Rubbing my eyes, I groaned and sat up.
How late had I stayed up last night? How much had I had to drink?
I rolled over and bumped into Jared. Squinting one eye open, I saw him sitting up in bed, shirtless.
My other eye popped open and I stared at Jared's toned, muscular chest. Sun poured through the window and made his skin glow.
“Ahh, you're awake." Jared smirked at me.
I pulled myself up and yawned, stretching my arms out to the sides. “What time is it?"
“Almost noon."
“What? Really?" I looked out the window.
“Yeah. The Saboreef Elder asked us to meet him today. We shouldn't keep him waiting."
Jared got up and pulled his clothes on.
My eyes followed his hands as the fabric slid over his muscles, concealing his gorgeous body from view. Sighing, I got up and put my own clothes on.
Jared and I followed the elder's directions to a Saboreef temple not that far from the village. The elder stood at the large stone altar, which had several old parchment rolls and tomes laid out on it.
“What's all this?" I asked. I turned the pages in one of the tomes.
It crinkled and felt thin and brittle.
“This is a story that I think the two of you would like to hear." He motioned to me, and my pendant.
Instinctively, I grabbed the locket and ran it back and forth along the chain that dangled around my neck.
“About the locket?" Jared asked, raising an eyebrow.
The elder nodded. He picked up one of the tomes and flipped through several pages.
“Ahh, here we are," he said, tapping the top of the page. “Many, many years ago, a woman came to the temple, this temple. She was a mystery to us and kept herself shielded under a cloak."
I glanced at Jared, catching the deep crease in his brow. I wondered if he recognized that description. It was pretty vague, but something seemed to be bugging him.
Reaching out, I took his hand.
He glanced at me. “My mother," he mouthed.
I nodded and squeezed his hand. I hated seeing his handsome features scrunched up like that, like he was in pain.
“This woman came to us with a very simple request… simple, though unusual. She asked for a piece of jewelry to be crafted from an old, broken artifact...."
The story sounded a little familiar to me. I knew I'd never heard it before, but it sounded almost like the beginning of another story I knew, like a prequel to something else that had happened.
I kept holding the locket between my fingers, hooking the chain around my chin.
The day I'd composed the song… my mind floated back to that day. I hadn't made it up. The words had come to me from a dream. There'd been a woman humming that song. I could envision it and hear it so clearly.
She hadn't just been humming the song, though, she'd been singing… singing words....
Gasping, I tightened my grip on Jared, squeezing his fingers.
“Ow," he muttered.
I turned to him, looking deeply into his beautiful orbs, drowning in the depth of his eyes.
“Jared...."
“What is it, Eliza?" he asked, his eyes deepening with concern.
The elder stopped reading and stared at us both.
“The song… I just remembered. It has words."
“Words?" Jared arched an eyebrow.
“Yes… words, like lyrics," I explained.
“What are they?"
I frowned. “Well, I don't remember." Sighing, I dropped the locket and looked at my feet.
“Read this," the elder said.
He handed me the large tome. It was heavy and dusty, making my nose itch when I breathed it in. On the page the elder had opened there was a poem.
No, it wasn't a poem.
No, it wasn't a poem.
I scanned the words and immediately recognized them.
“This is the song," I whispered, running my hand over the page.
“Draven's curse haunts the darkened realm, the Light Realm is blessed with the key. Follow your heart to your salvation. To break the bonds of Draven's hate, you must be brave and never falter, the Diadem of Nyx is what you must take, when you find it you will alter the destiny of Draven's fate. Draven's curse is strong and dark, its force can bind and wound.
“But the Diadem of Nix can break the spell unbound. Your courage will make it powerful enough to break free from Draven's hold. Find it in the heart of the Light Realm and break the curse of old."
“Eliza, what does it say?"
I looked up at Jared, my eyes wide. I could barely believe what I was reading. But it was all starting to make sense.
“I think this is the answer to everything we've been looking for. Jared, I think this is how we break the curse!"
Jared's eyes widened too and he grabbed the tome from me.
I was grateful not to have to carry that heavy book any more. Quickly, I brushed some of the dust off my arms.
“The dark curse can only be broken by going to the heart of the Realm of Light," I said as Jared read the words.
“What is the Diadem of Nyx?" he asked, his brow furrowing as he looked up from the book.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Yeah sorry full of crap clichés skipping chapters...
Really oh fn....off another weak heroine roll, her pack hated her, she was abused, why would she do this .... pfghhj off at another cliche novel. .... Nope...