Chapter 40 New Paths
"I could do it now, my love," Aurelion says. "You're ready."
I spread my legs even wider, satisfied with his observation.
"Then do it," I practically beg, without any shame.
I close my eyes expectantly, longing for his touch.
Longing for Aurelion to fulfill all his promises.
But instead, I feel Conrad's body move away. When I open my eyes, I see my companion distant. He's panting, and his eyes are no longer golden.
I snort in anger.
Even Aurelion?
Conrad looks at me with a reproachful gaze, and I put on a weak smile.
"What if I tell you it was Harper's fault?" I ask, hoping that will clear my name.
"I'll know it's a lie."
"I figured."
I raise my hands in surrender, sighing in regret.
"I'll control myself." "I promise."
Conrad looks at me with one eyebrow raised, as if doubting me.
I feign innocence and give him a sweet smile.
Even I didn't believe my own words.
"Let's speed up the wedding," Conrad says, surprising me. "Or I'll end up needing a doctor."
I understand the meaning of his words when I see him trying to organize the bulge in his pants. I stifle a smile. I couldn't laugh at that moment, since I was overwhelmed with guilt.
"Let's find Kael," Conrad says as he walks towards the bathroom.
I get up and start getting ready, remembering the chaos outside our bedroom door.
Kael waited in the hall of ancient maps, a rarely used space where records of forgotten packs still covered the walls like wounds no one else wanted to look at.
He stood before a circular table, his fingers resting on an open scroll, but his gaze lifted the instant I crossed the threshold.
He didn't look at me like the others.
Kael always saw first what the words concealed.
"Maya," he said calmly. "The entire castle has changed since yesterday."
Conrad discreetly stepped in front of me, but Kael raised his hand in a sign of peace.
"I'm not here to hunt ghosts," he continued. "I'm here because your heart is screaming louder than any magic I've ever felt."
I took a deep breath.
"Then you already know I'm not what I seem."
Kael took a step closer.
"You are exactly what you seem," he corrected. "Just not in the way the world has learned to see."
The hall fell silent. I felt the symbol beneath my skin throb more strongly with each of his words.
"What do you see in me?" I asked.
Kael tilted his head slightly, his eyes losing focus for a moment.
"I see three layers," he began. "I see the girl who learned to survive invisibly. I see the queen who carries the pain of a kingdom that doesn't yet know it's dying. And I see something older... a living memory that doesn't belong to this era."
Conrad took a deep breath beside me.
"Is she in danger?" he asked.
Kael turned to look at him.
"She is the danger," he said softly. "But not in the way you fear."
He turned to me.
"You don't destroy what you touch, Maya. You reveal."
Kael's words echoed through the hall as if they had been etched into the walls.
"What do I reveal?" I asked, almost in a whisper.
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if needing to distance himself from what he saw.
"Truths that were buried alive," he replied. "And the more you try to hide, the more the world around you begins to bleed for them."
Conrad stepped forward.
"Then tell us what we need to do."
Kael opened his eyes and pointed to the old map on the table.
"There are three marks that never completely disappeared," he said. "Even when the routes were erased, even when the packs dissolved."
He touched the first.
"The Salt Lands—where hybrids were taken to learn silence."
The second.
"The Valley of Echoes—where pacts were broken so that no one would remember who had made them."
The third, further north.
"The Dead Moon Rift."
My chest tightened.
"I saw that name," I murmured. "In the book."
Kael nodded.
"Because that's where the Link was shattered."
The symbol beneath my skin burned, too intense to ignore.
"If I go there..." I began.
"They'll sense it," Kael finished. "And they'll come after you with everything they have."
Conrad held my hand.
"Then let's go before they're ready."
Kael took a deep breath, as if accepting something he had always feared.
"If you cross that border, you will no longer be just king and queen," he said. "You will be a sign. For the living. And for what tries to erase them."
"Do you think they'll rise up?"
I ask Conrad.
We were in the hall, finalizing the last details of our engagement. The event had been moved up more than 10 days. I should have been studying the traditions, choosing my dresses and jewelry, like the previous Lunas did.
But instead, I was sitting there thinking of a way to stop unstoppable creatures.
"Who are they?" Conrad asks, looking at me curiously.
"The other hybrids," I reply thoughtfully. "Those names are glowing, so they're still alive," I say, touching the names in the book.
"I don't know, Maya. I wouldn't be surprised if they remained hidden,"
Conrad replies sadly.
I look at my companion curiously, since he'd been thinking for a long time.
"Why do you say that?"
"You saw those things!" he replies with a sigh, looking impatient. "I still can't believe I'm considering leading you towards these things, Maya," he says, frustrated.
Conrad gets up and walks to the window, observing his surroundings attentively. I sigh, understanding his side. I've done many wrong things, driven by the fear of losing him. So I understood his frustration.
I knew I was demanding too much of Conrad.
I walk towards him and hug him from behind.
Conrad stiffens for a second, as if he were holding the whole world on his shoulders, but then slowly exhales and rests his hands on mine, accepting the contact.
"I'm not afraid to fight," he says softly, looking at the patio beyond the window. "I'm afraid of losing you to something I don't understand."
I rest my forehead between his shoulder blades, feeling the irregular rhythm of his breathing.
"I don't understand either," I confess. "But I know that if I hide now, everything that has already been erased will remain dead. I can't pretend I didn't hear those voices."
He turns slowly and wraps his arms around me, firm, protective.
"Then let's not pretend," he murmurs. "Let's learn to listen together."
The book was still open on the table, the golden names shimmering with an almost living intensity. I moved away just enough to touch them again, and a gentle wave ran through my chest, as if each syllable there were a small flame rekindling.
"They are waiting."