Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Oh, darling, here,” she’d said, having found several scrolls on one side of the room on small stone shelves.
She went through them and read and translated for me. As I suspected, though Varic and his father said the wolf of Maedoc was only in their specific bloodline because Magnus was the firstborn son and Messina had been his, it wasn’t true. The wolf form existed in the entire family.
Varic believed that if Cassius hadn’t died, he would have never become the wolf, but the fact of the matter was, he would have. Messina had become the wolf of Maedoc because he was so powerful. Cassius had as well, but so had Varic.
“I was told that Messina used to become the wolf, but once Cassius could, he stopped,” I’d told Isabella.
“But that makes no sense. The change is biological, not magic. I know the difference.”
Yes, she did. She was a druid, after all.
“So Messina no longer shifts because he’s not strong enough to after years of inactivity, but he could, if he wanted to, but it would take a lot of work.”
“That’s correct. But why on earth would he want to?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. More importantly, why would Varic tell me something different?”
“I’m sure Messina made Varic believe it was a passing of the torch, that the power left Cassius when he died and passed to him.”
“It sounds magical that way, like a rite of passage.”
“Yes. But I know my son, and deep down, he knows the truth.”
“Then someday, when Varic is older, the trait will hopefully be triggered in his son or daughter just as it was in him.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“But that means that Decimus should have been able to transform into the wolf. His sons too. Gaius as well, and his son, Andreas.”
“And Julia, the king’s sister, as well as her son, Marcellus, when he yet lived.”
Marcellus had died the same night Nerilla had, and though he was the reason Dae-Jung had come into my life, I had never grieved him.
She nodded, folding her arms on the thick stone table. “And yet, I’ve only ever seen Messina transform, as well as Cassius, and Varic.”
“I wonder what it takes for the gene to be triggered?”
“Perhaps that part is magic,” she said playfully.
I smiled at her.
“Or maybe it has to do with what’s added to the bloodline.”
“The mother’s blood, not the father’s,” I reasoned. “Then the trait to change into the wolf is carried by everyone in the line of Ascalon, as we surmised, but something from the mother triggers the transformation.”
“Yes. But not any mother. Think about it. Messina has…many children,” she said softly, and I knew it hurt her to think about it. “So then why does Alrek not change into the wolf of Maedoc?”
“Well, for starters, he’d be the wolf of Maddox,” I said snidely. “Since he’s not a Maedoc at all.”
She chuckled and reached out to squeeze my hand. “Careful, or the great spirit will judge us both too catty to be allowed into the Otherworld.”
I grunted.
“But truly, why has not another of Messina’s vast brood become what Cassius could and Varic can?”
“Then we’ve discovered the truth. The secret sauce is the royal mother.”
She nodded, waggling her eyebrows at me.
“Who was Ascalon’s mother?”
“I don’t know, and I doubt that’s in any written record. Only the sons are important. It’s called history for a reason.”
I shook my head at her.
“What? It’s true.”
“It is. So now, as far as anyone knows, Ascalon was the first wolf of Maedoc, and he had two sons.”
She tipped her head in agreement.
“And he passed the gene to both, but only Magnus ever shifted.”
“That we know of,” she corrected me.
“Yeah, but wouldn’t there be mention somewhere of Decimus being able to make the shift? I mean, someone had to have seen him if he could do it.”
She tipped her head back and forth. “If all the Noreia believe the trait is carried solely in the firstborn in the line of the king, then perhaps having them think differently would be a detriment.”
“So you’re saying maybe Decimus could change.”
“Perhaps. It was said that he always rushed into battle and fought far afield, walking back only when all the enemies were vanquished and he was covered in blood.”
“All alone?”
“Yes.”
“Nobody ever thought to question that?”
“Who would think to question the king’s brother?”
“I get it,” I conceded. “And if he turned into the wolf and killed everyone who saw him shift, there wouldn’t be anyone to report back.”
“Precisely.”
“Still, that doesn’t explain why Gaius, or even Julia for that matter, can’t—as far as we know.”
“Gaius might be able to make the change, Julia as well, but neither has ever had the need, so they simply have not.”
“That would follow, right?”
“It would. Messina had to change, so he did. The same is true for both Cassius and Varic.”
“Yes.”
“But Gaius and Julia could’ve changed, theoretically, if needed, just as Messina did.”