Chapter 29

“Get out!” Cassidy raised both her arms and the room began to shake.
“Cassidy. I need your help,” Reece pleaded.
“What?” Reece could see the inner struggle within his daughter. She gritted her teeth while her two friends watched with open mouths.
“Jessica. I am afraid she will wake your mother,” he bowed his head.
“Who is Jessica?” Cassidy asked. Reece’s mind drifted to the past.
“This is the reason Reece, she will destroy this world and everyone in it,” Ailcio pointed at Cora who stood with blazing red eyes. In the palm of her hand, she held a ball of fire.
Without warning she flung it in Ailcio’s direction. It all happened in a blur. Regina dove in front of him and her body was alight in seconds.
“Moma, moma!” A young girl screamed and Ailcio held her back from her mother’s screaming body. Her screams penetrated his heart. Screams of torture, high pitched. They drowned out any other sound. He held his hands in fists, his claws extended and dug into his skin. Cora, she had no remorse, her lips were curved in a wicked smile. Reece stood frozen. He couldn’t move, his feet had rooted to the ground. Cora, his beautiful girl had lost her mind. She was using her power to harm others. Ailcio had warned him. Reece was selfish. He thought if he ran, he would escape it all. He was wrong. All he could do now was try and put things right.
“Cora stops,” Reece stepped closer. Cora turned towards him and cocked her head to the side.
“They wanted to steal my necklace. Mine the Queen of De’Mar. And they wanted to steal from me!” Her words were jumbled, in a state of craze.
“It belongs to my clan,” Ailcio said.
“It is mine!” Cora screamed and sent a dagger flying through the air. It impaled Ailcio in the chest before Reece could even take action.
As the past faded from his mind, he knew the item in which Jessica was searching for. Cora’s necklace.
“She is my daughter and the last of the Druids. Cora’s necklace belongs to the Druids. Jessica will not stop until she has completed her mission,”
“You’re daughter?” Cassidy whispered.
“Wow man you must be proud. The father to the last of the Druids and the only witch on earth. Until Cora awakes that is,” Josh said.
“Shut up Josh,” Cassidy snapped and faced Reece.
“When I left, I came upon a group of Druids. They helped me tame the beast inside me. I met a woman Regina and well we had a daughter Jessica,”
“Get out!” Reece was thrown from the room and out of the house. He landed on his back on the hard ground. With one last glance at the house, he shifted.
He would have to stop Jess on his own.

***
“What are you going to do to me?” Claire asked with a bloody lip. She should have learnt to keep her mouth shut. He was angry that her father was dead, and he could no longer react his revenge.
Jax smiled at her as he pointed her phone in her direction. The flash of the camera in the dark room momentarily blinded her.
“We wait,” he responded coolly, and Claire felt a tinge of fear.

***
“Donna….”
“Jenna calls me Cassidy it is time I stopped hiding from my past,”
“Cassidy, he’s your father. I am sure he had his reasons,”
“Jenna, there are things about my past that just can’t be forgiven. Can you forgive your father for what he has done to you even now that…”?
Jenna felt a lump form in her throat and cut her off.
“No,”
“Sometimes the roots of our past are too deep,” Cassidy said in a soft voice.
Jenna’s phone blared ending the conversation.
“Hello,”
“What?”
Jenna hung up with wide eyes and her hands shaking. Her phone beeped and she opened the message dropping her phone on the floor.
Josh jumped up from the couch where he had been silently watching their conversation.
Cassidy picked up the phone and placed her hand over her mouth handing the phone to Josh.
“We have to find her,” Jenna whispered.
“You won’t have the time. Your time is almost up,” Jenna spun around looking for the voice. It came from her own mind.
“That’s right Jenna. Tick Tock,” The voice taunted her. Edina had already started to take over her thoughts.
“Cassidy did you find a way to stop Edina taking over?”
“Not yet. I am still searching,”

***
Jess watched the cave from a safe distance. Cora De’Mar had been reduced to living in her own mind. Haunted by the past. Every day she lived her life over and over again unable to change a thing. Yet Jess was intrigued. She clutched Cora’s hairbrush even after centuries her hair remained in the bristles.
She closed her eyes and let her power rise. It simmered through her veins causing a slight vibration over her body. She smiled as the world faded and her mind took her into Cora’s past. She would finally see what had changed the queen.

***
Cora sighed as her maid Jeanette finished dressing her for her wedding. Marriage isn't a ring worn, or a paper signed. It is not something endured but savored. It is the union of two hearts beating as one, each that would make sacrifices for the other's happiness and wellbeing. Marriage is something so beautiful that in the natural world they call earth, it would be an opening rose, always with radiant petals left to unfurl to a warm sun. Like everything on earth, the petals die and the flowers wither. For Cora, the flower was never in full bloom.
Perhaps that is why we give roses to those we love and often have them at our sacred unions. Marriage is the blessing we give to one another, an eternal bond of soulmates. That is how Cora had always seen marriage. But hers was not the case. First, she was married to her people, to her duty.
Her father was ill, the local healers had done all they could, but life was not on his side. Some would say after two hundred years of life, that now it is time to join his creators. The Gods, still Cora needed him. At only twenty-one she wasn’t ready for marriage or to rule a kingdom.
Soon she would be queen. But first she must marry, her people would never accept a woman to rule alone. Her father had handpicked her future husband. With pure witch blood, from a respectable family, a family that had always been held within high regards by the De’Mar royals. Sure, he was handsome with his sandy blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He had the figure to match. Strong and well-toned. Yet Cora could not summon any feelings towards the man. There was just something off about him. Whenever she was with him, she felt nervous, and anxious. It was like she always expected something bad to happen. He had been a gentleman, opening doors for her, sending her flowers with notes that should have melted her heart. Still, she could not force any feelings for him. Drake was nothing more than a stranger to her. One that gave her the creeps and put her on edge.
Her heart belonged to another. Reece, but her father would not allow the union. Reece was a half blood, a cross between a witch and a human. He was a Sherman and in her world. He was beneath her; the kingdom would be in uproar if such a marriage commenced. Her father had told her she had to do as the people wished. Her sole purpose in life was to protect and lead them, within the role ensuring happiness and peace was maintained, at all costs. Even if it came to her own happiness and peace of mind, she had to put her people first. There were others that threatened their kingdom. Monsters that lurked outside their borders. They couldn’t be killed.
Reece was the grandson of her father’s late advisor Marcus. Marcus often brought Reece along to the castle in the hopes that someday he too would follow in his footsteps. Cora fell in love with Reece’s mischievous behavior and the way he always made her laugh. He helped her through her mother’s death. He became the light in her darkest hours. When her father learned of her feelings for him, he banned Reece from the castle.
“You look beautiful,” Jeanette said in awe, with a slight bow.
“Thank you, My Lady. I am sure your day will come very shortly. I have seen the way the young Cameron looks at you,” Cora forced a smile. Jeannette was a young attractive woman with light brown hair that reached to the bottom of her back and hung in ringlets. But it was Jennets eyes. They were a golden color with flecks of green in them. She was barley sixteen and had a striking curvy figure that was the envy of most girls.
“Do you really think so?” Jeannette blushed.
“I know so,” Cora winked. The smile on Jeannette’s face lifted a weight off her heart. She would have a word with Cameron herself.
Cora turned and looked in the mirror. Her light brown hair, with a hint of blond hung in ringlets. The white dress she wore fit her body snugly then flowed out at the hip. At the back it trailed behind her. The most striking part of the dress was the sliver flecks of diamonds on her bodice. They sparkled in the artificial light. She couldn’t deny, Jeannette had transformed her into the princess that everyone wanted her to be. Beautiful and elegant. The question was, could she live up to their expectations?
She had no choice. She had to go through with the ceremony even though her heart was not in it. Jeannette opened the door to her quarters and her bridesmaids slowly walked in, their eyes wide and each with a smile on their faces. They looked young and innocent all dressed in pale green matching dresses. Her five younger sisters looked more the part than she did. They held true happiness in their eyes for her big day. All but one. Her youngest sister Darcy, underneath her smile, Cora could see the worry. She had always been a sensitive child. Cora sent her a quick thought, hoping to calm her baby sister’s nerves. “Everything will be fine,”
“It does not feel right. I don’t like him, evil lurks in his heart,” Darcy words haunted Cora’s mind. Cora had sensed it too. But to have her sister confirm it, it made her shake. She couldn’t back out. How could she? Her father would be furious, and her people would despise her. They would make being Queen difficult. An uprising would occur.