“You look so much like my Jasper.” She patted his face once and pulled her hand away. “I’ll finally get to see him soon, now that you’re here.”
“Who is Jasper?” Ian whispered to Jax behind me.
Kade’s brow furrowed. “Jasper Blackthorn?” he asked.
The spirit nodded. “My name is Evelyn Everhart.” Her gaze flicked toward me. “The first Queen of Brookmere but, I suppose more importantly, your quite a few times great-grandmother.”
I swayed on my feet, silence falling around us. My heart rate skyrocketed. How was it possible the spirit of our first queen haunted the Southern Forest? And why?
“Wait,” Jax gasped, breaking the silence. I turned to look at him, his lips curled in a confused expression. “If your Jasper is our Jasper and you’re Lana’s great-great-great-grandmother, then you two…” He pointed between Kade and me, eyebrows raised. “Did you not check a family tree?”
Evelyn’s melodic laugher hit my ears and I jumped, noticing she now stood directly by my side.
Seconds later, she glided toward one of the strox standing guard, the creature’s beady eyes observing the entire interaction. She reached out her hand and the deadly bird eagerly lowered its head. Evelyn ran her hand up and down its beak and the creature purred.
“What in the Fates’ names is going on?” Ian said under his breath, absolute shock at what was happening clear in his tone.
“The animals here listen to me. They protect our line,” she replied softly.
“It didn’t feel like protection a few minutes ago,” I argued. “Pretty sure they wanted to grind our bones into their next meal.”
Evelyn tilted her head as she moved her hand from the strox’s beak to its neck, scratching under its feathers. "It assumed you were here to harm me and reacted accordingly. They understand now, and never again will one cause you harm.”
“Wait,” Ian interjected. “During the battle at Ellevail, the strox attacked us. I had to fight one with my own sword and barely made it out alive.”
She ran a hand down the bird’s neck as the creature nuzzled into her. A strox cozied up to this woman like a pet. I blinked several times, wondering if I was actually seeing the scene before me correctly. “Like I said, it was protecting our line. If you acted as if they were there to harm you, they will defend themselves against such attacks. Nothing is as it appears at first glance.”
Ian gave her an incredulous glare, muttering to himself, “Unbelievable.”
“Come,” she said, finally pulling away. “We have much to discuss.”
I hesitated, unsure of what to think anymore, and looked at the others, wondering if they were just as confused. “Hopefully one of the things we’ll discuss is if we’re related?” I whispered under my breath to Kade.
Kade grimaced. “There’s no way, Little Rebel. We’re mates.”
“Might want to make sure,” Jax mumbled, his brow furrowed like he had no idea what to think.
Ian stared, facing forward with a look of bewilderment.
I moved first, leading the way. Together, we followed Evelyn. The razorven skittered away, but the strox she had pet earlier walked elegantly to the side of our group. I was too scared to ask Evelyn questions as we moved to our destination, just in case the strox changed its mind. Kade’s hand slipped in mine and squeezed reassuringly as we allowed ourselves to be escorted deeper into the forest.
We walked for what felt like a mile until we arrived at another small clearing, a path of flowers and moss leading to a semicircle of rocks. Evelyn clasped her hands in front of her and turned to face us.
“You may be seated.” She pointed to the rock formations around us. “Not you, my dear,” she clarified, stopping me. “You step forward here.”
Tentatively, I let go of Kade’s hand, and when he didn’t loosen his grip, I nodded, indicating it was okay. He took a deep breath and eventually let go, allowing me to move before Evelyn.
“Payment must be made. A sacrifice in blood.”
Why was everything always in blood? “Fine,” I sighed, just wanting to get this over with so we could move on to obtaining answers.
The white dagger hummed on my side, practically trembling in its sheath to be free. I cut my palm, just like the others had during Mysthaven’s Blood Oath, and let my blood drip onto the forest floor at Evelyn’s feet.
The droplets sizzled as they landed against the mossy surface.
“Did I pass?” I asked, raising an eyebrow when Evelyn didn’t answer.
Smiling, Evelyn raised her hand. “Let’s see.” She snapped her finger once, and a worn leather journal appeared in her palm. She stepped toward me, holding it out. “I believe you’re here for this?”
