Chapter 133
Chapter 133
Zenovia
I hesitated. As much as I wanted to hear the story, I was afraid Callahan would drown himself in
alcohol. I had never seen him drink like this. Or so unstable. I had seen his rage and temper…but
this…seeing the most fierce king of werewolves look so helpless and miserable was new to me.
I was not sure if I could handle him if he broke down.
And, I was also dreading to hear the entire truth. My belief system was already shaken. Just how much
more could I hear? Was I ready for it?
He noticed the confusing emotions flash in my eyes and asked, “Are you sure you want to hear the
truth, Zee? The complete and absolute truth? I am still giving you the chance to walk away from this.
You don’t have to know or hear anything.”
I gulped nervously and my hold on his hand loosened.
There was no turning back now. I was not sure when he would open up to me again if he had not even
shared all of this with his trusted friends.
“You are not touching another bottle,” I added, trying my best to not let my voice shake, and stepped
back as Callahan smiled and lifted the bottle to put it directly to his lips.
“You know what? Today is not the first day I saw you wandering in the forest all alone.”
I stared at him in confusion.
“No, I only left or tried to run away from you once.”
But Callahan shook his head. “Pretty sure this is the second time. The first time I saw you, just like
tonight in the forest, wandering alone in the night.”
I scratched my head. How could that be possible?
“I don’t remember.”
“I only recalled it now. You did not look hurt to me in any way, so I let it slide, but I should have noticed
that something was off when you did not have an answer to why you had wandered in the forest so late
at night all by yourself. I only thought you did that to piss me off.”
I shook my head again. “No, I still don’t recall that night.”
“Hmm” Callahan had that faraway look in his eyes, as if he was wondering what it could mean.
“I have doubts about how Mirabel found you when she has never shown me her face in all these years,
but I will unravel that mystery later. But there is one thing I am certain of.”
“What?”
After taking one long swig, he spoke, “The memory that you saw… Mirabel showed that to you for a
reason.”
He sat on the chair in front of me and took another swig. His eyes were red, and I could see how hard
he was fighting to control his emotions. The bottle was almost empty.
“When I went that night to talk about a truce, Selene was angered by my suggestion. I went to her
bearing the news of several deaths and how our forces were almost defeated. I begged her to
reconsider her stance. I even offered to hold a meeting with Mirabel and maybe work as her slave for
eternity, if that meant we could put an end to the war.”
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He raised his eyebrow and looked up at me. “Want to guess what must have happened?”
“She…she did not like it?”
“That is putting it mildly. Selene was furious I would even come up with such a suggestion. And to This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
make matters worse, she found out a secret I was hiding and punished me for it.”
Callahan looked up at me, gauging my reaction. My heart was thudding wildly. I was sure he could hear
it pretty clearly as well.
“Wh-what was it?” I asked after taking a few deep breaths to calm my nerves…or at least tried to.
However, I failed the task miserably.
“The moment I spoke about a truce, Selene reprimanded me for becoming weak. Love and
compassion were weaknesses to her, a contagious disease that could kill her army. She cursed me to
live a loveless and lonely life, stating that nobody would ever love me because of my fate. I was
condemned to slowly become the monster she made ine, slowly give in to the primal instincts and go
feral.”
A gasp left my mouth.
My Goddess…she was so cruel?
“I fell to her feet, begged and cried her to take her words back…not for myself, obviously. I did not care
what happened to me. But she was a lesser Goddess and the curse came into effect the moment
Selene’s words left her mouth. Aisy…or Aislynn was the girl that you saw dying in the memory. Aisy
paid the price for the rivalry between Mirabel and Selene. Her death put an end to a decade old battle
as Mirabel pulled back her forces while Selene received a throne on the moon. And…and I was the one
who lost everything…”
“But why would her death lead to a truce?” I asked, my voice shaking.
I had seen him hold her close and cry bitterly in the memory Mirabel showed me. She must have been
someone important enough for the wa to end..
The memory was vivid and etched in my mind quite clearly of the way he had held onto her, begging
Mirabel to help him. But Mirabel had stood there impassively, only waving her wand at last to help
Aislynn’s journey to the afterlife.
“Was she related to Selene?” I asked.
I had never really wondered about Selene’s bloodline, but if she had a father, she might have a sister
as well. Aislynn looked truly beautiful, as if she was a goddess. So, my mind assumed she would be
somehow related. to Selene, that maybe she was Selene’s sister.
Why else would Callahan cry over some unknown girl’s death?
But his reply shocked me once again.
“She was Mirabel’s daughter….”
“What?”
It looked like I was asking that question a lot. How did that make sense? The memory showed me
Mirabel standing impassively, completely unaffected by her daughter’s death.
And Callahan was the one sobbing bitterly. Didn’t being Mirabel’s daughter turn her into Callahan’s
enemy?
My brows furrowed as I was trying to put the puzzle pieces together.
Callahan gave me some time to digest this piece of information as he
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kept staring at the moon as if trying to talk to Selene, or maybe demand justice from her.
No, justice was the last thing he would ask from her. Maybe, he was just venting out his anger at her.
Of all the times I hoped she was listening to us, now was the time I hoped it the most. I wanted to talk
to her, demand an explanation from her despite being a mere mortal.
My shock and confusion were now slowly turning into something else….into something I never thought
I would feel for Selene.
“This…the look on your face. I did not want that.” Callahan said, turning to look at me.
“why not?” I countered.
“Hope and faith are what keep us going, Zee. We are not normal creatures, neither completely human
nor animal. We lay somewhere in the between, dangling in the two worlds while trying to blend in.”
“That doesn’t justify what she did to you,” I replied, and he chuckled, putting the bottle to his lips again,
only to realize that it was empty.
“Not everybody is happy with God and fate. My sole experience should not determine what others think
about Selene. As I said, hope and faith are the two things that keep us going. I did not want to rob them
away from anyone…especially Matt, Dru, and El.”
That made sense somehow. Now that I thought about it, Callahan would not really care about the
implications of the curse. Death was what he was after, but he cared about his pack.
But I had noticed the way he had trailed off when speaking about Aislynn and the way a lump had
formed in his throat at the mention of her
name.
The way he trailed off told me there was more to it. He took a long pause and looked away as if what
he was about to say would hurt me as if he did not have the courage to look me in the eye while saying
it.
I moved forward a little and coaxed him gently.
“And? Who was Aislynn?” I asked the burning question in my mind.
He clenched his fists, the grip on the glass tightening as he added in a
hoarse mice
And she is fi
wh