Undertow by K.R. Conway (1st book in trilogy)

Chapter 22

At first, Raef and Kian were dead set against going anywhere with Raines-the-Liar, but arguing in the balcony with the party raging beneath us seemed unwise. Raef, close beside me, finally agreed to follow Raines to one of the ornate bedrooms so we could all get up to speed with each other.

Once in the gilded boudoir, Raef immediately spoke up, "There is no way in hell you are related to Eila! Our kind cannot have children – especially with a Lunaterra!"

Kian nodded, "He's right Eila. My bullshit-meter just pinned on that one."

Raines put his hands up, casually defensive, "Look, I know it sounds impossible, but I'm telling you the absolute truth. Elizabeth and I were far more than friends and she did conceive a child with me. Trust me when I say that we were as completely shocked as you are now."

Raef was shaking his head, not changing his mind, "Not possible."

"It's true. And Eila is my descendant. I could tell the moment I touched her. You felt it as well, did you not?" Raines asked, looking to me for confirmation. I glanced to Raef and then back to Raines. "I felt an odd sensation, yes."

Raef stepped forward to me. "Eila," he pleaded, no doubt ready to argue about my sanity. I looked at him and he stopped where he was. He knew enough to stop talking. Instead he set himself like a fortress next to me. He crossed his arms, his stance screaming, "Say the word and I snap his neck."

"How did you know Elizabeth?" I asked. "How did you meet her?"

Raines looked at me and sat down in an ornate armchair near the bed. He rubbed his forehead, thinking.

"I met Elizabeth when she was only five years old in the northern part of France. I had been a Mortis for almost 90 years when I met her. She was one of the Lisles – a royal – and she had somehow gotten separated from her family. I found her wandering the woods, miles from her home."

"What do you mean 'a royal'?" I asked.

"Hers was the ruling family. She was heir to the empire," said Raines, plainly, as if any of us would've known this. "None of you knew this? That she was destined to be Empress?"

We all shook our heads. Yeah – that 411 we definitely missed.

"Then you don't know how the Lunaterra function?" Again, all heads shook no. I felt supremely ignorant, especially since I was supposed to be one of them.

"The Lunaterra royal family dictates the will of the rest of the Lunaterra species. They are linked, in one mind-set, to their leader. Basically, no free will. It's genetic," said Raines. "But Elizabeth was born different, sort of handicapped. She didn't connect with the pack mentality of her kind. I have a feeling that is why she was able to wander off. But back then, her family didn't realize she was different."

I was completely intrigued.

"I had been hunting in the forest when I found her, crying and cold, in the hollow of the base of a tree. I knew what she was and, because of what she was, I should have killed her. Or left her to die. The Lunaterra were brutal to our kind. It didn't matter if you lived in peace with the humans. If you were a Mortis and a Lunaterra found you, you were dead. If you were lucky, they killed you instantly and if you were unlucky . . ." Raines shifted, as if he was remembering something, ". . .they killed you slowly."

Raef looked at me as I sat down slowly across from Raines. I couldn't help thinking he might never be able to see me as his "E" after this. The skeletons in my family closet were executioners. Somehow, I wasn't sure the Mortis were the soulless ones after all. I felt ill.