All Eyes On Me

**Sekreta**

Artemis was right all of what we have learned is a lot to process, my sister might not be my sister, my hidden father might not be my father. This whole thing was just insane and for the first time in a while, I want to run and get as far away from here as possible.

I look up and the three of them are staring at me. Selenes eyes are filled with pity and the other two are watching me like they know I have something to say.

I swallow deeply and say nothing, maybe my silence will convince them. After a few minutes and a lot of uncomfortable staring, I give up and speak.

“Look I don’t know what you want me to say Artemis, You know that something is going but I just don’t know how to say. I mean fuck I don’t even understand it myself. “

Cynthia and Artemis glance at each other and then to Selene who smiles at me weakly and takes a seat next to me.

*” Do you want me to tell them..”*

She grips my hand and nods towards the two of them but keeps her eyes on me.

“Yes please”

I say it quietly and bow my head staring at my fingers. Selene begins to explain everything that happened in more detail than before. She is quick and precise with it and eventually, she stops talking and I look up to face the three of them.

**” Why were you so worried to share all of this Aremis ?”**

I shrug it off feeling like a scared little girl.

“I don’t know. Ive bought nothing but trouble to you all since we met. I bought danger to your pack and now I know Ivar is my mate I have to ask more of you”

**” What do you mean to ask more of us ?”**

**”* Also how do you know what we will say unless you ask *”**
Cynthia chimes in and her voice are soft and understanding as always. Shes brings warmth to every conversation and I feel my shoulders relax.

“Well I have to ask you to spare his life”

The words have escaped me before they have even fully materialised in my brain.

“What I mean is. He’s my mate, I’m not sure what that means or how it’s going to work, I’m not even sure how I feel about him at this point he is like two different people to me. All I know is that I have to try, we are supposed to be together. I mean the moon goddess wouldn’t have..”

**” You don’t need to justify your request to us Sekreta. We understand. Ivar is safe”**

They all nod in agreement and I don’t know why I was worried in the first place. I have been around these women long enough to know just how kind they are. I get a little overwhelmed and also start to feel a little silly.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve the three of you in my life but you have to know just how grateful I am”

We speak no more of it and quickly move onto the next big subject and that is Frode. At the mention of his name Cynthia’s eyes light up.

“Ive been thinking about it and well it might seem a bit far fetched but just stick with me for a second. Taking into consideration everything that we have learned and everything that has happened. What if the prophecy that you all thought was about you wasn’t about you at all… but it was about Frode”

*” Why would it be about Frode he wasn’t even alive or thought if when all that was happening “*

“But when has that ever mattered the moon-goddess. What if the males in this family started to be missed and Marel being bitter worked to take the power from this around him”

**”*We already know this is true, its the same for all of those that know about us. We did not fight the devil for fun, men who want power are all the same but that doesn’t explain why they would want my baby*”**

Cynthia’s voice raises slightly and the room suddenly feels as though we are on eggshells.

“Well, that’s just it. The last will restore the first and then the line will end. That’s what you were told, what if it’s not a prophecy you need to live up to but one you need to stop. Frode is the last and Marel is the oldest of us all. I think he is after him to take his power and then take all of ours. Moreover, Frode is a boy the first since Marel I think..”

**” You think he wants to end the lines of power and become the only one with gifts”**

I nod and wait for them to digest what I had just told them. There’s a silence to the room but the emotions are speaking louder than any words ever could.

They know what I’m saying could be right. It is the thing that makes the most sense I also know in a few short seconds they are going to come to the same conclusion I have.

What does this mean for Salvi?.

As if she read my mind Artemis meets my gaze and speaks.

**” Salvi. This would mean she is not safe. If what you speak is true and all of this is about power, about taking all the gifts for himself, it would mean he is going to have to kill his own daughter”**

**”* Come on this is crazy, surely she wouldn’t be helping him if she knew at the end of this she was bound to die*”**

*” But what is she doesn’t know, what if she believes all of those things she said. That we stole the power from her family, that we aren’t who we say we are. There is nothing to say that he hasn’t fooled her “*

The three of them bounce conversation off one another, exchanging theories and going back to the book and the papers that were still spread across the table.

In all of my thoughts, there was one thing I couldn’t get my head around. What about me? Where did I fit into all of this What does my power mean, I glow bright white in the same ways the sister do but their fur and eye colour match their power effortlessly. ?

“There’s something else”

They stop what they are doing and look at me, there is a hint of both concern and alarm in their eyes.

“What about me?. Where do I fit into this, my power doesn’t match yours, any of yours. It is woven into your DNA you eyes your fur your wolf all of it matches. But mine… it doesn’t make any sense”

**” You have as much magic as Selene, Cynthia and I. Oddly, you don’t match but ive never thought of it as an issue, have either of you ?”**

She nods towards the two of them and they both nod their heads agreeing that they have not seen it as an issue.

“But I can’t control it int he ways you can. It’s not just that every time I think I have worked out what my powers and how to control them I’m hit with another one. Everything that happened in the forest was proof of that.”

*” But what happened int he forests the way you dealt with those wolves was like what happened to me with Calder when we thought we couldn’t escape”*

She stills and then her face changes as though she has had the realisation of something.

*” Although, When I did the wolves did chant at me. I have to admit that was pretty weird”*

**” What do you mean chant at her”**

*” It was like strings. She connected with them, and then they started shouting the first the light over and over “*

“I remember. I remember what happened”

*” What do you mean, what happened ?”*

There is as much surprise in Selenes voice as there is in my own,

“I mean Savea. That day when all of that happened, she told me I was taking my true form. That I had always been destined for more”

Everything suddenly comes flooding back to me in waves and waves of memories and feelings, like a door had been unlocked. Memories of my mother before we were captured fill my mind.

I remember her telling me how special I was, how she could have never expected for the savour to be me. She would tell me over and over again to keep it hidden, keep it safe.

As the memories come to me I speak them out loud, the sisters hanging on my every word. I remember the days with Arlo more than before.

“She, my mother she convinced Arlo the power that he was looking for was in her. She put herself in his line of fire to save me. She told me to suppress my power to never let him know. She did that for me, she died for me”

My throat is choked with tears like a lump as I try to fight through the impending swell of tears.

*” Sekreta I don’t understand. What are you saying?”*

What are you saying. The words and feeling come flooding back to me, the memory erupting in the back of my mind.

I see his face. The face of my real father. I watch as he walks away from me, walks into the fighting leaving me with my mother her body shielding the two of us as the attack rages on around us, the noise of it all is so loud.

I’m watching as he fights to keep them away from my mother and me and then I see another face. He is familiar and I feel as though I have known him he is familiar to me.

I watch as he faces my Father the two of them shifting into wolf form my mother screams as he lands blow after blow on my father. I can’t help but let out a scream and then I remember the familiar feeling of heat rising from the pit of my stomach.

The light escapes from me and then everything goes dark. As I finish telling the story as it comes to me there are tears in Sekreta’s eyes. Sorrow in Cythnia’s and shock in Selenes I don’t know why but I feel like I can breathe.

“I think. I think that I’m supposed to save us all. No.. I know I’m supposed to save us all, we won’t find the answers in these books or these pages”

**” You think you have to die for us ?”**

There is sadness in her voice and a hint of anger, like the notion of giving your life for someone or for the people you love was silly.

*” you cannot be mad at her for this. After all, you tried to do the very same thing the last time we were in a situation like this”*

They glare at each other and I know if it carries on they would begin to argue.

“It is not that I want to die, it is that I see no other way. I do not know what is coming, I don’t even know how Salvi got her powers all I know is Marel has to be stopped and I think I’m the one to do it, I am not like you three I am made for something else, deep down ive always known it was just suppressed and hidden away”

I grab Artemis hand in my own gripping it tightly.

“I know you gave up so much to save me, to help me but now it’s my turn to help all of you. We need to put away these books and face the face. They are coming for your power, for the power of that baby and I can stop them”

They all try to speak but I raise my hand for them to stop.

“I have to do this. Our bonds with one another are strong, we are bound by blood. But I know you all know that I am right. You have to let me do this”

I let go of her hand and stand to leave the room, I feel fury and determination as I exit. I know what has to be done now and I am at peace with it.