CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE SCARS THAT NEVER LEAVE US

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I instantly blush all the way down to my legs. "I watched that show ONE time Aiden! Stop bugging me about it!" All the other Hellhounds look at each other in shock at how informal I am with him.

"Anyway. My name is Princess Alexia: Last Princess of the Earth Merrow as well as Princess Alexia: Princess of the Merrow Court. I believe I know everyone but four people in here."

A man with chocolate brown hair stands up. "I am the Earth Crown Prince Raspen, and that is the Fire Crown Princess Ebony. And next to me is my bond mate, Devrim Ekene for the Storm Court. I believe you two met yesterday?" He sits back down after my nod and waits for everything to commence.

"Well anyone, this is my grandparent's circle, the Barbeau-Perevell Circle. Well, minus my Oret, Derek Perevell." My newest bond mate, Prince Michalis, sucks in his breath at Mammam's last name. To be expected honestly with her being the last known safehouse on Earth. "Most people know Lord Aiden, Lady Death, and King Alcandor of the Water Courts." I pause before continuing. "And my circle, the Perevell-Zahrim circle."

Komas sits up and announces the name of his circle. "And mine is the Tenebris Military Clan A." He gives a happy noise when several people react to the name, one of them is interestingly Lady Death.

Leonard stands up before anything else is said. "I know you didn't know this, love, but Noel, Gerhard, and I turned into the Gheyic forms of ourselves when you were kidnapped earlier. I don't know if it was the feedback from you turning into a Gheyic Submissive or the anger we had that you were kidnapped." He nods at Lord Aiden before sitting back next to Noel.

Gaspar darts up next and I can imagine his question before he asks it. "What was the look that Lady Death gave you and Derek when you last met here? And don't try to downplay it like earlier."

Lady Death gracefully stands up before looking at Gaspar. "I simply was reminding Derek Perevell of the favor he owed me for extending the life of one Adam 'Schwarz'. The favor would be to grab three items that have been missing for the last century." She stares at Gaspar, almost wanting him to say something, but they both just sit down while staring each other down.

I take a deep breath and sit on an unoccupied couch, far away from everyone else in the room. "I've been lying to everyone here about what happened to me when I was four." I sigh before looking out the window. "My family and I were never in a car accident. Instead, my bearer and I were kidnapped while my sire and third were slaughtered at the scene." I look back at my circle as they hiss and some of my Gheyos start getting wound up. I tense up knowing what comes next. "None of my family circle ended up making it. I only survived because of my Oret." At this, most of my bonded start deeply growling and a single tear runs down my face before I continue. "I'd like to start off by explaining the lines I come from."

After the Gheyos settle down a bit, I slightly relax and begin again. "My third was, of course, Princess Alanni of King Alcandor's parent's circle. My Oret still has not figured out how or why she was kidnapped. But her bearer was Astérie D'meer, her sire was Écume Rivers and her third was the previous Merrow Queen, Queen Manthestia. Her life with my grandparents was normal up until third begged my bearer and sire to join them after the two of them had a soul cry the night before." I shift here before breathing and letting out some tears. "My bearer, on the other hand, was Brian Maurois, the last Clan Chief of the Rivière de l'Ombre clan." All of the Hellhounds suck in a breath at the name before looking at Lady Death and Crown Princess Ebony gives me a piercing look. "His sire was of the Mauoris clan while his third was from a now-extinct Merrow clan. My sisters and I would've been the last three born with that name." I say wetly before breathing out and continuing. "However, due to the fight my bearer was in, my sisters didn't make it. And all three souls were taken personally by Lady Death herself." At this, I start sobbing before turning away and rubbing a small river rock in my hand. Lady Death comes over and grips my right shoulder with a hand.

"My sire was special though, as he was the last member of the Oceanus clan that had stayed on Earth to try to protect its waters. His name was "Prince Matt: Prince of the Merrow." I say before King Alcandor quickly darts to my side before roughly grasping my chin and forcing me to meet his eyes. Lady Death hisses at him, but he stupidly continues.

"Kesmer's bloody reefs. I hadn't put that together until just now!" He says moving my face this way and that. "Your right eye matches almost perfectly about our records of the first Merrow King after leaving Earth. Grey eyes that shimmer with a purple hue are the best-known feature of that line! And your cheekbones..." He says before he tilts my chin to be in my normal stance. "I can't believe none of us have put that together. And it explains more about how you were able to form a complete Merrow changling form. Almost everything Water went to your male form instead of your female form. It also explains how you got the iridescence on your wings. Our family rarely had it as we hadn't had many chances to intermingle with Merrow from the Oceanus. But you say Alanni had a bit of iridescence?" He says almost to himself before sitting next to Queen Killigan. Alec shifts before glaring at the floor.

"Yes well, I was always taught to not give any reason to show my more Merrow qualities so as to not get kidnapped again," I say before I look down at the floor.

The other Submissive gets up and slinks over to me. "Her male form also has the Oceanus line-specific fluted ears. The same ears that King Alcandor, Prince Alec, and I have as descendants of that line; though I do not believe that King Alcandor's line still carries the iridescence any longer." My eyes furrow as I look at him, wondering about how closely related we could be. "Don't wrinkle your face like that, Alexia. I'm quite far removed at 15 generations since the last time I had Oceanus blood in me. If you doubt me, King Alcandor and Prince Alec (along with presumably your mother) haven't had Oceanus blood in their lines for over 35 generations and their fluted ears stuck around." I nod and sink back into the couch before he sits back next to Kosmas.

I look at Lady Death before continuing. "As I said before, my sire was the last Oceanus Prince from Earth. His bearer was the last Prince before his death. His sire was from the Alvi clan and his third was from the Brennan clan. All three clans are now extinct except for me." I clear my throat and look out the window for a few seconds.

I start talking again. "The last member of my parent's circle was the late Crown Prince of the Water Fae, Adam 'Schwarz'." Lady Death tenses and grips my other shoulder, bringing me into an almost hug. At this, Gaspar makes a hissing noise before trying to stare into my eyes, but I turn away before I can see his response. "My parents had been about to bind with him as he was my sister's sire. He had asked for his family's permission of course. He, of course, was who made so much money for me before he died of his wounds. Even Lady Death was not able to fully heal him..." I murmur before staring at the floor again.

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Kosmas sits forward in the chair before asking me a question that I have been dreading. "Was Lord Aiden involved with any of this?" Lady Death nuzzles the back of my head before getting up and sitting back down with Lord Aiden.

"Lord Aiden was, yes." I say before relaxing into the chair. "My Oret contacted Lord Aiden about two hours after everything happened as Lady Death wanted Aiden to mop up anything that could be dangerous to me in the future. Three or so months after everything happened, Lord Aiden took care of the entire guild that had been hunting my grandma Molly for her entire life. And the fourth month, my sede died. The fifth month after everything happened, my Oret was bonded to the entire circle as instructed by Lady Death. After that, we changed our name from the Yates family to the Perevell family and moved to the Atlantic coast."

I shift on the chair to be lying sideways. "Oret taught me about Lady Death and Lady Death taught me about my bearer's family line. Her line was given Death's Magic years after she met Lady Death. The rumored story goes as this: the Rivière family was the main grower of Lady Death's Estate on Earth; when she had one on Earth that is. Rozina, the youngest daughter of the family, had cultivated a rosebush that bloomed completely black roses. One day while Lady Death was talking to the patriarch of the family, Rozina ran up to her and excitedly gave her a rose while giggling all the while. At first, Lady Death was angry that she had been interrupted by this child before she smelled the rose and realized that its scent was of something that she had missed the most, the scent of her own long-dead mother. Lady Death was so pleased with this flower that she granted the girl two wishes. The first is to be able to have a very large and soul-bonded circle of her own one day. Lady Death was totally fine with this. The second though startled Lady Death. The second was to be able to have the magic of Lady Death as Rozina had loved her so ever since she saw the Lady as a young child. 'Young child,' she growled at the girl, 'you are the most pertinent child I have ever met. But, I am flattered by your request. Both shall be granted and from now on, your line (and only your line) shall have my favor. But, your last name shall have to change; all children from your circle shall have the following last name: Rivière de l'Ombre. That way, everyone will know of my favor.'"

I chuckle and rub the river stone. "Or at least that's how the story goes. I was never brave enough to ask Lady Death if that's actually what happened, and Oret told me to not be stupid enough to ask her." I mischievously glance at Lady Death who throws her hands up in the air.

"And that's it. That's my story and soul laid bare." I say before sitting back up. "Now, I'd like to go home and we can deal with anything else on another date." Everyone agrees and my circle goes home along with the Tenebris clan.

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I quickly introduce Prince Michalis, Prince Asher, Elijah, and Augustine to the circle as my four new bonded. As Prince Michalis talks to other circle members, I talk to Leonard. I brace myself for what is to come. "Leonard, I think it is obvious that with our change, we should go train to be Gheyos in the Pits."

At once, everyone stops talking and Leonard looks to me like I am insane. "I don't know what you're talking about, Alexia. We'll do fine as Gheyos."

Noel coughs before looking at Leonard. "Speak only for yourself Alpha. I know I want some proper training for a Gheyo as I am now a Gheyo. Our Submissive deserves to have a trio that is able to protect her."

Gerhard stands up next to Noel before he looks at the Tenebris clan. "How about this Leonard, if you're able to defeat Kosmas and Hristo, you don't need extra training at the Pit." He stares at his Alpha until Leonard sneers and nods at him.

After a few minutes of waiting near the beach, I brace myself for what is to come. As I get closer to all of the people outside I notice two things. Both circles are sitting apart from each other with Leonard, Noel, and Gerhard sitting apart from each other. I start to move my way to join them, but Lazo grabs my arm and shakes his head. "No, you don't want to go and get yourself drawn into trouble. Let them beat their frustrations out today, and then you can go console them tomorrow." He pulls me toward a circle drawn on the ground and grounds me with a hug.

My newly inherited Gheyic Alpha goes against Lazo's proven Gheyic Alpha Kosmas. Faidon shouts for them to start and they do so. Kosmas squares off with Leonard before quickly disarming Leonard. Leonard shouts and tries to tackle Kosmas, but is put in a headlock before Leonard angrily taps out.

The circle is quickly redrawn before Leonard goes against Gheyic Beta Hristo. Leonard is able to stay in the ring for three more minutes, but Hristo quickly disarms him as well.

Leonard stalks off to the water to be by himself. Before anyone can join him, Kosmas stops them. “I am not your Alpha, but everyone else needs to stay here for this meeting. Someone will tell Noel this later, but I will set something up with your two Aces for Alexia, Gerhard, Leonard, and Noel to go to the Pits for a few months and train how to become a Gheyo. The Gheyo rank needs education and you WILL receive it; don’t think your Aces won’t force you to go.”

I look up at Lazo as my lip starts quivering in fear and my eyes widen in horror of having to leave my circle so soon. “Shhh, little bubble,” Lazo whispers to me before hugging me tighter. Then he speaks loudly enough to be heard by everyone. "The four that have changed need to get training for your rank. It will not be as bad as you think. The training will only show you how to use weapons and how to use common battlefield tactics." Lazo looks down at me before sighing and looking away. "It is for the best for your circle to get this done and get this done now." He pulls me up and yells that everyone can do whatever.

Immediately after everyone starts having their own private questions, I quietly ask Lazo a question that has been burning in my mind. "How did you know that would happen?" I look up at Lazo and intently stare at him.

He sighs before looking down at me. "It was painfully obvious to my clan. Everyone here does military training every day in the morning." He moves his mouth right next to my ear and whispers the next two sentences. "Your Alpha certainly had no chance Kosmas or Risto. He wouldn't have had a chance against Gerhard either." He moves away from my ear before continuing. "Lady Driswell does not allow for any slackers in the Storm element. All are expected to be physically ready for war, no matter the rank." He looks at Kosmas for a second before looking back at me. "Kosmas will urge your Aces to train your entire group with weapons and battle tactics while you are gone." He gives me a hug before putting me at arm's reach. "I may put in papers to mentor you a bit. I know that you've already got an Oret, but would you mind an unofficial one once you are out of the pits?" I look at him and nod in agreement. "Good!" He preens at me before joining the rest of his circle. "I can be here with my Alpha and Beta in the morning if you want to have breakfast with us to ask any questions." He nods at my circle before his circle ports away for the night.

But before I can really say anything else, Faidon grabs me and tells everyone that I'm going to the Gheyo quarters as the prize for the fight. "We need to resolidify the bonds a bit more tonight as the battle lust has gone down." He says before we all vanish into the house and go to the Gheyo levels.

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Instantly after we close the bedroom door, Faidon snaps out something to Armin. "Armin set silencing wards that allow sound in but not out. Also, expand the bed so everyone can easily sleep on it." Armin nods before quickly making sure it was done. Faidon pulls me into his arms for a quick cuddle. "We normally sleep completely naked. Are you okay with that?" I coyly smile and pull the clothing off my body, waiting for what I can only imagine is coming. "We'll see if we seal any bonds in the morning, but I will have to go to our compound early in the morning and look into moving it near this plot of land along with talking with my fathers," Faidon says before going to take a quick shower.

I start to move to join him, but Phillip has different plans. He pulls me into the plush bed after it was expanded by Armin. Soon after, the rest of my Gheyos piled around me with Lucas directly behind me on his stomach. Someone turns off the lights and we start falling asleep. I chirr into Phillip's chest before nuzzling it and crashing into sleep.