Chapter 86 CHAPTER SEVEN
Chapter 86 CHAPTER SEVEN
HAVEN
" Annaleigh!” Auren screams, voice barely audible from all the screaming and grunting. He struggles harder against the chains, but all of it goes in vain.
No, no, no, no, no!
No!
I don't know where I get the strength, but I push away the guards and run to my dying daughter.
" No no no no no!” I mutter as I fall to my knees beside her , bringing her head to my lap and try to cover up the wound on her chest. " Please no, don't do this! Don't die, Annaleigh.”
She smiles weakly and weakly raises her hand to put them on my face. "Don't…don't cry, Mom. I'm glad I could finally meet you and tell you how much I love you. I …" she coughs up blood, staining her dress. “Papa has been waiting…waiting for you for three centuries. I can't let you be separated again. It's better I go.”
“Anna…” I choke on my tears and bring her closer to my body. I stroke her hair gently and give her a smile. “Anna please…please stay with me. I'll find a way to save you…I'll heal you…j…just hold on for Mom. Please don't do this."
I can't loose her. Not when I just found her after three centuries of not being a mother to her. I desperately want to be a mother to her, I want to hold her and braid her hair and watch her go to sleep. I want to ask about her day and sing her lullabies and share gossip as I make her dinner in the kitchen.
Pain unlike any other tugs at my heart strings and takes complete possession of my entire body.
She smiles, a painful smile. " It won't work, mama. He…he did something to stop our magic. I…love you mama. I'm so glad I got to meet you even if it was just to stare at you and see how beautiful you are.”
And with that, her hand falls from my face and her body goes limp.
No!
No no no!
I shake her continuously and when she doesn't show any response, I hug her bloodied body to mine and break out into a scream that takes away all my energy and leaves my chest raw.
My baby is gone and I didn't even get to be a mother to her. I didn't get to know her favorite color, or her favorite place in the city nor what scares her.
She's gone and I couldn't protect her. I didn't do anything.
Strong arms take hold of me and a familiar scent pulls me into their chest. I instantly turn around and bury my face into Imogen's chest, screaming my lungs out.
I can't hear Auren, but that's because he's too weak to cry. I saw the tears on his face earlier and I know he's trying to be strong and save his energy.
Imogen rubs his arm up and down my back, trying to ease me – it doesn't work. My heart has been shattered to several little pieces and I don't think anyone can fix it.
No one.
“Aren't you satisfied?" Imogen asks Draven. “What more do you want?"
“Everything!" His voice comes. “After your king or former king dies, I'll then be the new king of Drakorath. I'll have access to the vault, and I'll beat your queen till she channels the magic like I ask." He laughs out again, the sound grating against my ear drums. I bury my head further into Imogen, desperate to drown out the sound. “How does it feel to lose everything? To watch your entire family killed before your very own eyes and you're helpless, unable to do anything?”
No one answers him.
The courtyard is as quiet as a graveyard and only my sniffing can be heard. I want to charge towards him, to kill him and make him pay, but the witches will tear me into pieces before I even get close to him. It's going to be wasted effort.
Everything is over. He won and none of us saw it coming. That's what hurts most about betrayal, it to always comes from the people close to you.
" Take him away and dispose of him properly. Make sure to confirm he's dead before returning to the castle." He commands, and I don't need to look to know that my husband is being taken away. Everything is over.
I would have cried, screamed, even tried fighting like I did for Annaleigh, but not anymore. I don't have it in me to fight or protest. Maybe that's fate.
I'm torn out of Imogen's arms and dragged into the palace, down to the dungeons where I'm being tossed and forgotten.
I lay my head back against the cold wall and shut my eyes, hoping for the semblance of peace I get from this little gesture. But I find nothing, nothing but heartache and pain.
I try to think of my mother and what she's going to do when she finds out about the witch's invasion of Drakorath. It's currently the flower festival in Vaeleria and they are weak at this time..
Something tells me that Draven will use this as a means to blackmail me into channeling the Ethereal Essence, so he can use it.
Then an idea comes to me. What if I work with him and make him believe I'm one of them. I have no doubt that when he can't get what he wants from me, he's going to have Isolde cast one of her spells on me and poison my mind or something.
That's going to be when I strike.
I sit forward and wipe off my tears. I might have lost my daughter, but I won't lose my husband and my loved ones. If a fighter is what Draven wants, a fight is what he'll get.
He just won't see me coming.