72- Hell hath no fury

The pain should have been gone by now. Reya was certain that after reliving the truth of her horrid past, she would be fine.

The magic tethering her to Castiel should have left her body by now... or at least she thought. Little did Reya know that after finding out the truth, it would only get worse from there. She was barely lucid as she laid in bed, tears of agony leaking out of her eyes. She did not even know what was worse- the fact that when she was awake, she would have to go through the most agonizing pain that paralyzed her and when she was unconscious, dreams of Castiel defiling her replayed in her mind. It happened over and over again until she lost track of time and did not know the day, the hour or the week she was in. All she knew was sometimes, she could hear lucid voices.

“If she is going through this amount of pain then I need to help her! Remember she is also in heat mother, please! She looks like she is dying!”

“This is what you do not understand! You cannot touch her or try to fester your own bond with her while hers and Castiel’s is breaking. That bond was made by the worst kind of dark magic. If you give it anything pure like your mate bond, it will chew on it. You need to calm down Aidan,”

“But the dark magic is eating away at her life and at what cost? Just let me see her,” his voice was broken, tired, strained.

“Let me just hold her. I can make her feel better. Please. I don’t want her to die,”

“Leave the tower,” his mother’s voice was cold, a trail of finality in her tone.

“Stop hindering me from my own mate,” his voice was an angry snarl.

“She is bleeding and crying and I am sick of it. I deserve better than to be locked out,”

“The bond is getting the better of you. Fight it. You are only jeopardizing her life,”

“You are selfish!”

“Leave the tower Aidan, or I will make you,”

“Mother,”

Reya was not certain she stopped hearing or they had just stopped talking.

The next time she heard voices, the argument was less heated.

“I know you were trying to sneak in with your gift. I am not a fool, son,”

“What can you possibly do for her that I cannot? It has been two weeks since her heat and she just vanished! Two weeks since you have not been able to do anything. Give her to me,” the voice seethed.

“Armani-“

“Give her! You have tried and you have failed. Let me rely on my resources for this,”

“And what resources do you have? Magic can only be battled with magic. I am the most powerful witch in our realm. When you find a witch that can do better, you can take her. As of now, I’m doing the best I can and I will make sure she survives this,”

After that, Reya slipped into another bout of unconsciousness. She dreamt of Castiel, of his wicked siblings, of Alpha Charles that had betrayed her trust and of the terror she felt when he broke her leg.

The next time Reya was awake, her mouth was open in a breathless scream. Her eyes flew wide almost immediately, stunned by the pain that was prickling every inch of a skin.

Warm liquid trickled out of her mouth and ran down her face as she writhed in pain. When she was lucid enough to fathom the metallic taste in her mouth, she soon realized that her blood was choking her.

*’Help me,’* she was screaming in her mind.

For no matter how hard she tried to make a word, it only left her mouth as a sob of pain.

Then it started.

White scales started littering all over her body and her talons were extending.

*’Aidan, Armani, please. I will die,’* her eyes rolled back into her head.

In her mind, she could hear the agonizing sounds of her dragon as she wailed, screamed and roared in excruciating pain.

“Erik! Erik!” Another voice was yelling in the distance of her room.

“Ret, sweetheart- calm down,” an elderly voice was saying.

“I don’t know Erik! I don’t know what to do! She is dying! It is all my fault I should have never tried to extract so much magic at the time. The twins- they’ll hate me more than they do if they know I made such a mistake. I’ve already failed them....” the voice was cut off

“You have not. The girl will live. I spoke to the oracle. But she will have to go through great pain. Call Halima, your elder sister. They have Angel wolves in their kingdom with the gift of healing and it is more powerful than the healing gift that light witches have-“

“It is out of the picture,” The Queen sniffed.

“What do you mean?”

“Reya was tearing down the barrier. Her dragon has very intriguing powers that is dangerous to our realm because she can’t control it. If an Angel wolf touches her, the demon wolves will find out. And if the demon wolves find out, The Thralls will know she is the one breaking the barrier that hides us from the humans. That is instant death and I cannot have her blood on my hands,”

“I see. So her body is going through a forced shift to tamper down the pain?”

“Yes. And I think-“

“I will figure this out. Calm down Ret. Let me do as much as I can to assist. You need to get some sleep. Okay?”

“Let me just put up my wards so that the twins do not try to sneak into the tower again,”

“Alright Ret. I love you,”

“I’ll love you always, Erik,”

*************

After the day that Reya’s pain was causing her body to do a half shift, she never woke up again. Over and over again, the memories that were lost returned to plague her in her unconsciousness. When was it going to end? When would she forget the pain of being forced unwillingly? Her heart broke in her chest. They manipulated her so much, they played with her life. The only person she could truly rely on was her dragon. If it was not for Aneira, she would have gotten pregnant for that horrid Alpha’s heir. Reya had thought were lovers at some point- she and Castiel. She always wondered at her attraction to him then, why she favored him so. It was all because of his magic. If the magic was forcing their attraction, then that meant each time she chose to lay with him, it was non consensual because she had been doused with magic.

Everything was beginning to make sense. Now she understood why she always had a weak stomach, why she was always throwing up. Her body had been rejecting those harmful potions for over a decade. All those headaches, the way she suddenly blacked out- it made sense. Her brain had been trying to remember but the magic was blocking all of her memories.

Gods, the moment she was able to extract Daria, her mate and children from the red dragon clan, she would lay waste to them. Each and every one of them. She would castrate Castiel so he would never have the opportunity to sexually assault any woman as he did her. Castiel will lose his birthright to the leadership of the clan. In fact, she would wipe every single one of them out of the leadership position. Those dreadful children of Alpha Charles had made fun of her in front of the Princes for having a sexual relationship with Castiel, knowing fully well that he had been raping her. None of them were fit to rule that place.

“It is done. She is free,”

Reya blinked, her eyes opening for the first time in a while. She had never felt so weak in her entire life. She tried to lift her hand or move her head but she was too drained of energy.

When she tried to speak, her throat cramped up with its dryness. A shadow in tight leathered gear picked a glass of water and pressed it to her parched lip.

“Don’t rush on it,” Roanna was standing by a corner with a warm, sympathetic smile.

Reya did not even have the strength to nod as she drank her water slowly, tampering down the urge to gulp it in large volumes.

“How long?” She croaked, panting.

Apparently, even drinking water was draining her.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“A month and a week. Half the population is certain you are dead,” Roanna explained.

The Queen coughed from a corner, interrupting the women.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Lady Jessica was in the room as well.

“If you all will excuse us,” Queen Aprilina said, sauntering into the middle of the room.

With short, apologetic glances, they all left the room.

The Queen stamped her hand on the walls and a blue shield fell over the room, rippling until it disappeared.

“For discretion,” she explained, motioning to stand beside her.

“How do you feel?” She asked, her mismatched eyes shining with worry.

“Drained,” was all Reya could reply.

The Queen let out a sigh and nodded.

“Do you understand what happened? Or do you want me to explain?”

Reya clenched her eyes shut bitterly, her heart aching in her chest.

She did not need to hear what The Red dragons had done to her from the Queen’s mouth.

“Castiel has done.... unspeakable things to you. And I am so sorry that you had to go through that, even more sorry that I suspected you were a part of it. When I am wrong it does not take me a second to apologize for it. So here I am, apologizing for mistaking you for a devious woman,”

Reya simply stared at her, not quite knowing what to say to the mother of her mates.

“The bond between you and Castiel is broken, but there is more bad news,” she started.

“All those poisons they were feeding you weakened your dragon’s development. Your dragon is gone. You are as good as a human... but for now,” The Queen added when she saw the tears in Reya’s eyes.

“I have put her through a healing process. She will only come back when she is completely healed. She is a Royal white dragon. She needs as much time as she can take,”

“That m-means I can get poisoned? And I-I can- cannot heal?” She asked.

“I’m sorry,” was all The Queen could say.

Reya nodded and blinked back her tears. A human. She would have to act like a human for Helios only knows how long.

“The Red dragons will pay,” The Queen’s voice was cold and unforgiving, her eyes flaring darkly.

“And you may want to stay away from them when I bring hell down their clan but if you ever feel the need-“

“I want them to pay too,” Reya’s voice was stiff with fury.

“And I want to be the one that harms them. I want to be the one that makes them pay,”

************

A week after Reya woke up, It was a surprise to everyone in The Great Parliament when Reya came marching in to the meeting house, her held tilted in the air.

The House of Commons and The House of Royals were both in session, arguing about whatever it was about taxes and other things that was out of Reya’s concern.

The Princes sat up immediately, wariness in their eyes as they found their mate walking towards the lengthy Oynx table that housed The Commons.

Reya’s eyes almost blurred with tears as she tried to feel for the mate bond between her and The Princes. Even though she felt it, it was a shadow of what it had been before. The fact that her dragon was absent was a huge problem. She got cold easily, she was certainly not as athletic, her hearing was useless and her eyesight was not as bright as before.

But it was only a matter of time before she got everything back. She could not wait to see the new Aneira.

When Reya took her seat on a vacant spot beside Lady Jessica, A Red Royal cleared his throat and stood up.

“The Red dragons from Scotland have been punished for centuries due to their war crimes against the werewolves, their involvement in the deaths of The Golden dragon breed and most recently, their cooperation with The Dark Witches to take Queen Aprilina’s life so that a daughter of theirs could be Queen. In the past century, they have been relatively quiet and cooperative to the leadership of The Dragon King and Queen, the Highest ranking Royals that sit on The Golden Throne and rule over all of Draconis. Now they feel the need to have a name in our high society, to join The Great Parliament and to have an alliance with The Royal Dragon clan. They believe that all their past sins may be forgiven and they can join our ranks once more. What does The Great Parliament say? Do we forgive and welcome our lost kin? Do we shun them and keep them away from The Political interior?”

And just like that, The Great Parliament went into a frenzy of arguments. Murmurs rose until they were shouts, the rulers of the land fighting for and against The Red dragons of Scotland.

“Silence!” The Royal Red dragon thundered, silencing the crowd of nobles.

“Lady Reya,” he said, walking down the stairs until he was only one flight away from The House of Commons.

“You advocated for the Red dragons in your earlier days of The Bridal Selection, stating how beneficial it was for the clan to join our ranks. We would like to hear your opinion,” his face was a cool, indifferent mask.

Apparently, The Royal Red dragons from The Royal dragon clan were independent of The Red dragons and hardly supported them. That was very interesting.....

“I said the Red dragons had a lot of money in the past. They made millions from my cure. For years they went unchecked and untaxed because they are not a part of the Great Parliament. There’s an abundance of wealth there,” she started.

“So you’re saying if we brought them in, they would pay so much in tax that it would benefit The Parliament?” He asked.

Reya chuckled and shook her head.

“I have full ownership of the cure. Whatever millions they made will be returned back to me. It is my money, my hard work. Without further ado, I denounce The Red dragon clan. I am no longer a citizen and I am now an independent body, the last remains of what used to be the white dragon clan,”

The silence, the shock and the wide eyes took more than ten seconds to saturate.

“There has never been a white dragon clan. It was a sub clan to the Royal dragon clan,” Lady Danielle was the first to speak.

“I am glad we are all aware of that. I offer myself, my cure, my life and my soul to The Royal dragon clan- if they will have me,” Reya glanced to the dais where the Golden Thrones of The Highest Royals sat.

“I accept,” The Lord of The Sea was the first to speak.

“I accept,” Prince Aidan followed right after.

“We accept,” King Erik declared, rising to his feet.

Reya stood up and pushed her chair back before taking her skirts into her hands, gliding forward for the Dragon King’s dais.

“You will kneel before me and my throne. You will take our blood and you will pledge your life to us,”

Reya fell to her knees, repeating the oath of the Royal dragons.

And then a Golden goblet filled with the blood of the highest ranking Royals were given to her.

Reya gulped it down immediately.

Now the nobles were moving, eyes wide with shock at her declaration. It was too sudden. One moment, Reya was of the Red dragon clan and next, she was being received by the High Royal family.

“What do you have to say now?” The Red Royal male spluttered, just as shocked as everyone else.

“You have made it clear that the red dragons are not worth our people,”

Reya laughed again, her eyes cold and bitter. No one knew the depth of her cunning. No one knew just how far she would go to take revenge on The Red dragons.

“Who said? I support The Red dragon clan entry. As a Royal dragon clan member, I support their alliance with our clan. And as a member of The Great Parliament, I support their entry into our ranks,”

*********

*Please leave a comment! What do you think Reya is up to?*