Chapter 41

Clara

Now that I had a way to communicate, I didn’t know where to start. I had so many questions.

Luckily for me, Tracy did know what she wanted to ask.

“You said you were eighteen, right?” Tracy asked.

I nodded.

“Can you tell me anything about your parents?” Tracy asked. “Their names, where they are, anything.”

I shook my head, and wrote, “I am an orphan. I was found abandoned, by one of the royal maids. I never knew who they were or what happened to them.”

Tracy’s shoulders slumped. “Nothing at all?”

“My mother,” I wrote, and then added the word ‘adopted’ above it, “assumed they were dead. I always thought they abandoned me because I’m defective.”

“Defective? How?” Ronan asked. He seemed honestly baffled.

I pointed to my throat.

“What, because you’re quiet? Pretty one, in my line of work that’d be an asset,” Ronan said. “Anyway, the woman I know would’ve never dropped a little one for such a little thing.”

“No, Kara never would,” Tracy said. Her shoulders slumped.

Ronan reached over and patted her shoulder. “We were pretty sure she was gone,” he said. “I know it hurts to have it confirmed.”

Tracy nodded.

I looked from one to the other, and wrote, “I don’t understand.”

“Well, pretty one,” Ronan said, “Looking at you clearly, there’s really no doubt you’re our Kara’s child. And if you never knew her, well, it probably means that she died. Because she would never have left you for any other reason.”

“Are you sure I’m this Kara’s daughter?” I wrote.

Ronan and Tracy both nodded.

“You’d think, since she’s mostly werewolf, she’d look more like Ethan,” Tracy mused.

“Hm, that’s true,” Ronan said. “Wait. Your wolf form. What does she look like?”

I shrugged. “Nothing special, really. I’m grey, with pale eyes. Why?”

“Could you show us?” Tracy asked. “It’s not the full moon, but I know some wolves can shift when they want.”

“I can,” I wrote.

I pulled at the tie to my dress, and was surprised when both vampires politely turned away. I shrugged and shifted to my wolf form. It felt good to let her pace the room a little. I would have to ask where I might be allowed to run and hunt later.

I hoped they would allow me out to run.

When they heard my wolf form scratch at the floor, Ronan and Tracy turned.

“Oh, yeah you’re Ethan’s pup,” Ronan declared. “You look just exactly like him. And your eyes aren’t pale, pretty one, they’re blue.”

Huh. I didn’t realize. I’d never seen a mirror in my wolf form. I only knew they were ‘pale’ because other wolves mentioned it occasionally.

I shifted back, and dressed while the two slightly flustered vampires turned their heads. They were kind of funny about nudity. I guess that made sense since they didn’t shapeshift.

“So I really am half vampire,” I wrote after tapping them both for attention. “And you both knew them? My parents?”

“I realize this must be awfully upsetting to hear,” Ronan said.

“A little,” I wrote, “but I knew.”

“You knew?” Tracy asked.

“I only just found out. They tested everyone after a vampire spy was found. My test came back strange. The healers said I was half vampire.” I wrote the facts plainly. “That is why I was in the dungeon. The king ordered my execution.”

“They were going to kill you?” Tracy yelped. “Why?”

“I’m part vampire,” I wrote, “Vampires and werewolves are enemies.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s not like you did anything wrong,” Ronan said.

“The king did not care,” I wrote.

“That’s just wrong,” Ronan said. “I’m glad we got you out of there, and not just because your Kara’s daughter. No one deserves to die just for being what they are.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“You knew my parents?” I wrote.

“Yeah,” Ronan answered. “Your mother, Kara, was a scout I was training. She was good, too.”

“She was my sister,” Tracy said. “I told you that already. I was the oldest; I was supposed to look after her after our parents died.”

I reached over and took her hand in mine. Tracy was a stranger, but I felt like I knew her, or my wolf did.

“And my father?” I wrote, “How did she meet him? Did you know him, too?”

“Yeah, Ethan,” Ronan said. “Good man. He was brave, and curious. Like you.”

They thought I was brave?

Tracy nodded. “Kara met Ethan while she was out scouting the area. He was a Rogue werewolf, no pack. He was injured, and starving. She brought him to us, and he stayed for a while.”

“I think he fell in love with her the moment he saw her,” Ronan added. “Real puppy love. Followed her everywhere, did whatever he could to help out. He hunted, helped with the heavy lifting and repairs around the Warren, anything he could think of to impress her.”

“Kara was besotted,” Tracy said. “She tried to hide it, but I could tell.”

“Why did they leave?” I wrote.

“We’re not certain,” Ronan said. “Kara was a good scout, and would’ve climbed our ranks quickly. Ethan was welcome in the Warren, people liked him.”

“People did not mind that they were together?” I wrote.

Ronan shrugged. “Sure, it was a little odd. Our wolves usually pick other wolves to bond with, and vampires choose vampires. But there’s not a rule against it or anything. Maybe the old blood would’ve said something, but not us.”

“Old blood?” I wrote.

“Hm, that’s a bit of a long story,” Ronan said.

“Did you know my parents were going to have me?” I wrote.

Tracy shook her head. “I had no idea. I don’t know why they left. Just, one night Kara came to me, and hugged me, and said she’d always love me. And the next day, she and Ethan were gone. I never saw them again.”

Ronan sighed. “I had sent her on a job. Just a quick recon of the wolf castle. It was nothing she hadn’t done a hundred times. And she had Ethan with her. I would have sworn those two were unstoppable together. But something happened to them on that mission. They came back shaken, refused to talk about it. Then they vanished, just up and left, the next night.”

“We thought they had been captured,” Tracy said.

“I sent scouts to search the area and spies to check the castle,” Ronan said. “They all returned empty handed.”

“When I saw you in that dungeon, I thought…” Tracy trailed off, and sighed. “I thought for a second you were her. I thought they’d had her in that pit for all this time.”

“I’m sorry,” I wrote.

“No,” Tracy said, taking my hand. “No, I’m glad to have found you. I wish I knew what happened to them. I do. But I am so glad you’re here. You’re proof that they were together, and happy, for at least a little while after they left. And you’re family.”

Family. I smiled at her. I hadn’t had a family since my adoptive mother died. It might be nice to have one again, even if that family was a vampiric aunt I never knew existed.