A cold hard slap of reality!!

**Natasha’s POV**

Even though everyone was looking at me, my sole attention was focused on Aurora. Her deep crimson eyes were pointed at me as well with a murderous rage. The fiery glow in her eyes was scorching me as if an acid burning my skin. She was on her fours with a twisted body, her joints were bent at an unnatural angle. Her skin and flesh were torn in a few places with a weird fluid dripping out of them. Her snarls exposed the blackened, rotten fangs that extend right up to her chin. And then something shifted around me, and I was teleported to the era of the witches.

**Era of Witches**

**Morrighan’s POV**

I stood in the compound of the old depilated house at the edge of ‘Cursed soul woods’, which belonged to the flesh-eating mages. Ace, Ben and Cal stood behind me. Aurora came to the porch. I could see her beauty from afar, pale white skin with dark jade eyes, a perfect nose and gloomy red lips like a perfect rose. Behind those kind eyes, I could see the pure soul, the one without any malice, corruption or sin. She had a face of an angel. And then I laughed hard. The so-called, sweet and innocent-looking Aurora can fool others with her false façade, but she can't hide her true nature from the heightened senses of Morrighan. Her face brightened upon seeing me. It's almost a decade since we were separated.

“You’ve changed a lot Morri, or should I call you ‘Slayer of witches’?” Aurora spoke, closing in the distance with a big smile on her face.

“You too have changed a lot Aurora, or should I call you ‘Shadow of Death’?” My words almost stopped her in her tracks with a big wide smile disappearing as if her boyfriend has caught her cheating red-handed.

“See, we both are slayers in our own right?” She was quick to bounce back.

“Nope, not at all. You kill innocents.” I snapped at her.

“And you too kill the innocents in the name of witches,” she responded.

“Okay, so let’s cut the crap, and I’ll move straight to the point. So, my only question to you is, Why are you working with that jerk, Mel?” I snapped at her.

“Who Mel?” Her tone was such as if she knows the name and that person, but refused to acknowledge it.

“Stop the drama and answer me!” My voice was getting edgy with impatience at each passing second.

“Why do you talk about that pencil dick Mel, when you have wolves to fuck with?” Now her eyes were scrutinizing Ace, Ben and Cal. Her eyes had some hunger, and it was quite difficult to tell if it was rage or lust.

“So, you know Mel?” I asked, but she ignored my question.

“Will they remove the cover, if I ask them to?” She asked, playing with the edge of the black overall worn by Ben while scrutinizing Ace and Cal.

“Depends on what you want to see,” I smirked making Ace, Ben and Cal growl.

“Well, every inch-,” She stopped mid-sentence when I let out my energy barrier. The way her eyes were intensely gawking at my energy barrier, I could sense hunger. This soul-sucking bitch was hungry for my barrier and the foolish woman thought that I would be an easy meal. Well, my barrier was just a trap for her, as I calculated her every move. The moment she leapt ahead to touch me, I retracted my energy barrier instantly and a poisonous dart hit her on the shoulder instantly paralyzing her. She met the ground with a thud. Her body was too numb to react, but her eyes dreaded in fear when she realized what I was about to do next.

“Please,” she begged with a shiver, but I was in no mood to let her go.

I curled my fingers into a fist, and rammed it on her chest, tearing the skin and breaking the ribs, till my fingers find the disgusting, pulsating organ that was beating in her body. I ripped it out of her body and to her horror, crushed it on the ground with my bare sole.

I ignored Aurora’s groans and looked ahead at a man dressed as Grim Reaper, who was the one to shoot the dart, nodding my head as a way of saying thanks. Then without a moment’s hesitation, I stepped on Aurora’s legs and moved forward with my three mates following me.

**Natasha’s POV**

My mind was still captured in the vision of my previous life as a Morrighan, and then something happened which made me shudder. I came back to the present to find a dart struck my shoulder and before I could realize what actually happened, I was falling to the ground, the same way as Aurora did during the era of witches. The sharp pain shot through my nerves and started numbing them. My eyes fixed on Grim Reaper as I believed he was responsible, but then my mind was quick to realize that the culprit was someone else. I singled out the person responsible for this betrayal.

I couldn’t stop the flow of tears dripping down my cheeks. The betrayal was not from my enemy, but from someone whom I trusted more than myself. My heart cracked into thousand pieces, and the pain was unbearable. The poison coating the dart was burning in my flesh while the sting of betrayal cleaved through my soul. The pieces of my heart began to die slowly along with the other baby heart that was rapidly pulsating in my tummy as if desperate to breathe and survive. I knew at that moment that whatever poison he injected into me, won't let me die before his purpose is served, but unbeknownst to him, the poison killed my child. I lost the connection with my unborn daughter.

The person for whom I went against my other mates, the person whom I trusted against the warning of my other mates and the person whom I loved more than anything else in the world was the murderer.

My mate was the killer of my daughter!

Rhaegar killed my baby!!

And what hurt me most was when I eyed him with thousands of emotions and questions, he chose to turn away, completely blocking me from seeping into his mind, because he knew well enough that I was completely broken both physically and mentally to seep him forcefully.

Damon and Lukas were attacked with a silver sword and tied with silver shackles that incapacitated them. The pointed edges of the shackles penetrated their skin even if they moved an inch. Still, they tried to attack the guards who were holding them.

“Pierce the shackles deep into their bodies, but if they die then you’ll also die,” King Louris warned his men. I wonder why he still wanted to keep Damon and Lukas alive.

A loud growl echoed through the surroundings as Brar rammed straight through the guards of the Northern Realm, hitting and pushing them to run for my rescue.

“NO!” I screamed in horror, as in the blink of an eye his head got separated from the torso and tumbled near my feet.

“Fool!” King Louris smirked at me after beheading Brar, cleaning his bloodied hand with the clothes barely hanging on Brar’s torso. Harold and his men were quick enough to subdue Brar’s men who were about to follow Brar and meet the same unfortunate fate.

“Anyone else daring to show their balls, and eventually getting them chopped?” Aurora spoke rotating her head like a demonic owl, her eyes moving freely around into the sockets. She paused for a second before continuing, “No one with the balls I guess…Well…care to give me back what was ripped out from me?” Aurora’s monstrous voice growled at me. Rhaegar quickly snatched the bag containing the heart from Damon and handed it over to Aurora.

“I was seriously doubting your boy, but he is indeed useful,” Aurora smirked turning her face to Mycelle while taking a glance at Rhaegar. Mycelle walked over to Rhaegar, kicking Brar’s head which was on her way. She gave a small peck at Rhaegar’s cheek. Her way of always greeting him.

“I told you; my boy never betrays me…isn’t it?” Mycelle spoke proudly expecting an answer from Rhaegar while winking at me. Rhaegar chose to ignore her, but the bitch continued speaking, “Now, where is the dagger that can kill us?” This time Rhaegar couldn’t ignore her, as he went straight towards Damon to retrieve the dagger and tossed it at Mycelle. She was quick enough to grab it like a small child getting excited about a toy. Her eyes sparkled when she held the dagger and kissed it as if she had stumbled upon a priceless ancient artefact.

“If you both are done, then we need to get over this shit before the council gets the wind of it. King Damien and his fucking people have already wasted a lot of my time.” King Louris demanded in a dominating voice that could have shit-scared even the mightiest of the warrior. He then turned to Rhaegar, “Come on, drag the bitch!” He said looking at me in disgust. Rhaegar bows down his head as if a slave does on the command of his master. He closed on the distance, bending down on his knees, inserting his hands under my body trying to lift me. His eyes find mine, but I chose to look away with raw rage. The saddest part of life is when you start hating the person whom you wished to love eternally. I was so disappointed in him that I had no words to say at that moment. I had detached him completely from me. He was a piece of my heart just a few seconds ago, and now that part has become an unwanted lump of cells.

“Don’t do this, Rhaegar?” Aaron's voice shot through the space. King Louris motioned his guards to let him come forward.

“Aaron please, don’t do this. Just go!” I pleaded with him, but he didn’t seem to care for his life.

“One more hot-blooded piece of meat!” Aurora scoffed with humour.

“You seemed to be too desperate to unite with your brother Jared. I will grant you that wish, even though I refused to grant the last wish to your brother,” King Louris’s voice turned dangerously calm, while his eyes turned predatory dark when he faced Aaron with a murderous rage.

“He is too handsome to die,” Mycelle protested to King Louris, before turning her sultry gaze at Aaron, “You know I didn’t want Louris to kill your brother as well. I would have loved to keep him as my pet for the experiments, but you know that everything doesn’t work my way.” Mycelle spoke folding her arms trying to act helpless.

King Louris let his beast take over him partially to finish off Aaron. His hand turned scaly, while the claws dig out from his fingers, with the nails glinting in sharpness. Just before he can tear through Aaron, Rhaegar came in between, “Let me finish him off!”

King Louris was taken aback by Rhaegar’s words, and the same can be said for Mycelle and Aurora. Bella was crying profusely, while Harold was trying to calm her down.

“Rhaegar, please…Aaron is like your brother,” I tried to reason with him. I would have never pleaded with him, but at that moment it was not about me, but Aaron and Bella. Rhaegar ignored my plea and stood up to face Aaron, throwing him his sword for an even fight. Rhaegar’s fiery eyes were quick enough to anticipate Aaron’s moves by looking at his body. But there was one more thing in Rhaegar’s eyes which was too insignificant to get noticed, but somehow it didn’t escape my observance. He was mind-linking Aaron. They both had already resumed the fight in front of everyone, but in their minds, they both were talking to each other, and I would have known what was it about if Rhaegar was not blocking me.

Aaron grabbed the sword and then swung it around just in time to stab Rhaegar, but Rhaegar grabbed his wrist, yanked his arm straight and rolled onto his belly, trapping him beneath, in between his legs, pulling his hand upwards at an unnatural angle making Aaron scream in pain, and then rammed a knee against his elbow, and yanked it up, almost breaking his arm, making him drop the sword. Aaron was using his other hand to grab the sword, and just as he raised it to attack Rhaegar, he jerked his head to the side, missing Aaron’s aim, and rolled out, and two kicks to Aaron’s face were enough to knock him down. Rhaegar wrapped his hand against Aaron’s neck and then leant all his body weight back, placed his foot at Aaron's shoulder and used that to push against, as his back arched and cut into Aaron’s skin. He was about to snap Aaron’s head, but Bella’s scream diverted Rhaegar’s attention. Aaron tried to grab Rhaegar by his ankle and yank him back down, but his fingers got stuck in Rhaegar’s pocket, tearing it down as the second piece of the ‘Diamond eye’ necklace fell from his pocket. Aaron sneakily put it in his pocket. And I wondered why he has to do that in the middle of the fight.

Rhaegar suddenly whipped his body around, hitting out at Aaron’s hand knocking him down to the side, whilst bringing his other hand up and hitting his face with his elbow. Rhaegar grabbed Aaron’s hair and then with a sickening push rammed the sword straight into his chest, pushing Aaron down to the ground.

We all watched dumbfoundedly as Aaron’s limp body met the ground. Bella was screaming in pain. Damon and Lukas stood helpless, while I was beyond shocked at what just happened. Rhaegar killed Aaron. The one whom he considered his brother. Was he just faking the feelings all this time? It was too hard to believe so, as I would have known sooner if that was the case. I was still wondering what were they both talking about while mind-linking each other, and what was about the 'Diamond eye', but now I had no chance of knowing it as Aaron is dead and Rhaegar won't say a word.

The roar of laughter jerked me out of my thoughts. King Louris, Aurora and Mycelle were the only ones who laughed at the scene in front of us.

“Unbelievable! Did you feed him some compulsion potion?” King Louris roared at Mycelle while looking over at Rhaegar.

“I don’t need to,” Mycelle chuckled.

“Whatever just drag this damn bitch and get over with this soul-sucking thing,” King Louris said while motioning Rhaegar to get moving. Rhaegar once again came over me to lift me.

“Useless lover Boy! I said to drag the bitch.” King Louris scowled at Rhaegar.

“Don’t be so harsh on him. He has already done so much,” Mycelle came to Rhaegar’s rescue while motioning Grim Reaper to take over the task. Grim Reaper came over and tried to grab my hair hesitantly.

“Another useless fellow!” King Louris growled, pushing Grim Reaper aside, and with a painful force gripped my hair, almost plucking a few from their roots, and with a forceful tug yanked them hard, dragging me along the way. By this time, I was already bleeding down there, leaving a trail of blood behind me.

Once we were moving away from the palace gardens, a few guards of the Northern Realm opened the cage of the monstrous blood-thirsty creatures, letting them out to feed onto the people of Artena. Aurora was controlling them so that they don’t attack the guards. Mycelle opened a huge portal using Grimoire and the mirror, ‘Warp Crux’. The last thing I saw was those monstrous creatures attacking the people of Artena, and tears in Damon’s and Lukas’s eyes of losing me forever, while I was dragged inside the portal to some other unknown realm.