19. Luna Felicia(mother)

19. Luna Felicia(mother)
Ashton's POV
Also,” I called out suddenly as my aide, who was leading the way to the council meeting room, also paused what he was saying.
For three minutes—from the moment I stepped out of my office up until this moment—he never stopped talking.
His words contained briefings of the last meeting to prepare me for this one.
But nothing he said or did pointed towards the unrest I’m trying to suppress.
And if he noticed the number of times I’d adjusted and readjusted my tie, he didn’t mention it.
“Yes, Alpha Ashton?” He answered promptly.
“Who exactly called for this meeting?” I asked as I glanced at my watch one last time, then at the high-ceilinged door a few meters away from us.
“It was Luna Felicia.”
The sound of my mother’s name coming out of his mouth was accompanied by a cold breeze that blew into my sweat, causing my whole body to shiver.
I swallowed and clenched my chest, doing my best to ignore the cold that wouldn’t leave.
“My mo—Luna Felicia is out of seclusion?”
He nodded with his gaze straight ahead, unable to meet my eyes.
I would have thought he found something more interesting up ahead if he wasn’t oozing with the scent of fear, blood dripping from how tight he was clenching his fist.
“Y-yes, Alpha Ashton.” He gulped, then lowered his head.
I could feel his fear, hear the loud beating of his heart from the pressure I’d released in the air, but sympathy was far from me.
Because for one, I wasn’t sure if it was the hammering of my own heart—and two, I was fighting my own internal battles.
Certainly, my heart demons were raging harder and harsher than his.
Mother. A name I hadn’t called in more than a decade.
Not since she disowned me for taking the life of her husband and his brother.
She had gone into seclusion—one that would have lasted a lot longer if some sort of emergency hadn’t come up.
“Why?” I took a few steps forward, then stopped. My forehead was squeezed in a frown that wouldn’t dissolve unless I found an answer.
The answer lay right behind those doors, yet I hesitated.
Because… No.
“Is Kylanor in there with her?”
I asked, and he nodded with a groan that sounded more like a whimper.
“Damn it, that bastard!” I cursed out as I punched the door.
A dent formed but repaired itself almost immediately.
But I couldn’t be bothered to think about why some parts of our buildings had such self-repairing abilities. After all, it was the only reason why my room hadn’t collapsed from all the rage it had been forced to stomach.
I puffed out hot streams of breath through gritted teeth.
If Kylanor had somehow managed to get my mom to come out, then it must be related to that. And the last time we had such a meeting with regards to that at midnight, I hadn’t been the one to sit on the throne yet.
But I’d replaced my father soon after.
Terror waded through my veins like blood getting pumped into my heart, and it drained into my system.
The more I hesitated going in there, the more my heart demons grew.
“Open the door,” I said as I covered the remaining distance between us and the meeting room.
It was best to get this over with.
I’d taken care of it back then, and whether history was repeating itself or not, this throne would belong to me.
The room was chillier than usual, but I remained unshaken as I took one bold step after the other. I wasn’t about to falter in the name of the unknown.
I climbed onto the gold throne, ignoring my mother, who sat behind the veiled throne on my left.
Kylanor had a teasing smirk at the edge of his lips as he courtesied alongside the old men of the council, but I didn’t let my eyes falter on him for even a second longer.
I continued to sweep my gaze past everyone until I settled in, watching as they looked away, unable to stand tall under the pressure I was releasing.
“The meeting can start now,” I called out with a cross of my left leg over my right knee.
“I called this meeting because of the issues at the east border. Kylanor, tell the council what you told me.”
My mother called out from behind me.
It’s been years since I’ve heard her voice or seen her, even though she never left the palace walls.
My throat constricted, but the fact that this was a candlelit room served to conceal that fact from everyone else.
“Yes, Mother,” he called intimately as he looked towards me for approval.
Surely they’ve been in contact all these years while we never even saw each other on my father’s memorials.
“Go on, Councilman Kylanor.”
I called him that because it’s all that he was. Not my brother or blood relation.
In this meeting room and on that seat, he was only a councilman.
He rose to his feet, that curve of his lips—that he knew would infuriate me—still there. Sometimes, I wondered if his mouth ever ached from the constant smirking. But then, I remember—he is Kylanor.
My brother since conception who would do anything to get on my nerves.
I glanced again at his mouth, and there wasn’t any trace of a bursted lip.
Of course, that blood had been all an act. He had done it to appeal to Mia’s emotional side, and she had fallen for it because she didn’t know better.
Me, who knew better, couldn’t have warned her because she feared me.
And for someone whose heir she’s supposed to carry, the least of her feelings towards me should be fear—lest she affects the fetus and this whole risk becomes a loss.
Because in front of everyone in this room, only him and myself know about her.
And that was because I had no choice.