Kace and Hope were standing in front of a sky high building, equipped with hundreds of stairs. Now the only way they had to reach its terrace; to climb all these steps.
And when they were halfway to the entrance, they saw a woman, with hair as black as the night on a New moon, which only reached her shoulders and her brown eyes reminded hot chocolate to Hope.
The woman's body was as small as Hope's : the perfect description of this fae Hope obtained from Raine.
Upon a closer look, Hope could see her wings, folded loosely behind her back, were composed of various shades of blue and yellow akin to a dragonfly's wings, only this pair of wings were much bigger in comparison.
The fae named purple waved her hands and smiled brightly at her two guests. She looked kind and adorable.
However, Hope's focus shifted to something behind the fae, more precisely the fae's companion, which now spread its beautiful wings and flew toward Hope as soon as it laid its eyes on Hope. A red haze swished past the couple before it swiftly but gracefully landed short behind the guardian angel.
And when Hope continued to walk ahead, the bird also walked closely behind her as it would occasionally rub it's beak affectionately on the guardian angel's right shoulder.
"Oh, she likes you," the fae chirped, as she clapped her hands happily. "I have received the news about your visit from Alpha Torak's people."
Hope didn't hear the rest of her words as all of her attention was now glued on to this breathtakingly beautiful phoenix. This was the exact bird that she saw under the frozen river and the one that helped her to escape the grip of death.
This bird was truly beautiful when she saw it again.
"This is yours?" Hope asked Purple when they finally stopped in front of her with Kace on her left, who was now staring at the bird with a deep frown between his eyebrows.
"I thought the whole phoenix species has gone extinct," Kace murmured.
"Just like how you thought the centaurs had gone extinct?" Purple quipped, smiling softly at the lycan. "Long time no see, Kace Donovan. The last thing I heard about you is quite interesting; you became a rogue to be with your beautiful mate."
Kace looked straight at Purple blankly, his expression was very hard to read.
"Do I know you before this?" Kace asked,with curiosity brimming in his eyes.
"Maybe you don't know me, but I know you quiet thoroughly," Purple nodded her head humbly.
"Really?"Kace eyed the phoenix that perched its head on Hope's shoulder while flapping its wings softly, that creature looked very docile, but it would burn you without waiting any second if it sensed you would endanger its master's safety. "How do you know me?"
Purple could understand the look Kace was giving to the phoenix, therefore, she stretched out her hand and the bird flew toward her, leaving Hope's shoulder alone. "Actually," she started. "The vow that binded the dragon shifters from shifting into their beast's form is my magic."
It meant, despite her younger looks and bubbly character, the fae had lived long enough through the first great war and helped the Donovans to tame the dragon shifters.
"You?" Kace couldn't comprehend this. "Wasn't that the witch's doing?"
Purple shook her head. "No, it was me," she said. "They spread the rumor that way so no one would come looking for me."
"Why? You are in Torak's territory, who would be so daring enough to do something to you." Hope tilted her head, but her eyes were staring at the phoenix, as the creature reciprocated the same gesture.
It was almost like the bird also took interest in her and wanted to be close to the guardian angel.
"No, that is not the only thing that I should keep a secret," the fae fluttered her wings and walked into the library, which was almost empty with not too many people now.
"Another secret," Kace murmured, there were a lot of things happened during the last few centuries when he and his other brothers chose their own paths.
"Actually, this is not a secret…" Purple shrugged her shoulders and walked beside Hope, while the phoenix flew above their heads. "Just like the spell casters and the shifters, the fae also has many kinds, just like organisms belonging to different sub-species that look quite similar to us and was mistaken to be the same."
"What do you mean?" Hope asked, they walked in the empty corridor.
"Our kind." Purpled shook her head and corrected herself. "People from my kind could see the spirits, that was why, only our kind was able to have the phoenixes as our friends," she said in simple terms. "Not many people knew about this, but Alpha Torak definitely knew it somehow. And now, I think only I'm left in my kind."
"Why? Something happened?" Hope frowned.
"Aside from our ability to tame a phoenix, we have a far more beneficial ability that many shifters wanted from us that caused us to be hunted down. Just like how they used guardian angels a long long time ago," Purple explained.
"You can save one's life by exchanging it with yours," Kace spoke. "I heard about a kind offae, who can do this. That was why, there was even a time when the witches and wizards from the northern coven realm, chased you down."
Purple's expression became slightly gloomy as she nodded her head solemnly. "Yes, you are right. Those people wanted to use us for their magic."
Hope grimaced when she heard that fact. Why had this world turned so cruel, forcing the weaker to fight just to keep their life going?
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"Lana, we have to go…" Rossie said softly, as she saw that Lana was just sitting silently, while holding her baby. The latter had closed her eyes and leaned her back against the tree behind her. "Give me the baby…"
Lana didn't give any reaction when Rossie was about to take the baby from her, but the latter didn't want to force her, thus Rossie tried to talk to her again.
"Lana… those beasts will find us if we stayed here any longer…" Rossie tried to persuade her, but the she-wolf didn't budge from her position.
She was sitting so still that people would mistake her for some statue. It was only her shallow breathing which was giving away the fact that she was a breathing creature with life.
"Lana…" Bree nudged her shoulder. She looked at the cute baby in her embrace and felt sorry for him. "Lana, shall we go?"
However, when Lana opened her eyes again, she just took a deep breath and sighed deeply, as if she wanted to get rid of all her sadness and burdens.
"Leave me here and take the baby with you…" Lana said, as she gave her son to Rossie. "I will keep you safe."