Chapter 113

Carol’s POV

“I never wanted to give you away, Carol,” King Bennet began to explain. “I don’t know how much you know about yourself, or your ancestries, but you are far more special than you even realize.”

“I know enough,” I confessed. “I know that I was gifted by three priestesses.”

King Bennet looked surprised that I knew this information already, but he nodded, confirming that what I was told was the truth.

“There are 3 main covens. They are the strongest Covens in the world and it’s where the smaller covens around the world stem from. Every witch has ancestorial ties with one of the three Covens. Typically, girls have their mother’s genes and boys have their father’s genes. That’s the reason you have wolf blood, but no wolf. Your mother wasn’t a wolf.”

I nodded, understanding.

“Most witches can do spellcasting; however, most witches have one special gift. The Sawol coven is gifted in telekinesis. Not all the powers are the same though. Some can read minds, others can manipulate minds, and everything in between. Then, there’s the Amyrran Coven. They specialize in elixirs and potions. Most in that coven are healers and specialize in creating elixirs. They can also create curses and come up with their own spells. They are considered the smartest coven,” King Bennet explained. “Then, there’s my coven…”

“The Wlanc Coven?” I asked.

He nodded.

“We specialize in prophecy,” he explained. “Me for example can look into someone’s eyes and I can see glimpses of the past. Others can see glimpses of the future. Some can have full visions and prophecies.”

“You can see glimpses of the past?” I breathed. “That’s a cool power.”

He nodded.

“It has its benefits. I always know when someone is lying,” he told me. “I can just look into their eyes and find out the truth.”

It made me wonder what my other special abilities were. I knew I had more than one because I was gifted by 3 priestesses.

“What about the priestesses?” I asked. “Do they also have only one gift?”

He nodded.

“Their gifts are even stronger because they work directly for the Moon Goddess herself. They act as her eyes and ears for each of the covens. Before you were born, there was a prophecy about you from the Wlanc priestess that said you were destined to be one of the strongest beings on earth. You are meant to be the High Priestess.”

My birth mother had told me about the same thing in that dream and Morgan implied it as such. I knew she wanted my powers and to be the high priestess herself.

“Each of the priestesses was commanded by the Moon Goddess to gift you with each of their abilities,” King Bennet continued to explain. “You are the rarity that has three gifts.”

I nodded and bit my lower lip.

“Well, I don’t know much about elixirs, but I’ve never tried,” I admitted. “I’m also not sure about prophecy. I’m not sure how to unlock that.”

“We can work on it,” King Bennet said, leaning back in his seat. “But what have you done?”

“I think I can manipulate minds,” I said, staring down at my hands. “I can make people do and say things. I can’t explain how I do it… it just happens.”

He nodded.

“Yes, that would be the ability from the Sawol Coven,” he said. “Because that’s your mother’s coven, that would be your strongest ability.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why you gave me up,” I blurted, meeting his eyes. “If I was supposed to be so special, why didn’t you want me?”

“It’s not that I didn’t want you, Carol. It’s that you were so special, that you were also constantly in danger. Everyone wanted a piece of you. They either wanted your powers, or they wanted you dead,” he explained, making me flinch. I felt Aiden tensing from beside me. A handmaiden from the Amyrran Coven came to us a few months before you were born and started to work as your Emalyn’s handmaiden. Then when you were born, she had the solution to hide you away where nobody could find you. As long as your powers hadn’t come in yet, it would be hard to track you. To help keep you hidden, she gave you an elixir to hide all traces of your existence from our world.”

He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Letting you go was the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do. The only thing that got us through it was the fact that we would be giving you the best chance in life. We knew that when the time came, we would either find you again, or you would find us. But when she returned…” he paused and took a deep breath. “She told us you were ambushed by rogues and that you didn’t make it.”

“And you believed her?” I asked, my voice coming out sharper than I meant it to.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I saw it in her eyes.”

My mouth nearly fell open.

“What?” I gasped.

I looked at Aiden who looked equally confused.

“What do you mean you saw it in her eyes?” Aiden asked for clarification.

“As I said, I can see glimpses of the past. I know when people are lying. When I looked into her eyes, I saw the ambush and I saw them killing you. Then, they took your little body and that was the last you were seen.”

My heart felt heavy from his words.

“And this handmaiden, who was she?” I asked, already knowing the answer, but needing to hear it from him.

“Her mane is Morgan Leveau,” he answered. “She’s worked for Elizabeth’s family for a long time at the Amyrran Coven. But she was sent to the Wlanc estates to help with Emalyn’s pregnancy. She worked as not only her handmaiden but a healer as well. She was basically a gift from the Amyrran Coven to ensure the safety and healthy birth of the High Priestess. She’s also the head council member for witches. She’s away on business for right now, but when she’s here, she’s still working as the handmaiden for Queen Elizabeth.”

I looked at Aiden and saw that he was giving the King a strange look. We knew exactly what kind of “Business” Morgan was doing, but the question remains: does the king know?

“She’s the Queen's personal handmaiden?” I asked, my brows knitting together.

“Yes, she’s worked for Elzabeth’s family for a long time. When I married Elizabeth, Morgan stuck around and continued to work under her when she was not doing her duties for the council,” he explained. “She’s extremely busy and one of the hardest workers in the empire.”

“I see,’” I said, not fully trusting what he was saying. I found it hard to believe that Morgan could manipulate him so deeply like this.

How was it even possible if he could see the truth in people’s eyes? I knew Aiden was wondering the same thing because he cleared his throat and asked, “Have you heard from Morgan since she left?”

King Bennet furrowed his brows together.

“I personally have not, but Elizabeth has been in contact with her,” King Bennet answered. “Why do you ask?”

“I recently saw her at a party at the Capital,” Aiden told him. “She’s well known around my family.”

“Yes, she tends to make herself very known indeed,” the king said thoughtfully.

I thought about telling him what had happened, but I wanted to speak to Aiden about it first. I wasn’t sure if we could truly trust the King. I was still apprehensive about this whole thing.

The door of the dining room opened and a tall gentleman with long black hair and a strong build walked in. He walked directly to the King and whispered something into his ear. The King visibly tensed and then cleared his throat.

“Carol, Aiden, this is my Beta Luca. I apologize but I’m going to have to leave and take care of some business. But we will catch up some more later, Carol,” King Bennet said as he stood to his feet.

I nodded and watched as he left with Luca right behind him.

I looked at Aiden.

“What do you think? Can we trust him?” I asked him, keeping my tone as low as possible.

Aiden stared at the closed doorway, a crease between his brows.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But it seems he might be clueless about Morgan’s intentions.”

“Do you think she had anything to do with poisoning your father?”

He thought about it for a moment.

“If she’s after you, I’m not sure what the motive would be,” he admitted. “Let’s go back to our room and I’ll give Oliver a call to tell him what we found out so far.”

I nodded and followed Aiden out of the dining hall.

“Hello, would you like me to escort you back to your room?” Tilly asked as soon as we stepped into the hallway.

“No, thank you. We should be fine, Tilly. But thank you.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Of course. I’ll bring some tea to your room later this evening,” she said, bowing before she turned and walked away.

“She’s an odd one,” I murmured as we walked towards the staircase.

I paused when I saw that there were workers all over the staircase, cleaning the marble railings and power-washing the rugs. They looked miserable over the ordeal.

“Are we allowed to go upstairs?” I asked one of them.

He looked at me and nodded.

“The elevator is around the corner. We were ordered to clean the stairs to pristine so they will be out of order for a bit,” he explained.

This palace had an elevator? I looked at Aiden and he just shrugged as we walked around the corner. Sure enough, there was an elevator. He pressed the up button and we waited for the doors to open.

As we stepped inside, I stood close to him letting him put his arms around me as he pressed the button for our floor. Th doors shut and we started to move upwards.

I couldn’t shake the nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach though. Just as we were about to reach our floor, the lights of the elevator turned off and the elevator stopped.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Aiden walked over to the buttons and tried to press them but to no prevail. Then he grabbed the emergency phone and put it to his cheek.

“There’s no connection,” he murmured.

The elevator started to shake and creak; panic consumed me as I fell over, trying to grasp the railing before I hit my head; and then the entire elevator went down!