The Broken Crown

Wanderlust

Fate is a funny thing – at least that is what I have come to realize about it in these past months. Perhaps childish is what I had thought at first, for it had tilted my reality on its axis as I fell headfirst into the terrifying unknown of my new life. Falling headfirst into the reality of my true bloodline, but the relationship I had come to build with the very child of the family my own parents had detested. At first I thought fate was childish to play such games, yet perhaps fate is just a funny thing or a funny set of coincidences we really cannot control. Though fate is just a term tossed around to make it seem like there is something greater in this world, making it seem as if there are greater powers at play when it comes to our lives.

Yet I realized the irony in the reality of the situation when the truths were unfolded. To have River propose to me and ask me to be by his side when he was still ruling over Eternal Shadows when I knew our backgrounds. When we continued whatever physical and emotional relationship we had after our secrets became unlocked and we knew our parents would hate us for such actions. To think after Eternal Shadows was taken over from within and River sought refuge within Crimson Lock...perhaps that is when I came to the conclusion fate must have a wicket sense of humor. River's parents, wherever those two are and if they have come to receive such news already, I can only imagine the anger and shock which must live with them. Yet it was their own actions which had led to this, for they abandoned their own son decades ago. I know River's childhood is something I know not the entire truth of, but I understand River can never fully respect his father, much less really call Zion his father – for Zion did not raise him.

I can only imagine my parents must be rolling in their graves at the fact Zion and Sybil's son is protected under the name of Crimson Lock as well as the Maxwell name. My parents must have rolled in their graves when they learned it was I who extended a position of power to River himself.

But I do not see it as such. I know it is Crimson Lock in which River is protected and I know I am the one who can offer River power in the new government, but so much of this could not be possible without his aid. Without what River is going through right now, the battle ahead of my army would be near impossible to even reach the stone walls of Eternal Shadows. It was River who proposed a seat on my Council when I offered him a role in the Senate. River was the one who came to my aid when I called him, leaving his pack behind which Keva took to her advantage to massacre the werewolves of that pack. I cannot be the one who takes credit for these events, whether they are good or bad, for so many other factors and individuals have been at play.

"It's been two days," I mutter, glancing to Yusuf as he turns the page of his book and reaches forward for his cup of coffee. "How long do these things need to take?"

"We have never used Chaos – or whatever they call magic. We cannot understand its full potential or how long it takes," Yusuf responds, rephrasing what he had told me yesterday. As he drinks his beverage, I look outside to the rain which falls around the earth. "What we can do it prepare our full potential for the battlefield."

"The palace will be our battlefield. We need River's recollections for such a thing to understand the layout."

"We have been present in that palace too," Brie comments, pulling attention to her presence in the sitting room as I glance across the coffee table to her. "I lived there for many years. Though I did not have access to ask many places as River and my memories not as fresh, I can be of some use."

Yusuf leans forward, placing his book down as he is all ears. I follow through, wishing to hear what Brie has to say as Yusuf's Beta, Edward, pulls out a small notebook and hands it to his alpha. I watch Edward from the corner of my eye as he takes a seat across from Brie. Her blue eyes glance to me before she begins, asking us all to recall the times we had visited the palace, to recall the main rooms of palace itself and then the roads which stretched out within the walls of Eternal Shadows. "We enter through areas where artifacts are. There are many artifacts in secluded halls, others in the throne room, the ballroom, library, observatory, garden, and so many others – I am just listing rooms you may have visited. When River is woken and Declan has a list of these artifacts, we can think of the best way to enter. There are some places where we could be cornered easily and others where we would have the advantage."