The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 301

What My Father Left Behind

What My Father Left Behind

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Orin led us across the clearing toward the second building. It was made from the same gray stone as the house, but there were no windows along its walls. The only entrance was a wooden doo with symbols carved around the frame. I recognized one of them immediately.

“The Keeper symbol.” I stopped near the entrance and studied the other marks around it. Some looked familiar from Pryor’s records, while others meant nothing to me. “What are the others?”

Orin removed a small key from his pocket. “Protection marks.” He placed the key into the lock but, didn’t turn it yet. “Maelor carved them when this place was prepared.”

I looked at the building again. Maelor had helped create the chamber where I’d remained in protected sleep for almost three centuries. If he’d also prepared this place, whatever waited inside had been protected since around the same time. Orin had only returned here seventeen years ago.

“How long has this been here?” I asked. The stone gave me no clue about its age. Ravenspire had apparently been hiding something connected to my past long before Orin chose to live nearby. “Was it built before I was hidden?”

Orin turned the key. “Yes.” He opened the door and stepped aside. “We needed somewhere to keep what couldn’t remain with you.”

I looked through the doorway. Shelves lined the walls, and several larger objects had been covered with cloth. Boxes filled the spaces between old books and sealed containers. Nothing immediately told me what Orin had spent seventeen years protecting.

Caius remained beside me. “Everything in there is connected to Isla?” His attention stayed on Orin. “Or does some of it belong to the Keepers?”

Orin entered ahead of us. “Both.” He stopped near the first row of shelves. “Some things were already here before Islalienne was placed into protected sleep.”

I followed with Caius while Pryor came behind us. Halvon remained near the entrance with Zeron and Raith. The building was larger inside than it had appeared from the clearing. There were enough records here to keep Pryor busy for weeks.

I stopped near a shelf holding several smaller boxes. Each one carried a different symbol, but one had my full name written across the front. Islalienne. I forgot about everything else around me.

“Why is my name on that?” I asked. The letters had faded in places, but there was no mistaking them. Someone had prepared the box specifically for me. “What’s inside?”

What My Father Left Behind

Orin stayed several steps away. “Things that belonged to your parents.” He didn’t reach for the box “They were brought here after you were taken.”

I stared at it. I’d found Lyrienne and learned about Darius through the stories she’d saved for me, but this was something different. These were pieces from the life my parents had been preparing for me before Corvin took me away. Some of those pieces had survived all this time.

I raised my hand but stopped before touching the box. Vaela said nothing, though I could feel her attention on it with mine. Her gift could pull memories from objects connected to the past. I didn’t

know what this one might show us.

“How well did you know my parents?” I asked. Orin had been there during the years before Corvin took me, which meant he might remember things Lyrienne had never known about. Darius had also been involved with the Keepers somehow. “You said my father was part of why you helped

me.”

Orin nodded. “I knew Darius well.” His expression changed when he said my father’s name. “He came to me before you were born because he no longer trusted Varen.”

That caught my attention. Lyrienne had told me about Darius as a father waiting impatiently for his daughter, making a cradle and carving wooden animals. She hadn’t told me he’d been investigating Varen before my birth. Maybe she hadn’t known.

“What did Darius tell you?” I asked. My father had apparently understood that something was wrong long before Corvin acted. If he had gone to Orin himself, he’d already been trying to protect me. “What was he afraid of?”

Orin looked toward the shelves of Keeper records. “He knew Varen had become interested in Celestial children.” Darius had learned enough to understand that the interest wasn’t harmless. “He believed Varen would eventually come for you.”

Pryor went toward the records but didn’t open anything. “Did Darius know the Keepers were divided?” His attention remained on Orin while he waited. “How much did you tell him?”

Orin crossed to one of the larger covered objects. “Enough to know he couldn’t trust all of us.” He removed the cloth and revealed a wooden chest. “That’s why he prepared something without telling the Council.”

I went toward the chest. A carving covered the center of the lid, showing a wolf surrounded by symbols I didn’t recognize. This wasn’t something collected after Darius died. He had prepared it

himself.

“What did he leave?” I asked. My hands remained at my sides even though I wanted to touch it immediately. Darius had made things for me before I was born, but this felt different from the

What My Father Left Behind

wooden wolf Lyrienne had given me. “Why did he hide it here?”

Orin looked at the carving. “He gave Maelor instructions.” If anything happened to Darius, the chest was to remain sealed until I returned. “He didn’t trust anyone else with what was inside.”

Caius studied the chest. “Nobody has opened it since?” He looked toward Orin rather than touching it. “Not even you?”

Orin shook his head. “I couldn’t.” He stepped away from the chest to give me access. “Darius made sure only his blood could open it.”

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