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This, too, was a question I already knew the answer to. My mother had had The Well since I could remember, and I could count on one hand the number of times she was allowedto share what had been revealed to her.
Mareina shook her head, still buried against me, her arms squeezing tighter.
“Can you at least tell me if one of us has some kind of terminal disease?”
Mareina huffed a sorry laugh.
She finally pulled back, making my heart squeeze at the sight of her watery appearance. As the Queen’s fearsome Royal Irae, I couldn’t imagine anyone else got to see her like this… Emotional, vulnerable, caring…
I took her face between my hands and looked down into her eyes.
“Hey there…,”I murmured gently, “Whatever you were shown, we’ll get through it together… Ok?”
The surprise on her face was apparent at my words but dissolved into a small, determined smile that tilted her lips as she nodded.
My mother cleared her throat. “Our guest has arrived,” she announced as though she had some kind of telepathic doorbell. She turned, striding towards the door. My mother stepped outside briefly, leaving the door only slightly ajar. My eyes locked on their joined hands as she tugged a tall male inside. He was even taller than me but half as broad with ebony skin and silvery eyes. Objectively speaking, I could recognize that he was a remarkably handsome male, if not a little unsettling in his stoic, otherworldly features.
Features I could never forget, although it had been over 70 years since I had seen him. Fury had my jaw working and my grip on Mareina tightening.
My mother’s smile was nervous as she spoke, her hand still clasped in her guest's.
“Darling, I’d like you to meet Miroslav…”
I reached for my Knowingness, which finally seemed to spark back to life. What I suddenly felt radiating from this male nearly took my breath away. I felt…love.So much love- and something like…Relief -radiating powerfully from him. My lips parted in shock as Ifeltthe tether between them…
Na Poa Hanei.
Soul mates.
Miroslav strode towards me, his long legs eating up the distance between us in two steps, to offer me his hand.
“It’s an honor to finally formerly meet you. I’ve… Heard so much.”
Disbelief warred within me, my eyes gradually drifting from Miroslav to my mother, who looked up at me with pleading eyes. Clutching Mareina to me, my eyes flicked momentarily to the offered hand, and I took a step back as though it were a weapon.
My mother stepped forward, wrapping her own arm protectively around his waist. “I’d planned on telling you before he arrived, but I didn’t imagine Mareina and I would be so long?—
“Do you know who this male is?What he’s done?”
My mother took a deep, calming breath. “Yes, I do, Nakoa. He’s not who you think he is. Andweowe this male everything. He’s mypoa hanei…”
My gut churned at the confirmation.Miroslav had spared my life on more than one occasion.It was much clearer now as to why. He was my mother’s mate. He obviously hadn’t killed me because of her. And it was likely the exact reason why my aunts, uncles, and cousins had escaped and remained safely in Spriga, on the southern coast of Atratus, to this day.
I shook my head, still unable to fully grasp the fact that my mother’smatewas this brutal murderer who had killed thousands with nothing more than a thought?—
Mareina’s hands gripped my shirt, yanking my gaze back to hers, tears still spilling as she shook her head at me.
“Nakoa… If you knew…”
My brow furrowed, and my heart pounded in my chest. Whatever The Well had shown her must have involved him to some degree. I reached for my Knowingness for some semblance of guidance.
It’s because of him you’re alive…
My mind reeled at those words… He had been the one to give Marina thegrá rootto prevent her from assassinating me… My Knowingness seemed to linger, something telling me there was more to it than that, but I was still too shocked to figure out what it meant.
Mareina’s face tightened almost painfully with the expression of whatever it was that she was trying not to burst with. Whatever The Well had shown her, I imagined.
Miroslav’s baritone voice was grave yet gentle.
