The Lost Warrior Princess

History lesson

Nicolas POV

I woke the next morning with my beautiful mate in my arms, I could hear her slow steady breathing. I gazed at her sleeping face and just admired her. I couldn’t believe how well she had accepted us being mates. My fear of rejection was not warranted, she accepted me. Over the last few days I have spent with her, have been the best of my long life.

That first night after that feral mutt had attacked her I was so worried that she wouldn’t want anything to do with me. I hadn’t wanted to tell her so soon that we were mates, I wanted to get to know her. Court her the way men had in the past. The new generation were all about rushing things. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me before getting into anything physical. I wanted to be a gentleman.

But last night when I come back to our room after talking to Anya about this Talbet person, the caster she thought had put the spell on my little warrior in the first place, my mind was preoccupied with what Anya had said. This Talbet is one of the oldest spell casters in the supernatural world. He is said to also hold great power over the elements and is not to be underestimated. I had wanted to know why I was still able to feel the mate bond even with the spell on her. I was glad I could but it didn’t seem to add up. If her true nature was meant to be hidden to keep her safe from who ever killed her clan why not make sure that her mate wouldn’t be able to find her as well.

Anya had said that when she had checked Luna’s aura that it looked like the cloak had been getting weaker but she couldn’t be certain without talking to the original caster. One thing was certain though about this Talbet, he was in hiding and Anya didn’t believe it would be easy to find him but she was going to try anyway. One thing Anya did know for sure was when he went into hiding, almost eighteen years ago.

I had been so wrapped up with all the information we had to find out that I hadn’t paid any mind to the scent of another male in my room with my mate. When I had walked in last night I was not prepared to deal with that over sized child Riley. I also wanted to rip his throat out when he accused me of brainwashing my mate into rejecting him. I had a feeling that he has had some kind of obsession towards my mate and I was not going to allow that to continue once we announced that she was my mate.

Luna didn’t speak much about him and I was glad for that, I would hate to hear about their past friendship but I did think it was odd that she would talk about her friends Max and Alice but would avoid talking about Riley all together. I needed to find out what had happened, If anything had happened and I needed to be tactful about it.

“Good morning.” I’m broken from my thoughts when the melodic sound of my little mates voice reaches my ears.

“Good morning, how did you sleep?” I ask her as she stretches her arms.

“Good, it was one of the best I have ever had.” She replied.

“Are you in any pain?” I ask looking at her stretching.

“No, no pain. I’m just a little stiff thats all. I didn’t think I would feel this good so soon. I guess you worked some magic.” She said will a little giggle. God that was an amazing sound. I could listen to her laugh for all eternity.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, but we should get dressed and head down for breakfast.” Even though I would love to keep her locked in this room with me, we both had things we needed to do. I had to have a word with Hunter about her protection, I didn’t want her to be left alone and I most certainly didn’t want her left alone around any unmated werewolves during our stay in the pack lands. At least not until after we have completed the mating. God that would be heavenly, being one with her body and soul.

Get a grip, she isn’t ready for that. I will not force her or push her to do anything she isn’t ready for. We will take our time and when the time does come, I will savour every bit of it. I will make her scream my name to the heavens so that even the gods know she belongs to me. I feel myself get hard just thinking about all the things I want to do to her beautiful little body.

“Nicolas? What are you thinking about?” She asks me from across the room. I hadn’t realised that she had already gotten up and gone to get dressed.

“Nothing, just the future.” I reply, I couldn’t exactly tell her what I was really thinking about. I wouldn’t want to scare her. I already knew she hadn’t ever kissed anyone before me so the chance that she had never done anything else was very high. I licked my lips just thinking about it.

Focus, we have serious things to worry about. I get up and grab my things and head to the bathroom.

After I had changed and made myself presentable for my mate, because it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. We make our way down to the dining room. As soon as we entered, we take our seats. Anya was at the head of the table. There were two seats left next to her so I guided Luna to the seats. We sat and started eating. Even though I was a vampire, we could still eat certain things. Very rare cooked meats or food with blood mixed in was our go to when having to feed in public. It made the humans less uncomfortable. When we were in the castle in private, blood donors or blood bags were the main thing we would feed from. I preferred not to feed from humans, it was too personal in my opinion. I would only ever feed from my mate in that way and even then it would be something we would discuss at a later date.

“Luna dear, I hear you sustained an injury the first night of your travels. If you wouldn’t mind, I could have a look and see what herbal remedies I have that could help with healing if you would like?” Anya said looking at my mate from under her long eyelashes.

“ Oh, um that’s alright. I’m actually feeling alright. But thank you.” Luna replied.

“Oh child, I can tell you’re in pain. I can read your aura remember?” Anya said with a small smile. So she had been in pain and was trying to put on a brave face. I was frustrated that she had lied to me but this was not the time or place to bring that up so instead I accepted the offer on her behalf.

“Thank you Anya, I’m sure the captain would be very grateful for your assistance.” I give my mate a sideways look and catch that everyone is looking at us now.

I hear a huff come from the other end of the table and a chair scraping along the floor before Riley stomps off out of the room. I just ignored his childish tantrum while everyone else watched after him as he left. “what crawled up his a**?” I hear Max whisper to Alice only to hear her tell him not to worry about it. She truely was a good friend to my mate but I still had to keep an eye only all of them in case the humans are somehow involved in all this.

“Anya, may I ask you something?” Alice asks from her seat.

“Yes dear, what is it?” Anya replied.

“I noticed that you have gold tattoos on your skin. I was wondering what they are.” Indeed Anya had markings on her skin and I knew she had had them longer than I had known her. But when I had asked her decades ago when we had first met when I accompanied my father on a political meeting she hadn’t answered.

“They are my witches mark. Once a caster is of age and our magic has settled into what our speciality is meant to be, we get them.” Anya replied.

“How old were you when you got yours?” Max asked. “You don’t look like you could be much older than us.”

“Oh sweet boy, I am much older than I look, I am older than Nicolas here,” she said waving her hand in my direction. “ I knew Nicolas when he was a small child but enough questions about me.”

I couldn’t help remembering the dark skinned woman I had met as a child and being so curious about her. I would follow her around and watch from around corners just to see if she would do any magic. My father had told my brother and I to stay away from her but I just couldn’t do it. I never listened to him.

She hasn’t changed much from the decades between seeing her again, her long dark hair was in tight braids that hung to her hips, her gold eyes matching her marks. Her demeanour was the same as back then as well. You could feel the power pulsing from her then as well.

The last time I had seen her I was ten, she had been helping my mother with something and things went wrong. My mother ended up hurt. My father had gone on a rampage through her spell room and destroyed everything. He had thrown her out and forbidden her from ever coming back.

I felt a hand on my thigh and turned to look at my mate.

“Prince Nicolas, Anya was talking to you.” She said with a puzzled look on her face. I must have zoned out into my thoughts again.

“Please, what were you saying Anya.” I say as I turn to her.

“I was saying that after the treaty is signed I can create a portal for you to take you right back to the clan. I won’t be able to join you but I will assist in your safe return.” I nod my head and say a quick thank you. That would be much safer for my little mate. I knew my father wouldn’t be overly happy about it but what happened when I was a child wasn’t something he could have stopped. My mother was a strong and determined woman.

“Captain if you would like to follow me.” Anya says getting up from her chair. I look to my mate as she goes to stand up. “Oh, and Nicolas I also need to have a word with you as well. If you would both follow me.” With that I also stood and followed after her.

………………………

Luna POV

After Anya had requested that Nicolas and I follow her, we walked past the stairs and went down a hallway to two large double doors. They were adorned with gold hinges that had intricate vine designs engraved into them twisted and turned like real vines would as they covered the doors surface. Anya opened the doors and gestured for us to follow. As I stepped through the door I was amazed to see a large library that covered a total of three floors. Balconies lined the walls with rolling ladders to reach the tops of the shelves. A large spiral staircase connected all the floors together. In the centre of the room was a large table with two cream coloured couches on either side of it. As I admired the room, I was even more amazed to see paintings of different supernatural creatures. Vampires, werewolves, even sirens and Fae’s of different kinds. Woodland fae were the most common but there were also the more dangerous kinds, such as the dark fae that live in the Dark Forest, their skin is grey and absent from any colour, their hair is black as night and their eyes were the same. Like blank voids wanting to suck you in.

“This way,” Anya said from a few steps away. She was heading towards the door that was directly across from the one we just entered. we walked through the door and on the other side were large shelves with rolled up parchments. The air was thick with the smell of old ink and paper. There was a table in the middle of the room but no seating. Anya waved her hand in the air and items on the shelves started moving. After a little while half a dozen rolled pieces of parchment in various sizes were unrolled and placed on the table without a single touch. I stepped closer to the table along with Nicolas.

“This is just a small about of history I have on the Ravenwood royal bloodline.” She said as she pulled what looked to be a map and placed it in front of me. “The Ravenwood clan was located here, they were located deep into the northern mountains. That is until the royal family were murdered almost eighteen years ago. Now all that is left is the ruins from the attack.”

“ I thought that they were killed my rogues?” Nicolas asked looking confused.

“Nicolas, what was it I always used to tell you?” She asked.

“The victors are the ones that tell the stories. But I don’t see how that would mean they were murdered.” He replied.

“It applies because, depending on who you hear the story from, will depend on what version you hear. The vampires and the werewolves will say it was the humans and the humans say it was rogue supernaturals.” She said. Looking very intently at him waiting for us to understand what she was saying.

“So you’re saying that it wasn’t an accident? That someone deliberately wiped out an entire royal family?” I asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, and only one person has the answer to that and he hasn’t been heard from since the family he was charged to protect were all killed. But it would seem that he was able to keep the heir of the royal bloodline alive.” She replied. She was looking at me with a small smile on her lips. She moved the map away from in front of me and placed down another scroll, this one was blank. I looked up to her from the blank parchment. She clicked her fingers and a small jar appeared with a small amount of a black liquid in it. I looked at her with a confused expression before she opened the little jar and dipped her finger in the black substance. Then she placed her finger on the parchment and then removed it. There was a black smudged finger print on the paper now. I looked up at her still confused. She signalled for me to look down and as I reluctantly looked down I saw the smudge was no longer on the parchment and it was no longer blank. Instead there was a beautifully detailed family tree.

“This is the Ravenwood family tree, you’re family. The portraits of those that have passed on to the next life are dull and grey, the ones that are still living are bright in colour.” I looked down to see that the majority of the portraits and names were dull and grey, all accept one. I looked closer at the portrait that was bright in colour like it had been freshly drawn only minutes ago. The portrait was of a black haired girl with one bright white eye and one bright green eye. It looked to be a portrait of me. I looked up at Nicolas and Anya with surprise. “How is that possible? It looked like me but the eyes are different.” I asked confused.

“This is a magical parchment. It showed the human side and the supernatural side of beings. With a werewolf family it would show their human face with half of their wolf face as well.” Anya replied casually like it was the most common thing that everyone should know. I look back at the picture of myself and then the gold writing underneath the portrait caught my attention.

“Isabella Ravenwood” read out. Under the name was some more writing, this writing had my name in brackets. What the actually hell, this is crazy.

“Your true name is Isabella Ravenwood, your parents were Marcus and Elaine Ravenwood. They were the strongest leaders the Ravenwood clan had ever had. Your mother was from the Viscosia Clan until she met you’re father and found they were mates. She was the only daughter to the Viscosia clan with twin older brothers.” Anya explained.

“ I have met the Viscosia royal twins.” My head whips around to Nicolas, he has met my uncles? “ they keep to themselves, I only met them when my father requested I join him on his journey to create a treaty and trade agreement with them.”

“And? What else what did they look like? What are their names?” I wanted to know everything about them and my parents.

“There isn’t much to say really, they look like you mostly but their hair is a dark brown not black. I didn’t really speak to them outside of the meeting.” Well that wasn’t much information. “ they do however have a mate. I spoke to her very little but she was a very good queen.”

“ so, do you think they will be happy to know I’m alive?” I asked, I only ever had the twelve years with the people I thought were my parents but now I learn that I may have family out there that could tell me what happened and what my parents were like.

“ I’m not sure, but I think we should wait to meet extended family at least until we know why you’re cloaked.” Nicolas said to me with a thoughtful expression on him safe.

“Oh, ok. I guess I’m just wanting to know everything. I like to know what I’m walking into, instead of walking in blind.” I reply with my head down.

“Luna, I’m sure they would be happy to have a piece of their younger sister back. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up for a warm welcome. They will most likely want to test your blood and it would mean we would have to take the cloak off you first. I just want to keep you safe.” He said.

I knew he was right that it probably wouldn’t be all happiness and love but I was still hopeful. I’m not sure why I’m not running away from all this or acting like this is all a huge lie. It all feels like the truth, like deep down I knew that I was missing something.

“Ok, we will wait to meet them until after all this is sorted.” I said in reply.

“Luna, there is something else you need to know about your family bloodline.” Anya said from across the table. She looked a little worried but I wasn’t sure why she would be worried. After taking a breath she continued, “ the bloodline that each of your parents come from have abilities, there is a great possibility that you may have also inherited one or more of these abilities.” Wait, hold up. Am I hearing this right? I could also have some kind of abilities?

“What do you mean Anya?” Nicolas said with a look of annoyance on his face.

“The Viscosia and Ravenwood bloodlines are very old bloodlines, they are believed to be two of the original vampire families. Because of this, some of the members of the royal families are said to have abilities, like the ability that your mother has Nicolas. She has the ability to see things that have not yet happened or that may happen.” Ok, this is seriously a lot, not I’m learning that my future mother in-law can see the future. I wonder if she saw me coming?

“What do you mean my mother has an ability?” Nicolas says through gritted teeth. I place my hand on his to try and calm him.

“I mean it was the reason I was in the Southern clan all those years ago. I was helping your mother get her ability under control. The seer ability is very dangerous to the holder if they aren’t trained to block it out. Your mother would touch an object or a person and be thrown into a vision, I was sent to teach her to block it out so she wouldn’t damage her mind.” Anya replied. “ while I was there she also had me test you and your brother, to see if you inherited her ability or not. Your brother inherited your fathers ability, you on the other hand, you inherited both. But your seer ability wont become strong enough to use until you are a couple hundred years old. Your ability to command any vampire around you, you got that from your father. That is a dark ability and should only be used when absolutely needed. Taking away someone’s free will comes with a cost, It will take a toll on your soul.”

Well s**t, I guess the royal families could be very deadly when they want to be.

“What are the abilities my parents and uncles have?” I asked in almost a whisper. Nicolas rubbed his thumb on the back of my hand as we waited for Anya to tell us.

“Well, your father was able to manipulate the mind, make someone see something that wasn’t truely there. Your mother, now her gift was something else. She could heal anyone or anything. It’s a very rare ability in the Viscosia bloodline but only those with a pure heart have ever been able to do it, your mother was a very kind and caring women who never let anyone suffer. She was a good queen.” Anya said. “Your uncles, have the ability to manipulate peoples bodies. They could stop someone without touching them, they could force someone to drive a knife into the heart of someone they love if they wanted but again, it is a very rare ability. It could be used for good, for example help someone to walk who cannot use their own legs. Their ability is something to not be taken lightly. You need to be careful when meeting them.”

This was a lot to take in, after going over some more history about the Ravenwood bloodline I asked if I could keep researching and Anya agreed, she waved her hand and before she left told me that once I was done with something her magic would return it to its correct place and that the next lot of history would be delivered to me. I thanked her and looked over more history about the Ravenwood and Viscosia clans. Nicolas stayed for a short time before he excused himself to talk to Anya about his mother. He was unsettled about the information he had learned. He knew she had come to help his mother but he hadn’t known why, now he did and he had questions. Shortly after he left the door opened and Hunter came in with a tray of food for me for lunch. He placed it on the table and stayed close by, my guess was because Nicolas had told him to keep me safe. I didn’t mind though, it was nice to know that Nicolas cared about me enough to make sure I had someone to protect me while I was focused on this. After I finished the food, Hunter came and got it and took it out of the room. He came back shortly after again and just stood close by making sure I was safe, but not too close that it was a distraction. Time flew by as I looked over more and more history through out the day Hunter had come helped answer some question I had about different things, he was very knowledgeable about different people and their time in power.

I hadn’t realised that I had fallen asleep until I felt someone Picking me up from the chair. I knew who it was from the tingles that ran up my body from the contact. Nicolas carried me to the room and set me down on the bed before taking my boots off my feet and pulling a blanket up over me. I drifted off to sleep in his arms and my head resting on his chest listening to the slow steady beat of his heart.