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“I know,” I said with a tiny grin. “I still have a hard time believing it was me making those choices.”
“I’m glad you turned around,” Liana said, looking at me, then back at the picturesque scenery. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course! Anything, Liana.”
She paused for a moment before speaking again. “Do you think Lyka is doing any better since I got here? I…I don’t really know what he was like before, so I can’t really judge.” She licked her lips. “I was wondering if we could go see him again soon? I…this sounds weird, but I feel drawn to him. I don’t really have a word for it, except I imagine it’s what a magnet feels like next to another magnet.”
I brightened. “Of course we can,” I said, confident that we would be fine to visit Fenris’s brother. He was safely held where he couldn’t accidentally hurt us or himself. “We can go tonight. My magic is the most potent then.” I paused. “And it’s not weird at all. I mean, it feels strange for me, too, since it’s new, but I feel the same way about Fenris—interested. Curious. Now that I know him, I want to be near him, be involved with what he’s doing and what he likes. The pull feels like it keeps gettingstronger but…not in a scary way. It feels soothing. Grounding. It’s hard to put into words.”
Liana nodded. “I had another question about what Fenris said. Witches did this to Lyka? Messed with his mind, I mean. What did Fenris mean by that?”
My smile fell away, and I took a breath. “There’s a nasty witch named Sabine. I never met her older sister, Sela, but according to Fenris, everyone believed she was Lyka’s fated mate, including Lyka. Sabine is an extremely talented psychic witch, and she has no respect for life or for the suffering of others, so I can’t imagine her older sister was much different. Sela tormented Lyka, but she was so sly about it; she only did it in his mind. So it wasn’t unlike what happened to you after you met Alyssa and your mother didn’t believe you. But Sela kept at it until he snapped. He went completely feral and attacked Fenris. He killed her as well. Fenris had to…well, ‘trap’ sounds like a harsh word, but he had to trap him and keep him captive on a different island where he could live and be undisturbed without posing a threat to others.” I took a deep breath, then continued. “He was completely out of his mind until recently, when he started showing signs of improvement. He even seemed interested in connecting with Fenris, but Sabine used me to find him, and she attacked him in retribution for her sister’s death. That’s why Fenris brought him back here—to try and prevent any other attacks.”
“Oh my god,” Liana said, her mouth agape before she swallowed. “That ishorrible. Why would anyone do that?”
I bit the inside of my mouth. “Sabine works for the Solar Sovereign, so I think it stands to reason that Sela did, too. The Solar Sovereign is the direct opposite of the Lunar Lord. Only one can rule at a time. My understanding is that while the Lunar Lord shoulders the curse for shifters, the Solar Sovereign wouldn’t. All shifters would get cursed again, which would resultin absolute chaos. Think the witch trials and old wolf hunts, but times ten. That’s part of the reason Fenris is so protective of his brother—Fenris is the Lunar Lord now, not Lyka. If Sabine hurt Lyka badly enough, she could kill him. He wouldn’t be able to heal quickly enough to survive.”
“Could Sabine find Lyka here?” Liana asked quietly, suddenly looking around.
“I don’t think so.” Admittedly, I didn’t know all the inner workings of Fenris’s security system, and I was happy to keep it that way for now. “But Fenris has all kinds of security protocols in place, including magical defenses. Val is his house witch, but he has several others on call. We’re safe here.”
Liana exhaled, looking slightly less tense. “Well, I can’t blame Fenris for being so distrusting. It’s amazing he’s willing to deal with us at all, really.” She stood up. “Well, I think I’m going to go for a swim and get some exercise. I’ll meet you after dinner?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Once he’d checked on Lyka’s wing, Walter agreed to come with us to keep an eye on things. While he didn’t have any paranormal skills, I was still glad to have him there. I knew Walter would keep a calm head no matter what.
Lyka seemed interested as we approached him, though he scarcely paid me any attention when Liana came to stand in front of the viewing window. She greeted him, waving, and for the first time, he mirrored her movement, though he made no attempt to speak. I still wasn’t sure if he understood her when she spoke, but he was clearly listening. I took a few more steps back, giving Liana what privacy I could as I closed my eyes and tried to focus my senses.
Early that morning, I found a spell that combined conjuring and psychic magic. In theory, it’d allow me to help untangleSela’s dark influence from Lyka’s memories. I hadn’t the chance to practice it before now, and I didn’t think I would be able to really rehearse with Esme. She was much more lucid than Lyka, spending more time awake each day, but she hadn’t endured years—or even decades—of psychological torture.
Regardless, I still wasn’t sure if it’d work. The description of the case study, if you could call it that, was about a witch who’d been experimented on by her sister for a year. It had been a terrible situation, to be sure, and I didn’t want to minimize that trauma, but…it still wasn’t like the torment Lyka had endured.
But I wouldn’t know if it’d be helpful for him until I tried.
As I rid myself of any lingering doubt, I reached out mentally until I approached the old wooden door, but sensed Lyka’s resistance. Each day, he seemed more able to stand my presence, and more able to repel it, yet I could still breach the entryway with minimal pressure. He was too focused on Liana to put up much resistance.
I tried to gently wade through the tangled threads. It reminded me of traversing through a hoarder’s home. There was a well-trodden path, but everything else threatened to topple over on me at any moment.
After my recent practice with dark magic, I was able to recognize its shadow after a moment of orientation.As far as silver linings go, I’ll take it.This would be the tricky part: slowly picking at the magic keeping Lyka’s memories in a hazy shadow. I couldn’t even tell what was “real” and what was a result of Sabine’s work, and I didn’t want to cause any more harm. It was tiring, but I worked slowly, plucking at the dark magic in individual strands, unknotting and untangling them as I slowly pulled out the memories. The magic stuck more in some places than others, and I knew I was only just scratching the surface.
You aren’t a bad person, Lyka.I hoped, more than anything, he would know that. Any sane wolf would loathe themselves forharming their mate, much less killing them. I needed him to know the witch he killed was not his mate, not his ally. I couldn’t explain to Fenris exactly what was wrong and how I knew, but if I simply untied memories, Lyka would be able to follow the trail of breadcrumbs I left behind.
I had no idea how long I’d worked, but my body felt like Jell-O. Even opening my eyes felt strenuous. I leaned on the wall as I caught my breath, and to my surprise, when I looked over at Lyka and Liana, he appeared to be speaking to her. His eyes were bright, focused on her face, and whatever he was saying, it was with intent.
“Do you understand that?” I whispered to Walter. “Is he…speaking another language?”
“I believe so,” Walter said. “I’ve heard Fenris speak the same language…but I’m afraid I don’t know any of it myself. I suspect Lyka never learned English, given when he lost his mind.”
My heart soared. “Fenris might be able to talk to him again!” I whispered excitedly, elated the work I’d done was proving useful so far.
Lyka recoiled suddenly, rubbing his eyes as if struck with a sudden migraine. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling much better myself. “Sorry, but I think I need to turn in,” I told Liana, offering an apologetic smile. “That went well. We can come back down tomorrow night if you like.”
“Please,” she said, her eyes shining. “I…I think that went really well, too.”
Her smile stayed with me even as we said our good nights, and I tucked myself into bed, hoping Fenris would be back on the island soon.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a dense forest, but as I looked around at the greenery, I recognized it. I walked alongthe path and saw I was climbing upward, but didn’t feel any strain. Higher and higher, I climbed, and in no time at all, I found myself in front of an ancient temple. I inhaled sharply as I stepped forward to brush my fingers over the old stone, sensing magical energy around it, when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye.
