QUEEN HALIANA'S CRUELTY
ZARYA'S POV
"Your brother?" She pointed at Khal who was now lifting Ember in his arms. "I heard that he grew at the Human World, but slays the Battle Of The Next Betas… He has potential. No…" She shook her head. "He's a great warrior like your father."
I slowly closed my fist as the tension was spreading around my system. My chest was moving up and down, but I did not want her to notice the starting fear in my body. Even if I encountered different kinds of people in the battle, Queen and royals were different. They had power and in just one word, they could kill somebody. Just like Queen Haliana.
"You amused me, Zarya Wixx." She leaned her elbow on the part of her belly while she was still holding a wine glass. "You can fly high, and be one of the Right Hands of one of the kings…" The grin was written on her face. "Or… whore?"
I gasped for air as I was holding my breath. I managed to relax in spite of her words that threatened me.
"Oh, no, no!" She shook her head. In that gesture, I saw the angle of Hali to her face. "Not whore… my bad… a lover?" She flipped her lower lips and then scoffed. "You're targeting one of the kings just like those sister whores: Eira and Fira." She shrugged her head, placing the wine glass on the table. "What's your goal? To be a queen?"
I managed to be sincere in talking. I let out the air that I was holding in my lungs. "I love King Water. I don't wanna be a queen. I just… want him as my husband."
She scoffed, mocking me for being honest. "Who will believe you? Alpha Kings are the most powerful people in the World Of Wolves. It's tempting to seduce one of them, isn't it?"
"Apology, Your Majesty, but…I haven't seduced King Water." I liked to continue that he was the one who owned me over and over.
"Oh? Is that so?" Her heels stomped again on the floor towards the right, causing a sound. She opened the window widely. "Flirt?" She laughed crazily as if by what she was doing, she could make me say that she was right.
"Your Majesty… I love him." I paused. My stare at her was saying all the emotions I felt in my heart. "I love him… truly."
"Does he love you?"
Her question made me frozen. After a second, I answered. "I believe him."
My eyes widened when immediately, she hurried towards me, yanked my hair, pulling me towards the window. Actually, it was nothing, the burning sensation in my scalp was nothing compared to the thousands of tears and blood I shed.
"Look at him." The giggling could be traced in her teeth and jaw. She held my chin and made me look at Khal. "You love your brother, too?"
The tears in the corner of my eyes welled up. Even though she heard no response. She knew the answer.
"Our body is composed of sixty percent of water. What if I get all his water in the body?" She traced my cheek with her sharp nails. "Can you sacrifice him for your beloved Hali Aiker?"
"Why are doing this? You're his mother!" I backed away from her. "Aren't you happy because at last… he found a real happiness?"
"He should not be happy." She emphasized every syllable she spoke up. "Mark that in your head."
"Are you… insecure… that finally… he found his true love and you一"
"Shut up!" I could see the overloading madness in her eyes. "If you don't leave him alone. I will kill your brother." She turned her back to me, peeking in the window. "This is what can I do."
"Khal!" I heard Matilda's shout from the ground. 4
I suddenly ran towards the window to look at them. Khal was laying on the grass, gasping for air as if he was drowning in water. Then, suddenly liquid from his nose, mouth, and eyes let out, making him suffer even more.
"Khal…" I whispered as the choking in my chest could be felt. Queen Haliana just staring at him and yet she could control him in that gesture. "You can't threaten me! I am a Great Beta!" I liked to kick the Queen, but sadly, I could not do that. It was an act of treason and also, and it would just worsen the situation.
"You are just a… Great Beta." She chinned up, being proud of herself, and smirked. "I am the Queen. You are just my follower."
The tears escaped from my eyes when I watched Khal coughing with blood. "Khal…"
Hali did everything that he could to save him and found out what was happening, but he could not prevent it, which means Queen Haliana's power was strong than him.
"Are you going to leave Hali now?" She raised her hand and snapped her finger.
I looked away, prohibiting myself to look at Khal. Any moment, he would die. He is my brother and the only blood I have. We are just two and I do not want to lose him.
"Say yes and his suffering will stop." Queen Haliana's voice was low. Not care about someone's pain. She would not mind her son.
"Hali was right… you didn't become a mother to him since then…" I silently let the tears flow to my cheek. " A mother should be the one who supports his child's happiness, not the one who'll
harm him. You are… worthless mother."
She did not talk back. She just intensified Khal's pain. "Say yes, Zarya. I will give you one day to be with him. After that… leave him."
"Why?" I almost whisper as the pain was intensifying in my chest.
"Because love for us… doesn't exist."
I gazed directly into her eyes with my blurry vision. "You will end up hurting him because you are greedy… you can't live in the present and forget about the past. You believe that every man in your life will abandon you." I wiped the tears off my cheek. "Hali is different…" I paused for a moment. "He'll not do the same thing to you, even if how many times you make him feel that you regret giving birth to him. Even if you blame him for what happened to you. Even though you are unhappy一"
"Choose before Khal dies." She highlighted her words with full of authority.
"You are bitter. It's not true that love doesn't exist to you and him. It does… you just don't welcome it in your heart."
"You are running out of time."
"Please! I love Hali! I don't wanna break him apart. He's all to me and I am all to him! We love each other… Please…" I down my knee in her front as my sob covered the room. The tears streamed to my face. My chest was suffocated, heavy, and in pain. "Don't make me choose between persons that I loved the most… because love doesn't need to choose who and who is not supposed to earn it… it will freely offer to anybody who deserves it…" I paused and looked up at her. It did not matter if my knee was aching. "You deserve love. And trust me… he loves you." I whispered the last line, but it did not soften her heart. Khal's shout became severe as if she tortured him more.
I looked down, viewing the ground. "Please… I am begging you."
"Leave King Water or Khal will die? That's the only option you have." She stood for what she wanted, not what was good for her son.
"Either of the two, it will kill me…" My eyes widened when Matilda shouted, too. My breath became heavy when I realized she was torturing her, too.
"They will die any second… if you have still no answer."