I shook my head. "No idea. It's not easy to get a hold of information like that when the packs are split up like they are."
"Since you're back, obviously you heard word about her having declared war. We assumed that she wouldn't send word to us. Clearly they want to take us by surprise. Do you know any details?"
"Only that she's ready to start. Once I heard that, my memory was restored and I was more than a little distracted. My main focus was to get back here. Thankfully, Clara was nearby and she helped me drive since I was having such a rough time."
"Did you fill her in on everything?" my father asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's going to tell her parents the truth about you guys. So you'll probably want to be prepared for that."
My father shook his head. "That's just what we need right now."
"Can you call your…werewolf boyfriend to find out more?" my mother asked, as if something sour were on her tongue.
"Yeah. I told him that I'd be in touch after I returned to the castle."
"Is he aware of your family with Cliff?" she asked.
"Yes. As soon as I remembered," I narrowed my eyes at her, "I told him. He was more than aware of what he was getting himself into when he started falling in love with the vampire Sonnast. Although I must say that my having a baby came as quite the shock to both of us."
They exchanged another worried look.
"Speaking of which, if you ever separate me from my family again without my permission, I won't be nearly as forgiving as this time. Now that we're done here, I need to begin training. I'm a little rusty, you know. After I find out what the werewolves know, I'll tell you."
"Wait," said my mother. "You need to meet Ida."
"I suppose I do. Why don't you plan a special meal or something? Something other than this. You wouldn't want us to meet under these circumstances, would you?" I stood up, not giving them the chance to object. "I'll be in touch."
Mattie wasn't too far away and started walking with me as soon as she saw me. "What happened in there?"
"Just setting my parents straight. But now I need to talk to Cliff because I told them something that I haven't told him yet."
She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"I fell in love while I was away," I whispered.
"That's not surprising, given that you're the Sonnast."
"And the fact that I was sent back to Delphic Cove with so many memories erased. The last thing I remembered about Cliff gave me reason to believe that he didn't want to find me. I fell into another depression."
"So you fell for another human?"
I shook my head. "Oh, look there's Cliff and Larus!"
"You can't leave me hanging like that!" Mattie whispered.
Werewolf.
She looked at me in horror.
I shrugged my shoulders. "That ought to teach them, don't you think?" I asked, and laughed.
"Mommy!" Larus called when he saw me. He was wrapped around my legs a second later. Cliff was just behind him.
"How did it go?"
"They probably won't be sending me off again. Do you mind if Mattie takes Larus for a little bit? There's something I need to discuss with you alone."
His face registered shock. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"We can talk on our way to the training field."
He nodded and we both hugged Larus before heading in the other direction, hand in hand.
Once we were outside, away from any other possible itching ears, Cliff asked, "Is everything alright?"
I squeezed his hand. "Yes, but there is something I need to tell you. Are you aware that part of being the Sonnast means that I must be in love at all times? That's why I keep falling into depression and hibernating."
He sighed. "That's something I didn't know; it does explain a lot. I think I know where this is going. Who was it? Another human?"
I looked into his pained eyes. "First you need to know that I fell into a depression shortly after my parents had erased my memory and shipped me back to Delphic Cove. I didn't know if we were still together or not, and the fact that you never came for me…well, I could only assume you didn't care. I'm sorry, Cliff. If only I could have remembered past your being mad at me and saying that I'd signed your death warrant. I didn't even know if you were alive." My voice jumped, as I became tearful at the thought of him not being alive.
Cliff wrapped his arm around me. "Your parents went too far this time. I'm so sorry that you went through all of that. I did try to find you. I even went to Delphic Cove several times. But it was like your parents told me: I wouldn't be able to find you even if you were right there in front of me."
"They're going to pay! I swear that I'm going to make them pay for everything they've done one day. Whenever I stop being convenient for them, they just ship me off, even when I was only a toddler! Who does that?"
He rubbed my bare arm, calming me down. "I'm sure they'll get what's coming to them some day. As much as I don't want to hear this, why don't you tell me about the human."
"The human?" I asked, confused.
"It wasn't a human?" he exclaimed.
"Oh, that," I said, sighing. "Cliff, I love you. You're the only one for me. As soon as I got my memory back, I dropped everything and drove as close to the castle as I could get. I had to see you and Larus."
He pulled me close and kissed my lips gently. "No secrets, right? As much as it's going to pain me, I understand. Any anger that I feel will be directed at your parents. They did this to you. To us. Would you like to sit?"
There were various benches carved out of trees throughout the vast property. I saw one not too far away. "Sure."
We made our way to the bench and sat down. Cliff grabbed my hand and stroked it, keeping me calm. I explained everything about what I went through in Delphic Cove up to the point of my depression. "That's when he noticed that I was losing too much weight and that I was depressed. He knew about me being a vampire, so he started giving me coffee laced with blood. I started feeling better, and though I fought it, I ended up falling in love. He fought it too, but…." I shrugged my shoulders, uncomfortable and not wanting to go into any more detail.
"So you fell for the hot new teacher?"
"Yes, I fell for the werewolf teacher."
Cliff's eyes widened, and kept widening until they wouldn't go any further. "He's a werewolf? You dated a werewolf? Your parents must have loved that."
"Yeah, my dad was ready to kill him since he was a teacher."
"No, I mean the king and queen. It sounds as though on some level you did remember your parents doing this to you. It sounds like classic rebellion," he said with a smirk. "I almost don't mind now. That's what they get for banishing you from all vampires. Weren't you worried for your safety though?"
I shook my head. "He's the head of the peace-seeking werewolves. He and his pack don't want to be at odds with vampires, and he was always very careful when it came to the full moon. He wouldn't even see me for two days before or after the full moon, just to be safe. He was old enough that he only changed when the moon was full, but he refused to take any chances."
He nodded. "That's good to hear. He sounds very respectable. Does he know about us?"
"Yeah. He knew that I still wanted to find you, even though I didn't know what was going on between us, due to my memory issues. As soon as I heard about your mother declaring war, everything came flooding back and I told him about you and Larus. He always knew that I would probably have to return to the castle someday. He's very understanding."
"It sounds like you still have feelings for him."
I thought about us swimming in Braydon's pool after Toby had jumped in with me, both of us fully clothed. That was just yesterday. "He was so kind to me," I whispered. "He took care of me when nobody else did. For a long time, he was the only supernatural being that I even knew. The only one I could talk to about being a vampire. I'm sorry."
Cliff squeezed me tight. "Like I said, any ange
r I have is directed at your parents. I'm glad that you had someone watching out for you. I can't imagine how lonely you must have been. It pains me to think about it; I can't believe your parents did that to you on purpose. I don't know how anyone could do that to their own child."
I straightened up. "Me neither. The first time around, they claimed it was to keep me safe, but they didn't have to leave me there the whole time."
"That's how I've always felt. The whole time you were gone, that was what I kept saying, but everyone always told me to stay quiet because it was in your best interest to stay hidden."
"They're so selfish!" I exploded. I was so angry that tears were forming. "You know, I probably was better off being raised by my human parents. Imagine what kind of a monster I might be if I'd had my vampire parents' influence my whole life."
He squeezed me again. "You would've had my influence though."
I looked at him. "That's a good point. How did you end up so kind even though you were raised by your parents?"
"That's the good thing about having watchers."
"You had a watcher too?"
"Of course. Most of the high ranking royal vampires do."
I nodded. "Let's go train before I'm too worn out."
As we walked to the field, I thought about how furious I was at my parents for sending me away—both times. By the time that we had swords in hand, I was more than ready to see what skills I had retained. I could tell that I was giving Cliff a run for his money even though I was so badly out of practice.
I was a little rusty at first, but after only a few minutes, I felt like I was back at the top of my game already. We moved around the field quickly and with passion, much like a well-choreographed dance, swords clashing and clanging.
After what felt like only a few minutes, he motioned for me to stop. "You obviously haven't forgotten a thing," he said, breathing heavily.
"Are you out of practice?" I teased. "You seem a little tired."
He smiled. "It's been a while since I've practiced with anyone so fierce."
"That's probably a good thing. If this is a war, as your mother keeps calling it, we need to be fully prepared for anything."
"Very true. If she's creating vampires, she's probably training them to fight to the death."
EIGHTEEN
I looked around the large room, taking in the new faces. It was the first time that all ten of us Fyrsturae were together in one place. My parents appeared to be thrilled, as expected. Everyone was standing, waiting for my father to call the meeting to order.
Svana was happily leaning against Soren, who looked a lot like Alrekur, only with slightly darker coloring. Halldor was glaring at them, having killed Soren for loving his sister. Next to Alrekur stood Baldur and Asdis. The other Fyrsturae were scattered throughout the room. They were all gorgeous beyond words, and I couldn't help looking at them.
Except for Alrekur, they all appeared to be taking me in as well. There were four that I hadn't met before my parents had sent me away, and word had spread like wildfire that I had fallen in love with a werewolf. That was probably why Alrekur wouldn't look at me.
No Fyrsturae had ever given a werewolf the time of day, much less become close enough to fall in love and have a relationship with one. Cliff was far more forgiving than Alrekur, which led me to suspect that Alrekur may have been behind my banishment, or at least supportive of it. Perhaps he was feeling a little guilty.
Cliff placed his hand on my back and began rubbing it in circles. Even though everyone knew that we had a baby together, we didn't feel comfortable holding hands or showing any signs of affection that any of the Fyrsturae could see. We didn't know them well enough to be able to predict how they would react. I was part of their group whether I wanted to be or not. I didn't want to take any chances with Cliff possibly getting hurt.
My father stood up. "Thank you all for coming here. As you know, this is both an exciting time and a time of seriousness. First, this is an historic meeting, because for the first time ever, all ten Fyrsturae are together! It took a great many years to find Alrekur's resting place and less than a year and half to find the others. We have little time for celebration, however, as we're here to plan our course of action for this war that the Montgomery's have waged."
My mother stood next to him. "We couldn't be happier to have the group united, and especially to have our two daughters with us. Alexis has just returned from her time building our alliance with the peaceful werewolves, so she and Ida haven't even had time to acquaint themselves with each other yet. After this meeting, the Fyrsturae will have some time to spend together before we have a full scale party celebrating their reunion tomorrow night."
"As you can see by the visiting faces in the room now," said my father, "our leaders from around the world are already making their way here. Everyone wants to be in attendance for the party celebrating the Fyrsturae. It'll be a night of great celebration, unlike any other. Then after that, we prepare for battle."
"You all know that Francine has been leading the effort for war for at least a couple of years," my mother said. "She began in secret when she and George were still leading as our seconds-in-command. We've been preparing for battle, but we have something the other side could only dream of—the ten most powerful vampires ever to walk the earth! Now that they are united as a group, they will be mightier than ever before. This is why their gathering tonight is of the utmost importance. The closer they are, the stronger they are."
"We need the rest of you on the top of your game, too," said my father. "As you know, we can't rely on the Fyrsturae. Every single one of us plays an important role in winning this. If we don't give it our all, the Montgomery's could be running this castle alongside the werewolves."
"That'll never happen!" Alrekur said, shaking his fist. "Never! This is our castle!"
"Then you understand the importance of putting aside any differences amongst yourselves," my father said.
"I've been doing exactly that since you've been holding my Sonnast hostage!"
My father gave a nervous laugh. "We're not holding her hostage, Alrekur. She's right here. We're only waiting for the right time for you to have her hand in marriage."
"Call it what you want."
Looking away from Alrekur, my father addressed the others. "While the Fyrsturae are getting acquainted and reacquainted, the rest of us are to do whatever is necessary to prepare for battle. We need to have strategy sessions and time to sharpen our skills. Also, human volunteers are being brought in from around the world to prepare the best blood possible, giving us that edge to our advantage."
He went on to discuss the need to accept the werewolves that would be on our side, and shared specific battle strategies. I tried to focus, but my mind kept wandering to the upcoming meeting with the Fyrsturae. They were all familiar with each other, having spent two thousand years together in a world far different than the one I was used to.
Were they as nervous to get to know me as I was them? They had heard about the Sonnast their whole lives, so it was likely that they were at least curious about me. I hoped that they wouldn't be too put off by my relationship with Toby.
Cliff tapped my back and I looked up to see everyone in the room staring at me.
"Smile, nod, and say thank you," Cliff whispered only loud enough for me to hear.
I smiled sweetly with a nod. "Thank you."
Everyone clapped, and then started mingling.
"Are you okay?" Cliff asked.
"I'm feeling edgy about meeting with the Fyrsturae on my own. I haven't even officially met Ida."
"Your parents should have given you more time to meet with your sister first. They never think about what's best for you."
"It's ironic, since I thought they would be better parents than my human ones. They're even worse!"
He nodded. "I know. Believe me. I know about parents going bad. It looks like your parents are rounding up the Fyrsturae. I'll be in my room with Larus if you want to find us a
fterward."
"Of course I want to! I only wish I could go with you right now."
I didn't care what the Fyrsturae or anyone else thought. I wrapped my arms around Cliff and squeezed him tight. He returned the embrace and I gave him a kiss. "Tell Larus that I can't wait to see him again."
He nodded and left with a worried look in his eyes. I looked around to see Alrekur glaring his way.
Before I knew it, the ten of us were in Alrekur's favorite room, the one with all of his prized animal heads and furs, the big fireplace, games, and entertainment center. One servant was lighting the fire while another was setting out refreshments. I looked around to see if my parents were there, but it appeared that they were letting us get to know each other on our own. I hoped that was wise, but then again, what did I know? I'd been shipped off for the last nine months. Maybe everyone was getting along now.
I felt like a wallflower at a school dance. I stood there looking at everyone, feeling more insecure than I ever had before. How would I ever be a part of this group? They all had thousands of years of history together. The only one that I had ever come close to really knowing was pissed at me. He'd never been mad at me before when he had found out that I loved either Tanner or Cliff, but apparently I'd crossed some line with the werewolf boyfriend.
Svana caught my eye. She let go of Soren and walked to me. "Are you okay?"
Sighing, I shook my head.
"Remember that you're as much a part of this group as anyone else. You know, I think Alrekur would feel better if you went to him."
"Are you serious? Have you seen him? He's furious with me."
She pulled her long, blonde hair behind her shoulders and then rolled her eyes. "The guys have been giving him a hard time about you being with a werewolf, but his love for you has only grown stronger while you've been away. If you talk with him, he'll melt into a puddle."
I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure that's any better. I don't want to lead him on."
"Just be friendly. He knows you have to build your line. While you were away, he talked my ear off about how he can't wait until that's over and you two can finally be united."
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 91