The Delta's Daughter Chapter 298

TAWNY

The old woman, Sunu, slams the book shut and I jump at the offending sound.

“It will take me a little time to translate it,” She says peering at all of us.

“We can wait,” Lamia says, just as eager to know what is written in there as I am.

“Why don’t we eat, first? Then hopefully Sunu will be able to give us something.” Althea suggests.

We agree to her suggestion and several minutes later we find ourselves sitting at a large table in a semi-formal dining room.

“Tawny told us you rescued a group of children from a warehouse in Lewe?” Mathias cuts to the chase his deep intimidating voice filling the silence of the room. “Skinwalkers?”

“No not, quite.” Arik is the one to reply. His honey-brow eyes catch Mathias' holding his gaze for just a moment before he has to look away. Instead, he settles his eyes on Crimson. “When this Ashe came to my aunt, she told us where to find these children. She led us there, just over the border of Tolba and into Lewe. I had never seen anything like it.”

Arik takes a bite of his meat, thoughtfully chewing before he carries on, “We live simply here, some would say in the dark ages because of our lack of technology. But the place we pulled the children from, was like a lab or something. Big machines, medical supplies, and the kids were all locked together in large rooms, like cells. Just padded. It was clear they had been abandoned and hadn’t eaten for several days. They were malnourished and scared.”

“There were no guards. Nobody around at all?” Mathias inquires with a scowl.

Arik shakes his head. “Just the kids.”

“When did you say Ashe came to you, when did you rescue the children?” Lamia asks, and I think I know where she is going with this.

I stay silent, listening. I have a feeling this is connected, and my suspicions are confirmed when Arik confirms the timeline of when they were led to the Children. “Just over a year ago almost a year and a half now.”

I give Lamia a look, the hair on my skin prickles with a sense of deja vu. “Sound familiar?”

“Yeah,” She nods and looks at Mathias “Remember when we first met, not quite a year ago, when Tobias found those kids?”

Mathias grunts and his beast flashes in his eyes. Cosmic silver orbs swirl with anger. Mathias may be grumpy, an ass, and mean as shit, but when it came to children, he could stand to see them hurt.

“Just under a year ago, we found a warehouse of children. They were being held just over the border of the Kodiak Kingdom. This was at the beginning of when we learned of Orion. Silas was already dead, two years prior. Anyway, we had locations and our teams raided five locations. One was full of children. All were under the age of twelve. We thought Orion was going to turn them into Crawlers, now I’m not so sure.”

“And they all had eyes like him?” Althea questions.

“No,” Mathias replies shaking his head. “They were normal, various shifters or human hybrids.”

With a concerned look, Althea questions Mathias. “What did you do with them?”

“They were split into races and sent to different kingdom orphanages. Or placed in homes. Now I’m wondering if they were going to be turned into Crawlers or if they were meant for something else.” Lamia thinks out loud.

“Can we meet the children?” I ask. I had already seen them, but Crimson had not met them and I would like Lamia and Mathias to witness them too. “If this Senko, who Ashe said created the children, is truly still alive – was he working with Orion and Silas the whole time?”

“With Orion’s woman, Shayna by his side and this Senko guy you have told us about if he is as powerful as you say… Then how many of these children did he create and was he the one behind the creation of the Crawlers and not Shayna as we thought?” I look at Crimson as Mathias speaks, worried about how he is taking this.

Senko was his biological father; this can’t be easy for him to hear. I reach out through our bond to connect with him. My feline purrs when she finds nothing distressing.

After we finish eating, Althea takes us to meet the children who are more than happy to greet the Queen and King of shifters, and enthralled to see Crimson whose eyes mirror their own. They touch him, fingers playing with his hair, and eyes taking him in as if he is the father of them all.

They ask him questions, “How many forms can you take? Can you shift into a form for us?” They tell him how they can only take one form, but Althea forbids them from shifting until they are older.

Later Althea explains, she didn’t want them to shift in case the process was party to their short lives.

After meeting with the children and checking on the warriors Lamia and Mathias brought with them, we head back to the study, hoping Sunu can tell us what is in the book.

*****

“For many cycles, the gods ruled this realm.

When the daughter of Anu, Inanna, fell in love with a mortal King Conrad, her father was enraged. He had already promised her hand in marriage to the god of the underworld.

Inanna gave birth to their daughter and later a son who possessed the power to shift into a wolf. A gift from the moon goddess.

Anu cursed the human King, as Zeus did to Lycaon. To be reborn as a wolf for eternity. And killed the mortal king.

Anu thought this would keep his daughter and the mortal apart. But he was wrong.

Inanna pleaded to the moon goddess to grant her the favor of living as a wolf spirit like her true love.

The moon goddess, who had already granted this gift to other gods agreed. And swore they would forever be mated, and fate would lead them to each other in every life they lived.

This was not good enough for Anu and the war god of the underworld. And in each life, they sought out the mortals that Inanna and Conri’s wolf spirits possessed.

Never letting them live happily or have peace.

Determined to end Conri and claim Inanna back to the realm of gods.

The son of Inanna and Conrad grew to become a powerful king himself, possessing the wolf spirit of his father, Conri.

The young King Conrad (Conri) found his fated mate, the granddaughter of Ashe the first.

The god Anu found Inanna’s wolf spirit, in the wife of the young King Conri. He forged a war against the realm. Pitting the mortals against each other.

Conri fought against the gods until he was betrayed and murdered. And history repeated itself. His queen fled while secretly carrying their unborn child.

That child was Asena. Born with immortal blood. A descendant of Ashe the first and the goddess Inanna herself.

It was then the moon goddess kept the spirits of Inanna and Conri in her realm, hidden away and in a status of deep sleep - So history would not repeat itself for a third time.

The gods Anu and the war god of the underworld searched for Inanna and when they didn’t find her Aodh, captured the moon goddess and held her prisoner.

With the gods now at war and the mortals rising against them, A powerful force of mortals, who called themselves Dacians rose in the east and killed the sky gods.

It was only then the gods who cherished and thrived in this land decided to close the gateways between realms.

Four gods gave a drop of their blood. From that blood four stones were created. The gods passed through the gate and doorways were sealed with metal from Avalon.

The Demi-gods of this world stayed behind, and a stone was passed to each of the leading Kingdoms to keep hidden and safe.

For even though the doors are sealed, they could be opened once more.”

“Is that it?” I ask Sunu when she finishes reading. Utterly disappointed if that’s all the book says. It feels like a huge build-up to nothing. Nothing that we didn’t already know anyway, except that there are four stones, not just the one hanging around my neck.

“There’s more,” Hesitantly Sunu speaks and her eyes drift to catch Althea’s, who nods her head at the older woman to carry on. As if giving her permission to read what it says.

“It explains how to open the gateway to the realm of gods.” She informs us.

“Read it.” Mathias commands her.

“The passage between realms will stay shut until the four stones are brought together and placed in the crown, they alone cannot open the gateway. Only when the blood of an immortal descendant and a force as powerful as Zeus’ bolt come together with the stones, will the gateways between realms open once more. Only then will the gods walk amongst us once again.” Sunu Takes a breath.

“One stone was given to King Jaguar Phanton to be placed in his mines, another to the Lycans of the south. One was to be kept with the sky god’s most precious gift and the other was hidden in where only the gatekeeper shall find it amongst the strongest shifters of all.”

“Talk about cryptic.” Lamia scoffs. She then looks around at all of us. “The stones should stay hidden, If this is what Silas and Orion were looking for then, it can’t lead to anything good.”

“I agree,” I state, “But why now? Why is all this being uncovered now?”

“Odeia, sorry. Ashe. She must have a purpose. A reason. And if it’s true that the moon goddess was held hostage in the underworld, then who has been answering our prayers? Who has forged the bonds and rebirthed the spirit animals?” Mathias ponders over his own words. The perplexed expression on his face grew darker with every passing second “Is our bond real?” He questions out loud to Lamia.

“My beast, our bond is very real and so is our love.” Lamia stands to cup her mate's face, her emerald green eyes peering up at him and the look of love she holds for him is uncontested. “I know what you are thinking. Don’t Mat, don’t even go there. We have our home, our children, our families.”

I cover my mouth with a hand and stifle the sob that threatens to spill out. My eyes fill with tears when I realize exactly what they are talking about. Lamia’s wolf and Kellen’s wolf should have been mated, they were fated for eternity. Somewhere along the line - things changed.

Mathias and Lamia were never meant to be together. Inanna and Conri were never meant to be awakened again.

“Ashe,” I whisper through my tears “She awakened your wolves.” I knew it to be true as soon as the words left my lips. I begin to put bits and pieces together from the past, from the things Hunji told me, to the fairytale my mother read to me when I was just a small child.

Why now though? Why now?

“Who else knew about the library, who had access to it?” Crimson asks Althea, as he gently rubs circles on my back aware of my discomfort and the sadness creeping in on me.

“I-I don’t know.” Althea stammers. “It was only revealed to us – me, last year. We had no idea this place existed or what was in it up until then.”

If Orion and Silas were after the stones or the mirror, then they knew this place existed. Which means there was more than one book or door to the god's realm. It’s the only thing that would make sense.

“Then what does Senko have to do with any of this?” Crimson asks me. I cock my head at him, frowning “You thought out loud,” He smirks.

“I should return this where it was found,” Lamia states closing the book and putting it back in the box, and closing it up.

“Did you want me to translate the rest?” Sunu surprises us all.

“There’s more?” Exclaims Lamia, befuddled.

“The last part was a warning for you.” Sunu bites her wrinkled lips giving a hesitant glance toward Mathias. “If the gateway to the other realm is opened then Aodh will come to claim his bride, as promised to him by Anu.”

Silence engulfs the room. Not a breath to be felt or the beat of a heart to be heard. A deathly silence falls on us all. As we take in the warning.

Looking for comfort I reach with one hand to find Crimsons. With the other, I finger the ring. “Maybe we should get rid of this?” I say to no one in particular.

“No!” Althea screeches holding her hands out. “I knew nothing about those stones until Ashe visited me, what I do know is the bearer of that ring draws from its power. That’s how the line Phanton’s stayed in power for so long and were the strongest of all the big cat shifters. Even strong than Pride. Remove that ring from you and Cambiador and the Kingdom will fall.”

I accompany Lamia back down to the library; our males stand outside to make sure we aren’t in there for too long.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lamia says once we are back in the library, and she has hoisted me up to put the box back where we found it.

“What doesn’t matter?” I ask confused by her sudden statement.

“Whatever the story between Inanna and Conri. It doesn’t matter. That’s not us this time. He has Tala and I have King. I wouldn’t change it for the world, Tawny.”

I sit on the top shelf looking down at her as she passes me books and glares when she starts to giggle. “What?”

“If elves were real, you would be one.” She giggles again.

“Making fun of my size, Amazon?” I laugh back at her.

“It’s just the way you are perched up there…” She laughs again “You like a tiny magical being.”

“Mathias is rubbing off on you, you’re being an asshole.” I don’t take it to heart, this is how we are. “I’ve missed you,” I tell her meaning every single ounce of every syllable.

“I’ve missed you – Hey what is this?” She halts midsentence and points to a book on the top shelf a few inches from where I’m perched.

“This?” I say pulling a thick black book out from the shelf.

“Yeah, let me see it.” She says and I hand it down to her and jump down myself to stand next to her.

The book is plain with no title or markings. When Lamia opens it the pages are also blank.

“That’s strange,” I say flipping another page in her hands.

“What’s strange,” She examines the pages intensely with a look of concentration, and I try to figure out what’s so appealing about the blank pages.

“It’s blank.” She now looks up, her eyes meeting mine with confusion.

“You can’t see the writing?” She slowly asks me, and I look at the open book in her hands again.

“No?” I question because if she is seeing something, then I am definitely not. I scratch my head. “You’re serious, you’re not messing with me?”

She shakes her head, “I swear to the goddess Tawny, this book has words. I’ll read it to you.” She clears her throat “Three gifts will be given to each of the chosen one’s Knights: The King, The Commander, The Councilor, and The Savior. Connected as one they will protect what she carries, and the realm from the destruction of the gods.”

“Isn’t that what Ashe told you and Mathias?”

“It is,” she answers me, her nose still stuck in the book. “I think it’s a prophecy or prophecies.” Lamia looks up and around at our surroundings. I think they are all prophecies. Ashe’s visions, past and present.”

She plucks another book from close by and opens that one. Again, all I see are blank pages, but she skims the open book like she is reading. “This one is about the duke of deception. A Duke who ruled the army of the underworld's war god. The moon goddess granted him a second chance after spending a millennium in hell as a destroyer. The moon Goddess sent him to our realm to watch over us.”

“There’s so many,” I breathe out taking in the thousands upon thousands of books that lined the hall. “It would take ten lifetimes to read them all, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be long enough.”

Lamia slams the book shut, her face pale and eyes hollow.

“I need to go home Tawny; Inanna thinks something bad is coming. I want to be with my babies.”

“What’s coming Lam’s?” I ask, even though every fiber of my being tells me I don’t want an answer.

“I’m not sure, but it feels like it’s worse than what we have already faced.”

I don’t want to tell her, but I have had the same feeling since the first time I stepped into this library. That something big was coming. I just didn’t know what or when.

When there are too many coincidences to be a coincidence. Chances are – it’s not a coincidence.