Proctor. Right after this moment, I stole Lilith’s pendant.”
“And then you died,” I whispered.
“I had just enough time to give your father the pendant – the locket – before the Seelie King captured me,” his voice was raw and low. “By the time I was reborn as an angel, the two of you were already lost in the Old Lands. And I have waited for your reappearance since then.”
“And now you’re soulmates!” My mum cheered and clapped. She giggled. “Oh, if I could tell your father.”
Granny giggled. “You know, you’re not that far apart in age if I remember correctly.”
“A century and a half,” mum said with a wink in Malachi’s direction. “Did you know this was coming?”
He scoffed and shook his head. “Most certainly not.”
I pressed my fingers to my temples and squeezed. “Okay, so…bloody hell…what happened after that? My brain hurts. You can’t just drop a bomb like this. I need more information.”
“Well, after Malachi sacrificed himself to get the locket, your father, Coven Emperor Edward Proctor, and Archangel Michael had a plan for it — for what to do with it so she could never get it back.” Mum frowned and looked to my soulmate. “They didn’t know Malachi was coming back as an angel, though I suspect Michael did. In hindsight, his plan made much more sense knowing that.”
Malachi chuckled and nodded.
“What was the plan?”
Mum shook her head. “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He said you and I were safer if we didn’t know.”
I sighed. “Mum, explain this to me…how did we end up in the Old Lands? How did we get out?”
“I…don’t know. Trust me, I’ve gone over that day a trillion times over the last eighteen years, yet I still have no answer.” She sat up straight and tucked her hair behind her ears. “But see, to us, Chloe, we were only in there for a few hours at most. We didn’t even need to stop to sleep. That’s how quick it went for us. For you, this was no big deal. You were a toddler. For me, it was overwhelming. That’s why we lived here, because I had to adjust to modern society. We had to pretend that our lives had just begun. You couldn’t understand the truth about your father—"
“My father. King of England. Henry the VI. Do you know what human history books say about him, mother? Him and Margaret had a son the very year we disappeared—"
“When you two did not reach your destination, and Michael told him that you’d gone into the Old Lands, your father…” Malachi shook his head, and I felt his pain like it was my own. He was there and he remembered it clearly. “Well, he broke down. He was a broken man after that. He didn’t speak for nearly eighteen months. His son Edward was not his biological son, but The Coven wanted the Lancaster name to smooth its way out of the human world…it got very complicated.”
“Edward wasn’t his?” My mother whispered.
“No. Of that I am certain.” Malachi frowned. “I am sorry, I thought you knew. I should have told you.”
“Thank you.” Mum sighed long and hard. Her eyes watered. “Did he not tell you anything? There were so many years between…”
Malachi grimaced. “It was dangerous to speak of such things out loud. The Lancasters had all lost their magic, The Coven left England for Italy. Michael left. Henry told me…he told me he had a plan set in place for the chosen Lancaster to retrieve Michael’s sword. And he had a plan for the locket, and for you two. I promised him I would find you and that we would join The Coven to end Lilith.”
Mum groaned and balled her skirt in her hands. “Does she have to?”
He nodded. “The Lancasters were the first children of angels, the first line of witches in this world. Your absence from magic has been a detriment, one that we can no longer withstand. Jackson is in The Coven. His role is prominent. But the rest of you will be a part of this war.”
My pulse skipped beats. I felt his nervousness and I didn’t like it. “Especially me, that’s what you’re trying not to say.”
He turned his gold eyes to me. “You are the only living Lancaster who was born with magic and then had it taken. The rest of your family will take a generation or two to regain its potency, but yours won’t. You are as strong as the Bishops and