The New World

I glanced at Grayson as he just lifted a brow at them, probably feeling much like I was at the moment. Given all the issues piling up right now, the last thing I wanted to deal with was these three, and I was going to go out on a limb and say that Grayson was feeling that way too. I sat back down on the couch, pulling the twins on either side of me, and watched as everyone else sat down too.

“I know you love your mate, Grayson, anyone can see that. However, she has a point. You rule together, not separate. There will be times her ways seem foreign to you, but they are the best means needed. And Fire, your beloved is hard-headed, but you need to respect what he says as well,” Sol said, leaning forward in the chair to look at each one of them. “Your wisdom will get passed down to these two, and your power, your knowledge, and your skills will be encroached on their minds. They will follow your examples in being leaders.”

“I know that,” Grayson said but Lunella held up her hand to stop the rest of his words.

“We knew that pairing opposite species was going to be difficult, we know that both of you are brilliant, tactical, and well versed in the ways of your kind. However, you lack that same brilliance in the ways of others. Fire, you know how best to make a vampire strong, to put a vampire on their feet, but that same set of skills would not be required for a wolf. And Grayson, you know how to make a wolf stronger, and braver, but that rule would not apply to a vampire. And neither of you knows how to train a witch,” Lunella said, glancing between the two of them.

“Which is why you had visitors to help, but even still, it was going to take both of you to handle witches, and that’s how it should be because neither of you was born into that. What you are also struggling to find right now with the other half of your heart is that you complete each other. Where Grayson is weak, Fire is strong. And where Fire lacks, Grayson you make up for. In other words…,” Mudais started, letting her voice trail off.

“It’s the both of us,” Grayson said, glancing over at me. Talk about a slap in the face. Sure, it was something we knew, and believed, but I do suppose that at times like these, we didn’t trust it. That sometimes we felt too different to actually be a united unit.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, Fire, you know this.” I turned my gaze onto Sol and lifted a brow.

“Of course I do, I saw it happen. It took time,” I mumbled.

“And so will working together. But I will share this with the two of you. As hard as it is to get along at times, you need to make sure that it’s not shown to your people. Right now, we’re on the cliff of something that has never been done in our history and very few know that you two are about to lead everyone! But I will guarantee,” Sol said, his eyes bouncing between both Grayson and me, “that if your people see you fighting, see the mistrust between you two, they won’t follow you and this war will be lost before it really even had the chance to start.” I sat back against the couch, feeling like the scolded child that I was. I looked up at Sol who only looked back at me, a smile tugging at his lips.

“I’m well past the age of getting relationship advice, dad.” That had Sol smiling and even Grayson chuckled. “I get it, we need to work together.”

“The problem with any relationship has always been a compromise. You want to believe you’re right, that there is nothing else that can stand up to your thoughts, but that’s not strength, Grayson, that’s a huge weakness,” Mundias said, her eyes on Grayson. “I don’t think she went about it the right way, in other words, not discussing it with you, but I have to give Fire props to send a spy in on Demonio. That was smart, actually. And I do believe needed.”

“Of course, the women are going to stick together,” Grayson said and I reached over to rub his back. “She didn’t even let me explain.” Grayson’s eyes locked with mine and I offered him a smile.

“I know you both might find it strange that we’re here offering advice like this,” Lunella started and I turned my head to look at her, something in her voice capturing my attention. “When we crown you both, that is our seal of approval over who we have chosen to lead. And not everyone will follow you, and that’s okay. But we can’t come down to interfere anymore. So conversations like this, like giving clues on how to help, will be something none of us can do. This is in part why we have delayed for as long as we can. We had the date of your coronation set in our minds for a long time, and we were hoping that we could do it and not have to worry anymore about you two.”

“You’re referring to the Blood Moon, aren’t you?” I asked and I felt Grayson’s eyes on me. I hadn’t gotten the chance to explain what Elric had thought. Lunella lifted a brow but nodded.

“How did you know that?” she questioned and I smirked.

“It seems the guys were trying to figure it out in the book, Elric overheard part of it, and then figured it out to be the Blood Moon. It would make sense truthfully.”

“The day we place those crowns on your head will show our world just what is going on. The powers you have will already be stronger. However, what is not told to you, or not in that book, is that the blood you two share will now make you both stronger always thanks to that moon,” Sol said as he leaned back in the chair. “Everything we have done has been on our timeline. Nothing had happened by chance because we had a schedule.” Grayson stared at him and slowly shook his head.

“And what if we fought it? What if we said we didn’t want to go down that road because we didn’t know it or understand it?” Mundias laughed, a whimsical sound if I ever heard one and the twins both grinned at it.

“Do you think we would have given you a choice? You weren’t mated to anyone else and you were desisted to be together. Your trivial thoughts were not going to play a part in the creation that we had done.” Mundias stood up and walked over to him. “Remember Grayson, we had this planned before Fire was born. What does that tell you?” Grayson glanced over at me and I shook my head. I had given up hope a while ago that I would be able to fight this bond. Not that he or I wanted to, but it was a little odd to know that all of it had been planned.

“Did you plan on when we had sex too?” Grayson asked her and she smirked as she shook her head.

“No, that we left up to you. But we gave you enough time to be together before we gave you little ones. Did you think about that? We had to give you time with them, time for them to grow before we could crown them too.” She sat back down and I tilted my head, never having thought of that before.

“As horrible as it sounds, Grayson, this war rests on your shoulders. To win this and to defeat Demonio, this is on you two. Our faith rests on you, and we know that’s a lot of pressure, but we have faith you can win,” Mundias said. I finally crossed my arms and leaned against Grayson who wrapped his arm around me. I was taking that as a sign that he had forgiven me, at least for the moment.

“And you believe we have all the skills necessary to do what needs to be done?” I asked, looking at the three of them. There were still many parts of the book that weren’t translated that may or may not help us. There were still many families, covens, and packs that didn’t know what we were or the war that was about to happen. There was still a family that would side with Demonio and I was no closer to figuring out who that could be. There are still unknown variables and these three still had faith in us enough to believe we could win this.

“We do,” was Sol’s simple answer but it rang true and clear. Even with the brick wall, I thought we were facing, they still trusted us. “I know you question it because there is still a lot you don’t know, but it will click when the time is right. Right now, Demonio knows you are special but he won’t have a clue what he’s up against until the last moment. Until then, the war doesn’t start and he’s not nearly as worried.” I couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t a helpful note. Of course, Demonio had some clue, that was a given, but the extreme was unknown to him, and that was an advantage on our end.

“You have just less than two weeks before the ceremony,” Lunella said as she stood up. “We will be back then to crown you four. We will stand before the other beings, addressing what is to come, and state that it is you two who we are crowning. Like any Blood Moon, you will be weaker, but again, you will gain so much. And I promise, because you are now united and this hasn’t happened yet, you will feel the loss of your power even more and what will come back, will be more than you thought,” Lunella told them. And with that, both Sol and Mundias stood up, ready to leave.

“I would love to say that everything will run smoothly,” Sol started, glancing at me and I felt the biggest ball in my stomach. “But once the word is out because news like this does travel, it will get back to Demonio. Be on your guard because it wouldn’t surprise any of us in the least if he showed up with his demons to stop the whole thing.”