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Chapter 16

The morning after their night spent in the woods, Edward left Isabella to tend to patients so he could get answers from the only person who seemed to have an inkling of knowledge of the things they were experiencing. Under the guise of a trip to the market at the castle, Edward rode off just as one of their neighbors showed up for assistance.

The ride was longer than normal, Edward's turmoil slowing his pace as he rode through the market and to the palace. His carriage was quickly taken to the stables while Edward made his way to the Throne Room, hoping to find the queen there.

When he was shown in and found the king alone, he bowed and turned to leave, but Jasper's voice stopped him.

"You may wish to visit your wedding venue. It is lovely in the full light of day."

With a nod and a bow to his sovereign, he made his way to the queen's private garden. She was sitting on a bench, her eyes unfocused as he approached her.

"Many things changed last night."

"Did you have a vision?" Edward asked.

"My night was filled with them. I had to rise early so Jasper had a hope of getting some sleep."

"What was the vision I saw?"

Alice turned to face him. "That wasn't a vision, it was a moment from your past."

"You know what it was." It wasn't a question.

Alice sighed and pulled an old journal out of her pocket. "Half a millennium ago, a seer had a vision of what happened in the forest of Skyelynn. It was only minutes before the events happened and she was too far from our shores to do anything, so she wrote down her vision as she did with all her others. Most of her notes were lost, but what survived included the vision from that night.

"Two meant to protect betrayed their charges for the sake of their child and it had deadly consequences. By the end of the night, a curse was cast and the witches of Skyelynn were no more, along with those who sought to harm them."

Edward paled at her words and Alice gasped.

"Whatever you just thought, don't ever entertain the idea again."

"What did you see?" he implored.

"Isabella cannot be left unprotected. The death that would await her would be unimaginable."

Edward shivered at her words. "Do you know anything about this enemy?"

"I haven't seen them, but Isabella has the answers in her journals. Renee left her with all the tools she'll need."

"Thank you, Alice, for your assistance. I should make my way to the market like I told Isabella and then return home."

It was a few hours later when Edward came home with several packages. Isabella was still treating someone in her shop, so he put away what he'd bought and tended to the animals so she wouldn't need to worry about it.

What Isabella did worry about was the shift in Edward's mood. He returned from the market and seemed troubled, but she didn't know what had happened.

That night, their lovemaking was different. Edward seemed almost desperate in his actions, which did nothing to calm her nerves.

The next few days were a dance of avoidance between them. Isabella was making some of the salves she sold regularly, while Edward was out back, chopping wood. Isabella climbed up on one of the rolling ladders to return an ingredient, but her foot caught as she turned and she tumbled towards the ground.

The shock of the impact and the pain in her left wrist had her momentarily dazed, but the feel of Edward's hands on her shoulders as he rolled her onto her back was a welcome comfort.

"Bre, I'm so sorry. Where are you hurt?"

"My wrist, I landed on it."

"I should have been closer, you wouldn't have been hurt if I hadn't been outside—"

"Edward," she called to bring him out of his rambling. "I tripped and fell, you're overreacting."

"But you don't fall, Isabella. Not ever. Even before you knew that your powers stopped you from falling, it was instinctive for you."

"You need to relax. I was distracted, that's all. You've saved me from a boring life and I have every faith in you to continue to save me from whatever comes."

Edward muttered something and before she could ask him to repeat himself, he was on his way back outside.

Frustrated, Isabella cleaned up her work, wrapped her wrist, and took her mother's journals and set them aside to work on dinner. When Edward didn't return for their evening meal, she covered the plate so he could heat it up when he returned and went upstairs.

Isabella felt like she was able to piece together things from her mother's words, but there were too many holes. She knew her enemy was power-hungry and crimson-eyed, but there were too many legends to connect without more information.

Her dreams were fitful, until she found herself in a part of the forest she knew well. Not far from the abandoned tracks, she approached a pair of figures, one crouching over the other. As she got closer, she realized the prone man was Edward.

Isabella rushed forward, the sound catching the attention of the man over him. He looked up at her, his red eyes glowing as he smirked, Edward's blood wetting his lips.

Isabella startled awake, not surprised to be alone in bed. She didn't know what she'd done to upset her husband, but she would use every skill and power she had to save him. She went to her library and found Alice's folklore book to make sure she wasn't imagining who she believed the great enemy was.

The book confirmed her fears instead of assuaging them. Isabella grabbed her shawl and wrapped it tightly around her before she ran into the forest.

Edward woke up in his old bedroom, the uneasy feeling overwhelming him. He'd felt it since he'd discovered his secret and it made it hard for him to be close to Isabella. He craved the comfort of her arms, but felt he didn't deserve it. The feeling that had become a part of him was stronger now, clawing at his insides, and he knew that only seeing her sleeping form would make it calm down.

He went to their bedroom and was surprised to find it empty. Edward moved from room to room and grew frantic when he realized the house was empty. As he went to search the grounds around their house, he slipped on a small book. Isabella was always so careful with her books, particularly ones that dealt with magic, so he picked it up and saw the page it had been opened to. The being described made his blood run cold and he spared just enough time to sit the book on the end table before he turned into a firefly and flew where he feared she would be.

His flight was short and he discovered her exactly where he'd expected, curled in a ball crying. He changed form as soon as he landed and pulled her into his arms.

"Edward, I'm sorry. Whatever I did, or didn't do, I'll make it better. I promise, but don't leave me. I can't bear to think of going back to my life before you," she wailed.

Edward tightened his grip on her, shushing her as he crouched there horrified. "You've done nothing wrong, Bre. All of this is my fault. The other day you said I saved you. What if I'm not the savior? What if I'm the cause of it all?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The last time your people lived in Skyelynn there were dozens of witches and faeries. I had a flash of a memory that I didn't understand, but with Alice's help, I put it all together. The reason the witches vanished was because two of my kind betrayed the priestess and her family to protect their child. I was that child. My parents betrayed the witches of old. If I hadn't been born, there may have been more witches. Your mother may have even lived long enough to teach you what you need to learn herself."

"That wasn't your choice, Edward. Your parents made that decision and they paid for it too. But if you've been allowed to live and to be a protector, it must mean that you're the one who can redeem your kind. I don't think it is an accident that you're not only my protector, but my soulmate. There's no conflict for you, protecting your family is protecting your charge.

"We also don't know that those witches would have beaten the blood elves, and if they'd lost in battle instead of vanishing, the world would be a vastly different, and much darker place."

Edward closed his eyes and pulled her to him. He thought back on that image once more and then banished it, he wouldn't make the same mistakes as his parents.

"You look so much like your father, except you have your mother's hair and eyes," Isabella whispered.

"What?"

"The image you just projected, I saw it."

He looked at her stunned. "I've been working on creating glamours, but I haven't been successful before."

"You're stronger than you think."

"Only because of you," he told her.

"If the blood elves haven't already awakened, they will soon. We'll need to be ready for them."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I dreamt that they were here, and they'd succeeded in their goal. We need to stop that from happening."

Edward kissed her forehead. "We will, together."