Chapter 121: Princess of the living and dead
Aira’s POV
The moon was full.
The wind was cold; it blew my hair softly as my bare feet continuously made contact with the grass. I didn’t know where I was going; my feet only moved on their own accord.
Ever since Richard was born, I had this natural GPS inbuilt in me that was able to track him down. No matter how far he may be, I would always find him. But he hadn’t gone that far. He was still in the compound.
In the garden, to be precise.
The further I go into the garden, the more prominent his presence becomes. My eyes fall on him standing beside the fountain with his hands covering his face. When he brings his hands down, his teary eyes meet mine.
“Mummy, watch out!” he yells at me, and my eyebrows furrow with confusion. That is when I notice a presence behind me. On instinct, my body swerves to the side, and not more than a second later, a blade swiped through the place I once stood.
My eyes lock with Arnold, and I blink up at him in confusion.
“Arnold, what are you doing here? I thought you had gone on another meeting,” I said, taking a step away from him and inching towards my son protectively.
Arnold shakes his head in disbelief then says, “You really are a damn fool. But I do not blame you; I blame that mate of yours. Thank goodness he is finally dead. It means now I can rule.”
The growl that leaves my lips was menacing. “I don’t understand. He is your friend; why would you do this?”
“Friend? That bastard didn’t consider me his friend. All he ever cared about was Jared. And ever since Jared died, he didn’t care about anything or anyone. Not even his own kingdom. I have been the one ruling this kingdom; if it wasn’t for me, this entire land would have burned to ashes long ago. And yet they still call him Alpha.” Arnold finishes letting out a snort.
“So that is why you did all of this? For power?” I ask, not bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.
Arnold’s face softens a bit, and he says, “Not exactly. I did it because he is undeserving of it. He has brought so much pain and torture upon the people of this land. It is absolutely unforgiveable; he doesn’t deserve to live happily with his family. He doesn’t have the right to celebrate birthdays like he hadn’t taken the lives of many innocent people. It is a shame a woman with a heart as pure as yours had to be mated to such a beast,” he finishes, and my eyes narrow to slits.
It still didn’t make any sense; none of this did. I knew Arnold was always reserved and diligent when it came to work. So why? Why would he do this?
There once was a point in my life when I would have considered him my friend. But he just disappeared the day Richard was born.
The day Richard was born…
“You have a mate?” I asked him.
“Had. She is dead.”
I never did get to ask him how she died. My eyes fall shut, and a sigh leaves my lips as the night wind howls. “Jared was not the only one that suffered from Alex’s cruelty, was he?”
“It seems you are finally understanding things. Jared was a lunatic from day one; it was clear that Sophia’s death was an accident. But my mate, my precious Lucinda, was killed with his own two hands. The day I found Lucinda was the best day of my life; I instantly brought her back to the palace to live with me.” Arnold pauses, and that is when I see the tears welling up in his eyes.
“I just left for her a few minutes. I wanted to find Alexander to share the good news with him, but he found her first. When I returned to Lucinda, her neck had already been snapped.” Arnold furiously wipes his tears away from his eyes and then says, “And do you know why he did that? Because she bumped into him.”
A tear trickles down my cheek as I try to imagine Arnold’s pain. I didn’t even know what words I could say to comfort him. That was the most painful part about all of this. I was well aware that Alex was a monster, and I accepted him for who he was. But I forgot that many others would never accept him.
“I am sorry,” is all I could tell him, and he purses his lips.
“The bastard was still in the room. He just waved his hand dismissively and told me to get rid of the body. My mate’s killer told me to dispose of her body.” He took a deep breath and wiped what was left of his tears away. “It was at that moment that I knew his reign must come to an end. I couldn’t go head-on with him; Alexander is not only crazy, but he is also insanely overpowered. I knew I had to wait for the right moment. When he died in the hands of your family, I was elated. But then you brought him back. That is when I knew who the real problem was.” He paused, and my eyebrows knitted in confusion. “You.”
“Me?” I ask, rearing my head back as my eyebrows touched my hairline.
“You are an angel, and he is a beast. And with powers like yours, I can’t let you bring such a beast back to this earth,” he says, and I take a step back when he takes one towards me.
Richard hides himself behind me. Holding onto my dress as tightly as he could.
“What are you doing? Stay back!” I yell, raising my hand to him, but then he takes out a blue orb that glimmers beneath the moonlight. It left me utterly mesmerized. “What is that?”
“You dont think I have been nothing but an errand these past few years. You really underestimate me, darling. I have taken my time to gather the right ingredients to create this orb. The orb that will take your power and transfer it to its holder.” He explains, and I shake my head slowly in denial.
“No, there is no way that thing is going to work,” I say, and he smirks, holding the orb out to me.
“I guess we are just going to have to find out.”
My eyes widen, and I turn to my son and say, “I am going to need you to run now, sweetheart.”
He shakes his head in refusal and says, “No, mummy. I don’t want to leave you.”
I ruffle his hair and say, “You aren’t leaving me; I will be right behind you. Just go find Adira and go somewhere face, okay?”
“Do you promise?” he asks me, and I nod.
“I promise,” I say and place a kiss on his forehead. “Now go.”
He kicks his feet and runs ack into the palace; it hurt my heart to know that he is going to have to see his father’s body laying there. But even in death, I trust Alex to keep our son safe.
Arnold places a hand on his chest and says, “Well, wasn’t that adorable. Do not worry; I promise to raise him right, like a king ought to be. And not like a crazy lunatic like your mate. May he rest in peace.”
“The only one who will be resting in peace will be you,” I see, and he laughs.
“Ah, so full hope. That is one thing I always admired about you, Luna. It really was a pleasure to get to know someone like you,” he says, and I offer him a tight smile.
“Wish I could say the same,” I tell him before flicking my fingers. Instantly, the weather changes into a stormy one. Hands emerge from the earth to drag him straight to hell like I had done to Jared, but as quickly as they came, they disappeared.
A bright light bursts from the orb and seeps straight into my heart. My breath gets knocked out of my lungs, and I find myself paralyzed to the spot. I couldn’t move. A mystical blue light leaves me and gets sucked into the orb. I started to feel lighter, and I knew that I was losing everything.
Both my powers and Moriah’s.
I tried to fight it; I tried to run.
As much as these powers have brought me more harm than good. I didn’t want to let go of them just yet, or ever. They were a part of who I am.
I stare at the orb taking my powers away, and I notice a faint crack by the edge of it. It grew bigger and bigger by the second. Arnold was still yet to notice it.
That is when an idea pops into my mind, and I decided to take a wild gamble.
I decided to let go of it. I didn’t fight it.
I let the orbs absorb my powers, and with every second that passed, the emptier I became. Once the light had seized, my knees met the cold grass.
“It’s mine. It is finally mine!” The orb illuminates a blinding light, and I watch my powers transfer into Arnold until it finally seized. “Finally, I can bring Lucinda back,” he says while flexing his fingers. And then his eyes fell on me. He smiled cruelly at me, and for a moment, I didn’t recognize the man standing in front of me.
He outstretches his hand towards me and says, “But first, I need to rid this land of creatures such as you.”
I see it in his eyes-his intent to kill. But what he doesn’t know is that it took me months to be able to control my powers. The powers that were harvested within me were the powers I was born with.
Arnold grows pale and suddenly retracts his hand. He groans, and his body starts to turn a bright shade of red.
“What is happening to me?” he asks as burns start to appear on parts of his body.
I shrug as I rise to my feet. “Your body can’t handle the power; you are self-destructing,” I explain, and he shakes his head in refusal.
“No. This can’t be happening! Take it back! Take it back now! He orders the orb, but then it shatters into a hundred pieces in his hands. “No!” he screams before getting on his knees.
Steam started to seep out of his pores, and he grew redder than blood. His eyes lock with mine, and I say, “Goodbye, Arnold.”Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.
He burst into flames before me, his screams mixing into the night air as he burned to ashes. The blue light mixed with the smoke and seeped back into my chest.
But then there was an even brighter light that caught my attention. It came from the palace.
Richard.
I sprint back to the palace as fast as my legs could carry me. “Richard! Adira!” I yell as I make my way into the palace. My feet come to a halt as I see the kids hugging a man tightly. And it wasn’t just any man.
“Alex,” I whisper his name as a tear trickles down my eyes. His dark eyes meet mine, and I cannot even begin to explain the joy his smile brought me. I run up to them and wrap my arms around all three of them. “I don’t understand how you are here. All good as new,” I ask, inspecting every inch of his body.
“Well, you may be the queen of the living and dead. But it turns out that we have a princess too,” he says, tapping Adira’s head lightly.
No way.
Tears well up in my eyes as I hug all three of them even tighter. It was a miracle that even in the mist of all these corpses, my family was still together. complete.
I couldn’t ask for anything more.
–End–