+CHAPTER 36+ WAR

Blood was coming out of Aric's sensitive ears by the defending screams around him that were increasing with each passing second but he didn't let go of the witch's throat, her feet weren't touching the ground.

She was going to die today no matter what! It was the only way to save his people and Kingdom.

He can't let a witch destroy his life again~

Aric felt the moisture on his cheeks, they were tears, his own tears. . . The witch was hurting but something was breaking within Aric's soul. He never felt like this before, not even when Emmeline left him.

Today when he looked at the witch who was taking her last breaths in the grips of his lethal claws he felt like he was breaking from inside. 

Like something very close to his heart was being taken from him. His heart was twisting painfully in his chest as if it was going to explode.

The King of Beasts wanted to cry~ 

Aric wanted to wail, howl at the Moon in agony.

The gagging sounds that were coming from the witch were like shards of glass that were being embedded deep in his chest.

No matter how much his brain wanted him to end Amber, he can't get himself to break her neck or pull her throat out. . .

A Millennium old beast wanted to cry while holding the little girl in his arms, the girl that he was supposed to kill. 

The Little Girl who was a threat to his Kingdom~

He felt overwhelmed with emotions that he was feeling towards the Cold Queen.

The defending screams around him and his own emotions were making him dizzy~

"Do it~" A fierce whisper came from Amber. Her lips weren't moving but the whisper came from her. . .

"GET AWAY FROM HER WOLF, DON'T LISTEN TO HER!!" A command boomed over the screams and at once all the screams were silenced.

Aric's head snapped towards the source of the voice only to find the Mad Oracle standing there in all her glory. Behind her were thousands of lost souls with tears in their eyes and silent screams on their lips.

In front of the lost souls, the Oracle's hairs were wild, for the first time in his life Aric saw the Oracle's eyes were red instead of their soulless black color. . .

Aric stepped away from Amber, dropping her on the ground.

Two things happened when Aric stepped away from Amber. Her appearance totally changed as if an illusion was being lifted from her.

Her once wild red hairs changed into platinum white color, her eyes changed into a shade of forest green. Aric sucked in a breath.

At that moment Amber looked so much like Emmeline. Her resemblance to Charlie was gone as if it was an illusion.

Was that an illusion created by her~

Or was this an illusion~

A million questions started running in Aric's head but above them, Aidan's words ringed in his mind. 'Amber's your daughter Aric.'

Aric looked at Aidan, a demon was trying to carry him. Aidan's heartbeat confirmed that he was alive but unconscious. It was then that Aric noticed the beings who had gathered around him in the ground, beings from different factions of the supernatural world.

Aric looked at Amber who had her forest green eyes set on the Oracle as if she was Amber's biggest enemy. He watched her standing on her feet, dusting the dirt off herself.

Blood was oozing out of her throat from the wounds where Aric's claws had been embedded just moments before.

Narrowing her eyes at the Oracle, Amber sneered. "How did you get in here? I didn't allow you in my territory."

"Child, did you think that you are the only one with powers?" The Oracle mocked. "You have powers that you have no idea how to use. . . While I have experience beyond your age." The Oracle said in a cheery tone with all the excitement of a teenager.

"I'm not your child!" Amber snarled. She was regarding the Oracle as a threat, ready to attract her at any moment.

"But you are his child, Am I right?" The Oracle smirked at the beastly growl that escaped from Amber's chest.

"Aww look the little beast finally came out of hiding! Come out little one. . . It's time to hug your daddy." The Oracle cooed. 

Aric's head snapped towards Amber. There was no doubt that the growl came from Amber's beast and her eyes flashing molten gold was proof that indeed a part of Aric's beast's soul resides within Amber.

Breathing was becoming difficult for him with each passing second. . .

"I should have guessed that you are Aric and Emmeline's daughter when you showed up for the witch tournament but you were clever to hide behind your cloak. You tricked me too!" The Oracle's stared at Amber's neck. "Your mate's claiming bite had lifted that cloak off your soul. Both your own cloak and the Goddess's cloak. Why do you hide his claiming bite, my child?" The Oracle now said in a serious tone.

"Get out of here before I make you!" Amber warned the Oracle instead of answering her.

Aric stared at Amber's neck but there was no mark on her neck. 

He let out a shaky breath. He had no idea what was happening. One moment Amber was a witch, the next moment she was a Fey and now a beast was shining in her eyes.

One moment she was Aric's enemy and he was killing her and now he was witnessing a part of his soul within her.

Aric looked from the Oracle to Amber, she was his daughter.

His own child~

He was going to assassinate his own daughter.

Dear Moon!!

A wail escaped from Aric's quivering lips, he fell on his knees. The King of Beasts was crying on his knees. . .

The King of Beasts was tried~

His soul was tried~

He was tired of running behind Emmeline, he was tired of running away from his people, he was tired of suffering for someone else's mistakes...

He doesn't even remember what had happened that night except for the moment Emmeline had opened his back with her silver dagger.

How was he supposed to fight off an enchantment...?

His heart was hurting for his daughter, for his mate, for his people. . . His soul was hurting. . .

Murmurs broke all around him, murmurs of the people who had formed an immense crowd around him.

'Is he Aric King?'

'Dear Moon he's Aric King!!'

'I can't believe my eyes, Queen Amber is the daughter of The Rightful King of Beasts and Queen Emmeline.'

'Who would have thought that the daughter of our King will save us from the injustice that we had faced in The Kingdom of Lycans after Aric King left us all!'

'Queen Amber had proved that why her house is supposed to lead and why Darach King's house is supposed to protect the Kingdom of Lycans. Ruling is in her blood.'

Ignoring the crowd's whispers Aric gazed at his daughter, she was too focused on the Oracle to notice him, her own father, or the people that surrounded them.

It all happened in a blink. . . .

Amber had the Oracle pinned against an oak tree by her throat. She moved so fast that even Aric wasn't able to see her move.

She was even faster than Emmeline had ever been, Amber was faster than the Fey Princess who was known to be the fastest Fey of them all~

"You ruined my plan bitch! Do you know what I do to those who mess with me?" Amber howled, her face was mere inches away from the Oracle's face.

"You kill them mercilessly. I must say a slow but painful death." Oracle replied in a deadpan tone as if Amber's threat had no effect on her.

"And you still dared to mess with me?" Amber hissed.

"Oracle is sh-- she rea-- really my daughter?" Aric voiced his thoughts in an unsteady voice.

Oracle gave Aric a bored look while Amber's looked at him with hate and repugnance.

"I'm not your daughter, I'll never be related to someone who loves Emmeline. If you are with her then you can't be with me!" Amber spat the words at her own father.

"She's your daughter wolf and she had all of you where she wanted. You all were just pawns in her little suicidal game." The Oracle replied as if Amber hadn't just denied the fact that she was Aric's daughter.

The Oracle yawned and then looked at her right side as if she was listening to an invisible person standing there. "You are right I'm tired, I should sleep." She replied to that invisible person. Even Amber was looking at her strangely.

"Say one more word and you will regret it." Amber bit out each word as a threat but the Oracle paid her no heed.

"I regret not stopping Emmeline from abandoning you. I searched for you my child but the Goddess's cloak that was protecting you made it impossible for me to locate you. I thought the creatures from the wastelands got to you before I could save you." Aric watched Amber pulling her hand away from the Oracle's throat as if she had burnt Amber's hand.

"You weren't there when she threw me in the woods, on the deadly snow. Stop lying before I make you." Amber warned but this time her lips trembled.

The Oracle looked away from Amber, her eyes lost focus before she talked again. "I wasn't there but I got visions, my dear. Eventually, you will learn that we all got our own sets of nightmares. You are not any special." Her tone laced with compassion.

"If you had visions then you know what she did to me and you are still stopping me from returning the favor to her?" Amber asked in a small voice.

"She had her own reasons, my dear. Sacrificing your life to make Aric hate Emmeline for the rest of their eternal life won't give you any peace. You'll be turned into a lost soul, your mate won't survive to lose you. He had already suffered for centuries, don't make him go through that kind of pain again." The Oracle pleaded.

"And what about the pain he made me go through? He hates me just like Emmeline had hated me! They all hate me!" A broken sob escaped from her. "If she hadn't abandoned me then Darach would have accepted me too. I wouldn't have to roam these wastelands for my whole childhood! She needs to suffer as I had suffered!!" Hate shined in Amber's eyes.

"You are just like her. She was blinded by her Fey's rage and heartbreak at that time just like you are now overwhelmed by Fey's rage towards your mother and the visions of your parent's past. I won't let you do something that you'll regret later. You are a Queen and your people rely on you. Are you going to abandon them? Don't you care about those who are loyal to you and are ready to sacrifice their life for you?" The Oracle said while caressing Amber's face with her palm. "Why do you care about those who left? Why not focus on the people who stand with you?"

Aric watched as his daughter leaned into the Oracle's touch. He had never seen the Oracle act like a sane person. She looked so different from the troubled woman Aric had asked for help from in the past. He had no idea what they were talking about. It was too much for him to wrap his mind around.

"You think being Queen is what I care about? Those people aren't my responsibility! I can't withstand this pain anymore, it's suffocating me, this pain is killing me. . . I have nothing left to lose." Tears fell from Amber's eyes as she said those words.

The tears that she was holding for so long~

"That's the same thing your mother had thought at that time." Amber flinched at her words. "But look at what she had lost, a brave and lovely daughter." Oracle was consoling Amber like she was a little girl who doesn't understand how the world around her works.

"She's not my mother, she never was and she never will be!" Amber grunted.

"She gave birth to you my child, carried you in her womb for four months. If it gives you any peace then you should know that she adored you when you were in her womb, she used to talk to you all the time. She gave birth to you by going against her inner Fey. She was shunned by her family when she gave birth to you." The Oracle tried to reason with Amber.

"And then the great Fey Princess threw me, a merely born baby in the wastelands for a low and agonizing death. I still carry the scars that her brutality had given me! Do you want to see them?" Forest green eyes asked in a sneer like a whisper.

"I have already seen them. They made you stronger, they are a sign that you survived what no one else could have withstood." Holding Amber's hands the Oracle kissed her palms.

"That's the same thing that my mate told me about my scars before he left me, before he told me how ugly I'm from inside and outside." A broken cry escaped from Amber's trembling lip before the Oracle hugged her, trying to soothe the pain of Aric's broken daughter. . .

"Maybe there is something wrong with me, maybe I'm not worthy of their love. . ." Amber sobbed on the Oracle's shoulder.

"You are a child born with a heart of gold with unmatchable powers and kindness in your soul and you are telling me that you are not worthy enough! I think they aren't worthy of your love." The Oracle consoled, her arms wrapped around Amber as she was a mother trying to protect her child from the demons that were chasing after her.

Aric's heart stopped at her daughter's words.

Emmeline had thrown their daughter on the poisonous snow. . .

Darach had forsaken her~

When did Emmeline's hatred towards Aric become so strong that she didn't even think before throwing their daughter away. . .

How could she do that to a merely born baby!! How could Darach do that to his own mate?

The pup Aric remember had yearned for a mate. How could Darach forsake the mate he had always wished for from the Moon?

The Emmeline and Darach about whom Amber and the Oracle were talking weren't the Emmeline and Darach whom Aric had known.

She wasn't the mate Aric was searching for from the past centuries~

And Darach wasn't the Nephew Aric had raised himself, the nephew who grew up under his wings~

Aric looked at his daughter, shame-filled inside his very being. He had searched Emmeline for centuries while his daughter had fought the nightmares that her parents had given her. . .

She was so young yet she had yielded so much pain in her small life.

Her mate had left her, her own mother had abandoned her to an agonizing fate and her father had no idea about her existence.

It was the moment when Aric lost the desire to search for his mate~

Aric looked at the blood that was still oozing out of Amber's neck, there was no sign of healing. Tears fell from his eyes, he had given those wounds to his own daughter.

He was going to murder her own blood. . .

The King of Beasts had been strong for so long and now he was breaking a little by little into countless pieces.

And no one was there to hold him, maybe that's the same way his daughter had felt all this time.

Alone~

Overwhelmed with guilt and heartbreak, turning his back on the Oracle and his daughter Aric headed towards the woods.

The agonizing howls of Aric's beast could be heard by every person living in Amber's Queendom.

Everyone can feel the pain of the beast who was howling for his daughter's pain, his broken heart and his twisted fate. . .

The King of Beasts was howling at the moon for his broken family~

Wanting the Moon to ease his pain, he had suffered for too long and he can't take this pain anymore.

He already felt like a failure of a mate and now he felt like he has failed as a father too. . .