Chapter 9 The First Queen
1640 Words
The wolves remained on their knees.
Nessa couldn't take her eyes off them.
Not one of them moved.
Their heads were lowered toward the darkness behind her, not toward her this time.
Something had changed.
Riven stepped closer.
“Don't turn around.”
Nessa's voice was barely audible.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know what's behind you.”
Darian looked over his shoulder.
His expression changed.
“Nessa…”
She turned anyway.
There was nothing there.
Only trees.
Black branches twisted against the night sky. Mist drifted between them, moving slowly across the forest floor.
Nessa turned back.
The wolves were still kneeling.
“What are they bowing to?”
Darian didn't answer.
“Darian.”
“I don't know.”
“You said there was never supposed to be only one First King.”
“Yes.”
“And now there's a First Queen.”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“I don't know.”
Riven looked at him.
“You're hiding something.”
Darian's eyes hardened.
“I told you what I know.”
“No. You told us what you wanted us to know.”
Darian stepped toward him.
“You want to question me now?”
“If it keeps Nessa alive, yes.”
Nessa stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men stopped.
She looked at Darian.
“You said you've been searching for answers for years.”
“I have.”
“Then tell me what you found.”
Darian hesitated.
“I found records.”
“About the First King?”
“And someone else.”
Nessa waited.
Darian glanced toward the kneeling wolves.
“The records called her the First Queen.”
“Was she his mate?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Darian lowered his voice.
“She wasn't created from his blood.”
Nessa frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“She existed before him.”
Riven's expression changed.
“Before the First King?”
Darian nodded.
“According to the records.”
Nessa looked toward the trees.
“So she was the first wolf?”
“Not exactly.”
“What, then?”
Darian shook his head.
“The records were damaged. Most of them were destroyed.”
“By whom?”
“The Blood Council.”
Riven looked toward the path.
“Then Maris knows.”
“She knows more than she's told us.”
Nessa's stomach tightened.
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“Then we find her.”
Riven shook his head.
“Not tonight.”
Nessa looked at him.
“My mother is trapped beneath that mountain, the First King is awake, wolves are appearing from nowhere, and someone calling herself the First Queen just vanished into the forest.”
“Yes.”
“And you're saying we should sleep?”
“No.”
Riven looked at the surrounding trees.
“I'm saying we shouldn't walk blindly into whatever is waiting for us.”
Nessa wanted to argue.
Then she heard it.
A whisper.
“Nessa.”
She froze.
Her mother's voice.
She turned toward the mountain.
“Mom?”
Darian grabbed her wrist.
“What did you hear?”
“My mother.”
His face changed.
“Where?”
“She called my name.”
Riven stepped closer.
“I didn't hear anything.”
Nessa looked at the wolves.
They were staring at her now.
The connection between them returned.
A strange pressure filled her mind.
Then she heard another voice.
Not her mother's.
A woman's.
Come to me.
Nessa closed her eyes.
“Who are you?”
The voice answered.
You know me.
“I don't.”
You will.
Nessa opened her eyes.
The forest looked different.
For one brief moment, the trees seemed to disappear.
She saw a vast stone hall.
Hundreds of wolves stood around a raised platform.
At the center stood a woman.
She wore a silver crown.
Her hair was black.
Her eyes were the same pale silver as Nessa's.
A man stood beside her.
The First King.
But he wasn't a monster.
Not yet.
He looked young.
Almost human.
The woman reached for his hand.
Then the vision changed.
Blood covered the floor.
The man's eyes turned black.
The woman screamed.
And someone drove a blade through her chest.
Nessa gasped.
The vision vanished.
She stumbled.
Riven caught her.
“What happened?”
Nessa couldn't speak.
Darian stepped closer.
“What did you see?”
“The Queen.”
“What did she show you?”
Nessa looked at him.
“She was killed.”
Darian went still.
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
Riven asked,
“And the First King?”
“He was there.”
“What happened to him?”
“He changed.”
Darian's face tightened.
“Changed how?”
“His eyes became black.”
The wolves suddenly began growling.
Nessa looked around.
“What is it?”
Darian shifted.
“Something's coming.”
Branches snapped.
A group of wolves emerged.
But these were different.
They were white.
Pure white.
Their eyes were silver.
They approached slowly.
Then they knelt before Nessa.
One of them lifted its head.
Nessa heard a voice.
Blood of the Queen.
She stared.
“What?”
The wolf lowered its head again.
Darian looked confused.
“What did it say?”
“It called me the blood of the Queen.”
Riven's eyes narrowed.
“Maybe that's what Sera meant.”
Nessa looked at the white wolves.
“Why are you here?”
The largest wolf stood.
It walked toward her.
Riven moved to intercept it.
Nessa raised her hand.
“Wait.”
The wolf stopped.
It lowered its head.
Nessa placed her palm against its forehead.
The moment she touched it, another vision struck.
A woman running through a burning forest.
The same silver-eyed woman.
The First Queen.
She carried a newborn baby.
Behind her, wolves were being slaughtered.
The Queen reached a stone chamber.
Someone waited there.
A man.
Nessa couldn't see his face.
The Queen handed him the baby.
“Protect her.”
The man shook his head.
“They will find her.”
“They must not.”
“What about the boy?”
The Queen's expression broke.
“Take him too.”
Nessa's breath caught.
A second baby appeared.
A boy.
Twins.
The vision changed.
The babies were separated.
One was carried away.
The other remained with the Queen.
Then the vision ended.
Nessa pulled her hand away.
Darian caught her.
“What did you see?”
Nessa stared at him.
“You and I…”
“What?”
“We were separated when we were born.”
Darian's face went pale.
“No.”
“She had two babies.”
“Nessa.”
“One was a girl.”
Darian stared at her.
“And the other was a boy.”
Silence.
Riven looked between them.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
Darian's voice was quiet.
“Our mother didn't give birth to us.”
Nessa looked at him.
“What?”
“Our mother wasn't the woman in that vision.”
Darian pointed toward the forest.
“The Queen was.”
Nessa's heart raced.
“But our mother—”
“Raised us.”
He swallowed.
“Someone else gave birth to us.”
Nessa stepped backward.
“Then who is my mother?”
Darian looked toward the mountain.
“The woman behind that gate.”
Nessa's eyes widened.
“She raised us.”
“Yes.”
“Then who was the Queen?”
“I don't know.”
A voice answered from the darkness.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
Sera stepped out between the trees.
The white wolves didn't attack.
Instead, they bowed to her.
Riven raised his weapon.
“Don't move.”
Sera smiled.
“You're asking the wrong person to stay still.”
Nessa stepped forward.
“You said the First Queen survived.”
“I said your mother wasn't the only one who survived.”
“Are they the same person?”
Sera's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Nessa felt cold.
“Then who is she?”
Sera looked at the white wolves.
“The woman who ruled before the First King.”
Darian stepped forward.
“You said she was killed.”
“She was.”
“Then how is she alive?”
Sera looked at Nessa.
“She isn't.”
Nessa frowned.
“Then why are the wolves bowing?”
Sera's gaze dropped to Nessa's wrist.
“Because they recognize her blood.”
Nessa looked down.
The silver mark had changed.
A second symbol had appeared beneath it.
A small crown.
Riven saw it too.
“What does that mean?”
Sera took a step closer.
“It means the First Queen's bloodline didn't end.”
Nessa's heart pounded.
“Where is she?”
Sera pointed at Nessa.
“You're looking at her.”
The forest went silent.
Darian stared at Nessa.
Riven didn't move.
Nessa shook her head.
“No.”
Sera's voice was quiet.
“You are her descendant.”
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Sera looked toward the mountain.
“What is impossible is what happens next.”
A roar shook the forest.
Every wolf lifted its head.
The white wolves rose.
Sera's expression changed.
“He knows.”
Nessa turned toward the mountain.
A dark presence entered her mind.
Queen's blood.
She froze.
The First King's voice followed.
Come home.
Nessa clenched her fists.
“I am not yours.”
The voice laughed.
Not mine.
The forest trembled.
His.
Nessa's eyes widened.
“Whose?”
There was a pause.
Then another voice answered from deep inside her.
A voice she had never heard before.
Your father's.
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