Chapter 181

Maeve’s POV

“Here, drink this,” a young woman said as she placed a mug on the bedside table. I watched as steam rose from the cup, the lavender scent filling my senses and calming my every nerve despite how scared and worried I was.

I was on a dangerous island with a coven that was supposed to be dead and I just found out it was my future brother-in-law that brought me here. How did he even know about this place? My mind was whirling with confusion, and my chest was unsettled as I stared at both the women.

“Thank you, Ella,” Mirage said, dismissing her.

“Of course. If you need anything, let me know,” Ella said, nodding her head at Mirage before she turned and left the hut.

Mirage moved quickly to the tea and lifted it in her hands, bringing it to my lips. I clamped my mouth shut, giving her a wary look, my eyes narrowed. Did she really think I was stupid enough to trust her?

“What is it?” I asked her.

She gave me a knowing smile.

“It’ll calm your nerves,” she explained. “I know you have no reason to trust us yet, but trust me, Maeve, we are not here to hurt you. We consider you family, a member of our coven.”

“I don’t even know you outside of what you have told me,” I told her. “Why would Eric bring me here and how did he even know about you? How does he know about anything?”

I wasn’t stupid, I knew Eric held secrets of his past. He was Xaden’s brother and kept to himself most of the time. He was seemingly quiet and reserved; he was the outcast of the family. King Arlan would rather pretend he didn’t exist, and Queen Leonora allowed it to happen. He was bullied relentlessly by Henry his entire life, and then the argument I heard a few weeks ago between Eric and Arlan.

He found out something awful and I could hear how hurt he was from his voice.

“I know you have a lot of questions,” she tells me gently. “Once you are feeling better and less anxious, we will be happy to answer your questions. But you need to have a calmer state of mind. Can you trust me?”

“I don’t know, can I?” I asked. “I was taken from my home and brought somewhere dangerous without my mate. Oh, my goddess. Xaden is going to freak if he finds me missing. I need to get home.”

I try to get out of bed, but her hands stop me; they are warm and there’s an undeniable power in her fingers that makes me stop resisting and return to the bed without a fight. I could tell she was powerful.

“Okay,” I relented, finally taking the tea she offered me. I took a sip and immediately felt myself relaxing. I knew this wasn’t just normal lavender tea; this was a powerful concoction brewed by a witch, designed to force my calmness.

She seemed pleased and she took a deep breath as she sat back in the chair by my bedside.

“There you go,” she said thoughtfully. “Was that so hard?”

I ignored her condescending tone and continued to sip on the tea. It was delicious, I had to admit. As I sipped the very last drop, I handed her the mug and relaxed a bit in the bed, studying her exotic looking features. She was gorgeous with her shimmering black hair and her emerald green eyes. She looked like an Egyptian queen or something.

“You knew my mother well?” I asked her, my tone coming out a lot softer than I thought it would.

A flicker of sadness crossed her eyes and then she nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I did.”

We fell into a silence that wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t uncomfortable either. It was filled with grief for a woman I didn’t know. Mirage was the one who broke the silence.

“Come with me,” she told me, standing to her feet and offering me her hand.

I took her hand, maybe a little too trustingly, and I slid out of bed. I was thankful that I was still wearing my clothes. We walked towards the doorway that led outside, and I braced myself for the impending doom I was about to walk into.

She already told me we were on the Lost Island, which was an abandoned island they used for the worst criminals in the world. I feared what I was about to see the second we were outside. However, as soon as we walked out of the hut, I was surprised to see a simple little village on the beach. The sounds of the ocean were a comfort, and the smell of the saltwater put my body at ease. The ground was only sand; there were a few other huts nearby, a lot of tents and some treehouses in the palm trees, the houses connected by wooden bridges. It was nighttime, so the entire place was lit up with engaging lights that hung above my head and handcrafted lanterns; not to mention moonlight.

I felt the magical aura surrounding this place and I turned to look at Mirage.

“There’s a protective shield around this place,” I said to her; it wasn’t a question, just an observation.

She smiled and then nodded, glancing up at the sky.

“Yes, we put a protective shield to keep us hidden from the criminals that also roam these parts,” she confessed. “We are completely safe here.”

I found myself a little more, feeling better about that.

“Okay,” I breathed, letting myself relax as I looked around the place. “This is a beautiful setup.”

“We’ve been here for years. It’s our home,” Mirage explained. “It’s the only place we are truly safe.”

“Because nobody in their right mind would come look for you here?”

“Exactly,” she confirmed with a smirk.

“You’re awake…” a familiar voice said; I turned to see Eric walking towards me. My chest tightened at the sight of him. I trusted Eric, I thought I knew him, and I thought he was becoming my friend. But I found myself trusting Mirage more because she didn’t kidnap me from my home and bring me here herself… Eric did that. Someone I trusted. My mate’s brother.

I stepped away from him, showing him my defiance and that I wasn’t pleased with him. His small smile dropped as he studied my face. He soon sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Look, I know you are upset with me,” he said, holding up his hands to show me that he was unarmed and not looking for a fight. “But I have to explain myself and you have to listen.”

“I don’t have to do anything, Eric,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “You literally kidnapped me from out of under your brother’s nose.”

The memory of Eric being in my bedroom came flooding back to me. The way he sat at the edge of my bed and touched my face with his calloused fingers. The way he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and the words he said to me.

We’d be so much better together.

Bile rose in my throat as the memory came flooding back to me, and suddenly I was backing way up as I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You manipulated me, didn’t you?” I asked him, my voice coming out breathy and unforgiving.

I saw him flinching from my tone and the shame that crossed his face was palpable, but he didn’t back down.

“Yes,” he finally stated. “Maybe not at first, after I discovered who you were—”

“How did you discover anything about me, Eric?” I asked, my tone coming out harsher than I intended. “How did you know about any of this??”

“I didn’t at first, but once I started to dig into my own background, I discovered yours along the way,” he told me, stepping towards me, his expression soft and yet chilling at the same time. “Let me explain everything to you, Maeve, and soon you will understand that we are way more alike than you could even comprehend right now.”

I shake my head.

“Take me home, Eric. Take me back to Xaden,” I said, my tone harsh as I stared at the person who betrayed my trust.

He shook his head, a flicker of both annoyance and sadness in his eyes.

“I can’t do that, not yet anyway,” he told me. “Here me out and then you can decide if you want to go back.”

I stared at him for a long while, I could feel other eyes on me as well, those I hadn’t met yet. They were curious about me, that much was clear, but they weren’t afraid or wary of me. I swallowed the lump in my throat, my eyes remaining on Eric for a long while.

“Fine,” I finally conceded. “You have an hour to tell me everything and then I want you to take me home, Eric. I mean it.”