Page 81 of The Unwanted Mate of the Lycan Kings
“Where are you taking me?”I finally get the question out, but he only smiles wickedly.
“Hunting,” he says, storming out of the room, and my stomach drops.
My hands shake as I remove my pajamas and pull on my pants, and when I turn to look for a shirt, I notice all the runes on my arms have burned out.The fluorescent bluish-white color has faded into pale scars, yet still, they stand out against my tanned skin.Twisting, I look at the ones that travel down my spine.The first four have turned black, and the bottom three are still their normal bluish-white shade.Confusion sets in as I stare at the black runes glittering like stars.
Why didn’t they fade the same way?
I try to make sense of the markings and what Granny told me they were for.Each color represents something different.Blue is peace and protection, the white hue surrounding it is power essence, a blank slate.Granny always said that when using the craft, most people feared the color black because it’s wrongly associated with dark magic, but it’s the intention of the one who yields it that controls whether magic is good or bad.To me, the color black has always meant protection, like our cave blanketed in night.
Granny has replenished the ruins on my arms before, but the ones on my back were the most painful runes she ever did, and they’ve never shown signs of changing or fading before now.My stomach tenses as I stare at them, knowing this can’t possibly mean anything good.They must be losing their power.The energy and protection they have always offered is gone.
I remember Granny saying something about black ruins before, so with a shudder, I let my mind take me back to the day I was branded.
Granny stands over my prone body, watching the tears track down my face and stain the boulder I’m tied to.My binds dig into my wrists as I thrash around.
“You hate me?That’s okay.I love you too,” she says, breaking a piece of aloe in her weathered hands.
“I don’t love you.I hate you.The others are right!You’re nothing but a wicked witch.I hope you die!”I scream, but my throat aches from all the screams before it, and my words don’t hold any of the venom I feel inside.
“You don’t know the meaning of hate, child.One day, you’ll understand.”I glared at her, but she continued.
“Hate has always been a powerful word; the energy it takes to harbor it is enough to lose your soul.Hate is more than just an emotion, Zirah; it’s an energy that attaches itself to your essence.Unlike death, which is merely a transition, a cycle that begins anew, hate lingers and festers, following you beyond the grave.With every life you live, the weight of unresolved hate accrues, drawing more negativityandmore karmic debt.Only by releasing hate can one escape the cycle of pain and retribution, finding peace across lifetimes.
“Therefore, you mustn’t want to get rid of me, and you must love me wholeheartedly to give me that sort of power over you, it’s hurt love” Grannyquips.
“No, it isn’t hurt love.It’s hate!I hate you!”I cry out.Her feeble laugh only fans the flames I feel licking up my spine and making my throat tight.
“Hate uses the same amount of energy as love, maybe more.Are you willing to lose yourself by giving me that power, child?To hate is to consume.You become absorbed by what you hate.It becomes all you know.So, do you love me enough to carry me into the next life with all that hatred?Is that what you want?For me to become your karma, a new life lesson?”she questions.
I rest my hot cheek on the cool rock below me, trying to breathe properly and make sense of her crazy words.More tears fall silently as every inch of my body aches and burns.
“You can be angry with me.You can be sad, but don’t stay in that cycle.Feel it and let it go.You only hurt yourself by holding on to it,” she says as she squeezes the aloe vera from the plant into the clay pot.“And death?You don’t wish death on your enemies, child.Death is a beginning, not an end,” she says, sitting on the rock next to me, and I turn my head to look at her.“It’s never death, it’s rebirth.To die you must live first, and to be reborn and gifted another life, you must die...One day you’ll see,” she sooths, slathering the aloe vera down my spine.
“It burns!”I moan, struggling against my restraints and arching my back.
“Nonsense, pain means you’re alive.Worry when you feel none, for that is the in between.”
“What did I do to deserve this?”I sob, wondering what this punishment could be for.
“I did this because I love you.One day, you’ll realize it is me who always had your back.When left with nothing, remember these words child.You have the spine, so use it.It is I who bleeds power for you, and one day, you’ll need it.One day you’ll awaken, and there is no greater power than knowing how powerful you are.Until then, I will protect you.”
“This is for protection?”I whimper, the pain becoming unbearable again, and my eyes flutter.
“They are child.One day you’ll understand, and when you do, you’ll find you’re infinite—just like your mother.Her sacrifice was your gain.Her blood became your power.And you, my dear, are the last of your kind and thebeginning of another.We all make sacrifices, and this is mine to protect you!”
“By burning me?”I cry.
“No, these protect you from the monsters that seek us,” she says, dabbing the runes seared into my flesh.I cry out, but she ignores me.“My blood and power.When they turn black, my power protects you, just like your tourmaline stone, just like the runes on your arms.Only these are different because this is your backup power that only awakens with great fear.But you need not fear anything.I’ll always have your back until your power awakens.For now, we just need to nurture it and let it grow until you can handle it.Until then, you have your runes, and if all else fails, you have me.Four elements, four chances, and four days before they fade, so be sure not to waste them.”
“How will I know when I awaken?”I murmur.My vision tunneling as the pain I feel steals it.
“You’ll know because with death comes rebirth.Just like the elements, everything is linked.Air helps us let go, release.Water cleanses.The Earth recharges, but with fire, we not only cleanse, we rise.We’re reborn, recalibrated, and recharged.Ready for a new cycle, only then will—’’
Only then will what?I can’t remember!Her words grow hazy the longer I try to recall them.I may have passed out.Recalling the vivid pain has clouded my mind.I didn’t understand Granny’s crazy words back then; I was too young.Now, I understand them with a clarity so deep that I can feel it in my soul.
“Human!What is taking you so long?”Zeke yells, and I rush to tug a shirt over my head.I pull it down with one last glance in the mirror.
“Now I know what you mean...”I whisper to Granny.Knowing the markings on my back are her power, her own blessing.It explains why after branding me, her power was limited.That’s why she aged faster, and now I know it was all to protect me.Like she said, when all else fails, she’d have my back.
