*He will lose his legs but will find his heart.*
Mina forgot all about what Violet said to her. Until then.
She put her palms against Abeel's chest. "I will make sure that everyone that hurt you suffers greatly before dying."
Abeel let out a bitter laugh. "You won't even hurt a fly, let alone kill someone. Besides, the one who did this to me is..." He frowned. "Is..."
"I didn't hurt a fly before because I always put the Castex family name above everything else. But not anymore. The time to put those I love first has come." Mina kissed his forehead. An ugly scar was on it, which she hadn't noticed before. "I know exactly who did this to you. I also know what he took from you. If I had only known what my voice was capable of, you would still be... you."
Abeel narrowed his eyes. "If you are referring to me not being able to walk, I assure you..."
Mina put a finger against his lips. "I don't care about that. It's just that... Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't know who I am."
Confusion appeared in his mismatched eyes. "I knew you were my soulmate from the moment I heard your voice. And for the likes of it, you felt it too. Why else would you run into my arms the way you did?"
Mina chewed her bottom lip. "I would never have run into the arms of a stranger, soulmate or not. I ran because we had known each other for some time. Because you put a bracelet around my wrist and mated with me." She couldn't keep looking at him and being quiet anymore. Maybe Jayden, as she knew him, was gone, and despite his eyes, she knew Abeel was her husband. Only that he had no recollection of their time together. "I keep waiting to see if you will remember me. Us. Jayden, what happened to you in Athea? I felt you die! And why do you keep referring to yourself as Abeel?"
Abeel growled loudly, his sharp canines showing. "I understand you still love your late husband but don't call me by his name," he snarled. "I am Abeel! That is my name. And this is the first time we have met." He sounded furious and clenched his jaw rhythmically. A vein ticked in his temple.
She ran her fingers through his hair until he was calmer. It always had that effect on him. And as much as it was for him, it was for her as well because, if she was not on Jayden's lap, then she had gone crazy. What if she was still in King Stig's castle, tortured to the point of losing her mind? Or maybe she was still in Athea, still buried in the ground, deprived of air?
If her being with Jayden was a lie, a product of her imagination, she didn't care. If he wanted to be called Abeel, then so be it.
"Abeel," Mina corrected herself. She ran her thumb over the scar on his left cheek. "You are more handsome with a beard." Before, he used to shave daily.
He smiled. "You think so?"
Mina nodded before kissing the tip of his nose. "But I miss the piercing."
Abeel frowned. "What piercing?"
The metallic bar he used to have in the bridge of his nose had been removed, but anyone could see he used to have a piercing. She had always wanted to see him without it, but he looked strange without it. Like it wasn't him. And maybe he wasn't.
*What is lost is lost forever.*
"One you used to have. I guess you don't need it anymore. But I am angry at you!"
He tilted his head to the side. "Why?"
Why he asked. If he had told her the truth about him, about his family, she would have found him days ago.
"Because you should have told me the Archduke is your father," she huffed.
"Why do you keep insisting on saying we met before?"
"You look like Jayden. Except for the eyes. He had both eyes blue and no scars on his face."
He covered his left cheek. "Do you dislike it?"
"Not at all."
Her mouth found his and he groaned before fisting her hair and tilting her head back. "Have you changed your mind? Are you willing to let me win your heart?"
Her heart already belonged to him. Jayden might not be the one she met in Athea, but now that the shock of seeing him again and knowing he was all right was gone and understanding that he was forever altered, she knew they had received a second chance to be together. She would not waste it. She would forever love Jayden from Athea, but she wanted to see what life with Abeel from Ora Dorei would be like.
"Yes," she breathed. "Only if you are willing to give me your heart as well."
"My heart is yours. It belongs to my soulmate. To you," he said before kissing her roughly.
She thought she would never feel his lips against hers or be in his arms again. He was not the same, but it should not matter. It did not matter. He licked her lips before pushing his tongue into her mouth and tasting her. A pulse started beating between her legs, and she put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He cupped her breast and flicked his thumb over her hard bud.
"Abeel," she breathed against his lips. "I want to be with you."
He pressed his forehead against hers and put his arms around her waist. "We can't. I can't."
Her cheeks turned red. "I see. It's alright."
Abeel laughed. "It is not that. It works perfectly. But we are not married yet, and until a Fire Mage blesses our union, I won't touch you."
"Not this again," Mina complained.
"I will buy you a bracelet tomorrow." Mina leaned her forehead against his chest and groaned in annoyance. She already had a bracelet from him. "We won't marry until the mourning period has passed. You can take as much time as you need."
She lifted her head. "You are the same as ever, but even so, I am so glad you are alive. I missed you so much."
"Mina."
"I know." *What is lost is lost forever*. "You are Abeel, not Jayden."
The voice of two men could be heard coming from down the hall. She recognized those voices. Herron and the Archduke.
She stood and went to the door.
"Where are you going?" Abeel asked.
"I need to ask your father something, and then I will return to you," she replied before closing the door behind her.
Herron and the Archduke were at the end of the hall and didn't notice Mina as they entered one of the rooms. Mina followed them and didn't bother knocking before opening the door and entering what appeared to be the Archduke's study.
The two men were seated around an old oak desk, Herrion's back facing Mina.
The Archduke, who sat across from Herron, rose to his feet. "Mina, do you need anything?"
Herron turned in his chair and looked at Mina. His surprise turned into joy quickly, and while Mina was dying to ask him how Violet, Belle, Landon, and the kittens were, she needed to say some things to the Archduke first.
"Your name is Einir Le Doux, and you are Jayden's father. You hid it from me! Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw Jayden, who claims to be Abeel, just minutes ago? I felt him die, and yet he is alive! And I spent all afternoon in your home, and neither Jade nor you bothered to tell me. You said your son, Abeel, was injured during the war. And where are Violet, Belle, Landon, and my kittens?" She was so angry she was shaking.
"We are at war, Andarra. With the Order. The little ones are fine. They are with Andres's family for now. The Uzgaia had one of his... episodes in front of Belle, and she was very upset. We thought it was best for the little ones to be distracted for a few days until the Uzgaia was better. They took the kittens with them," explained Herron. He stood. "Andarra, so glad to see you are safe. Einar, Arald, and I have been looking for you like crazy. Until we heard a rumor that you might be in Ora Dorei, and I rushed to tell the Archduke the news. I and the others think that your presence will finally calm the Uzgaia, and he won't have more... episodes."
"What are these episodes you keep mentioning? And someone, please explain to me why I felt him die."
"You have not yet felt the death of your soulmate, but I did. As for my son, he is not well,” the Archduke confessed as he sat down in his armchair. “He has… outbursts. The injuries fragmented his mind.” He looked at Mina. “That’s why I haven’t said a word about him to you. His name, his full name is Jayden Abeel Le Doux."
Mina gripped her robe so hard that her knuckles turned white. “He is my soulmate. You had no right to keep me away from him!”
He leaned on the armchair. “You were born in this house, you know? Abeel was three at that time, but from the moment he saw you, he claimed you as his. I have known for twenty-one years what he was to you, but for his safety, and yours, I had to keep you two apart. But now you are here, and I am afraid he will harm you.”
Mina laughed bitterly. "Soulmates can't harm each other. Even if he tried, it would not work. Tell me about what you said before, about me being born in this house. My parents always claimed they had me in Athea."
The Archduke sighed. "Let me explain about Jayden first. He is more than my son or the Uzgaia of our people. He is also Fherax's heir. One day, he will be the next Mercenary King. And you, their Queen."
Mina was starting to feel lightheaded, and Herron, after giving her a long hug, offered her his seat.
"He became the Order's target the moment my soulmate had him, and in order to protect him, I named your parents his guardians," the Archduke kept saying. "They spent a lot of their time in Athea with Alvey and Jayden, but they also had a house in Ora Dorei."
"Alvey?" Mina interrupted him. "I had heard that name before." In the letters that belonged to the dead maid.
"Alvey, actually, Alveyra was my soulmate. Jayden's mother, Fherax's daughter."
"And you abandoned not only her but also Jayden," Mina huffed.
The Archduke took a long sip from his glass.
"I never abandoned her, but from the moment Jayden was conceived in the Crystal Cave, I knew that I put her in danger. I did my best to protect both her and Jayden. So we had to live apart while hiding our marriage and that Jayden was my legitimate son. But I kept seeing her until Jayden was six and Jade was born. No one knew that I kept seeing Alvey, not even Jayden. She was my secret."
"You said you knew Jayden and I were soulmates from the day I was born. I thought ocxoas couldn't feel their soulmates until they turned eighteen."
"Yes, but somehow Jayden knew. His soul recognized you. After you were born, he refused to leave your side. That's when I started to suspect the bond between you. A visit to a Seer confirmed it. Being Jayden's soulmate made you a target of the Order as well, so I had to forbid your parents to ever talk to you about Jayden or to see him and his mother again. Despite my best efforts to keep you two separated, you found each other. And now the Order knows about you."
He kept drinking while he spoke.
"You know, the Order sent Black Mercenaries to kill my family. For the sake of our children, we separated Jayden and Jade, and I never visited them again. Jade grew up with me and Jayden, my heir and the future king of Hepys, in a brothel, with his mother. To keep him safe from the Order and his grandfather. Fherax, who never accepted that I had married his daughter and did not know who his assassins were supposed to kill, sent many black letters to Alvey or me. The last one I received was addressed to me directly from Fherax, accusing me of killing Alvey and depriving him of an heir."
"But you could have never killed her since she was your soulmate. Jayden told me she died of a sickness. Does Fherax know about Jayden or Jade?"
The Archduke took a bottle of mead and three glasses from a shelf adjacent to the desk. "Alvey was killed. Whoever did it made it look as if she had been sick. I am trying to find out who took my soulmate away from me. She never told her father about our children out of fear that Fherax would take them to Hepys and turn them against me. Fherax, for a long time, sustained the Order. Since he learned about Jayden, he wants to help the Resistance," he said as he filled the glasses with mead and offered two of them to Mina and Herron. "That is how I met Alvey. She was an agent of the Order, and I was part of the Resistance."
Mina took out the necklace and studied it for a few moments. "From the moment you sent it to me, I wondered what the wolf meant. I thought it represented an ocxoa, but now I understand the message behind it. You are not only part of the Resistance, you are the Wolf, the leader. You wanted me to know."
The Archduke nodded. "Yes."
Mina removed the necklace and put it on the desk. "While I understand your reasons, I can't forgive you for keeping Jayden and me apart. We should have known and let us decide how to protect ourselves from the Order. By taking that choice away from us, from Jayden, you brought so much heartache. His heart was broken, and because of that..." He refused to let her gain his love. "And now that he finally feels that we are soulmates, he doesn't even remember me."
Herron arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean by the Uzgaia finally feels you are soulmates?"
Mina looked him straight in the eyes. "I have known it for weeks. Even from before he took me to Isyleon Island."
Herron threw his hands in the air. "You should have said something!"
"I was scared, and I thought he still loved Rosalyn. And then it was the curse, and I couldn't make myself say it to him," Mina confessed. "Well, there had been a moment in the Crystal Cave that I almost told him, but... I guess... I wanted him to feel it."
Herron muttered something under his breath for low for Mina to hear.
"Does anyone else know that you and Jayden are soulmates?" asked the Archduke.
Mina nodded. "Hugo and Aksel."
Herron let out a loud curse. "That traitor knows? Why? And why you haven't told the rest of us?" He sounded hurt.
She had hoped to be wrong about Aksel. "He guessed it, and I confirmed. As for not telling the rest of you, it never crossed my mind. As I said, I was too scared to admit it, even to myself. But then, in the cave, when I finally let myself love Jayden, I wanted to tell him. But there was always the possibility of me being wrong because we didn’t feel the bond between us. Until tonight. I don't understand what is different and why we can, finally, feel we are soulmates." The Archduke turned pale. "What?" Mina insisted to know.
"Andarra, the Commander's ocxoa is gone. When Queen Rosalyn sent us away, demons attacked us, and the Commander was about to die when his ocxoa sacrificed himself to save us. It is him who you felt dying. And I think that the curse broke when he died. Losing his ocxoa made Commander Jayden lose his mind. Sometimes he says he is Abeel, and other times he is Rax, the future Mercenary King. If anyone suggests he is Jayden, he has a rage fit, and the Fire Mage has to put a sleeping spell on him."
*What is lost is lost forever.*