when the last queen was alive.”
“I don’t understand.” My breath quickened. Nothing made sense or added up. “He never—” He never took a mate. I remembered that now. He had always been alone, even when I was younger. “He lied to me.”
“Probably,” she admitted. “But he wasn’t the first one she bonded to. Though she was bonded to him, she never let him bite her or exchange blood.”
My eyes fluttered. “Never? I thought mates…” My voice cracked. Vampire mates always exchanged blood and bit each other. If they took a human, like a witch, they changed them. How could that not happen? “I don’t get it.”
She took a step toward me. “Craven, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What? It can’t get much worse,” I scoffed. “My brother was mated to the last queen and didn’t even follow her in death.”
Soren came to stand beside her, his brow raised. “What were you telling him?”
“Soren,” she breathed. “It’s time.”
“Time?” He asked, his expression softening. “Oh.”
“What?”
“You see, Craven, I’m not who you think,” she grimaced. “This mark that I told Adele was so I wouldn’t forget when I was cast out was a lie. The mark is real.”
I could feel blood drain from my face. “What are you saying?”
“I’m the last queen,” she murmured.
Time froze. I stared at her, everything else fading into nothing. Her words hit hard. The last queen. The one who was said to be dead. I was staring at her and had no idea how this was happening.
But now that I looked at her, I realized that she…hadn’t aged a day since Soren and I first met her. Not really. Other than her hair going silver. I didn’t understand how that could be.
“No, you can’t be.”
“I am and your brother believes I’m dead, along with my six guards,” she added.
“And you knew?” I asked, turning to Soren. “How? Wait. What are you to her?”
He shook his head. “I am one of her mates…guards. Whatever you want to call it.”
“And the others?”
She glanced around, looking at several men who were turned to look our way.
“They’re here. They’re alive.”
She swallowed hard. “Yes. We had to come here and let everyone think I was dead. Corwin and your family believe I’m gone and that he somehow lived.”
“How does he not know that you’re alive?” I gasped. “The bond—”
“Severed,” she murmured, glancing down. “I did what I had to, Craven. It hurt, but I had to, because your family isn’t what you think.”
Soren’s gaze drifted to my face. He took me in with a sigh. “I’m sorry for lying to you.”
“Are you even my cousin?”
“That, yes. That is true,” he admitted. “I just lied about my age and let you believe I was the younger son of my parents. It’s not as if our families were close, so you wouldn’t have known.”
“Why couldn’t I have known?”
He glanced at Mira, then stepped up to her side. “If I had told you, that would have put her in danger. There was no way we could reveal who she was and then when you went on your rampage, we came to exile too. It was safer here than being on the mainland.”
“Craven!” Brantley yelled from across the yard. “The boat is ready.”
I looked his way, nodding. “I don’t have time to process this. It’s time to save Adele.”
I turned away from them, feeling the betrayal rush through my veins. It was hard to imagine that some of the people I had trusted at some point were hiding something this big, something that I wish I had known sooner. Maybe I could have helped Adele and prevented this from happening.
“Craven,” Mira said sharply.
I never turned. My body kept moving toward Brantley.
Soren rushed to my side, his hand landing firmly on my shoulder. “Wait. You can’t rush off like this.”
“Adele is out there. You and the others have your mate, but mine is in that idiot’s grip.”
Soren let out a breath. “We’re going with you.”
Mira caught up and stopped, the other five men behind her. “He’s right. We’re going too.”
“But you ran from him,” I said, shaking my head. “Why would you go—”
I didn’t even know why she would have left a mate to begin with. That didn’t make sense. What did he do that would warrant her having to leave everything behind?