Leonardo had been trailing Isotta and Marinella by barely half an hour when he first sensed the raw jolt of fear cutting into his mind and heart. Neither of us could tell if this was some side effect of our bond as true-mates, but it woke him in the dead of night, a piercing alarm he couldn’t shake. He tried to connect with my every emotion but couldn’t grasp all of them fully.
He reached the Water Court’s borders just thirty minutes after Isotta and Marinella had crossed over, dragging me along with them. A dozen warriors-men and women with skin as pale as moonlight and hair like winter frost-halted him at the edge, awaiting Isotta and Marinella’s arrival.
As it turned out, Isotta wasn’t Leonardo’s relative. She was a ward, taken in by the ruling family as a child. Her past remained shrouded, though he’d uncovered pieces of it-enough to set my jealousy ablaze. Raised within the Water Court, she wasn’t just any ward; she held a rare gift with ice, even though she struggled with water in its fluid form. The family revered her, even arranging for her to marry the High Lord’s eldest son. I had to swallow back a bitter snarl as Leonardo told me.
Had that son inherited the Lord’s title, Isotta would have become the Lady of the Water Court.
“Apparently, the eldest son died in an ambush around three centuries ago. She didn’t seem sad about it, just angry,” Leonardo explained with a scowl that only deepened my anxiety. It wasn’t his frown that unnerved me, but the flicker of worry in his eyes. “She wanted to talk to me alone and wasn’t pleased when the High Lady discovered my presence.”
“There’s more you’re not telling me,” I pressed, perched on the edge of the bed, my foot tapping impatiently as my gaze drifted toward the towering doors across the room. Eventually, we’d have to face the unfamiliar world of yet another court. At least in Andrea’s court, I’d felt secure. Here, I felt anything but.
“The High Lady, she…wants to speak with you too,” he sighed, shifting on his feet. His arms crossed over his broad chest, and the words he uttered carried a trace of anger and disbelief. “When my dad first laid eyes on my mom at the Moon Ball, they were instantly drawn to each other, bound by the unbreakable bond of mates. But there was a secret my mother carried – one that she didn’t even know herself. She was the last heir of the Water High Court, born of a shifter woman, adopted and raised by a family who had no idea of her true lineage.”
“Well, that explains your Fae heritage, but not much else,” I replied with a small shrug. “Despite her differences in appearance, she never let it bother her. It was just a part of her, like the fact that Alpha commands never seemed to hold power over her. She always felt a little out of place, but she brushed it off, convinced it was simply a quirk of her individuality..”
“However, everything changed during her third pregnancy. A rogue attack shattered her world, resulting in the loss of her baby and, tragically, her wolf. In a desperate attempt to save a life, she sacrificed her own, and in those final moments, the Fae realm reached out to her. It was then that she learned of her true heritage – a revelation that came at the brink of death.
My dad fought to keep her by his side, unwilling to let her go, but he knew he had no choice. Without the powers gifted to her by her father, she would not survive. In her rebirth, she transformed into the High Lady of the Water Court, embodying the strength and grace of her lineage.
I heard him, but the words refused to settle in any coherent order. It was a staggering revelation, but it wouldn’t change anything-Leonardo was still Leonardo. We’d known he had some Fae blood, but we hadn’t expected the High Lady herself to be his mother.
“So…she’s royalty?” I asked, still grappling with this. “I thought only men could inherit the powers and title of High Lord.”
“Actually, women can inherit it too, but they’re called High Lady instead. My mother-she took on the title and powers from her father. Still, she had to marry. Some Fae customs are modern, others remain painfully outdated.” He ran a hand through his nearly white hair, a tone of thoughtful quiet in his voice as he continued. “She and her husband learned to tolerate each other and had two daughters.”
There was something in his tone that reminded me of his past-of the solitude he’d known. Leonardo had lived as if he were an only child, guided by a firm but caring father. His mother had died when he was young, and with his brother in another pack, the only women close to him had been Francesca and Livia.
“Does this…make you happy?” I asked, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
The intensity in his eyes stole my breath. He wasn’t merely looking at me with love; it was something deeper, a kind of reverence that felt as if I’d filled a void he hadn’t known existed.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Part of me wants to trust her, my mother, but I’d be a fool to rely on anyone here. The Fae play games that span lifetimes, games that end in betrayal and death. I can’t become part of that-I don’t think I could survive it.”