AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, Clara!” Life startled half the room into jumping with her booming voice. “They are your children, and they deserve some answers.”
Clara’s eyes darkened, and her beautiful face morphed into one of loathing and disgust as she looked at her sister.
Mercy ignored Water’s scowl and turned her back on our Elemental mother altogether. “Your mother asked that this information be hidden from you in the hopes you’d never need to hear it. She is your mom, so I allowed her to keep her secrets.”
Life paused as if waiting for one of us to say something or maybe she gathered her thoughts. Either way, no one spoke until Dalton raised his hand.
“How does the Mindolin know Lady Water?” Clara scowled deeper at Dalt’s use of her Elemental title instead of calling her Mom.
Mercy nodded, but Water cut in first. “They don’t need to know, Mercy. Knowing won’t change what we have to do.”
“You mean kill him?” Carmon spoke up, and Mom nodded. “Well, he could have slaughtered us all back there at the academy. Adam wasn’t bound. The Mindolin took the chance that when we learned what you kept from us, we’d join him.”
“So don’t find out.” Mom stood and paced a few feet before turning back. “Don’t find out, and we can destroy him.”
Lord Lightning scoffed. “Oh, so now you want him destroyed? Where was this attitude almost a thousand years ago? We could have killed him then!”
Life shook her head as Lightning spoke his rebuke. “It was your mate who made the prophecy, Zhaine.”
“Hold up.” I waved my hand for attention as my uncle made to retort. “Start from the beginning, Life, and don’t leave anything out. We were defenseless against him today, and I’m not eager for a repeat.”
“Same.” Cal and more than one of my brothers grumbled their assent.
Mercy nodded and gave the twelve of us, my brothers and our mates, her full attention. “Some of this is repeat for most of you while it is needful information for the rest.
“Thousands upon thousands of years ago, there were humans and Elementals in this world along with the creatures that live in Bard’s Forest. Only then, the creatures lived everywhere. The humans were all Neutral. We lived in peace other than a few skirmishes a year, and there was no war.
“Over time, a few humans requested we give them a little of our power to aid their people. Some of my siblings did this, and the humans thrived. However, we soon realized that even a tiny portion of our power was damaging to their bodies. We couldn’t take the power back, though.
While it damaged those who first received it, the power changed their descendants. Only a few generations later, healers had been created, along with two powerful groups of people. They lived together in peace and harmony until one side decided they were superior to the other. This side broke off and warred with the other.”
“The Dark. They are the ones who started this.” Sophie hung her head, but Life shook her own head.
“The ones who started this allied with the Neutrals.”
Shock rippled through the links the twelve of us shared.
“The Light?” Grace’s voice held the disbelief we all felt. “We started this?”
Life nodded. “The Light even named themselves the Light to give them a sense of superiority. The Dark continued to attempt for peace but were soon shoved into a smaller section of the world by the Light.”
Carmon ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe this. All this time we’ve been fighting and killing, and we were in the wrong? Why did you allow us to kill when the Light started this war?”
Life looked sad as she gave a great sigh. “There is no wrong or right side anymore, Carmon. The war has been going on for so long that who started it no longer matters. All those people are long dead.”
“Maybe it doesn’t matter to you, Aunt Mercy,” Chris hung his head, “but it matters to us.”
“You give them mates and they get all soft.” Leo’s snide remark to Marcus wasn’t even attempted to be whispered.
“It’s really no wonder a war started if they had you guys to look up to as an example on how to treat people.” Drew glared at the men across the room.
“Enough,” Life called when Leo snarled. Her eyes softened when she looked back at us. “We were not always like this. We were happy. We ruled well.”
“What happened?” Cal asked.
“Love, Lightning, and Water all took mates over time. First Love. Then Water. Lightning came last.” Life looked sad. “Love’s daughters, as most of you know, were the creators of the Harbor Witches. After the Demons were created, Lightning took a Demon mate. She became a Lower Life Elemental, a seer.”
My brows drew down. “If Lightning’s mate became a Lower Elemental, what about Love and Water’s mates?”
