Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte Read Online Free PDF Page B

fortune-tellers.”
     
    ***
    Some fifty-odd years later
     
    He watched the girl as she stared up at the moon from her
bedroom window, her pale hair like a beacon drawing him in. Kirios
sighed. He had found her. At last. After seeing the evidence at the
house in the woods of her powers, of what she had done to her uncle
Ethan, Kirios knew that Caia Ribeiro was what he had been waiting
for. All these years. All the mistakes.
    When the Prophet had come to him about Atia he had followed
her, watching her for any sign of what was to come. She was
beautiful and powerful. Petrovsky told him she stayed clear of the
war, suggesting she was, as the Prophet had said, against it. But
her beauty was enough to entice the Head of the Coven, Devlyn, to
ask for her hand in marriage. Her family wouldn’t let her say no.
Kirios had known at that moment; had seen his chance; she was going
to be the mother of the child from the prophecy. So he had revealed
himself to her, and along with Petrovsky’s help, explained all they
had planned. Through her they received information direct from
Devlyn himself, and he never knew because Kirios masked her trace.
Atia helped willingly. She despised Devlyn.
    For a number of years life went on that way, and during them
she mothered two children to Devlyn, playing her role as mother and
wife and her other role as spy for the Daylights. Kirios on the
other hand was growing despondent. He had no idea how to proceed.
Atia was supposed to mother a half-breed child. And there had been
no sign of that eventuality so far.
    Then one momentous day Saffron had come to him and told him
about her mistress, Marion, and the affair she had had recently
with a member of a small lykan pack. Saffron felt sure there was
something about this pack, something important, and since her
instincts had always run true, Kirios had listened attentively. She
told Kirios of their Alpha, Mikhail, how special, how strong he
was. He had an aura. At her description Kirios had smirked; if it
had been three-hundred years before Kirios would have put it down
to the fact that Saffron was susceptible to a handsome face, but
she had been gravely hurt by a warlock since then and was a little
frosty to almost every man she encountered. So Kirios had believed
her and had set about planning a meeting between Atia and Mikhail.
He knew what he had to ask of them was cold and clinical and
completely degrading. But if it would bring an end to the
war?
    Sighing in remembrance, Kirios leaned against a tree, his eyes
still glued to the girl up in her room. Perhaps it was his fault.
He had pushed Atia into the decision, settling her anxiety by
utilising mesmerism. He had never done that to one of his own
before. With Saffron’s help, Kirios managed to convince them both
to sleep with one another. But after a few years of arranged
meetings between them no child was ever born. Kirios’ frustration
was the least of their problems. Devlyn was not as naïve as Kirios
would have liked. He was a jealous husband and had been tracking
Atia’s movements through faeries, despite no sign of duplicity in
her trace. By the time Kirios got wind of the information and
warned Atia and Mikhail… it was too late. Mikhail, without giving
the details, warned his pack, Pack Errante, but Atia panicked. She
killed Mikhail, assuming that Devlyn would have mercy on her. He
slaughtered her anyway.
    His eyes glazed over with the memories. So much loss. And all
for nothing.
    Or so he had thought.
    When it felt as if it was time to give up and give in, Saffron
came to him with the news that one of the members of Pack Errante
had arrived home with a magik he believed to be a member of the
Daylight Coven. Saffron knew in fact that the girl was Atia and
Devlyn’s daughter, Adriana; that she was there to infiltrate the
pack under her father’s orders. His instincts told him to let
Adriana’s seduction play out, ordering Saffron to keep
quiet.
    Kirios smiled softly and raised his eyes