Page 168 of Mated to the Kings

“Baby… Although there is a way, I don’t want you to get wrapped up in trying to save me. I accepted my fate a long time ago,”she says, cupping my cheek to wipe my tears.

“I have to try,”I say.“Although… When I do get you back, there might be some drama.”

“Oh?”she asks.

“Uhm… Dad has a new mate,” I say slowly.

“Ah. Brenna,”she smiles. “I was hoping they would find their way to one another.”

“So, that’s not a problem? Dad would have two mates,”I say.

“Sweetie… Before you were born, your father and I had a relationship with Brenna. She wasn’t our mate, but she may as well have been. For your father, he was more physical than emotional, but his mating with her means they have an emotional connection now.”

“So, no girl fights?”I ask.

“No,”she laughs.“But please don’t lose yourself trying to figure this out. It’s okay if you can’t or don’t want to.”

“I’m going to forget that you said that,”I say, giving her a deadpan expression.“I’m going to get Grandma and Leli to help me. I don’t want anyone else to know until I have a solid answer on if I can do this.”

“I love you, Lilith. Please don’t be hard on yourself if it’s not possible,”she says softly.

“I love you too, Mom,”I smile. “I saw you there. Did you see…?”

“Yeah, baby… I saw,”Mom says. “I’m sorry that happened. I don’t even know what to say.”

“They think it’s their fault,”I say.“I try to reassure them, but I don’t think they believe me.”

“They’ll get there, just like you will. You all experienced a lot of trauma.”

“Yeah,”I say. “I hope you get a chance to meet them. They’re wonderful.”

“If your father hasn’t killed them, he must adore them,”she laughs. “I know you’re dying to go wake Leli and your grandmother, so I’ll go. I’ll come see you again soon. It takes a lot of energy to show up, so I’ll have to give it some time.”

“Okay,”I say as I hug her. “I’ll bring you back. I promise.”

My eyes flutter open, and I smile. I slowly slip out of bed and slip on my robe before going to Leli. I lightly knock on the door, and Vash opens it. “Hey,” he says sleepily. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I just need Leli,” I say.

“Uh. Okay. She’s sleeping,” he says as he steps to the side to let me in. I go to her side of the bed and gently shake her.

“Leli,” I say.

“Hmm?” she says as she forces her eyes open. When she sees me, she jumps up. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I’m sorry I woke you, I just need your help.”

“With what? It’s one in the morning,” she asks.

“Remember the woman you took to lock up for me?” I ask, and she nods. “That’s Mom. Well… her body at least.”

“What? Have you lost your marbles? Ashara is dead, baby,” she says softly.

“I put an illusion spell on her because I didn’t want anyone to see until I knew it was going on. Mom came to me again in my sleep like before and explained,” I say.

“Well… Don’t leave me hanging here.”

“She said that Morwen had a rogue witch separate her soul from her body. So, while the rogue witch has been in her body, her soul has just been kind of floating around. The collar she had on basically just turned her into a zombie so that Morwen could do whatever he wanted to her,” I explain.

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