Page 122 of Forgotten Fate

And time I had, now that I knew I was going to live forever.

“You are immortal, not invincible.” Another assurance from Elias. “You can still die, you just won’t age. At least, not for a long, long time. Remember that.”

I huffed. It wasn’t like I was going to go around and test mynewfound immortality. I wasn’t planning on staring death in the face any time soon. I had had enough of that recently.

Immortality… such a strange and baffling concept. How long was I going to live, exactly? At what age would I be considered old? How could I possibly live through all of my human friends aging around me? Rose. Max. Even Magda and Nadia and Gabriel. They’d grow old and gray while I remain the way I am. And then they’d die from that old age. It wasn’t fair.

I didn’t want to think about it anymore. But at least I would still have Elias through it all. I wondered what his thoughts about his immortality were when he thought I was human. I would have grown old without him. Would he have given up his immortality like my mother had for my father? Would he need a witch’s help to do that?

My parents truly were in love with each other. I would give up immortality for Elias in a heartbeat, granted I’d barely gotten a taste of it. But thinking of what immortals would do for love had me considering Sarai’s admission. She thought Volund was the reincarnation of her dead husband, Malakai.

“Elias?” I asked as we walked. “Do you know anything about Sarai’s past? Before she went to Sprath?”

Elias paused. “I do remember some things,” he said. “Her story was actually somewhat well-known at the time.”

“What happened?”

“She came home one day to find her husband in bed with another woman. And in a jealous rage, she killed them both.”

My eyes widened. “What??”

He nodded. “She regretted what happened. They say it drove her mad. The elders decided to exile her, rather than execute her. I think they felt bad for her. She was very much in love with the prick. I can’t remember his name. I thinkit was…”

“Malakai.”

Elias froze. “How do you know that?”

“She told me, right before she almost drowned me. She told me she cursed his soul so it wouldn’t cross over, and instead be reborn. Then she forced a prophet to tell her who he would become, and they said Malakai would someday come back as a king of Sprath. She said when Volund was finally born, she knew it was him.”

Elias’s eyes darted in contemplation. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s powerful enough to live through a curse.”

“What do you mean?”

“Curses are extremely dangerous for witches. Even if performed in numbers, the power needed to conjure a curse could, and most likely would, kill the witch or witches that perform it. Only the most powerful of witches could complete a curse and survive.”

“What differentiates a spell and a curse?”

“The soul,” Elias answered. “Spells can be used for harm. But only the magic of a curse can directly affect the soul.”

“Whoa…” was all I could think to say.

Elias nodded. “It all makes sense now. Why she fled to Sprath and worked with the other kings. Why she never acted as obsessed with them as she did Volund. I…I had no idea.”

“And now I’ve taken her husband from her. Again.”

My mate frowned. “She’ll be hellbent on revenge, Aura,” he said, and my heart stuttered. “But I will protect you, I promise. And we’ll stop her together.”

“Together,” I repeated. I only hoped he was right.

As we exited the wards, Elias led me to the closest road. Now that I didn’t have to fear being found, we could take the traveled roads and trails and cut our excursion by more than half. We would be in Rimor in less than two weeks. Even faster if we had the money to purchase a horse.

I joked about riding on Elias’s back in his wolf form. Of course thatwasn’t an option, with the chance of someone seeing us being quite high. But if we could, I would bet we’d be back in Rimor within days.

I wondered if my father would be in Rimor waiting, or if he was still out looking for me. Maybe we could stop in Chatus for a room on the way back, and I could put a word out that I was heading home. Or maybe we’d bump into Rimorian soldiers before then.

But as the days went by, we had only come into contact with fellow travelers taking the roads between kingdoms. If only they knew about the fifth kingdom that hid in the shadows. What would everyone think?

I quickly decided that no matter when, where, or how I encountered my father next, I would tell him everything. I wasn’t going to keep secrets from him like he did from me, albeit he was spelled to do so. Even then, I had a feeling he would have kept everything from me anyway. I would do better. Be better. And I would not be the secluded daughter anymore. I would not let my father hide me away again.