x
Unfortunately, it seemed my mission was doomed from the start; I could see my younger siblings' dreams, but they were ringed around with protections stronger than anything Whisper or I could counter. Wanda had taken advantage of their blood and their connection to Stonehenge to ensure nothing short of a miracle could get to them, and I swore in frustration when I returned to Sienna's dream. She was smirking behind her gag, the fear gone from her eyes, but when I stalked up to her, she went sheet white again, and uncontrollable terror replaced her smugness. It seemed the third time was the charm; Sienna now truly was scared to death, and I yanked off her gag. "I'm going to ask this once," I told her. "If you don't give me an answer that satisfies me, I'm going to increase your worst fear a hundredfold and give you nightmares both sleeping and waking until you're scared so straight even the most straitlaced of nuns will see you as one of their own."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9Tw160jKv
Sienna went even paler than before, and I knew I had her. "What's happened to my siblings?" I demanded, 111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvFbMMRnQX
"Wanda took advantage of the ancestral protections of Stonehenge," Sienna answered sullenly. "Our siblings are full witches, and she used their ancestral ties with the royal family who once ruled here to make sure only she can have access to them. Joanna is already pregnant, and Wanda means to give one of her twins to me. I've been instructed to take the twin back to Brighton and raise him as my own; Wanda plans to raise the other twin as hers, and when they're sixteen, she intends for herself and I to mate with them."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1SLsqQyYU
I shuddered in revulsion. "And presumably Joanna is kept here as broodmare?" I said, feeling ready to throw up. Brother-sister relations were, aside from cousin relations, the only accepted form of what humans called incest; parent-child and other such relationships were taboo for many reasons, the moral side being one of many. For Sienna to be promised to one of her nephews was bad enough, but for Wanda to pledge herself to her great-grandson was something that had to be nipped in the bud, and fast.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdoc4dvo08
"Yes," Sienna said. "Joanna will be given to many males, and each of her offspring will be mated to the offpring of her firstborn sons, and so on, until such time as Wanda gets her perfect child to start the royal lineage anew."111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyv7WWjt5N
"Wanda is a sick bitch if she thinks she'll get her way," I said, fighting the nausea.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjIRQLQhMR
"You can't stop her," Sienna told me, and a small hint of smugness came back. "Caleb and Cory are being held hostage, and Wanda's threatened to make Joanna watch as she kills them. She's already forcing the three of them to watch every time one of them has sex, and if they don't show enough enthusiasm, she has them tortured, while forcing the others to be witness to their pain."
I resisted the urge to deck Sienna on the spot. "Wanda can't keep guard on them forever," I said. "And you've just given me the keys to breaking her spell."
Sienna lost her small amount of spirit as she paled again. "What do you mean?" she demanded.
I laughed and resisted her futile probe with ease. "You'll just have to wait and see," I said. I snapped my fingers, and Sienna's chains vanished. But before she could lunge at me, Whisper showed himself, and even I went pale as I saw his true form for the first time; a massive dark cloud shot through with stars and nebula, two glowing multicoloured eyes staring Sienna down until she looked ready to sink into the floor. Whisper didn't say anything; he didn't need to, and the fight drained out of Sienna on the spot one last time, leaving her a shattered, shaking mess as she sank to her knees, curling in on herself and sobbing as she rocked back and forth. I felt her dream-bubble start to fracture at the edges, and Whisper surrounded me in his dark mass, teleporting me out of there just as Sienna's mind began to break. When he released me, we were back in the dreamscape, and I shivered as I watched Sienna's dream-bubble slowly collapse in on itself, until there was nothing left.
'Done and dusted,' Whisper said, as he withdrew back into my mind. 'No, I am not apologising. That wasn't Sienna; Wanda was controlling her the whole time, and I suspect your dear grandmother will be waking up a drooling vegetable any moment now.'
I let out a long sigh. "I understand," I said. "What about Sienna?"
'I saved her,' Whisper assured me. 'As I was teleporting you out, I pulled Sienna's mind clear of Wanda's grasp; it was a damned near thing, though. Wanda seemed determined to take Sienna down with her rather than lose her, but I got Sienna out of there before the dream-bubble collapsed entirely. She's going to wake up in rather a mess, and I'm going to be doing some checks on her before I can be sure she's not still infected in some way. Mind control of that nature will often leave scars, and Sienna may need to be cared for in a secure location for the rest of her life.'111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrZA5DcAQ7
"If that's what it takes to make sure Wanda can't hurt anyone again, then so be it," I said. "But Whisper - what are you?"
'I'm me,' he said, as if it should be the simplest answer in the world. 'That's all there is to it. I'm everything, and nothing. I'm life, and death. I'm descruction, creation, joy, sorrow, anger, peace, heartbreak, confidence, everything at once, and all the shades in between.'111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MdtteFUl3
I shivered. "I'm a little scared of you," I admitted.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwBPGSXxnq
'I know,' Whisper said, and he sounded sad. 'The thing is, I can't stay in your mind for much longer. I was brought to this time and place to help you bring Wanda down - she and I go back a very long time, and now that she's been put to rest, my task is done. But I leave you all the magickal tomes in my library - I'll give you the access key so you can go there any time - and you have permission to use all the spells and artifacts I've got stored in my fortress. In fact, I want you to use them, not just to educate yourself and your siblings, but to remind werewolves that they and witches can and should be friends. Wanda was one of the perpetrators of the original feud, and another purpose of mine was to mend the breach. It's mended now, but the task falls on you and your siblings, and future generations, to ensure it stays repaired. I don't want to have to come back in another thousand years and do this shit all over again. Twice in three thousand years is enough for me.' There was a heavy sense of finality in his next words. 'Now, let's get you back to your body. You've still got a few hours before dawn, and I have to be well gone by then, else my superiors are going to want to know why.'111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrtR2FW40w
I wanted to beg him to stay; I was going to miss him terribly. But he'd made it clear that this was to be our last goodbye, so, with a heavy heart, I let him guide me back to my own body. Even so, as I went to sleep, I vowed I'd find him again, and make it so that we'd never be parted again, even if I had to break a few rules along the way.
For it was clear to me that he, not Zach, had been my mate. And as sleep rolled over me, I promised him that one day, we'd be together, with no rules or limits placed on us. I wasn't sure if he was around to hear that vow, but I could almost sense an amused chuckle deep inside my mind before I let my well-earned slumber completely take hold.111Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNMN4xoHfV
