Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“Besides you have a close relationship to the Simone Ward, do you not?” Taelon asked, and though I came to ask them questions, it now seemed like I was under a light.
“We were never close. More like rivals. We were both interested in the same things, and for some reason, we always butted heads and competed with each other. I never realized she was a witch though,” I muttered, playing with the rim of my glass.
“Hmm,” Both Taelon and Lucy said. They glanced at each other with a small smile on their lips.
I looked at Theseus, and he was still fixated on me. I wanted to know what was on his mind, what he was thinking. But we couldn’t talk here. He reached out, laying his hand on the glossy wooden table for me, and I took it.
“Who would have guessed the Prince of Night was such a romantic?” Taelon said in an unnecessarily loud and boisterous voice.
“No more than you.” Theseus kissed the back of my hand, which I was getting used to at this point.
Déjà vu. It seemed like no matter how the conversation went, some things just had to be said. As if I had to know, Theseus was a romantic, too.
Chapter 12
“You look like a small child.” Theseus smiled, and so did I.
“I can’t help it; I’ve never traveled out of the states before, and the first place I come is here.” I grinned, staring out the window.
Montréal was magical. I could feel it. The lights of the city, the giant Ferris wheel, it was all captivating. It was set on an island in the river, with a triple-peaked hill at the heart of the city. The trees were every color of fall; orange, burnt red, and specks of green. But it was slowly being covered by the snowfall.
“The three hills are called Mount Royal. The hill is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachian Mountains. The humans have their own history for it, but it was named for the first royals that lived on this land,” Theseus explained, looking over the view as well.
“The first royals?” I couldn’t even imagine anyone in America or Canada being part of a royal family. “Montréal is part of Quebec, so the French had it. Those royals?”
“No, the true royals of the land,” Taelon said from behind me. “The Pahana of Kahnawá:ke tribe were the first royals here. You and your father were friends with one of the early kings.”
“King Desagondensta,” Theseus answered and frowned, looking to me. “It was long before the outsiders came to these lands.”
I wanted him to tell me what would count as an outsider, but I left it alone. “What happened?”
“The same thing that happened among the humans,” Theseus said, looking out the window. “Mount Royal was the first place in which I had seen humans, witches, and vampires working together. They lived together in harmony. The witches and humans would offer blood, and the vampires would hunt for them in the winter months. They even married amongst themselves. It was odd yet fascinating to live among them, in a culture, and in a kingdom with no secrets, no fear of one another, all of them thriving in union. Then the witches of other cultures and lands came over to their new world to escape their own persecution only to persecute others. Those that were brought over also added to the growing divide.”
“I understand a bit in other ways. But I don’t know why they would try to break down a community that they could have been in together?” I replied.
“Why do we ever?” Lucy asked gently, lifting her head high. “Out of fear and self-preservation.”
“I feel your bitterness in that observation, but should your kind have proven to be able to control themselves, there would not be persecution,” Theseus said to her, and she looked away. When he looked at me, he finished. “The witches of the Kahnawá:ke were actively keeping and protecting vampires; thus, they had more power. When war broke out to determine who would own these lands, the Kahnawá:ke stood strong, but with each grave insult or preserved slight from the other, they broke down. The witches turned on the vampire king and his family; the vampires retaliated and with that their kingdom fell. Ever since then, power has switched between hands. Now, it is the Swans who have the greatest claims because of the Kahnawá:ke in their family.”
“You say that as if you expect us to lose power,” Taelon said as the plane touched the ground.
“You are a republic, are you not? It is by your own design that you will lose power one day.” Theseus pushed back, and Taelon just shook his head before looking to me.
“What kind of soul are you that this is your mate for all eternity?”