CHAPTER 276

CHAPTER 276
The next couple of days were filled with training, poison lessons, and preparation, as well as more training and getting ourselves ready for the battle ahead.

And every night, my mate would do everything possible to make me scream my lungs out while telling me not to shout.

And I loved every bit of it.

I woke up this morning feeling groggy, unlike all the excitement of the last couple of days.

We were leaving and I was going to be away from my son for goddess knows how long. I hated the thought of not coming back to his smiles which were getting more frequent now.

He was growing at an alarming rate and both his grandmas took pleasure in carrying him all the time regardless of what their days held.

But knowing I wouldn't even be able to hear his voice until I got back saddened me.

But I wasn't going to sit back here and allow decades of training to go to waste when there was a war to be fought.

I needed to do my part just as everyone else and sitting back and doing nothing but worrying about Nic wasn't going to cut it.

I got up to see Nic had left before me as he always did, never staying in bed beyond four in the morning. Even though he stayed up with Xander three or four times in the night, he insisted on setting a good example by being active before everyone else in the training room.

And true to his actions, soldiers were coming in earlier and I was usually the last to run into training even though I was fifteen minutes early.

Today though, I had to go face my parents.

And I dreaded that more than the war.

I carried Xander, my finger in his mouth, as I walked the short path to my parents' wing, and I was grateful to know they were all inside.

Thankfully I wasn't hearing any weird, sexual noises, that traumatic experience was years behind me.

I knocked on the door but it was opened before I was done.

Xander's smile widened upon seeing his grandma even though he refused to take his fangs out of my finger.

“Good morning dear parents,” I greeted with a smile, dropping him on Dad Luc's arms.

“Good morning love, you look well rested,” Dad Reed noticed.

“Have to be ready to crush our enemies y’know,” I joked.

“When are you guys leaving?” My mum asked, she was by her wardrobe.

“In the afternoon. We want to get there at night so we're taking full advantage of the moon's power.”

“That's a good idea,” Dad Luc nodded, finally extracting my finger from my son's mouth. “I hope you're with all your knives?”

“Yes, Dad. And guns. And poison guns. I'm actually ready for anything,” I realized.

“You know you can still stay back right?”

“Mum…”

“I know, I'm sorry. I'm playing devil's advocate but I just want to put it out there. You don't have to endanger your life, we've got this covered even if he fails.”

“He won't fail, have a little faith. Besides, I've given you a grandchild, the one that'll enable you to retire. You don't need to be so overprotective of me anymore.”

“Come on baby girl, you think we're protective of you because of this crown?” Dad Reed asked in dismay. “If I could, I'd drop the stupid thing and just disappear with my mate and brother. All it's ever done is bring us misery. I mean look at us, a family that can't go two minutes in each other’s presence without being hostile to each other. I don't remember the last time I saw you hug your mum or say a kind word in her direction. But what options do we have? Vlad? You can see what he's doing with humans, a limited species. Give him Nyxandria and he'll destroy the world as we know it.”

“We're done sacrificing more for the kingdom though,” my mom sniffled. I didn't even realise she'd been crying. “I know it'll be difficult but I'm hoping we can at least get you back to us and I would hate myself if anything happened to you before that. That's why I'm apprehensive about you going with them.”

I sighed, guilt wrapping its ugly hands around my neck.

“I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusions,” I muttered.

“It's not your fault,” Dad Reed replied, “we haven't been the best parents right from the onset. Promise me you'll be safe out there?”

“Yes, Dad. And you don't have to worry about me, Nic is more overprotective than the three of you combined. He feels guilty that I had to rescue him and is doing all of this to punish his father for making that happen.”

“I'm just happy you're finally smiling.”

“So you don't hate him anymore?”

“I don't think anyone can hate the guy if you give him twenty minutes of your time. All that time in isolation has made him very funny,” Dad Luc chuckled.

“But beyond that, I see a man taking responsibility and trying to make things right, and that has earned our respect. That's more important than being liked,” Dad Reed added.

I nodded, feeling better than I did before coming in.

“I'll head out now, I have to cross-check our bags and the maps.”

“Can I…” my mom began but stopped halfway, “never mind.”

Before I could overthink it, I crossed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her.

She broke down in tears again, and I felt more hands wrap around us, and Xander's tiny fingers gripping my shirt.

It was the most wholesome I'd felt in a while and I didn't even try to stop the tears that were spilling.

“There's still hope for us,” Dad Luc breathed as we separated again. “Come back soon, okay?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“I'm coming to tell your mate he better protect every single hair on your head,” Dad Reed threw as I walked away.

“No Dad, don't do that. He's already tense enough,” I groaned.

“I don't care, he needs to hear it from me. And remember, nobody else besides your team will know who you are.”

I nodded before running off

It was one thing that being walled off for the last forty years had helped me with.

I was probably going to slap on a little dark eyeliner and wear masculine clothes to sell it but no one would know they're being defended by the princess of Nyxandria.

I finished double-checking everything with Kelly before we went to join the rest of the team.

It was time to leave.