Chapter 121

Sebastian

The pained expression on Hannah’s face pained Sebastian’s heart. But she must know he was only doing this for her own good. The gamma and alpha trainings are no joke; it will be dangerous and violent. That’s not something he wants to subject his luna to. She said nothing more about the topic and scooped Wrenley up into her arms before heading back toward the palace.

He found the night to be sleepless. Hannah seemed to be sleeping beside him soundly, but he couldn’t even get his eyes to close. The thought of Hannah being amongst the trainees was ridiculous.

“Our chosen mate is a stubborn one,” Erik said fondly. “She will figure out a way to bend the rules whether we like it or not. We might as well just give in to her wishes.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Sebastian growled to his wolf. “I would never forgive myself if anything were to happen to her.”

“She survived a long time on her own. She has been fighting since before we met her,” Erik reminded him. “She was right when she said can handle herself.”

Sebastian was sure his wolf had lost it; the full moon was only a few days away, which meant his madness would be returning to him soon. He must have already been feeling the effects of the moon.

Sebastian pulled himself out of bed early so he could dress and prepare the palace for the arrival of the alphas and the gammas. They were going to need their own room if they were planning on staying for a couple of days. The servants were already awake and cleaning as Sebastian neared the foyer. He could smell breakfast cooking in the kitchen, and it smelled delicious.

Valerie passed by and bowed to him.

“Good morning, Alpha,” she greeted. “Breakfast will be served soon. Should I wake the Luna Queen?”

“Let her sleep,” Sebastian said as he walked by. “She needs her rest. But if you wouldn’t mind getting Wrenley changed and fed this morning that would be great. I believe Hannah pumped some of her breast milk last night.”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said excitedly as she went to grab the milk.

Sebastian made his way into the kitchen; the head chef paused and bowed to him before plating the food.

“French toast,” the chef said, passing a plate to Sebastian. “With extra cinnamon. Just how you like it.”

“All of the Alphas and gammas in the kingdom are arriving this afternoon,” Sebastian said as he sat at the breakfast bar and began eating. “We will be having a banquet for them tonight to thank them for their bravery.”

“I’ll start preparing for that soon,” the chef said with another bow. “I’ll coordinate with my team and figure something out.”

Once Sebastian finished his food, he was about to head back upstairs until Hannah rushed into the kitchen. Her hair was wildly tossed around her face, and she was still in her night clothing. Sebastian looked at her and rose his brows at her appearance.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She asked, glaring up at him. “We are supposed to go to the library this morning. I wanted to get this done early so we can be back in time.”

“We have plenty of time,” Sebastian assured her, keeping his tone low. “Eat breakfast first.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to keep up your strength,” Sebastian told her, walking past her. “That is if you want to start training later.”

She spun around to face him; her eyes were wide, and it was clear she was in shock.

“What?” She asked. “You’re letting me train?”

“You were right, it’ll be good if you know how to defend yourself. But that doesn’t mean I want you running off into any battles.”

“You have my word,” she beamed; she wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself close. He melted into her embrace, but they couldn’t linger like that for long. They had work that needed to be done.

“Eat breakfast and get dressed.”

…

They made it to the library quickly; there was barely anybody inside which was good because Sebastian wanted privacy. Wrenley was left at the palace with Raya for the morning. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit worried about what they would find once they started researching. They searched through some of the aisles and uncovered a couple of old books about the underworld and the history of vampires.

Hannah curled herself up on the couch and started reading her book intently. Sebastian scanned through his, but he wasn’t reading anything that he hasn’t heard of already.

“Hmm…” Hannah mumbled as she got further into her book.

Sebastian glanced over at her, curiously.

“What is it?” He asked, eyeing her determined features.

“You battled the vampires a long time ago, right?” she asked, looking up at him. He nodded his response. “Do you remember anything about it?”

That was always something Sebastian tried not to think too much about. It used to drive him crazy not having much of a memory after that battle; all he knew was that when he returned, he was terribly disfigured and had the moonstone scepter. Over time, he stopped trying to figure out what happened, and it just became a part of him. A part of him he never discussed with anyone else. Until now.

“I don’t remember much of anything,” he admitted, meeting her eyes. “Truth be told, it was always like a missing piece. Like I was missing a part of myself since that battle.”

“A missing piece?” She asked.

“Yeah, like ever since then, something has been missing from me. I always assumed it was just my memory. But I think it’s more than that.” He paused for a moment as he processed his thoughts.

“It’s okay,” she said gently, giving him a fond smile. “We don’t need to talk about it. I understand.”

“You know I would tell you everything if I could remember,” he said in return. She wrapped her arms around his arm and placed her head on his shoulder. “All I know is that the moon goddess sealed the portal a long time ago.”

“If we were to access and open the portal, do you think we would be able to save my brother?”

“We aren’t going to access and open the portal,” Sebastian said firmly, shaking his head with dismay. “That’s way too dangerous and would put our entire kingdom at risk.”

He thought about his meeting with Gemma and how she seemed to know a lot about the underworld and the place where Liam was being held inside. Gemma is a witch, and she has sight, maybe she would be able to help him remember everything. Then again, is it something he wanted to remember? This wasn’t something he wanted to bring up to Hannah though; at least not right now.

He closed his book and stood.

“We should get back to the palace. Everybody will be arriving soon, and I need to be there.”

…

Hannah

Even though Sebastian said he didn’t want to find and access the portal to the underworld, I still couldn’t stop thinking about it. Liam could be trapped behind that portal, and we won’t ever know. My stomach formed a knot just thinking about it. But I knew he was right; opening that portal could put the kingdom in danger. It could put us all in danger, especially Wren. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

As soon as we reached the palace grounds, I sensed him. His musky and old scent was hard to mistake. I shuddered at the thought of my father being around my daughter. I didn’t want anything to do with him, but I had no choice. As I got into the palace, I saw him. He turned to me and gave me a broad smile.

“Hannah,” my father said in a greeting. “It’s been a long time.”