Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
“Do you know what’s the source of your power?”
Evanora’s question pulled Talia out of her daze.
“The source of my power?”, Talia asked, unsure if Evanora’s question was directed at Liseli’s existence, or maybe at her bloodline.
Talia had no intention of revealing anything about Liseli, and she didn’t know her mother, but she could bring up her father.
“My father was Valerian Moonrider. He was the next Alpha of the Midnight Guardians pack, but due to unclear circumstances, he disappeared, and his sister took over the pack.”
Evanora was curious. “Unclear circumstances?” She noticed that Talia forgot to mention the second source of her gene pool. “Who was your mother?”
“I don’t know who my mother was. I was a baby when my father left me with Axel’s parents and said that he had something urgent to handle. That was the last time anyone from the Midnight Guardians pack saw him.”
“I see”, Evanora said absentmindedly and stood up. “I will leave you…”
“Wait!”, Talia exclaimed. Did Evanora really think that she can leave just like that? “About the portals…”
Evanora frowned. “I still didn’t recuperate since last night and I want to rest. Let’s talk about it later.”
Talia couldn’t believe this! Was Evanora trying to dodge talking about the portals AGAIN? She steeled her resolve to use her last resort. “You owe me a favor. I lit up the flames in this fountain and you said that you will fulfill my request. We had a deal, right?”
Evanora’s expression stiffened. “Right.”
“This is my request. I want us to talk about what is needed to create a portal.”
Evanora stared at Talia like she was growing a second head. “Are you sure you want to use your favor for a talk?”
“An honest talk.”, Talia clarified.
Evanora narrowed her eyes. “If one uses a deal, witches can’t lie. We will stay within the confinements of the deal or suffer serious consequences. That’s how things work.”
‘Yeah, right’, Talia thought. They will stay within the confinements of the deal, but they will also use ambiguous terms and scheming to make it work in their favor.
At the thought of ambiguous words, Talia got an idea to prevent those by being specific.
“I won’t insist that the portal should be opened. But I want us to discuss ways how it can be done. I am confident that Yasmin, Cornelia, and Amelia are only the first witches to have soulmates outside of this realm, and there will be many others. With our increased collaboration, a portal would be convenient for everyone. At the end of the talk, if we establish that we can create a portal to connect the Silver Flame Coven with the Shadow Fang pack, and you are not willing, I want to hear why. That’s it.”
“That sounds like a good deal to me.”, Yasmin’s voice drifted from the side.
Talia turned to see Yasmin and Axel walking toward them.
“I am also curious about the portals”, Yasmin said. “You don’t mind if we join, right?”
“No”, Evanora said, surprising everyone present.
“No, for which one?”, Dayson asked. The meaning could be, ‘No, I don’t mind if you join’, but Evanora’s stern tone was more like, ‘No, you can’t join.’
Evanora looked at Talia. “If Yasmin is present, we won’t be having that talk.”
Talia was surprised by the blunt rejection. But then, Evanora said that she was not lying so maybe this was normal. After all, Evanora is the high priestess, and she didn’t need to sugarcoat her words.
Yasmin couldn’t believe this. “What is so important that I can’t hear it? You know that I can just go to our archives and dig out the information myself.”
“You can’t”, Evanora said stiffly. “Information about portals is not there.”
“Where is it?”, Yasmin asked. Did they have a secret library or something?
Evanora shook her head. “No one knows. When your aunt Summer left with her group to investigate portals, they took everything written we had. They didn’t return and we never found any trace of them.”
“So, if you don’t have any documents, how are you going to tell me about portals?”, Talia asked.
Evanora tapped her temple, indicating that she has the information in her mind. “One of the first spells I mastered was committing things to memory. I practiced by going to the archives and memorizing whatever I could get my hands on.”
‘The witch is lying!’, Liseli growled in Talia’s mind. ‘If she memorized whatever she could get her hands on, why did she tell us to check the archives for clues related to what happened last night? Or should we really believe that she memorized only portal-related things?’
Talia had to agree with Liseli.
‘Let me force my way in and see what she has in there’, Liseli growled and Talia panicked.
‘If you force your way in, she might become an imbecile. How will we explain that to other witches? What about Yasmin?’
‘No one will know that we did it’, Liseli said smugly. ‘Think about it. Can we trust the words that come out of that old hag?’
—
Talia was conflicted.
Liseli was eager to take charge, but Talia didn’t want to do anything rashly. They came here on a FRIENDLY visit, damn it!
However, Liseli had a point. Was there any use in talking to Evanora if Talia couldn’t trust her?
Evanora said how she was not lying, but what if that was a lie? And what if Evanora bluntly rejected Yasmin as a way to distract Talia so that she can’t tell truth from falsehood? Ah, all this was stressful!
‘Let’s try talking first’, Talia said to Liseli.
Talia could feel Liseli’s hostility and it was hard to pacify the ancient spirit.
Liseli disliked Evanora since the mate-for-mate deal. Sure, Axel ended up jumping into it, and then Evanora gave up on cashing it in when it was confirmed that Axel and Yasmin were mates. However, if not for Axel, there was a chance that Talia would be facing the choices of Dayson (and Sapa) being free and not remembering Talia (and Liseli), and the other choice of Dayson regaining his memories, but being forced to stay with witches. Unacceptable!
‘What is there to talk?’, Liseli hissed. ‘The old hag can lie her mouth off. And what’s the deal with Yasmin not being able to hear it?’
Again, Talia agreed with Liseli’s points. It was strange. Was Evanora insisting for Yasmin to stay out of it because Evanora wanted to lie (or worse), and she didn’t want to do it in front of Yasmin?
Talia steeled her resolve and spoke to Evanora.
“I want to use my deal with you on discussing the portals. I expect that you will tell me everything you know about them. And I want Dayson, Axel, and Yasmin to be present. You are welcome to add more people from your side if you wish.”
Evanora shook her head. “Not Yasmin. You don’t understand. This impacts our family.”
“Then, more so I should be there.”, Yasmin said. “Mother, you said how the written documents are gone. Knowledge will be preserved by sharing it with other members of the Coven. Or do you plan to take it to your grave?”
Evanora sucked in a breath. “Are you cursing me to die?”
Yasmin rolled her eyes. “I’m just stating the facts, mother. We all come from nature and we will all return to nature, eventually. No one lives forever.”
“I will get some other witches to join. Serena and…”
“Me.”, Yasmin interrupted Evanora, this time she was visibly angry as her pregnancy hormones fanned her temper. “Information about portals is sensitive. Who is better to carry the legacy of the Coven than me? Or are you saying that Serena is more important than I am?”
“Of course, not. But…”
“Then, it’s settled.”, Yasmin said. “Let’s go to mother’s office. No one can eavesdrop there.”
…
No other witch joined them, and for the next hour, Evanora was talking about portals.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.