AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I'm sure I look ridiculous. When I realize my mouth is hanging open, I close it, but it isn't enough. I feel like a train that was on a track, and now I'm in the middle of the woods, not sure how I got there.
I had a plan. A specific thing I wanted to say. But as I look at all the men, it seems, based on their expressions, that this is something they all want to be said. Something they want me to listen to. Considering everything that’s happened, and how difficult my rejection of them has been, I finally nod. I can at least listen to them first, since they’ve been putting themselves in danger to protect me.
“We have to talk about the mating bond.” Phantom’s voice is deep, a half-growl that could be a purr.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about," I say, and I'm not sure whether I'm relieved or even more worried.
At least they're not fighting.That's a good sign, right?
Phantom squares his shoulders, and an air of a royalty instantly falls over him. "As you know, the shadow king pulled the moon stone from the sky and broke it into shards. These are the shards you are helping us find.” Of course I know about the shards.But what does this have to do with the mating bond?“I don't know how he learned to steal our moon. I don't know how he learned that he could use the shards to create a connection to the earth, a way to expand the shadow world. But it's clear he wants to control the earth and put an end to humanity. Hell, he wants to put an end to all living creations here, just as he did to our world.”
I nod, because what else am I supposed to say? The story isn’t new, just varied by who tells it and what details they include.
“But you said this is about the mating bond. The thing is, I still don’t understand how creating this bond will stop the king.” It’s an intricate ploy if it’s only about having sex. That would be flattering if that is what it is, but I doubt it.
Dusk sighs, looks at the other two shadow beasts, then presses on as if he wishes they were discussing something else, anything else. “Once, we were in love with a woman.”
Something strange and foreign twists in my gut.They were?They never mentioned this before. But then again, I'd be a fool to think I was the first woman they'd ever met or cared for. We're in our early twenties, at least, probably mid-twenties for them. By this point a lot of people have had a few heartbreaks under their belt, so why does the idea of another woman they were in love bother me so much?
"Okay," I manage, failing miserably to conceal my hurt feelings at the revelation.
Dusk nods at Phantom and it's like they're sharing a thought like only siblings can, but then Onyx nods, too, before Dusk continues. “She wasn't a mate, but a love. True and deep. We grew up together in our castle. We watched her grow from a girl into a woman, just as we grew from boys to men. We shared moments, stories, and it felt very natural. We had never felt a mate bond before, so part of us wondered if that was what we were feeling, even though we weren't sure at the time.”
His expression falls and Phantom picks up the tale. “Our father thought she was the one from the prophecy. And he took her for himself.”
"Took her? Since when can a man just take a woman? We're not luggage."
Rayne gives a little laugh, but Phantom is the one to answer. "You met our father."
I shiver.Okay, fair enough."But then, did she put up a fight? I can't imagine many people would have been happy to see him dragging off a woman, you know, before your world went crazy."
Dusk answers. "That's not how it's done with royalty. We hadn't technically expressed our interest in Shenra, but we had an understanding between us. An understanding that we wanted to announce with an engagement at one of my father's big parties with the neighboring royalty."
"Okay... but then something went wrong?"
Dusk's brows draw together. "It was subtle, but it also wasn't... I don't know. One night at dinner, he took Shenra on his arm. He walked her about as if she were his partner for the night. She sat next to him at dinner, and the three of us didn't know what to say or do. We'd always assumed our father knew that we were interested in her, and that we felt a connection to her, but that night we all wondered if we'd been mistaken. If he hadn't known. We wanted to clear it up, but then, Shenra didn't seem... upset about the arrangement, just flustered."
Phantom rubs his face, like the memories are making him tired. "We had a decision to make. Did we address it with our father? Did we confront her and ask her how she felt? Whether she wanted him or us? But we were young and inexperienced. We'd never seen our father take an interest in a woman after our mother, nor had we seen Shenra blushing and flirting with another man. We knew if we spoke the words aloud, if we tried to lay claim to her and she rejected us, it would create a rift between our father and us, as well as a rift with her. We weren't sure what to do."
"And then one night became many nights, with her on our father's arm and us lost about what to do."
Onyx signs, and Dusk speaks for him, even though I pick up many of the correct signs. "I approached her one day, a brief moment without her ladies or her guards. It was uncomfortable. She seemed to want to tell me something, but she stopped herself. Instead, she said that she hoped that things were still good between us and that she planned to clear up a confusion with our father."
"We thought that was the end of it," Dusk said, sounding defeated. "But then our father wed her in a private ceremony that night. The news was all over, as was the news that they were spending their days and nights in his room, enjoying their lives as a married couple."
"We were shocked," Phantom says, not that he needed to. I would say hearing their father married the woman they loved would shock anyone. "But it was also strange. For days we didn't see her or our father. The maid who cleaned their room seemed upset. The guards kept us from their floor. We didn't want to make things worse. We assumed that perhaps she had decided being a queen was better than being a princess, even though we'd never suspected her of being that type of woman."
"And then our father appeared once more, behaving as if nothing had happened. We causally mentioned her, and he avoided the topic before finally confessing that he felt the marriage had been a mistake. That it wasn't what he had thought it was, and that she had returned to her family's lands." Dusk looks disturb. "We had no reason not to believe him. He was our father. Cold, calculating, but our father. He'd only ever been kind and gentle with our mother, so why think otherwise?"
Onyx nods again and signs, “But we believe he killed her.”
“Why?” It isn’t me who asks, but Rayne.
“Because the shadows whispered that our mate would bring the person she’s with great power, enough power to rule a world, and he wanted it for himself.” Dusk stares at Onyx as Onyx finishes signing, then nods and continues. "From a young age we knew we'd share a mate, and once our connection was formed, the shadows began whispering. The Elders are the only ones capable of hearing the shadows, but they relayed the messages to the king and queen at the time, and their parents seemed excited. The idea that we could bring more power, more strength to our great nation, and that we were destined for a mate, it was all good things."
"Until Shenra," Dusk says in a sad voice. "Until our father took her as his own and nothing about our world made sense any longer."
“At the time, we didn’t have any proof, you understand. We thought she chose him over us, then retreated in shame when she couldn't make him happy.” Phantom nods to Onyx. “But Onyx didn’t buy it.”
