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There's a strange look in his eyes that makes my excitement fizzle out like an extinguished candle. He presses his lips into a thin line, his gaze reluctantly drifting up from the mark to meet my own.
"Your mother was worried something like this might happen," he says, shaking his head.
"Something like what?" I can't keep the anxious edge out of my voice.
"I'm sorry, but that mark is not a spell, and it is not my doing, princess. It is a curse."
I figured as much. It certainly felt like a curse. But if it's not because of my father, then why is this happening to me?
"In her letters, Vanessa mentioned having nightmares after she became pregnant. She said the Moon Goddess was angry. Selene's greatest gift to wolves is the mating bond, and your mother and I disrespected that. We chose each other even though we could never be mates."
I don't understand. So I'm cursed because my parents weren't true mates? It's not common, but it's also not unheard of for a wolf to defy the will of the Goddess and mate with someone who is not their true mate. That sort of union is extremely rare and highly frowned upon, but I've never heard of someone being cursed for it.
The confusion must be apparent on my face because my father goes on.
"Vanessa and I defiled nature itself. Wolves are children of moonlight, but nightwalkers are creatures of the dark. We were created of opposing magic, born to be enemies. We tried to deny our connection, but I cared for your mother too much, and love made us both brave. I never thought something bad could come from my feelings for Vanessa, but your mother feared they would see our offspring as an abomination. Worse still, she worried the Goddess would punish our sin. That's why she tried to stay with her pack for as long as she did. She thought being among wolves would help, and perhaps if our baby was born among her own kind, the Goddess would spare the child."
No. He can't be saying what I think he's saying. I've come too far; I've been through too much.
"So I was cursed from birth just for existing?" I ask, my voice trembling from the tears that once again threatened to spill from my eyes. "This mark, the pain it causes me, it's some sort of divine punishment for being a freak?"
I'm shaking, and my father brushes away my tears, his thumb cold against my flushed cheek.
"Do not say that," he says sharply. "You are not a freak. You are the daughter of Vanessa Massen and Marco Silas, princess of the night. You are more precious to me than any title or treasure, and I would give anything to make things right. None of what has happened is your fault, and you should not be made to suffer the consequences of my choices."
But I have.
"So what? There's nothing we can do?" I ask, my voice pleading.
There has to be a way to fix this. I can't just be damned until the day I die... can I?
"Sweet girl... the gods are never fair, and fate is rarely forgiving. I'm so sorry."
So that's it.
My parents desecrated the laws of nature, and in retaliation, the Goddess cursed my heart so I'd be doomed to be without the one I love. It's a twisted sort of poetic justice. My mother could never mate with the man she loved.
And, as it turns out, neither can I.
Chapter Ten
There are things that time cannot heal.
It's been three days since I met my father by the lake that fateful night. Three days since my life changed forever.
The Night King offered to take me back to the Rovers' territory. He explained that he could travel through shadows and warned that sunlight could be deadly to vampires. But I can't go back, and it has nothing to do with sunlight.
It seems being a half-breed has its perks. I've always been a little extra sensitive to sunburns, but that's hardly the end of the world. Because of my mixed bloodline, I can walk under the sun as well as keep my calm under the full moon.
My father suspects I would become stronger if I fed on blood, but due to my mother's wolf lineage, I can just as easily survive without it. So much has changed in such a short span of time, and I'm not sure I want to know what feeding would do to me. Maybe it would finally unlock the power within me, and I'd finally manifest a wolf. Or maybe giving in to that side of myself would kill the wolf within me. It's hardly an exact science, and no one like me has ever existed before.
We have no way of knowing if feeding on blood would unleash my wolf or destroy it. Right now, I'm not willing to find out. Perhaps I never will be.
There was once a time I would have given anything for this. I have a chance to access power unlike anything I've ever known. I'm living in a literal palace, and the nightwalkers treat me like a proper princess, dutifully doting on my every whim. I know the truth about my past, and I finally understand where I come from and what happened to my mother. I have a father who adores me.
But nothing is simple anymore.
I asked the Night King if I could stay with him for a while until I figured out what to do about the curse of the Moon Goddess. He'd been delighted, but I remained unable to share in his joy.
