“What did he mean, reclaim your kingdom?” Leah asked.
Brayden looked startled when Leah had spoken, like he’d forgotten she was there, or any of us for that matter. “My brothers, Axel, Castiel and Gabe were the three princes of Moon Valley. I was their king, Lena my queen.”
He looked at her and then to me as if trying to figure out for himself which of us was his queen. This was the first time I’d ever heard his brothers’ names. That made it real.
Axel, Castiel, Gabe.
A sudden memory hit me and I gasped.
Axel was Brayden’s littlest brother and married to my sister, Blake. My sister. I just knew that Blake was my sister. The memory was of their wedding, in some cathedral made of white stone walls with gold veining. Blake had her fair blonde hair braided over one shoulder and I was peering at her from where I stood as one of her bridesmaids.
Castiel, Gabe, and Brayden were the groomsmen across from us. His brothers were all insanely gorgeous copies of Brayden.
It was wild to be in this memory but also have my thoughts and recollections as Averly.
Just as quickly as the memory was there, it was gone, and when I tried to look around inside of my mind to see what I was wearing or who was next to me, it became fuzzy like trying to remember a dream.
“I was there,” I muttered, and Brayden stopped, looking over at me.
“Where?” he said.
“I… think I just had a memory. Axel and Blake’s wedding in the white marble cathedral.”
Brayden went very still, as did Maddy. Even Leah didn’t move.
“Do you remember who you are?” he asked me with such a yearning in his voice it broke my heart. For a half second I wanted to blurt out Lena and see what he would do. Would he kiss me? But that was a lie and I couldn’t do it.
My gaze flicked to Leah and she glanced expectantly at me, like she too wanted to just figure this out and put an end to it. But she also looked a tinge jealous and I worried for our friendship in that moment. I didn’t want to fight over a guy. This was so stupid. I needed alone time with my bestie so that we could talk it out.
I shook my head. “Just that I was a bridesmaid.”
Brayden released the breath he’d been holding. “You all were. Lena, Wren, and Natalie were all Blake’s bridesmaids.”
Leah frowned and I nodded. “Sorry.”
Brayden grinned. “Don’t be sorry.” He stepped forward and grasped my shoulders and I nearly melted into his touch. It felt so nice to be touched by him. “You’re getting memories back, that’s great news. Before long we will know who each of you are. I have faith.” He looked back at Leah and she quickly wiped the hurt from her expression.
Maddy raised her hand. “Awesome news that Averly is remembering stuff, but can we focus on the Elder Fae’s letter? What he said is huge.”
Brayden shook himself. “Right.” He dropped my shoulders and I ached at the loss of his touch.
I wondered then if he’d never told me about Lena if I would even like him. Did I gravitate towards him because I wanted to be someone’s missing soulmate? The idea was romantic, but now that I had another memory I was definitely feeling overwhelmed that I was a reincarnated soul in a new body. One that might very well die on her twentieth birthday.
“What’s so huge about what the letter said?” Leah asked as we all started to walk again, finding a spot near the lake with a bench to sit on.
Maddy, Leah, and I sat on the bench and Brayden loomed over us, arms crossed as he looked down at us seriously.
“I could never hope to go up against the four Fae Lords without my power, but if I led Novus to them, let him hunt them…” He let the silence linger and I gasped.
“Then Novus would pluck them off one by one to consume their power,” I finished.
He nodded.
“But…” Maddy added, “what the Elder Fae failed to account for is that my brothers and your sisters are prisoners of the Fae Lords, and if we lead Novus to them we will also lead the Wild Hunt right to our siblings.”
Ouch, that was a bad plan.
“Not to mention the Fae Lords steal the Greywolf power from my brothers and their wives. Who knows what would happen if Novus consumed the Fae Lords while they were still connected to our siblings. Would their power get consumed too?” Brayden asked.
