Chapter 39 The true image
I felt an uncontrollable coldness take over my body. The air around me felt cold, as if a bubble enveloped me. But I felt a warm touch on my hand, and it was on that touch that I focused to wake up.
I slowly opened my eyes and moved my head. Conrad was sitting in a chair, holding my hand. His gaze was lost on my skin, and his eyes conveyed worry and confusion.
My heart ached. I had lied and hidden things from him, when all Conrad did was love and accept me. Despite the opposition, he defied everything and made me his partner.
I felt awful.
Cruel.
"Forgive me," I pleaded, drawing Conrad's attention.
His worried gaze met mine, and I saw his concern. His hands went to my face, which was already full of tears.
"Are you alright, my love?" he asked lovingly, looking at me worriedly.
"I didn't want this to happen," I confessed in distress. Conrad pulls me into his arms, aligning me with his body. His hand gently strokes my hair.
From afar I saw it.
The mirror at the back of the room reflecting our image.
My true image.
The white streaks in my hair, parts of my eyes red. The truth couldn't be hidden. As much as I didn't want to, that was me. The opposite of the Pure King.
"I was scared," I say through tears. "I was scared and I hurt you," I tell the truth, feeling those words break my heart.
Conrad wasn't stupid. He didn't need much to understand that I was a hybrid. That I was the heir to the darkness he strives to destroy.
Complete opposites.
Conrad followed my gaze to the mirror.
The silence that followed was so dense it seemed capable of shattering glass.
He didn't move away.
He didn't let go of my hands.
He simply took a deep breath, like someone facing a truth that had always been there, but which had only now taken shape.
"So this is what you see when you look at yourself?" he asked in a low voice.
I nodded, unable to say anything more.
"Darkness." I swallowed hard. "What you swore to eradicate."
Conrad took a few seconds before answering. His fingers were still intertwined with mine, too warm for a world that suddenly seemed icy.
"I swore to eradicate what hurts my people," he finally said. "Not what the world taught us to hate."
I looked at him, surprised.
"But I am proof of everything the pure fear."
"You are proof that they were wrong," he replied firmly.
Conrad lifted me in his arms and walked to the mirror. He positioned us before it, side by side.
"Look again, Maya," he asked.
I obeyed.
I saw the white streaks in my hair, the reddened eyes, the strange glint beneath my skin. But I also saw something more.
I saw the woman who faced the void.
I saw the companion who crossed worlds to save strangers.
I saw the queen who still trembled, but did not retreat.
Conrad rested his forehead against mine.
"If the kingdom isn't ready for you, then the kingdom will have to change."
Conrad's words didn't erase the fear, but silenced it within me.
The mirror still reflected what I never imagined seeing: the Pure Moon beside the heiress of what was condemned. Two natures that should never coexist... and yet, they were there, breathing in the same rhythm.
Conrad was the first to pull away from the reflection.
"You won't hide from me," he said. "And you won't punish yourself for something you didn't choose to be."
My throat burned.
"But I don't know how to control this," I confessed. "I don't know what else I can become."
"Then let's learn together," he replied without hesitation.
He carried me to the bed and sat me down carefully, as if I could still break.
"Kael arrived at the castle while you were unconscious," he continued. "He sensed something different in you. Not fear. Not darkness."
"Then what?" I asked.
"Hope." Conrad smiled slightly. "He said it's rare to feel that coming from something the world calls a threat."
I took a deep breath.
"And now?"
"Now you decide who enters this truth," he replied. "But know one thing: I will be by your side when the world finally sees you."
And in that instant I understood.
It wasn't the Moon that had chosen me.
It was him.
"I love you!" I say with all my heart.
I don't wait for an answer and kiss him passionately.
Hungry.
I sit on his lap and try to take off his coat, but without success. I lay him down on the bed quickly, without letting him protest. I take off my dress, leaving only my underwear.
"Maya..." Conrad tries to reprimand me, but I attack his lips again.
I feel Conrad's hands pulling away from my body and I stop them, placing one on my breast and the other on my butt.
A wild growl escapes Conrad's mouth, making me stop the kiss and look at him. His eyes were bright and golden. A sigh escapes my mouth.
"Aurelion?" I ask.
It was my mate.
Conrad's wolf.
Finally!
I show a victorious smile and Aurelion kisses me hungrily. His kiss is hard and I feel his lips leaving marks wherever they go.
"You smell so good," Aurelion begins to say while licking my neck. "Soft," he says, running his tongue around my breast. "Completely delicious."
I feel a strong squeeze on my butt and let out a moan.
"You drive me crazy."
Aurelion speaks, opening my legs and fitting himself into my center. I feel our intimacies touch and my whole body trembles.
My Moon! How I needed this!
"I should follow my female's desires and bury myself in you." Aurelion speaks, his voice even deeper. "Bury me brutally, without any care. Give my female what she deserves."
His dirty words only make me tremble more, anticipating the fulfillment of his desires.
"No one would be able to take you away from here. I wouldn't be able to control myself, I would finish inside you every time."
His hand descends to my intimacy and begins to rub brutally.
"I would leave my female screaming in pain and pleasure." He says, tearing my panties brutally. "I would feel myself inside you even after I came out."
Then he delicately touches my little hole.
"I'd fuck you hard, feeling your walls tighten around me. You'd scream and beg for more. Because my woman likes my cock, right?"
"Yes." I reply immediately, as if following her order.