EPILOGUE

-HER-

I took a moment to feel the heat of the desert sand that managed to kiss my feet even through my shoes. I threw my head back to greet the mortal sun whilst filling my lungs with the air that brought me up. I was still able to distinguish the low sizzling sound of the sun among the cries of terror.

I listened to them and smiled. I was on time.

I smelt smoke before the ground beneath my feet shook with a huge fireball that landed just a small distance away from me. It fed the terror of the people who were now running in whatever direction that promised them safety. Although I knew that most of them were going to die.

I walked through the chaos. I was unphased by it. My eyes were only set on the royal building that stood tall before me. I needed to get inside it and find her. I kept walking calmly towards the palace whilst people were running away from it.

Half the building was on fire but I didn’t care. I was friends with it. I climbed the blazing steps and went inside the place. There were still a lot of people stuck inside it. I could have saved them easily but I wasn’t going to. I didn’t feel like messing with the fates that day.

I kept walking deeper and deeper inside the palace which was now invaded by dangerous flames. The people who were running away stopped for a moment to look at me. I could see that they were very close to recognizing me. It only tugged the smile on my lips higher.

I crossed the court where Cleopatra used to meet the Egyptians and talk to them. It was currently burning. I noticed some dead bodies there which were being licked by fire flames. I still kept walking, deeper and deeper into the palace that was soon going to turn into nothing but ruins.

When I reached the place where royals lived, I was a bit surprised to find that that place hadn’t caught fire yet. The guards were still guarding that place. They instantly picked up their weapons as soon as they saw me.

I knocked them down with my powers even before they could reach me. The place here was calmer here than the rest of the palace which was blazing with fire now. I moved deeper into the royal’s residency. I remembered this place very well even though I was visiting this place after a long time.

The place still looked very similar as I headed towards Cleopatra’s residing wing. Outside, the Romans seemed to have stopped throwing the fireballs. It seemed that they were now going to come for her now. I didn’t care about anything at this moment because I already knew how it was all going to end and how she was going to die.

I had seen this all before.

When I went inside Cleopatra’s wing, I was a bit surprised to find the place empty.

Where was she?

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the place I had seen her at while I was looking at the vision of her death. It looked a bit different than the inside of the royal residency. I decided to look for her somewhere else.

Just when I was walking out of Cleopatra’s wing, I saw one of her servants. The Servant froze as soon as she saw me. Her eyes widened and the plate of flowers she was carrying fell from her hands a soon as she recognized me. Along with the plate hitting the ground, another sound of fireball colliding on the building was heard outside, shaking the building slightly.

For a moment, it even managed to send a shiver down my spine.

“You,” I didn’t miss the fear in the Servant’s voice. Her face paled considerably as she staggered back a bit. She was acting like she had seen a ghost. “We… we thought you were dead,” Her bottom lip trembled as she managed to say that.

“Well, surprise!” I chuckled lightly at her before stepping closer and asking her grimly, “Where’s she?”

The servant shivered slightly and gulped before nodding at me. I followed her out of Cleopatra’s wing before she was leading me to a chamber behind the residential wing. As soon as I stepped inside that room, I saw her.

Her back was to me and her hands were on either side of her, clutching the sink over which she was bent. I heard a small sob erupt from her lips before it echoed in the empty chamber.

As soon as she felt my presence, she froze before slightly rising from the sink and standing up straight. The room was drenched with silence. Only the muffled cries of people and the sound of the fireballs crashing could be heard here. Her empire was falling apart outside.

She slightly looked over her shoulder to make sure it was me before finally turning around slowly to face me. Her face was red from crying. The kohl she had been wearing before was now smudged around her eyes.

I was slightly feeling bad for her even after all the things she had done to me.

“What are you doing here?” She asked me, still maintaining the attitude in her voice. I instantly lost the sympathy that I was feeling for her before. Even in death, she had that attitude of the Pharaoh.

“I was just here to meet you,” I shrugged as I casually walked into the room and sat on a chair. Meanwhile, she scanned me from head to toe.

“You’ve changed a lot,” She commented.

“I have,” I smiled at her sweetly. It made me a bit satisfied to see her envy of my smile now. I asked next, “What about you?”

She slightly wiped her eyes, smudging her kohl even more before replying, “I know you have already seen this. Why ask then?”

With that, she stopped by the window to look outside. Chaos was slowly starting to surround teh palace. For a moment she got lost in her thoughts before I heard her mutter, “All this just because they were afraid of a woman ruling them,”

Her words made me stand up and edge towards the window where she was standing. I looked outside to see the rest of the palace burning and people running here and there. I spotted some Roman troops among the chaos too but they were unafraid as the slowly started to close around the palace.

She was in very big trouble.

“Maybe… but you’re at fault too,” I told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. It was then I felt her shaking. She was crying silently. I would have too if I were at her place.

“How? I did everything for Egypt!” She spoke with confidence but even then, I heard her voice shake and break, “I gave them everything,” The tone of her voice somehow pulled at my heart.

“But it is you who brought their downfall, didn’t you?” I asked her. “You are the last,” I told her. She looked at me with her eyes red and some parts of her kohl running down her cheeks. “And the best,” I couldn’t help but add.

The least I could do was to give her some assurance before her death, “You’d be remembered. Not so much in the near future but in the long run, yes,”

She was utterly unphased by my words as she spoke, “So you have seen it all?”

“Not all but I can tell… whatever you’ve done, it always had an impact on people,” I told her as I saw a couple more tears run down her cheek, draging the kohl lower and lower with them. She wiped it with the back of her hand and turned to me completely before asking me again, “Why are you here?”

I stared at her for some moments before answering, “To forgive you,” My answer made her stop for a moment and look at me pensively. She cocked one of her eyebrows at me before asking me, “Forgive me for what?”

“For everything that you did to me,” I told her, “I can’t hold this resentment any longer, Thea,” Her eyes softened for a second before she nodded, “Thank you,”

She was about to say something next when the floor shook beneath our feet before we heard voices outside. They were the Romans. She was finally found. Both of our eyes widened as they stared to bang down on the huge door.

“Go on, do it!” I urged her. She looked at me for some moments in bewilderment before the realization finally dawned upon her. I saw one more tear streaming down her cheek, dragging the black kohl with it as she turned away and found the pot on a nearby table and put her hand inside it.

As the banging on the door grew louder, I muttered the spells to open the portal that would allow me to go back. I stopped when I heard a gasp from Cleopatra. I watched with shock as she froze for a few moments before collapsing on the ground.

I was in a bit of shock as I saw the asp escaping the pot inside which Cleopatra had put her hand. By now, the hinges of the door had come off and the voices outside grew louder.

“Goodbye, sister,” I muttered before stepping inside the portal. The last thing that I heard before the portal closed was the door crashing down and the Romans rushing inside the room.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I was squeezed in the portal. I opened my eyes when I finally felt the ground beneath my feet. I looked around to find that I was back in Zaeris. Before anyone could find me, I headed towards our wing. There I found Ares instantly.

“Where were you?” Ares asked me pointedly. I decided to leave his question answered and asked him instead, “Where are the pups?”

“The three of them are playing with my father and the little one is sleeping inside,” He informed me as I headed towards the nursery to see my newborn. It was a girl and she was our fourth pup, only a week old.

“But where were you gone?” He kept asking me.

“Just visiting an old friend,” I lied as I opened the door to the nursery and headed towards the crib to find the pup sleeping. I had made sure that she was nursed and sleepy befor I left.

“Which old friend?” Ares questioned while he breathed down my neck. I caressed the pup’s cheek softly and she stirred slightly in her sleep. She was our third pup to take Ares’ traits. Only my oldest daughter managed to inherit my red hair, green eyes and freckles.

“Just someone from the past,” I waved my hand at him before changing the topic, “She needs to wake up soon for the naming ceremony,” I told Ares while looking at him over my shoulder. By the look that hung on his face, I could tell that he still didn’t believe me.

“We’ll talk about it later, Ares,” I promised him and he nodded.

“Have you thought about a name for her yet? I am still clueless,” He spoke next.

“I have,” I told him.

“What is it?” He asked keenly.

“You’ll know at the naming ceremony,” I told him, “But we need to get the three of them dressed for the ceremony first. Where are they? I haven’t heard anything from them since morning. Did they forget that they have a mother?” I frowned.

Ares chuckled, “They’re just enjoying their time with my father,”

“I hope they’re not raiding the kitchen again. It pisses off your mother,”

“They’re not. I checked,” He assured me while wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and brushing his lips over the mark on my neck, making me shiver with pleasure.

“Not now,” I breathed.

“Okay,” He mumbled but he continued to set kisses on my neck.

“We’re getting late, Ares,” I reminded him as I unwrapped his arms from my waist. I heard him sigh before he followed me out of the nursery.

“I am taking their clothes out for the ceremony. You bring the pups back,” I told him before he disappeared out of the wing. He was soon back with the children. My two oldest pups, Edara and Markus, 9 and 6 respectively came back without any struggle.

Meanwhile, our four-year-old Lazaros wiggled in his father’s arms, fighting tooth and nail to set free and go back to grandpa.

“We don’t have time for this Lazaros!” I scolded him as I struggled to put clothes on him while Ares did his best to hold the notorious toddler in place.

“I was playing with Granpa! Why did you bring me here!” He screamed in Ares’ face, making Ares hiss.

“Stop this now Lazaros,” Ares spoke to him in a slightly comanding voice, “You will wake your sister up!” This seemed to work on him and he let us clothe him while the other two were ready already and fighting in front of the mirror for space.

“I can’t with them,” I sighed after we were done dressing Lazaros and he joined his brother and sister in the bickering while Ares laughed at their bickering. I decided to get dressed and by the time I was done, our little one had woken up already.

We went straight to the court where the ceremony was supposed to take place. Everyone was already there- Ares’ parents, the ministers and all the guests. Lazaros instantly ran towards his grandfather as soon as he saw him.

Ares rolled his eyes and I sighed while we finally headed towards our thrones. Even now whenever I looked at the throne, I still found it hard to believe that I was finally the Queen of the Wolves. Ares and I had finally taken over the thrones. Although not long ago. We were crowned just after Lazaros’ birth.

I held our little one in my arms and Ares stood beside me with his hand on my shoulder, facing our subjects before the Archbishop started the ceremony. I found that my pups had already gone to their grandparents. They usually spent most of their time with them since Ares and I were busy always busy with work but we did our best to spend time with the pups.

“Now, you shall declare the name of the child,” Archbishop declared after performing some rituals. The courtroom was completely silent by now. Everyone’s eyes were on me now, even Ares'. I looked down at my newborn daughter.

Her innocent silver eyes were focusing on earring keenly. Her baby face was framed with thick black curls. I smiled at her slightly before I declared, “Her name is Thea,”

**THE END**

**Thanks for reading :')

Follow me on Instagram @ptf_16 to learn about the next book

You can also pledge on www.patreon.com/Benita_16 to get access to my latest books and some exclusive contact.**