Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 338: The man who is my father.

Caelum.

The night was incredibly chilly but for some reason unknown to me, I was restless. I couldn’t shake off the dull ache in my chest nor ignore the whack headache making its way through the back of my skull.

My hands balled into tight fists as I slowly rose from my bed after trying for the nth time tonight to go to bed but failing miserably, so I decided to go downstairs to the kitchen where I poured myself a glass of scotch.

The fiery drink burned its way down my throat, igniting my blood with a kind of fire that I found unsettling yet addictive; and just when I tried to pour myself another glass, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

I froze.

"Who is there?" Zevran called out, his voice gruff with tiredness.

He glided into the kitchen like the grim reaper that he was, cast one glance at my glass and shrugged. "Unable to sleep?"

"Yes," I replied coldly, not even bothering to lie.

"Is something the matter or you do not intend to speak to me about it?" He drawled and this time, I nodded without saying a word.

"I’d like to pour myself a glass too."

I do not know for how long we stood there drinking or when we moved to the living room several minutes later. All I knew was that the more I drank, the more this irresistible urge to see Leilani grew.

I let out a deep sigh, closed my eyes and leaned my head against the sofa’s headrest, my voice coming out as a whisper as I said to Zevran; "I wonder how Leilani is doing. I have been feeling strangely for quite a while now."

And at my words, he lifted his head, turned to look at me and smiled forlornly; "Same with me, I have been worried about her for no reason since some time in the afternoon and I do not know what to do."

I was about to ask him if it was okay to call her when suddenly, I noticed that he wasn’t looking at me anymore. In fact there was something by the door that now had all of his attention. I turned in the direction he was looking at too and froze when I found Leilani standing there, looking as though she’d just waltzed right out of my dreams.

Her hair was a mess and was sticking in all directions, and her face... her usually pale creamy face was now flushed as though she’d spent the last hour running. But all in all, she looked breathtaking. She was enthralling, making it quite difficult for me to look away.

My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water... and then opened again in surprise. But before I could speak, Zevran beat me to it, he asked;

"Am I the only one seeing this? I want to be sure I am not hallucinating right now..."

"You are also seeing Leilani right?" I asked desperately, whilst praying fervently in my mind that I wasn’t going mad. Goddess, I couldn’t be going mad right now...

And to my utter delight, Zevran nodded. He hissed; "Yes!" And then turning to Leilani, he asked, sounding almost cold; "What are you doing here?"

I saw her flinch at the tone of his voice and almost struck him in the face when she took a step back. In that very tiny moment, her gaze flickered to my face and I could swear that I saw something akin to regret flash in her eyes... and with it came something else that seemed like disappointment... like annoyance.

I rushed out; "Come on in! I was worried about you earlier!"

Something in my voice probably snapped her out of her reverie because then she turned to look at me, her stiff shoulder slumped quietly and she glanced away.

"I wanted to ask you about something. Where is Kael?"

Her voice was small— so small it almost sounded pitiful; and something about that made me oddly protective of her. It made me want to shield her from all the harshness of the world, especially since I could visibly see how drained she looked.

"Kael is probably in his room right now..." I said softly, scratching the back of my neck. "But I could fetch you a glass of water while I send someone to go and get him."

She looked at me while I spoke but made no attempts to come any closer. And for this reason, I immediately knew that something was wrong.

I asked; "is anything the matter?"

"Yes." She answered quickly— a little too quickly. "There is something I want to ask you three... but I want you all to be there when I ask."

The urgency in her tone had Zevran rising to his feet. He opened his mouth just then as if to speak, but just as he did that, a different voice entirely beat him to it. It was Kael. He drawled;

"Gavin told me you would try to ask us something... or not."

At the sound of his voice, Leilani lifted her head to look at him from where he stood at the top of the stairs. From up there, he looked eerie, almost dangerous.

She crossed her arms over her chest, a flicker of something akin to arrogance crossing her features as she asked; "Did he tell you what the thing was? What this thing is about?"

Kael shrugged. "No. The service was bad and I thought he was bluffing."

"Exactly the same way you thought my father was bluffing before you killed him." She snapped. And at first, I was stunned, not understanding where that was coming from.

My hands shot out as I waved at her desperately, my voice breaking as I rasped; "Wait, Lani, you have that all wrong! Your father murdered himself in his cell! He died after learning of the fire outbreak... when he thought that Chalice had died in the accid—"

"And who told you that I am talking about Malakai Blackthorne?!" She yelled in a tone that made goosebumps spread across my skin.

I shook my head in confusion as I desperately tried yet failed to understand her. "But he is your father..." I began to say but stopped when she pinned me with an intimidating glare.

"No, he is not." She spat, sounding cold. "I am talking about Ragnar. Ragnar Morningstar, son of Valemont. The Lycan which you all branded as a thief three years ago. The man who was never caught stealing but was charged for theft and killed like a common criminal. That is the man who is my father." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As her words rang through the air, I couldn’t help but not feel anything else besides apprehension.

Apprehension because what do I say to that?

Apprehension because how is that even possible?

Now that I think about it, the name sounded familiar— way way familiar as it was my very first difficult kill.

It was the first time I had encountered a Lycan face to face and the very reason I made sure to steer clear from them afterwards.

My throat felt as though it was glued together and panic, one that I couldn’t control, rushed through my veins as I slowly asked;

"He was your father?"

But she didn’t respond right away. Instead, she turned to glare at me, and then she asked; "What was he accused of stealing?"

I gulped.