Chapter 57 - No Matter the Difficulties, No Matter the Pain

— Elaeya —

I woke to a pleasant sensation.

Fingers were running up and down the side of my face in light butterflies flutters. I recognized this touch. I opened my eyes with a pleased smile on my lips.

“Hey there, Mama,” I said.

She was lying next to me, on top of the covers.

“Hey there, child mine,” she replied.

I just looked at her, and she did the same, in silence.

“You did something, didn’t you?” I asked after a minute or two.

“I did.

“Was it difficult?

“Actually, I am happy to do this.

“Are you?” I asked.

“Mmh-hm,” she acquiesced. “I missed it. I remember seeing my father do this. I remember the feeling. I have missed the connection, the link, the weight of it. I have missed where I am from, what I am. I have missed this part of me for a long time. And now, someone told me to indulge to my hearts content.

“Really?” I asked. “What happened?

She spent the next fifteen minutes explaining the weight I have been put under, and why I had been struggling so much.

“Will you not struggle too?” I asked.

“I will be fine, child,” she assured me. “I will bear my part and you will bear yours.

“So, you are now part of Blakemore?

“I am,” she said. “And so is your father.

“He too?

She nodded. “He will not leave here either. It is your family, so shall it be ours then.

I wrapped my finger over hers.

“You can join without worries now,” she said.

I nodded, knowing she was right.

“Was Kaden okay with all this?” I asked her.

“Surprisingly so,” she said. “He seemed curious to know what it will ultimately mean for his pack. But he said that as long as you were okay with what I wished to do, then I would be put under little to no restrictions, and to refer to you for questions regarding how it will affect the pack.

“As he?

“He said that he learnt to trust you. That you have a far better understanding of this than him and that he would be an idiot not to listen to such expertise.

I smiled. It did sound like him, but it felt nice to hear regardless.

“I will, anyhow, give you the same warning I gave him. This was the second of three. Three battles with, for price, life and sanity, for you, that is. There is still one left to come. I know not where, nor when, nor how, but I know you may never truly rest until the last on is fought.

“I know it is not over,” I acknowledged.

Her jaw clenched for a moment.

“I don’t know how much me or your father will be of aid to you, but we will be here,” she said.

I nodded.

“I see them sometimes, you know,” I said.

“Who?

“My children.

She beamed. “Those are the greatest gift one may ever receive, no matter the difficulties, no matter the pain. They will be your greatest pride and legacy.

I nodded. “But am I ready?

“No one truly is, until one is resting in your arms. It is knowledge stronger than gravity itself, it is a love, deeper than anything you may think yourself capable of. When the time comes, it will be the right time.

I nodded.

“Those battles,” I said. “I did not fight them, not on my own.

“No battle is ever truly fought alone. You may be aware or not. But there is always another, somewhere, sharing part of that burden for you.

She caressed my hair gently.

“He loves you, you know,” she said.

“I know.

“And so do you.

“I do,” I admitted.

There was a quiet sadness in her eyes.

“He is not like him,” I told her.

“I know.

“We can all build something here.

“So it seems.

— Kaden —

I heard a knock on my door.

“Yes,” I said.

“Hey there,” said Alik as he walked into my office.

I was in the office wing of the packhouse. I had managed to do a lot from home, but there were pressing things that would be better taken care of from the office. Brandon had a long list of things for me to sign.

With everything that has happened in the last few weeks, I’d barely stayed on top of everything, and with both Darren and Eva away, it was not the best. But they were doing some work remotely and I really couldn’t complain about them. My mother really took Jasmine in charge, and apparently she was more motivated than ever to do something out of her life, which was encouraging. Araeya, Elaeya’s mother, was with her, so I wasn’t too worried. Things were starting to fall back into place regardless, which I considered a pretty good achievement in and of itself.

“Sit,” I told Alik.

He walked to my desk and dropped his ass on one of the black leather chairs.

“So, it seems I have to thank you a lot lately,” I told him.

He beamed. “I’m the best,” he said rubbing his nails over his chest.

Little punk.

“How are things going with the warning system over the territory?” I asked him.

“Two of your packs’ territories are completely done,” he said. “I’m in various stages of preparations for four more. I received maybe half of what I’ll need for the wards on the packhouse, so I’m not there yet for this part, but working my way to it.

I nodded. “So far, you’ve been doing a great job. I should have hired you sooner.

“God, I’m good,” he said pridefully.

I shook my head.

“I received a text from home a couple of hours ago saying that Elaeya is awake and doing well.

“I’m glad to hear,” he said sincerely, his cockiness vanishing instantly.

“I still have difficulty wrapping my mind around how it all devolved like this.

“It’s kinda logical, actually.

“How so?

“Okay,” he said leaning forward and sitting on the tip of his chair. “Everything comes at a cost, right?

“Right,” I agreed.

“For example, werewolves, you have greater strength than human, you have teeth and claws and everything scary. But as you have these additional strength, you also have additional weakness, like wolfsbane. Each breed has their own set of pros and cons. If you have an insanely powerful being—like, let’s say, a god. They have way more additional strength compared to a human than a werewolf does, but they might not have the free will that something like you and I have,” he said, leaning back down on his backrest and putting his elbows on the armrests. “Different prices for different gifts.

“Sure,” I admitted.

“So you have a hybrid,” he continued. “They generally inherit a few of those. If they mix well together, you have someone like Ylva, but if the mix clash together, you get a less pleasant result.

“But not Elaeya.

“Nope. She doesn’t technically have it all, but she can access it. All the gifts—which can make her potential very powerful—.

“But she pays the prices for them all,” I reasoned.

“Bingo!” he said. “And what do you think happened when a pro of one is the con of the other.

I paused. “That sounds actually a lot like a paradox,” I noticed, frowning.

His eyebrows went up. “Actually, yes. It’s not a bad analogy,” he said. “Let’s just said that it has its risks.

“How do you know all this?

“Some of it is simply magic theory. When you know the laws of the universe, you can generally calculate different outcome with different parameters, but wizards have also compiled information on vitteraï.

“Have they?

“Yeah, some of us were the one that found some of the farms.

Farms. That was not a term I liked, neither I wanted to imagine.

“What was found there was not super pretty,” he continued. “A lot of subjects were put down by my kind.

I repressed an instinctual growl.

He raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.

“Please, do know than one, I was not there, and two, most were not in any conditions to be saved.

“How so?

“The general practice was to collar them with vinethorns—.

“What’s that?” I interrupted him.

“A sort of large collar that was invented to deal with them. It has some thorny vines than sink into the skin and suppresses most abilities linked to magic. It incapacitates a lot of things out there. It’s particularly efficient on vitteraï, but it can work on nearly anything. You need a scarily powerful being to be able to push, even a little, against it. Nowadays it’s used by some mercenaries, some armies, black market peddlers and a bunch of other joyful nasties.

I nodded.

“So,” he said getting back to what he was saying. “Those girls were generally locked, bred, occasionally maimed for additional income and kept as such. The children were generally put into captivity from birth to go through the same process. Most adults didn’t even speak languages and were highly feral. Was it caused mostly by their genetic, how they were raised, or most probably both? Ultimately, we’ll never know.

Some wizards studied them as much as they could and documented it, but they were, in the end, too dangerous to keep into captivity.

“Captivity,” I said, my voice arctic.

“There were not sane, Kaden. Some were maybe sixth to twelfth generations of breeding with all sorts of things. How do you think they would have been restrained from hurting others, or themselves?

I said nothing.

“Someone like Elaeya, with a few generations of different mixes, that is sane and functional—it’s pretty rare, even back in their heydays.

I frowned at that.

“Doesn’t it mean that further outer-breeding could lead to—,” I didn’t finish. I was really not keen on the idea.

“She’s a werewolf already. Different breeds of the same thing is not as bad as different species altogether.

“What if the kids just—,” I let the words hang.

“That, I don’t really know. Maybe it won’t be too much of an issue with proper care and education, maybe not. But you might have to keep that risk in mind if you get grandkids and great-grandkids who are a little more adventurous.

Because, the thing is, most hybrids were treated so bad that it was hard to find specimens that turned right. Most that were sane, bred with no more that one other specie.

I nodded.

“I guess it’s pretty serious if you’re thinking of kids so much,” he said.

“She sees them,” I said. “In visions.

“Oh,” he said.

“Plus, we’re getting married, so—.

“Well, congrats.

“Yeah, well I could have waited a bit for this.” I rubbed at my shin.

“Not ready?

“More like too busy. Granted, I don’t have to deal too much with preparations—though, I’m not sure of the wisdom of giving my mother free-reign—but I haven’t even managed to get a freaking ring yet, and it’s in less than a month now.

“Well, it’s not like you don’t have the money, right?

“Yeah, well—.

“Ah,” he said, figuring it out. “But if you get any random trinket it will be seen as not so valuable and everyone judges you on everything because in the end it’s all political.

I pointed my hand in a ‘voilà’ gesture at him. He saw pretty clearly what was going on.

“This is my own personal Hell,” I said.

He snorted.

“Is there some smarmy wizard wisdom on the subject?” I asked him.

“Man, we’re not the same. You have money, I have magic,” he said.

I titled my head questioningly.

“Here.” He took a ring off his finger. “It’s for shields. This.” He took a bracelet off. “Protection against ghosts, this.” He pointed at his belt. “Captures lifeforce little by little, so that if I get injured, despite the fact that I don’t have your super-healing, I can get back on my feet in a jiffy. Never trust that a wizard is weaponless as long as there is something on him. Attacks, veils, protections—we cover our asses. So I’d do something like that for my girl.

One words resonated in my skull. “Protection?” I asked.

Three wars, a third battle for Elaeya and the gods know what it’ll be.

“Sure,” he said.

“How does it work?” I asked him.

“Everything depends on what you want to do, and how, and what you have at your disposal. Crystals are great at a vast majority of things, but not specialised. A more refined stone could hold a more specific spell. Bloodstones, diamonds, jade, everything as it’s set of properties that you could build upon.

“What about moonstones?” I asked. “Or white opals?

He smiled. “Not bad options.

I shook my hand. “First, we should take care of something more pressing.

“What is it?

“Do you have another gig planned after this?” I asked him.

“Not yet,” he admitted.

“How about you set up shop here? I suggested. “Permanently.

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