Chapter 4 The Truth in Shadows

Camilla POV

I was stuck still. I couldn't even inhale. I could only look strangely at the lady before me now.

She shared Lucien's dark eyes. She shared his firm jaw and the way he kept his shoulders. Yet she was older, with silver in her dark hair, and her face had lines telling of sadness. She had on plain clothes not washed for days maybe, and her hands shook a bit.

"Don't shout," she said, coming to me. "Please, I know this is weird, but listen now."

"You're gone," I breathed softly. "Everyone said that you were dead now."

"I know." She got closer still, and I saw tears on her face. "But I'm okay. I've hidden for five years now, just waiting now for you."

My head felt like it was falling apart. "You waited for me? You don't know me."

"Yes, I do." The lady reached out her hand, but I took steps back. "Your name is Camilla. You were my own son's love, they burned you alive. I saw it all play out, I couldn't stop them, so I came here. I've read about you each day."

She pointed to the wall, and I then saw it had strange writing on it. Years of writing. Names and dates and words like a timeline of my life.

"This is wild," I said, stepping far back. "How did you-"

"The old story," she said, her voice now keen. "The one tied tight to your veins. That's the whole point of this mess. The group knew it way before your first day. They knew your kin could smash their grip on this bunch. They knew that if you breathed on, they'd lose their high rank. So they chose to hex you before your first cry."

I wobbled my head. This felt like a dream. Too many bits clicked too quick. "This makes no sense."

"I am called Elena," she then said. "I led before my love passed. I was bold, and just, but I goofed up once. I put faith in the group. I thought they loved the bunch like I did." She plunked on a rock seat I missed. "When I learned they'd hex my kid's kid, your kid in the years ahead, I tried to stop them. But there were lots of them, and they felt so strong."

"My own kid?" I asked again. "What new kid? I've never made one."

"Not just yet," Elena softly said, eyes teary. "But as the story goes, you surely will. That babe will come with the strength to cut this bunch from the group's chains. They hoped to kill you ere you had the kid. They hoped to snap the story before it came alive."

I then sat by her. My legs felt frail, and my head buzzed. "Why say all this? Why tell me now?"

"You're going to fall tomorrow," Elena said plain. "Unless we act now, tonight, somehow."

"What's our next move?" I wondered aloud. "I'm stuck in this place. Goons are right outside. Even if I got free, they'd chase me down and end things."

Elena dug in her bag and held up a key. It looked aged and had shiny silver lines I couldn't read. "This key unlocks stuff, sure. But it also unlocks ways to other places. If you got the sign-the one they foretold-it will lead you to calm."

"I got the sign," I replied, lifting my shirt to show the shape burned on my side. It matched the shape carved into the stone.

Elena brushed the shape softly; her fingers came back slick with tears. "I did my best to shield you from fate. I looked for years to keep you safe, but I failed, so I hid. I've been waiting for your return. I knew you would. Fate wouldn't let you rest easy."

"How'd you know I'd arrive?" I questioned. "How'd you guess I'd be in here?"

"I didn't know," Elena said. "But I've been leaving these shapes all over our land. If you came back, if you needed aid." She got up and walked to the hidden nook. "When you felt the shape, it knew you. That's how I knew. That's why I came out."

A noise echoed just outside the room. Footfalls. Goons switching out, I figured. Then voices arose, and my insides froze up.

"The heads want her gone by dawn," a goon spoke. "Not noon. They're scared if they drag their feet, folks will ask questions."

"What about Alpha stuff?" the next guard piped. "What's Lucien babbling?"

"Alpha's off duty now," the first guard said back. "Council voted it, so it's done for real."

Elena grabbed my arm fast. "We gotta dash now. Yes, right now."

"Hold up," I butted, shaking her grip. "I gotta know stuff. Who hurt Elin here? If not me, not you, who did it?"

Elena's face lost color. "Camilla, duh. You don't get it. Elin is-"

Then the door to the holding room swung open wide.

Lucien stood there shocked, eyes all big. He stared at the open secret room. He stared at his mom standing by me. He stared at the writing-his life story by a dead woman.

"Mom?" His voice broke on that word. "How can you be alive here?"

Elena took a step, hands reaching out. "Lucien, let me tell you-"

Lucien stopped watching her body. He started staring right at me now. And in his eyes, a change flashed quick. Like a door popped in his mind. Like seeing what he should've known.

"It's you," he mumbled soft. "The moves you make, how you stand tall. Why didn't I see it?"

My heart went boom so loud, I felt like it'd bust.

"Lucien," I said soft, stepping to him.

But before I could speak more words, Elena screamed. She went down hard, blood pouring out her mouth. Behind, in the dark was a shape, I didn't catch it. And in its hand, a blade dripped with blood.

It was a council guy standing.

"The future ends now," said a leader, walking into view. "No exceptions. The parent, the kid, the main family. That's all."

Then it hit me hard.

Lucien isn't Elin's dad at all.

Elin's was mine.