Her Forever
(Book 3)- Chapter 35

Willa’s POV

Luke led us to the main square of Atlantis, people were watching Horus I with leery eyes but he continued to hold his head up high since he was a proud creature. If only they knew how large and powerful, he was they would cower in fear. Horus continued to stay by my side, always touching me, if not with my hand on his side, his tail was protectively wrapped around my waist.

When we were away from Atlantis, Luke could manipulate his looks to make him look more human. Here, everyone kept their colorful scales and hair while they walked about, more of their true form minus the tail. I stuck out like a sore thumb, looking every bit of human. Many girls donned beautiful, short skirts that wrapped around their waists with shells beading around their waists. Hair came in an assortment of colors you would find in a thriving coral reef. My hair was dark and I didn’t have the colorful clothing or scales they had..

Many male sirens looked over, licking their lips, flexing their muscles, and advancing towards our little entourage but Horus only let out a low growl in warning. Luke didn’t sway in his steps as we continued the main road up to the palace gates. His eyes were stern, looking like the prince he really was.

Once we arrived, several soldiers holding spears came to speak with him while Horus and I stood back. Their eyes glanced back and forth between Horus and me also eyeing the beautiful flower lay. The guards finally nodded and opened the gate and with one look we were guided into the palace.

The Little Mermaid movie had nothing on this place. It was grand, stunning, and competed with Orion’s palace. Pearls and marble decorated the floor and pillars and the orb lights lit up the entire dwelling. Several women with shell anklets and short, beautiful dresses came prancing in giggling and talking. I’ve not seen one woman in the entire kingdom wear any clothing longer than mid-thigh or cover their shoulders.

“Those are my brother’s mates,” he nodded in their direction.

“They are beautiful,” I whispered.

“They are, they are the perfect compliment to my brothers. I’m glad my father only allows us to be with our mates instead of arranged marriages like they use to so long ago.” Luke’s eyes fell distant as he continued to lead us down the grand hallway. “Ever since my mother left, he made it to law to follow that of the Moon Kingdom and only accept your true mate. I’m surprised The Light Kingdom doesn’t follow suit.”

“They do now!” I smiled brightly, thinking of Orion bringing forth a new era in his nation. “There is a war in the kingdom right now, that is why he had me fly with Horus to The Land of Dragons to keep me safe until it was over.” Luke let out a breath in relief.

“Good, I was getting worried about that, Princess.”

“Why is that?”

“I thought he was going to keep you on the side and marry someone else to gain more favor with his corrupt Court.” I gasped in disbelief.

“No, he would never! He waited for me this long why would he mate with someone else now!?”

“Royal marriages aren’t that simple, Princess.” Luke shook his head.

We came upon two large double doors that reminded me of Orion’s to the throne room. My heart fluttered in nervousness as he knocked on the door. Horus’ tail wrapped possessively around me but nuzzled my cheek for confidence.

“He’s a bit grumpy, but he won’t hurt you,” Luke trailed off until we heard a loud roar from the other side.

“I said, I don’t want to be disturbed!!” The voice was angered, hurt, and almost pitiful. My heart broke hearing him speak. Luke looked down at me as he saw the distressed look on my face.

“Father, it’s me, Luke.” There was a long pause and we heard him say, ‘enter.”

We all walked into the massive throne room, he was sitting at the very end, and even at a distance, he was large. He was bare-chested with muscles compared to Alpha Seth, he wore a long skirt as opposed to the short ones to the knees that the men wore. His hair was platinum blonde with a neatly short, trimmed beard.

“Who is this, son?” The gruff voice growled as I stood closer to Horus. Horus stood beside me as he sat on his haunches.

“This is my friend,” Luke was quickly cut off.

“Is this some w***e!? Do you understand what I told you about mates, SON!?” Luke’s father stood up to a towering height, my small body couldn’t comprehend what was happening and it began to shake.

“No father, we come seeking help,” Luke remained passive.

“I’m in no mood, Luke. I suggest you go elsewhere with this human,” he turned and started to walk a back to his seat. “Sing something,” Luke nudged me.

“What?” I hissed.

“Do it, now!”

“I’ve never sung in front of anyone before!” I whisper yelled.

“Do it now or you will lose the chance,” he pushed.

My breath hitched; this was going to be tough. The only time I sang was when I felt a strong emotion which was usually sadness. Now I must sing something, and I wasn’t sad, I was conflicted who I really was.

“Think of Orion, your mate,” Luke grabbed me by the shoulders.” Sing from the heart, that is where your power will be.” I sighed dejectedly. This is mortifying.

Thinking of Orion, I held onto my chest and closed my eyes playing with the idea no one was really around. This is for me, and Orion is my future. Just getting a glimpse of what I am will give me the final closure I need to move on. I must do this, for the closure.

“And tonight I wanna drive so far we’ll only find static on the radio

And we can’t see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow

Saying everything without making a sound,

A cricket choir in the background, underneath a harvest moon

Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat

Oh woah, and we’re dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat.”

I continued to sing, and I felt the air in the room shift around me, I couldn’t feel Luke and Horus not beside me any longer. It was the song and me as I continued to think of Orion. I missed him terribly. Maybe this was a bad idea to come here to find out who I was. It will only lead to more heartache and loneliness. What if I found out I really did belong to someone else? Would they want nothing to do with me too?

I was ready to move forward to be with my mate and in a world full of things I never would have dreamed of. If Luke’s father couldn’t give me the answers, I wanted I would drop all this, all the wondering of ‘what if’s and ‘what could have been.’ I’ll take my life as is and be with my mate.

I wanna feel it like a kick drum, beating faster in your chest

I wanna feel you holding onto me and make me hold my breath

You pull me closer, my head on your shoulder, baby we won’t beat the song

We’ll make a fallen star wish, one more slow k**s, what are we waiting on?

Praying that was enough to get the Atlantean King’s attention, I opened my eyes to see him standing in front of me. His eyes were no longer matted together, the barely-there lines from his scowl earlier had faded. His eyes had softened, and his posture was relaxed.

The large blue eyes investigated mine and he held out his hand. “What is your name?” his voice barely a whisper. The scary muscle man from before became a teddy bear in a matter of seconds.

“Willa,” I whispered back and put my hand in his. The hand was warm as he gripped it, a small tear left his eyes. Luke wandered beside his father and held out the purple Hawaiian lay and has his father took it he looked back at me. He chuckled a few times before his voice became a burst of boisterous laughter.

The hand never left mine in the state of my confusion. “Kathryn was a spitfire; I’ll give you that.”

“Y-you knew my mother?”

“Yes, intimately anyway. She helped me,” he cleared his throat, “forget things.” His voice went back to being solemn. “How is she?” I slumped my shoulders.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her in years.” His amusement of the situation went from confused to anger. “What do you mean you haven’t seen her?”

“We parted ways seven years ago. Mother and father didn’t want me, they wanted to divorce and go their separate ways and not have to be reminded about me. My whole childhood they didn’t want me, so I grew up with my friend with her pack.”

“That man was not your father,” he ruffed. “And your Kathryn ended up being a real piece of work.” His hand tightened against mine and pulled me to his bare chest. Being petrified that this man could crush me, Luke was looking on in astonishment. The King’s hand brushed my hair and gave a light peck to the top of my head.

“I am your father, Willa. Your true father. I swear to the gods I knew nothing about you,”

he poured his soul onto me and my heart leaped inside my chest.

“What?” I whispered, slowly backing away.

“I am your father, Willa. By gods, if I knew about you, I would have brought you down here and grew up with your half-brothers.” My mouth dropped as I glanced at Luke and then at Horus both with entertained faces.

“You’re my Dad?” His glassy eyes held so much hope that I would accept this information. Could I accept it? Hell, I didn’t have a family before my birth mother left me and this guy wants to take me in, he wanted me. He wanted a daughter, and he was technically my dad by b***d. My gut was telling me to trust it and it didn’t steer me wrong with Orion.

“Yeah, I’m your father. I feel it in my bones. Your song only confirms it, each siren has a certain pitch so parents can find their children. You are my daughter, Willa,” the determination in his voice made me choke back a sob. I wasn’t far from him, but I leaped into his arms and buried my face to his chest. I have a father. A family.

“I’ve always wanted a daughter,” he cooed in my ear. “And now I’ve got you.” He squeezed me tight as we both fell to the floor, Luke crossed his arms and started laughing.

“Come on, you know you want in,” Luke’s father or my dad spoke to him happily. Luke grinned at his father as he helped us both up.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name yet?” I spoke up.

“Ha, right. I’m Girard, King of Atlantis, and you, my dear Willa are now the beloved first princess of Atlantis,” I blushed mightily as I put my hands to my face. This seriously can’t be real.

“Father, hate to break it to you but she’s going to be queen in a month. I don’t think the princess title suits her,” Luke brought up jokingly.

“What?” he snapped as he looked towards me. He must not have noticed before, but he noticed then, the large hickey on my neck was beaming proudly as he moved my hair to take a closer look. “What is this?!”

“Uhhh, it’s, um, a hickey?” I said innocently. Luke snickered and I threw out a glare at him.

“From your mate?” Dad raised an eyebrow, still hovering close to me. I nodded excitedly. “Who is he? The only known King that hasn’t found a queen,…” he trailed off before snapping his head back to me. “Orion? The Fae King?” He roared. There goes happy dad. I nodded yes again, and he slumped his shoulders.

“I only just got you back and you will already be going back to the surface.” This wasn’t the response I was thinking I was going to get but at least he won’t keep me away from Orion. I would have been heartbroken if my father decided I couldn’t be with him and with our bond this strong I don’t think I could handle the heartache. I couldn’t lose both when I just got everyone back into my life.

Dad sat us both down talked about why I never noticed my powers before and it was just because I never noticed them, why would I when I spent most of my time on land? I also never tried to breathe underwater, and I never sang to anyone to lure them to me, which was another history lesson for another time. I wanted to know if I get scales too, but dad said that I was still only half siren, possibly more three quarters because of his strong bloodline. When he switches to a full human form, he mentioned he had darkened hair like I do which I’m guessing is another trait I got from him.

The conversation flowed flawlessly as we began to talk about my history, how I was alone for so long, finding out bout the supernatural and finally arriving in Bergarian. My father had his arm around me the entire time we spoke and beamed with pride how I took my first breath of water just hours ago.

“That’s my daughter! You did that better than most guppies! It’s the royal b***d in you!” I laughed while Luke shook his head.

“Guess she’s the favorite child now, huh?”

“Most definitely, she’s my little girl! And I need to meet Orion, I delt with his parents before but never met the fairy.”

“He’s a fae!” I whined.

“No matter,” he growled. “Nothing is too good for my baby girl.” I gasped.

“Yay!! I’m a daddy’s girl!” I laughed and clapped ridiculously. The thought of me calling Orion daddy too disturbed me. I’ll just call my father dad. Goddesses have mercy.

“Father, we need to get her back. King Orion will be expecting her at the cottage after the war.”

“Nonsense, my princess will not stay there, she will stay here, and we will all personally take her back to Orion tomorrow along with an army. We aren’t that far from the Fae Kingdom; we can leave at dawn. I can then size him up and see if he is good enough for Willa, Moon Goddess or not he will be good to her.”

I rolled my eyes, but I secretly loved it.