Seven Wardens: Books 1-4

Chapter 12-1

CHAPTER 12

With a gasp, Macey woke up.

"What's wrong?" Jared asked sleepily and pushed himself up until he was looking straight at her. "Bad dream?"

"You could say that," Macey muttered, still trying to get her head around what'd just happened. It didn't feel like a dream. The image of the room with the stone thrones and her conversation with one of the previous Wardens was as clear a memory. It had to be a memory. It was real.

Which meant that everything she knew about her family was a lie.

"I need to see Nessie," she announced and got up, struggling with the blanket which had tangled itself around her legs. No, that wasn't a blanket. That was Flint, stretched out diagonally over the bed.

"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes and looked at her in confusion. "Why are you kicking me?"

"I thought you were the duvet," Macey mumbled. "Now get off my legs, I need to kill a certain loch monster."

Cam cleared his throat. "Ehm, I'm sorry to be a spoilsport but you may want to put some clothes on first."

A moment later, Macey was back under the covers, hiding her naked body. Not from the guys. From herself. The universe.

"What would you do if you suddenly found out that your parents aren't your real parents?" she asked, her voice close to a whisper.

"Burn someone?" Flint suggested.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Cam asked, making Macey glare at him furiously.

"Don't patronise me! It wasn't a dream, it was real. I met Wardens, and one of them told me about... Nessie."

Jared tried putting a calming hand on her shoulders, but she shrugged him off.

"Want to tell us more about it?" he said gently, his voice full of incubus charm.

Macey sighed. Saying it aloud was going to make it more real.

"He said my late uncle is my father. Which means that - unless he slept with my mum which I highly doubt - that Nessie is my mother."

"What the..." Cam bit down a string of curses, before he took a deep breath and smoothed his expression. "You don't look like Nessie though."

"I don't look like my mum either. Nor like my dad. Nor like anyone in my family."

"But Nessie is old," Jared mused. "She shouldn't be able to have a child at that age."

Macey sighed. "Kelpies can have children for a lot longer than humans. Almost until they die, pretty much. So, it's definitely possible. But... no, it can't be true. Why would they lie to me? Why would she give me to her sister?"

Tears were running down her face before she even realised that she was crying. Three pairs of arms wrapped themselves around her and she breathed in the scent of her men. It was comforting and soothing. But she wasn't sure she wanted to be soothed right now. She wanted to be angry, and keep that anger burning until she got the chance to confront Nessie.

Her aunt? Her mother? Someone not related to her at all? Macey was beginning to doubt it all. She'd grown up as the third in line to the throne, but if she wasn't her father's daughter, she'd be in a completely different position. And her brothers... maybe they were actually her cousins? That at least would explain why they'd always been so different compared to her.

"Urghhhh!" she groaned, clutching her head in frustration. This couldn't be real. Maybe it was a dream after all?

"Take a deep breath," Jared said softly. "We'll work this out. How about you tell us what else they said?"

Macey noticed she hadn't actually told them all the important bits. The ones that affected all the Wardens, not just herself.

She sighed. "You better get the others while I put on some clothes. We have a lot to discuss.