Chapter 135: Broken promises

ELARA’ S POV

“So now that we’ve established that this so called abyss is too unsafe –“ Alicent gave me a stern look “what should be the next course of action?”

Everyone was quiet.

“Well, I think it would be to wait –“ Lioren said.

“But we can’t just wait, it’s too dangerous, we have to do something, anything, look what he did to Beros, think of what he could do to us” I pointed at Beros. They couldn’t be serious right now. How could they suggest that we should wait and see.

“Do you expect me to sit and wait for Nyxar to attack? I couldn’t do that. If they didn’t want to make a move, I would.

“No Elara, we’re not saying you should sit back and let him attack” Alicent touched my arm, I looked back at her, not realizing I had stood up during my outburst.

“We’re just saying it’s best to plan. Attacking him head on and going into the abyss would just be suicide”.

“Except she wants to sacrifice herself again, she always does” Beros’ voice made me snap my head to him.

I could see the anger brewing in his eyes. He didn’t like the suggestion, not one bit.

“You promised you wouldn’t do this anymore, and instead of sitting down and planning with us, you wanna go head on into the abyss and sacrifice yourself” he breathed heavily “just like last time”.

“No, I didn’t mean that –“

“You did Elara, you did. After all we’ve done to try and keep everyone safe and keep the world in balance, you still want to do everything yourself, or do you think we’re not capable of sacrifices too? Why do you always have to sacrifice yourself for everything?”

His words hit me straight in the chest, and I knew this meant more than just sacrificing myself or putting myself in danger. It meant I was breaking a promise I had said to him.

“I think we all should calm down –“

“Don’t tell me to calm down Solas” Beros was on his feet in the blink of an eye, his aura suddenly radiating over the room. Even I shrieked at it, I had never seen him so angry.

I had expected Solas to shrink back too, but instead he stood up too, eyeing Beros as they locked each other in an intense stare down. What was going on?

“I think we should calm down and plan things” Solas grunted

“And I say no one goes to the abyss”

“I’m not saying anyone should go to the abyss, I obviously don’t want her to go there, I don’t want anyone to go there” Solas said.

Beros simply took deep breaths as his chests heaved without saying anything.

“All right men, I think you guys are the ones to calm down now, it’s getting suffocating here” Lioren stood up trying to place herself in between both men. This broke their stare down as Solas sat back down into his chair, shortly followed by Beros.

“Well, that was intense” Alicent looked between the both of them “do you men have an issue we need to settle? Apart from the obvious incoming war” no one answered her.

“Well, even if you do have a score to settle between each other, which is strange seeing as this is the first time y’all are meeting. Settle the score when we’re done with the war plans” Alicent brought her Luna authority into play, effecting calming down both men and making them reduce their auras.

“Now that that’s settled, what’s the next course of action?”.

We spent the next few hours strategizing and assessing the number of fighters we had. Issuing letters for different spies all over the packs and including the human world. We never knew where Nyxar would attack from.

“The best course of action is to stay ready. Not wait like sitting ducks, but stay ready and keep our ears and eyes peeled” Alicent rolled up a scroll as she looked at me.

I wasn’t entirely convinced with their plan but they had a point, the thought of going tot abyss scared me too, I just didn’t want to admit it. But the fear of what Nyxar could do with how much black magic he had acquired sent a chill down my spine.

Eventually, everyone left us, leaving Beros and I in the room. He had been quiet during the entirety of the meeting, not bothering to utter a word.

“Beros” I placed a hand on his shoulder, I felt it stiffen underneath his shirt. I took in a deep breath, pulling my chair closer to his, he avoided my eyes.

“I’m sorry, I just –“

“Don’t tell me that” the anger radiating from him sent goosebumps down my body.

“I just –“

“You always want to do something, even when we agreed, even after all the planning. Look what Nyxar did to me” he pulled his shirt up revealing the healed scars from when his blood was taken. The scars didn’t heal completely because of the black magic used, leaving him with knife scars on his skin.

“Look what he is capable of doing, to a deity” my eyes travelled from the scars to his eyes, now filled with anger.

“he isn’t even out yet and he was able to capture and keep me in place. We don’t even know how strong his allies are. We don’t know what he’a capable of, and get you want to go, to the abyss? Of all places?”

The anger radiating off him made my mouth keep shut. I couldn’t speak, I didn’t have the words to say.

“We have sacrificed too much, too much for this cause Elara, and I’d rather die than let him win again, we can’t do the same thing we did before and expect the same results. You refused to listen the last time and you are refusing to listen again” he stood up from his chair and began walking away.

“I don’t know what to say Elara, you promised, but you can’t even keep a simple promise”.