Dream of Us

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Dyani’s POV.

“I didn’t kill you; I would never hurt you Dyani,” he implores me to listen to his pitiful excuses as he backs up against the throne.

My mates stand around me, giving me my moment.

“You took my memories! You used my mother’s death to violate me, you warped my mind and stole from me.”

“I had no choice! I couldn’t risk you taking over my kingdom, not when I worked so hard to get here.”

“Is that what you call killing innocents and betraying allies? Working hard?” Denali accuses angrily.

He glares at my mate. “You lot should never have come near my daughter. I never would have been forced to do any of this if you had just stayed away from her.”

“We’re mates, you know that was never going to happen,” Calian retorts.

“It’s still your fault,” he hisses and lunges towards Calian.

He’s thrown back as though a huge gust of wind hits him. He sails through the air and lands on his throne in a heap with a grunt. My hands are tingling. I look down at them in shock and find them glowing gold.

I did that?

“You were scared of the power we wielded when we were together ten years ago, when we were still children,” Denali taunts Inteus, walking up to him. “Do you have any idea how powerful we are now?”

Inteus gulps and stays silent, gripping the arm rests of the throne with white hands.

“You’re going to find out,” Nuka warns him.

I take my mates’ hands and we form a circle around the throne. Chogan and Sian step back to give us room. The King shouts for help but no one comes. Any guards who catch sight of my mates and I run the other way out of the room. No one wants to take on four celestials.

Inteus tries to break out of the circle, but he’s thrown back onto the throne each time he does. It’s like being surrounded by an electric fence. He’s not getting away this time.

We close our eyes and summon our magic once more. Our emotions are unrestrained, our hurt and anger over the lost memories, the lost years together, flows through us as freely as the magic in our veins. I can feel the pain coming from my mates beside me, we are mourning lost time together.

Our emotions fuel the magic. It pools into a giant golden flame that searches for something to lock onto. It finds Inteus and ignites the man in gold fire. I can see him burning in my mind’s eye, I can smell the cooking flesh and hear the blood-curdling screams, but I drown it all out and focus on my mates instead. They bring me solace in a traumatic moment, they remind me why we are doing this. He deserves to pay.

The screams cut short suddenly and the smell of scorched clothing fills the room, making me turn up my nose. I can feel the flames dying back, the heat on my face becomes lessened until it disappears completely. Our magic returns into our bodies, disappearing into our veins. I open my eyes and find that all that is left of King Inteus is a measly pile of ashes sitting upon an untouched throne.

“Good riddance,” Sian mutters.

“I’m going to get Sylvia,” Chogan says, mentioning his sister.

“I’ll come with you,” Sian tells him and looks at me. “We’ll be back.”

“We’ll wait here for you,” I reply. I look at my mates, realising that I don’t feel any different. “My memories haven’t come back.”

They frown in unison.

“But Inteus is dead...the person who cast the spell is gone, that should reverse the memories,” Denali thinks aloud, trying to understand.

“We all worked together, our joined power should have been strong enough to break it,” Calian sounds frustrated as he speaks.

“I have a theory,” Nuka announces and we look at him. “It may be because our bond isn’t solidified. None of us have marked Dyani.”

“Or she us,” Denali muses. “That’s a possibility.”

“One worth testing,” I reply carefully. “When the time is right.”

I only just got my mates back and, as much as my body and this heat want me to jump their bones immediately, I know we’ll all need a few days to adjust and get used to each other again. With my first question temporarily answered, I move onto my next ones.

“What happens now? Is there any chance of an uprising from Inteus’ kingdom? Will we have to fight our way out of here?”

I know we can if we need to, but I’d prefer not to. We used our powers to take out the king, I’m not tired yet but my muscles are starting to ache, I know that using my magic again today would fatigue me.

“No, I very much doubt anyone in the kingdom will shed a tear over his death,” Denali says with finality.

“We can check with Chogan, but from the way those guards ran from the door just now, none of them seemed willing to give their life for their king,” Nuka agrees.

Calian nods. “I don’t know who takes over, though. Do they still need a sovereign? Can they not become a free state?”

“A kingdom without a king is a dangerous thing,” Denali murmurs.

He’s right, I fear. Someone needs to make sure the kingdom doesn’t fall into ruin without a leader.

“But who would take over?” I ask.

No one has the answer, it goes silent between us. We wait for Sian and Chogan to return, which they do around half an hour later. With them is a frail but determined-looking woman with hair similar to Chogan’s. She must be his sister.

“This is Sylvia,” Chogan introduces us to her.

She thanks us for ridding her of King Inteus. There is a haunted look in her pale grey eyes, I hope that it fades after some time healing with her brother. Chogan looks unbelievably happy with his sister on one side and his mate on the other.

“We were discussing what will happen to the kingdom without Inteus leading them,” Nuka says to Chogan.

Chogan frowns. “The kingdom will be grateful to hear about Inteus’ death, but they do need a replacement, otherwise things could go seriously wrong.”

“Who will replace him?” Denali questions.

Chogan looks at me. “Dyani is his heir...”

“No way!” I protest. “I’m not royalty, I’m not queen material. I don’t know the first thing about ruling.”

“I have an idea,” a quiet voice speaks up.

Everyone looks at Sylvia. She shifts uncomfortably and gives a small smile.

“What about Aloria?”

The name sounds familiar and once again, I curse my loss of memory. It’s so frustrating knowing that I know something, I just can’t remember it. My mates and Sian look confused, but they recognise the name. Chogan looks completely baffled.

“But she’s dead,” Calian argues.

“Who is Aloria?” I ask.

“She is the queen’s sister,” Sylvia replies. “And she is very much alive.”

“Wait, what? The queen’s sister?” Chogan repeats. His eyes travel over to my face. “But that would mean...”

“She’s my aunt,” I finish his trail of thought.

“We were told she died years ago,” Denali states.

“She didn’t, Inteus locked her away as a means to manipulate his wife, Catarina.”

My mother.

“She’s alive, then. But where is she?” Nuka asks.

“I don’t know, I would have thought the Deputy General would have known,” Sylvia says pointedly and her brother shrugs.

“I’ll ask around, one of the guards will know something,” he promises.

“Catarina is the best hope for the kingdom, she is royalty and was raised to lead,” Sylvia tells us.

“I’d like to meet her,” I say hopefully.

If Sylvia is right and I do have an aunt who’s alive, she is the only living blood relative I have left.

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“This is where she’s been living,” Chogan states as we stop outside of a row of terraced houses. “One of the guards checks on her once a month at the King’s orders. He gave me a warning that the house is enchanted by mages, they didn’t want any of you stumbling across the place.”

“He wanted us to believe she was dead,” Denali deduces.

Chogan nods grimly. “Yes,” he admits. “Have you got enough energy to break through the barrier?”

I glance at my mates. Calian nods for us.

“We can do it.”

“We’ll just need to sleep for a day afterwards,” Nuka adds light-heartedly.

We stand together, taking on a position we’ve done so many times recently. Manifesting our magic, we target the magical barrier around the house and search out its weak points. The spell isn’t particularly powerful and we’ll able to remove it in a couple of minutes. I breathe a sigh of relief as I feel the resistance disappear.

“Would you like to do the honours?” Denali asks me, gesturing to the front door.

With my heart in my mouth, I slowly walk up to the unimposing wooden door and pull on the knocker, knocking twice. It feels like the world stops spinning and time drags before my very eyes as we wait for the door to be answered.

Eventually, it swings open and a tanned woman with long kinky curly hair answers the door. From the fact she is my mother’s sister, I know she must be over forty, yet she doesn’t look a day over thirty. She blinks in surprise at so many people standing on her doorstep.

“Hello? Can I help you?” She asks warily, keeping her body shielded behind the door.

“Are you Aloria De la Cour, please?”

She looks at me, frowning in confusion as she studies my face. As I look at her more closely, I recognise a striking familiarity about her. In my mind’s eye, a memory returns to me. It’s only a glimpse, but it’s a flash of my mother reading me a book as I sit on her lap. I must only be about five or six.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry, who are you? You look awfully familiar...”

I summon my courage and smile at her. “I’m Dyani Decoteau, your niece.”

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