Daryn gaped at her, at his mother… "What do you mean?" he asked in a gravelly voice. "Who are you?"

"I am Sedora, the queen of sorceresses." She poked her finger in his hand. "And you are my son."

​​

Daryn's shock had shot up to the sky. He was so confused that he was speechless. "But you are a werewolf."

Sedora laughed. "Hell no!" she pulled her hand away from him. Raising it in the air, she closed her fist and then brought it near her mouth. She opened her fist and blew her breath over it. Right in front of Daryn an illusion was created in the air. He saw the younger self of Gayle and Sedora getting married in the Ulfric. The vision turned to Gayle in his wolf form running along with Sedora in her wolf form in the jungles.

And then… something shocked him.

Right in the corner of every scene, he saw a shadow of a woman around them. Nothing is, as it seems…

Daryn gasped. It was as if his whole existence was a fake. He wasn't a pureblood. He was a half-ling? To say that he was shocked was an understatement. Daryn wasn't shocked, his heart was encompassed in misery, in stunned surprise, in sympathy for his father, for his brother and for himself. Tears stung his eyes. How could his mother lie to his family to this extent?

Sedora was enjoying the change of expressions on his face. She moved to the foot of the bed and chuckled. "Don't feel so miserable Daryn. It's nothing. Even if you are a Halfling, you are a powerful Halfling, you have my genes too. Imagine what that makes you. But unfortunately my genes in you are pretty recessive. You got most of your DNA from your father it seems."

The woman who stood in front of him appeared to be a stranger, a cheater, and a liar. She not only betrayed her husband but also betrayed the whole Silver Clan. For a large part of their lives, she remained their Luna. He shuddered from the inside. Tears came out. Through the tears he saw the scene change to Caleb's birth and then his. He saw how happy they all were until… until he saw himself huddled in a corner with snakes slithering around him, with shadows trying to reach him and sucking his soul, with… with so many nightmares one after the other whenever Sedora was around.

He hated the neotides being a pureblood for they had no control over themselves. But he realized that he hated them because he couldn't control his nightmares, he couldn't blast them off. They were so real that he thought he was insane.

And now—

Now—

He realized that it was his mother who played him, feeding him those nightmares. Did she do the same to Caleb?

Can't do this, can't handle the agony—

"So you were the one who gave me those nightmares?" he asked with disgust. How could his mother throw him into such a state of affairs? He thought about his unborn kids and couldn't even think of harming them. He became aware of one fact – Sedora was pure evil.

"Yes, I created those hallucinations for you hoping you would be able to blast them, hoping you would be able to realize your inner strength, but you— you just disappointed me. Both Caleb and you." She laughed. "Both brothers disgusted me! I have given birth to only two children and both of them were useless." She shook her head. "Anyway, I never gave you birth because I wanted you to realize your strength. You all are just means to my endgame." Her voice was filled with venom. "It was me who planned your abduction. The blast in the mines—I created it. Only a few humans died, but that's nothing," she brushed her nails delicately with her thumb. "When your aircraft was flying over the Amazon jungles, it was brought down upon my orders. And Emma, she works for me."

Daryn was so repulsed by the revelation that he wanted to be set free, to kill her. The beast inside him rose and he growled with all his might. The glass window shattered and the bottles on the ledge fell down. But the shackles, the straps, they were too strong. He stared at his mother with obvious revulsion and his face twisted. He clenched his fists and fangs protruded from his mouth. Claws lengthened from his fingers. "You cheated all of us!" he growled as his feral gaze bored into her. The illusions were still playing.

"Ooooh! You scare me Daryn," mocked Sedora making a face, and then laughed bitterly as she closed her fist and the illusion disappeared.

"I did what I had to. This is what the prophecy foretells and you are just a means to fulfill the prophecy. You will be sacrificed. You will act as my lamb for sacrifice, as a lure to draw out bigger powers, powers that hold my future!" Her eyes turned black filling the irises. "My endgame begins!" Saying that Sedora looked up towards the ceiling, chanted a spell and her body got consumed in white fire.

"Don't go!" He shouted behind her. "Answer me!"

When Sedora left, Daryn was left dazed. He didn't know what was it that terrified him more. The fact that her mother was a sorceress or that he was a Halfling. He was a half sorcerer? He remembered what Emma told him. A woman as powerful as her—what was she doing here? Why did she call her the queen? His mind ran to numerous directions. What endgame did she talk about? What was her purpose? He closed his eyes and stopped the flow of his tears. Dawn's face appeared in his mind. What she must be doing now?

He would escape the moment he healed. For the first time in his life he was extremely proud to have Gayle, a Lykae, as his father so much. He had to escape this place before his mother returned to fulfill her endgame, whatever it was. The hatred in his mind and heart for her was inexplicable.

How could she be so cold to him? Mothers were supposed to be warm and… motherly. But she hatched a plan to abduct him.

He feared her a lot especially after Dawn had come in his life and he recognized that his fears were right. He was furious that she had hidden the fact that she was a sorceress to every one of the family and clan. How could he never pick up the clues? None of them knew who she was, but she had known fully what they were. She was such a monster, an evil. He would kill her the moment he healed, he promised himself. He shook when he recalled her deception and deceit. His father completely fell for her. Did he now know her true identity?

His thoughts went to Emma. She said that she was neither his friend nor his enemy. However, if the logic went far, then she should be on his mother's side.

The questions in his mind bounced endlessly until he closed his eyes and fell into deep sleep. "Dawn…" he murmured every now and then.

---

After spending a day with Quetz honing her magical skills, Dawn had come back home. There was no message from Daryn.