The White Sheep's Disguise ✓

Chapter 24

Later in the evening, after Theoden returns home with a half-empty knapsack and a frown, he sits the two of us down at the table. At first, I don't know what this conversation could possibly be about. Is it the talk I've dreaded since the first day he took us in? He can't care for us anymore—Castiel's requirements to live a happy life are too much of a weight to bear and he doesn't love us anymore. Not like he did when we first came around and made him smile after losing a large portion of his heart.

I realize quickly that Theoden's careful maneuvering isn't to tell us to get the hell out of his cottage. His concerns are directed at me. Castiel is there as an anchor to force me to listen when I remind them that everything will be all right, no matter how long I'm at the palace or what I face.

Theoden reminds me of the dark forces swirling around the royal family. The Raven Queen did not receive her throne by being a pretty face, and neither did her sister. They may have started out that way and provided such illusion to get themselves on the throne, but the queen is the last one standing without a partner in power.

The Terravale reign started with the Void Queen, Theoden reminds me. A part of her will always remain lurking around the palace, and as the days pass, I must become increasingly aware of the possibility that she may return. Wyetta Terravale always wanted to be more than what she was, what her father's simple life as a farmer contested. Quarrels in the streets always ended with her on the winning side, and she has learned to fight on her own since the day she ran from home, leaving her father and Millicent Terravale—her sister—behind.

Her threat originated when she joined the Void Forge, an organization destined to wipe the kingdom of blood and bruises. She rose through the ranks, became their leader, until the fateful day that everything changed. I had to stop listening for Castiel swallowed deeply. This isn't a tale shared in our father's riveting and persuasive voice. Fear lances each of Theoden's words, and it makes us want to listen more—the same enthrallment our blood provided us all those years ago.

The Grave Territory is home to many secrets. The Rootbeak Wastes, a treacherous journey only taken by those that know how to fend off carnivorous beasts that wish to wear their skin for a pelt. Somewhere in the depths of the Wastes, she came in contact with an ancient stone glowing with power. Possibly originating from Vilebrook, a distant, dark land to the south-west of Rivian, the stone entrapped her and swept underneath her skin, possessing her with an all-powerful strength now known as a Luminary.

Theoden goes on to explain how Wyetta returned home and told her sister of a newfound strength—limitless. As she wanted her sister to be strong and confident, she forced the power on a young, innocent Millicent. Their father, learning of what they had become, banished them from home.

The two of us, Castiel and myself, sit in silence as that information soaks into our brain. Both sisters have lusted for revenge since the beginning days of their power, both in the respects of each other and against those that wronged them in the past.

The palace's beauty is not as it seems. More lingers underneath the surface of flowerbeds and sparkling fountains. Statues have fallen; the Raven Queen wishes for Rivian to forget the forces of the past and focus on her. Only her. A limitless reign that will end in bloodshed, most likely at Wyetta Terravale's hand. Rumors are stirring from this land and the next about who stands to gain the most in a race for Rivian's throne.

An invisible clock ticks over the queen's head and the longer she sits idle, focusing on Luminaries rather her throne, the easier it becomes for someone like her sister to stride into the palace and start slitting throats.

He reminds me of the war Cloak fought in. Those months are a large key to his reputation as a killer and a face veiled in shadows. Dubirin almost made our land their own if it wasn't for Theodas Charmrel's forces pushing them back farther into Wildsurge.