The Dance of Wolves

One more little push, I think, “Did I mention that the Piasa could see souls in Elysium or that it could see souls being reborn?”

With a hiss, the queen sucks in a breath. “Reveal your true natures to me.” She commands with a wave of her hand. “Ah, it is as I guessed. Half Fae and half-demon, a hybrid fallen angel.”

With a snap of her fingers, the Wampus Cat appears on her right. “It is in your nature as a demon to create chaos, grief, and destruction; however, if you wish to be true to your Fae self and continue to live among us as Fae, you must conduct yourself as one--here and now.”

“Shifter-child, I am holding it in place. The Piasa can neither move nor blink unless I allow it. Its choice is to fulfill the bargain with you as Fae or prepare to stare my feline general in her eyes and be trapped in the void as a demon.”

I walk up to it with hesitant, short strides. When I reach it, I tilt my ear toward its mouth. Its face is covered with the sheen of perspiration.

"Qayin is my name.”

I look over at Amal. “It gave me a name, but how do I confirm it is its full, true name?”

Instead of answering me directly, he turns to Kitsa and the Winterqueen. “I have often wondered if a being can still be summoned by its true name from the void? If we subject it to the Wampus stare and the name doesn’t work, then no harm done--by lying, it will have chosen to live as a demon.”

The queen waves the Wampus Cat forward. Beads of sweat slide down the Piasa’s face. I approach it again, “Is there anything else you want to add?”

"Qayin the Cursed is my true name.”

The Cat’s eyes swallow it whole. After a few moments, I say its name three times in a voice barely above a whisper and it reappears, clearly rattled.

“Our deal also involved your instructing me...how can someone, like Kitsa for example, be released from a geas?”

“Only the party who placed the geas can revoke it.”

“Teacher, please show me.”

Qayin the Cursed glares at me angrily. It waves a claw in Kitsa’s direction and says, “You are released from your promise.”

“Mother, it was the Piasa who tricked me into that form. Furthermore, if it informed you of this sooner, you could have released me long ago.”

“For this, the Piasa should be exiled from Fae lands forever.” The queen’s voice was chilling with the pronouncement.

“No! I would be destroyed like the Nephilim if I live exclusively amongst mortals. Please! I am the only one of my kind. Have mercy.” The female voice begs while the male voice chokes on each word.

“You could’ve prevented a Fae war and you could have spared Demetrius and his mate so much grief at my hands. You do not deserve mercy, but I will ask. Is there anyone here who will speak for it?”

“I will speak for the Piasa...if it makes it worth my while. It is good to learn from someone who answers my questions but it is best to learn from someone who helps me formulate the questions I should ask.” I raise a brow at Qayin the Cursed.

“It was your fate to die the day you were born. Alma still sustains your life force to this day. It is what prevents you from fully bonding with your mate,” it teases me with new information.

Amal steps toward me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “If there is a way for me to share my life energy with Aksal instead so that we can have a long, healthy life together, can--no will you agree to tell us as well as help us do so?”

“Answer his question as if it were my own.”

“Yes, it is possible and yes, I will help you.”

Both voices sounded humble, its male voice grudgingly so.

“Queen Lilibeth, if the Piasa is destroyed, so much of its knowledge and wisdom accumulated over eons will be lost. It has given me its name and therefore agrees to conduct itself as a Fae. You have already acknowledged that it was only living according to its nature as a demon when it committed evil deeds that affected all of us. I suggest two things. First, strip all its titles of nobility and second, since it values wealth, command it to spend all of it in restitution to the crown and to both Fae and non-Fae families of war victims.

Qayin’s eyes bulged and it grit its teeth at my suggestion, but considering the wrongs done to Alma and the war it helped set in motion resulted in my mother being attacked while pregnant and that led to my stillbirth, I was being magnanimous as fuck.

Yeah, I know that Alma wouldn’t have become my wolf had that not happened to me. I know Amal wouldn’t be here if his mother hadn’t seduced her captor when she was a prisoner of war, but I’m feeling petty so I’m focusing on the bad things.

Qayin the Cursed and I are connected now that it is indebted to me and I know its true name. The queen sentenced it to the Fae Phantom Zone inside General Wampus for the next three years in mortal time. It will feel like falling for an eternity in unbounded isolation and total darkness for the Piasa and I will be the only one who can free him from it.

So, before it is forced to go to its prison, when it tells me in a thought-link I have to die and be revived in order to experience true mate hood with Amal; I know it’s the truth. It would rather I forgo the bond so I will be around to call it back to this world, but of course it would. But, I do want to be with my mate. I want someone to call mine for the rest of my life.

I only have to die. No big deal, I was born that way. I try to psyche myself up. Yeah, I only have to die a little. I’ll be okay, Amal will come to my rescue again. How many times did Amal step into the fray to save me today without hesitation? He is willing to share his life energy. He took on the queen’s strongest guards and won. He showed me a world of magic. He’s handsome, strong, brave, and wise. He likes me and makes me feel desired. He made me breakfast and showed me how thoughtful he could be in so many other ways. He’s mine…my soulmate.

What is a little death compared to that?