459 Connecting the Dots
Honour was laying by the river shore that day, her head resting on the chest of a man that had insisted she got comfortable.
The prince had fallen fast asleep with the sound of rushing water and a cool breeze lulling him to sleep.
Honour, however, was not that quick to close her eyes. She loved the peaceful tranquillity of the forest and in the presence of the prince, she was almost complete.
She had come here so many times. Looking at the tree line, she noticed a rather unique flower growing in the shade. It had beautiful blue petals… petals that were meant to glow in the moonlight.
She hadn’t even brought any of the flowers from the reserve with her but they grew all the same. She also knew that she was the cause of their abrupt appearance. Since her powers were starting to get more pronounced, she was starting to see the flowers more frequently.
They were beautiful and arrested her attention every time she saw them. Even now, she wanted to move over to the flower and feel the cool delicate petals between her fingers. To fan the flower’s growth and watch it reach full bloom.
However, a masculine hand held her back from the flower. What was worse… or better were the sparks that rushed through her body each time they made skin contact. The feeling was impossible to get over.
She soon found out though… that the prince didn’t get the same rush. He was only vaguely aware of this connection between the two of them.
These thoughts were banished from her mind a moment later by words whispered into her ear. The wind picked up, breaking the calmness of the forest.
.....
The leaves in the trees rustled louder, warning the girl of a great calamity.
It was impossible for anyone to hear anything over the loud chaotic howl of the wind. The river seemed to flow even faster, the white river thrashing in contest with the wind.
On the girl’s face, a look of horror. Her blood ran cold and intense fear gripped her heart. The emotion was so intense that she stayed frozen on the spot.
If it wasn’t for the warm embrace of the wolf holding her, she would have screamed in terror. Instead, she hugged the royal and buried her face into his chest.
The man was awake immediately wrapping his arms around her and rubbing circles through her back.
The wind whipped his face fiercely, screaming into his ear like a banshee. Surprisingly, he also heard the roaring of the Sirius river. The trees surrounding them shook heavily and sent rumbles through the ground, their stems groaning at the wind’s might.
As for the direction of the wind, the prince was uncertain. It was as though they were stuck at the centre of a storm with the wind thrashing in random directions.
Everything about the scene he’d woken up to was bizarre. So bizarre that he was certain it wasn’t natural.
He looked at the girl holding him and asked through the mind link, “What’s going on?”
She didn’t answer him. The wind was still howling loudly, blowing the trees and threatening to carry the couple away on their blanket. After a few minutes of cradling the girl, the chaos died down.
Honour wouldn’t let go of him though.
In fact, she held onto him for dear life and her hands trembled against him. As someone who had come to know her well, he knew she was holding onto him with everything she had even though her grip was weak.
“Hey,” he spoke up when the wind had died down.
The girl looked up at him and the sight stunned him.
Her eyes had shone an incandescent blue before shimmering down to their usual vibrant amber. Tears streamed down her face and her emotions through the mind link were overtaken by overwhelming dread.
Now he was worried… Drake was nothing like Honour and didn’t bear the same powers she did. So he’d heard nothing in the wind.
He did, however, know of her odd powers and when it so happened that she’d used them. With how frequently he saw them in action, he was actually surprised she had not been discovered yet.
“What’s the matter, Honour?”
The girl opened her mouth to say something but the words got caught in her throat. When she tried harder, no sound came out. Out of frustration, she struck her chest, as though trying to force the syllables out of herself.
Drake grabbed her hands and stopped her, “You don’t have to say it now, Honour. You’ll hurt yourself…”
The girl’s mind screamed at the prince, cutting his words short.
However, the words that came through the mind link, while clearly words, sounded like they were being muffled by a pillow. Nothing went through the mind link.
'
She eventually gave up and leaned into his embrace, sobbing softly, ‘You don’t get it, Drake. We are in so much danger.’
The thoughts running through her head were equally muddled.
Drake settled to rubbing circles in her back and trying his best to calm her down.
Before long, Honour fell asleep in his arms, completely dishevelled and feeling even more useless than she had ever felt in her life.
........
Her problems didn’t seem to run away when she slept either. Immediately her consciousness drifted away, she was in a beautiful blue field of luminous blue lotuses.
The girl’s hurting heart relaxed at the sight of the flowers. She brought one of the blooms to her nose and sniffed the flower. Its soothing scent worked like a charm in calming her frustration.
This field of flowers was familiar. She had seen it somewhere but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. When she turned around, she immediately understood where she was.
Looming above her was the beautiful blue moon palace, crafted in white and grey stone. The place she now believed to have been her home at some point in the distant past, “You finally came to me.” A voice interrupted her.
The girl turned around and finally spotted a beautiful woman kneeling on her knees before her. The woman’s body was flawless and a white gown covered her delicate features, accentuating her beauty.
She was everything a werewolf male wanted in a mate… and everything that a female aspired to be. She was… perfect, but why did it hurt to look at her? Why did she feel so much distress when she stared at this woman?
“Where am I?”
The woman’s face paled at the question. She was visibly hurt by the question.
Panicking, the girl changed the phrasing of her question, “I’m sorry. I meant to ask, why am I here?”
“So you know where you are?”
“Yes, I am at the moon palace. I know I don’t remember anything, but a place like this…” the girl paused and in a fond tone, added, “It doesn’t leave your memory that easily.”
The woman smiled at her warmly, “I’m glad you remember. As to why you are here… I was hoping to talk to you.”
“The moon goddess wants to talk to me…?” Honour reiterated, just to be sure.
Celeste cringed at the title Honour had called her by but proceeded without another word, “Yes, I wanted to talk to you. It’s about what you were trying to do earlier.”
“I’m sorry… what does that have to do with anything?” she got curious.
“Well, you almost revealed what the wind had told you,” the woman told her bluntly. Honour remained looking at her with wide eyes, waiting for the moment when that was supposed to make sense.
When the moon goddess wouldn’t continue, she asked, “Was I supposed to keep quiet after hearing something that could cause so many of my loved ones to get hurt… or worse, killed?” she asked.
“Hmm, how should I put this? You used your divine powers to discover that. The gods might be powerful but they are limited in how much they can interfere with the mortal world,” the moon goddess answered, shedding light on the situation… If only a small amount of light. Honour was still trying to understand what she was saying.
Celeste waited for the girl to catch up. Slowly, everything started to fall into place. Honour had tried many times to use her powers but it hadn’t worked for her. She thought she simply didn’t know how to control her powers but something was wrong with this.
Something was very wrong. And what Celeste was saying at this moment seemed to connect all the missing pieces.
She thought back to the time in the reserve. She had used her powers to help protect the wolves of the Sirius pack but none of the vines she had wielded back then had made contact with the rogues while she controlled them.
She hadn’t thought about it then, but she was simply trying to protect the wolves from harm, so she had sprouted plants on instinct. However, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
The rogues that had been ensnared in the vines were completely safe from harm as well. If she had wished that they would be wrung to death by the ensnaring vines… would the plantlife have heeded her instructions?
She thought back to the time she had tried to heal Crysta. Her powers had completely frozen up that time as well. And now that she thought about it more, she brought her hands to the same level as her face. The divine energy that flowed through her body…
It didn’t empower her one bit. It never did help her in any way. She didn’t get stronger when she wanted to. She couldn’t help anyone at all when it counted… not unless.
Not unless she was helping to heal the injured using human means. It was only then that her powers helped her. She could tell every injury on someone’s body and the extent of the injuries and know how to proceed with her first aid.
“I can’t… use my powers directly,” the girl’s voice broke.
Celeste nodded solemnly, “You’re a goddess. The rules work on you as well. We cannot intervene with the humans directly. We can only help them indirectly,” the moon goddess confirmed her suspicions.
But then… a special memory resurfaced, “What about Drake? I healed him once before. What’s different about him?”
Celeste stared at her blankly, “I think we both know the answer to that. He’s not like the rest… and deep inside you, you know that too.”
As she said this, the image of the beautiful garden began to fade away. She didn’t want to go… but at the same time, she didn’t have any more questions that came to mind.
No clear questions formed in her mind and yet she felt there was a lot she didn’t know.