Warring Mates

I knocked on Lachlan's door. Arwen had ordered him to rest until the Spirit Fest. She didn't want him to collapse in the middle of a course. Which is why I stood in front of his door. Being alone all day would do him no good. He loved to interact with people.

"Lachlan?" I opened his door when he didn't answer. "You're kidding me." After scolding me multiple times for not wanting to participate this year, he was the one who was about to screw it up by not listening to Arwen.

I stormed out of his room, my fists clenched. If I get my hands on him... Goddess, how stupid could he be.

As I turned the corner, a hand grabbed my arm. My heart skipped a beat as I readied myself to punch the guy. Dad caught my fist with ease, chuckling.

He let go of me. "You have some great reflexes."

"By the stars," I clipped. "Couldn't you just say my name?"

"With the speed you were going?" He cocked a brow.

I scoffed. It wasn't that hard. "It's not like I am deaf."

My dad placed his hands in his pockets, squaring his shoulders. A stance he would often take when I was crossing a line. "Be careful with what you say next, Lexi."

I gnarled my teeth, refusing to meet his eyes. "I'm just saying."

"Lexi," he warned.

My shoulders sagged. "Sorry. I just left Lachlan's room."

With a hand on my back, he guided me to a bench by a window. "What happened?"

I stared at the city, zeroing in on the place I destroyed yesterday. "He's not in his room."

A sigh left my dad's lips. "I'll have my brother's look for him. As for you, Silas is waiting in the library."

I spun my head to him. "For what?"

"Training," he said, standing up. "Something about you being ready."

A squeal left my mouth. "See you at dinner." I kissed his cheek and rushed to the library. The dusty smell of books teased my nose, and if it weren't for the fact I had to meet with my gramps, I would have lost myself in a good book.

"When's the next step beginning, gramps?" I plopped down the chair opposite of him. This time there weren't any books on the table.

"Right now." He sipped from his water. "I want you to read my mind."

"Your mind?" Did I hear that right? He wanted me to poke around his head.

"I don't see anyone else in the room." He leant back in his chair, his arms crossed.

"Right," I muttered.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and imagined that steel wall around my mind. I imagined that I was standing there, my hand on the barrier. A slow crack spread through the wall. I willed it to grow bigger until it was big enough for me to go through. Only, it wasn't as easy as I thought it was. The crack surged across the wall and before I knew it; it came crumbling down.

I clutched my head, a hiss escaping my mouth as the voices overwhelmed me.

"Breathe through it," my gramps ordered, “And build up the wall."

I did as he said and opened my eyes when everything returned to normal. "It's harder than I thought."

"That's why we are practicing." He poured me a glass of water. One I gladly took as I gulped it down.

"It's hard to make the crack big enough and hold it." To be able to go into his mind, I had to hold the opening for several minutes. Right now, I couldn't even hold it for ten seconds.

"I know." His eyes scanned my face. "That's why it took me several centuries to be where I am now."

"Do you have any tips?" A crooked smile played on my lips.

"Practice and don't expect too much."

"Why?"

"It has to do with the so-called level of our skill."

"Yeah, you already explained that to me. A person can hear the minds only from the people close to them or like us, from the entire castle and the surrounding area." Something clicked inside my head. "We're cursed!"

Gramps laughed at my outburst. "Depends on how you look at it."

"How can you look differently at it," I argued, throwing my hands in the air. "The people who can only hear the minds of people close to them, can easily let their shield down. Whereas we have to make a stupid opening."

"That's true. They have an advantage when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. But they won't be able to use it for long-range combat, and neither for information gathering."

I settled down, looking at the glass in my hands. "Is that why you are such a great shadow king?" He did missions no one else could do. Such as assassinations without even knowing who the target was. He had to gather intel for it.

"One of the reasons." He stood from the chair, walking to one of the many bookcases. "I often needed to gather intel from an extensive range, or I would have risked being caught."

I leant my head in my hands. This meant I had a slight chance of using this gift in hand-to-hand combat, and even then I had years of training to go through. On the other hand, I would make a great spy.

"Do you want to try again?" He set a book on the table. The one with the strange symbols.

I nodded my head and watched him read the book. "You're going to read?"

"I know you tried to read it, but only a handful can understand the ancient language. So, see this as your chance to understand it."

"Can dad read it?" He was the king, after all.

"No, the old king could, however." He went back to reading as I still processed what he said. Dad couldn't read it.

"Can I learn it?" It sounded interesting. The language the ancients spoke, creatures that made this world into what it is. Everyone knew about the story of the song Nylhella. The fae who fell in love with the God of Chaos—an ancient. Together they builded the wall and created the entire supernatural world as it was now.

"If you really want to," he said, not looking up from the book.

"Is it hard to learn?"

"Training, Lexi."

I pouted and laid with my arms on the table. The crack in my wall grew, and this time I held on as sweat beads formed on my temples. My mind crossed his, and foreign words echoed through my head.

"I did it." I squealed, but my happiness was short-lived. The wall crumbled down once again, a splitting headache wrecking my body.

"You're improving faster than I expected." He laid the book down, the corner of his mouth tugging up. "But next time, don't get too excited."

“Noted,” I groaned.

“Want to give it another go?”

I shook my head. “I feel drained.” Not to mention, the Spirit Fest would start tomorrow. I had to be at my best.

“All right.” He stood from his chair. “We can start again after the festival.”

I hummed. “You can still teach me about the ancients and their language.”

“It’s a lot to take in.” He grabbed another book of shelve and gave it to me.

“Don’t care. It sounds interesting.” I leafed through the book and came across the page with the dragons. “I didn’t know the dragons were ancient beings.”

“They were one of the first creatures to walk this earth.”

I looked up from the book. “They were? I thought ancients were only one being, like the God of Chaos or the Moon Goddess. Not an entire population.”

“It’s a bit more complicated.” He pointed to the page I was reading. “This chapter is about the first dragon, the purest one. If he were to have a child with a werewolf or fae, then that child would still be a pure-blood dragon, whereas with the other dragons it would be a half-blood. Are you following me?”

“I think so.” My eyes glided over the page. “So the dragons that live now will at some point go extinct, right? There are only males left, meaning there can’t be a pure-blooded dragon born.”

“No.”

I stared at my gramps. “What do you mean, no? There are no female dragons.”

“Ryuu is the king of dragons for a reason. He is a descendent of the first dragon.”

My mouth fell open. “So my cousin is a female dragon.”

He nodded. “Her fae genes are still there, but they’re suppressed.”

“That’s so badass.”

My gramps chortled. “Shall we continue with the other creatures?”

…

"Where the heck are you?" I mumbled to no one in particular. I had searched through the entire palace and the garden. Well… maybe not everywhere. It was pretty big. Four massive wings, five stories high, and I didn’t even mention the basement where the dungeons are located.

“Have you found him?”

I turned around to see Cole and Damen strolling to me. “Do you think if I did, that I would be standing here?”

“I guess the answer is no.” Cole ruffled my hair as Damen glanced out of the window.

“We have looked pretty much everywhere but the woods,” Damen said.

“Can I come too?” I gave my uncles my puppy eyes. I hadn’t set a foot outside the palace grounds all day. “Pretty please.”

Cole groaned, throwing his head back. “I don’t think—”

“Please,” I pressed, pouting.

Cole looked at his brother. “She is with us.”

Damen shrugged. “I’m fine with it.”

I squealed, throwing myself into Damen’s arms. “Thank you.”

He patted my back awkwardly. “Don’t make me regret it.”

“I’m not that bad,” I said as I walked to the grand hall.

Damen snorted, but kept his mouth. Cole, on the other hand… “Ever since you were a child, you were trouble.”

“I was not,” I bit back.

“I know a lot of people who would say otherwise,” Cole taunted.

“You are so dead,” I gritted out before charging at him.

He guffawed and sprinted out of the palace with me right behind him. We ran all the way to the edge of the woods, his laughter mixed with my curses filling the air.

“Stop running,” I yelled at him, reaching out to grab him. He was only inches away, but as always, luck wasn’t on my side. He evaded my hand and grabbed my arm, throwing me over his shoulder. I hit the floor with a loud thud, a groan escaping my mouth.

“I hope you will do better at the Spirit Fest.” He plopped down next to me, a chuckle leaving his mouth. “Otherwise you won’t even make it through round one.”

“Shut up.” I pushed myself off the ground.

“Are the two of you done?” Damen strolled to us, his hands in his pockets.

“You’re no fun, you know that?” Cole said to him, dusting his pants off.

“One of us has to be the sane one.”

I chuckled and followed Damen into the woods, Cole right beside me. “I’m not sure if he is dumb enough to take a stroll through the woods,” I said after a couple of minutes of silence.

“We have searched through the entire castle and city,” Cole started. “This is the only place left.”

“Still,” I mumbled. Lachlan was the smartest of the two of us, always keeping to the rules and making sure I don't do something dumb. Though that part mostly failed.

Cole placed a hand on my arm, stopping me. "There is nothing to be worried about, Lexi."

I smiled. But everyone could see right through it. "I'm not."

"You are." He squeezed my shoulder. "But don't forget that he's been kidnapped. It will take some time before he is back to his old self."

"It's getting dark," Damen said as he eyed the sky. The clouds were turning pink, the sun disappearing behind the treetops.

"Can't we stay for a little longer."

"No." Damen glared at me, daring me to say something back.

"I'm with the two of you."

"Damen is right. We can barely keep up with one of those creatures." Cole held up his hand when I opened my mouth to argue. "We can't take the risk."

I spun on my heels and stormed away from the two of them. "It's not even dark yet," I yelled to them as we made our way back to the palace. Behind me, I could hear them sigh, and Damen muttered under his breath about how I was hotheaded. "I heard that."

"Good," he said a little louder.

As we walked up the stairs to the door, I saw Lachlan leaning against the wall, his eyes brightening upon seeing me. I ran up the last stairs and threw myself in his arms.

"Where have you been?" I mumbled in his chest.

"The north wing. I needed some peace and quiet." He kissed my head, but our moment was short-lived. His body stiffened, and I pulled back to see why.

Cole and Damen stared at him, and I recognized the look in their eyes. They didn't trust him. Not one bit.