+CHAPTER 41+ Nightmares

"Queens Aren't Allowed To Make Mistakes."


Manic laughter was booming all around her~

They were making fun of her, her weakness. 

Snickering at her while she laid there in a pool of her own blood, looking up at the Moon with hate shining in her blurry eyes.

The Moon that gave her life was watching as her spirit was being beaten out of her. . .

She did not scream or whimper as she implanted her claws in her own chest, trying to tug her broken ribs out that had punctured her heart. 

Her heart was bleeding but not a single sound escaped from her lips because she knew that the Lost Souls will get a kick out of her agonizing howls and whimpers.

She had learned a long time ago not to let out a single sound from her lips. Don't show them how much it hurts. . .

Tears dripped out of her closed eyes~

Silent sobs shook her small form~

The pain was almost intolerable. For the sake of fucking Dark Gods, she was only 15 years old.

She was not strong enough to fight the lost souls now but one day she was going to make every single one of the fucked up lost soul scream, she will find a way to make them bleed. 

They were dead but if they can make the little girl bleed then there must be a way for the girl to make them bleed too. 

The little girl's eyes were closed but tears were still coming out of them. 

"Weak, pathetic, worthless just like the one who threw her at our mercy." A lost soul taunted the little girl. 

Death was glaring from the lost soul's black eyes~

Humanity had left her soul. . .

The girl who had not opened her eyes until now snapped her eyes open, they were blazing from hot fury. Hot fury and the most heart-wrenching pain. Her eyes were the color of burning flames just like Amber's.

"Looks like she still hadn't learned her lesson. . ." Another lost soul mocked.

Coming close to Amber a lost soul placed a foot on Amber's hand that was busy pulling her broken ribs out of her heart and applied force.

Agonizing pain that exploded in her heart made her vision blurry.

A bone-chilling scream escaped from Amber's lips~

She coughed out crimson blood. . .

The lost souls roared with laughter all around the little girl~

Relishing her pain, Amber's pain. . .

Gasping for breath Darach jolted awake from the nightmare. He rubbed his chest frantically, trying to ease the pain. It seemed like someone had cracked his ribs.

He glimpsed at his bare chest only to find large buries forming on his chest.

Darach didn't know what kind of dark magic was this, it appears like Darach shares Amber's injuries. . .

The echo of his harsh breaths was the only sound in the room.

The little girl in the nightmare was his mate. Darach can't be mistaken in recognizing those soul burning eyes. The little girl he had seen was Amber just like in his previous nightmares. 

Darach can't sleep, his nightmares won't let him. Yesterday he had dreamed about Amber. She had stepped away from a lifeless Beaded Vulture with blood dripping from her fingertips. 

The Beaded Vultures that are known for feasting on a Lycan's bones

Her eyes were cold, she had killed a creature of the myth that even a Lycan like Darach fears.

She had killed it with her bare hands~

Without a weapon. . .

The nightmares were driving Darach crazy. They were not normal nightmares, he can feel every bit of pain that Amber was suffering from in the nightmares. 

Darach can feel her anguish, emotions as if he was trapped inside her body but the scene played in front of him as if he was watching a film.

It felt like Darach was reliving the past, Amber's past~

But Darach was not sure that if they were really just nightmares or it really happened.

The beast within him was restless, he wanted to return to his mate. The nightmares were driving him towards madness. 

He was going to lose his shit if he did not return to Amber soon. 

As if the Moon Goddess was listening closely to Darach's prayers the gigantic doors of his Royal chamber burst open. 

Lucia was standing at the door, her heart was thundering inside her chest. Looking at Darach she shouted from the door. "Get the fuck out of your bed and get your shit together there are two Royal Messengers from Amber's territory standing in the courtroom. They had requested Aunt Emmeline's presence."

In a flash, Darach was out of his bed. He didn't bother to put on clothes and started running towards the courtroom with only his pants on. With only the thought of returning to his mate playing in his mind, he will beg the royal messengers to take him back with them to his mate, he will beg them on his knees if he had to.

But the moment Darach reached the courtroom his eyes collided with the scene going on there. His brother Connor was already on his knees begging a Fey woman whom Darach had encountered in Amber's territory before. 

She had threatened Darach with a war between Fey and Lycans if he messed things up with Amber.

"Please take me back to her, I will be in your debt for the rest of my life. Just please take me back to my mate." Connor shamelessly begged again but the Fey ignored him as if Connor was dirt under her shoes.

She was the little bastard's mother who had ripped Darach's flesh from his arm with his baby fangs when Darach had disrespected Amber. 

Darach didn't recall the name of the pup but the child worshipped the floor under Amber's foot. The little pup thinks that Amber was his mate.

But the thing that shocked Darach the most was when Aunt Emmeline entered the courtroom she halted in her track when her gaze landed on the Fey before she cried the Fey's name and embraced her in a warm hug. 

The world must be coming to an end because no way Darach was witnessing Feys showing emotions openly.

"Sister." The Fey acknowledged Emmeline and all the blood drained from Darach's face. 

Fuck!! 

Aunt Emmeline caressed the Fey's cheek with her trembling slender fingers. . .

They were sisters~

Darach looked closely and the uncanny resemblance between the two women was unnerving.

Why the fuck he didn't notice that before. . .

Both of them had platinum white hairs and forest green eyes. Their high cheekbones appeared to be molded by stone. 

Only their body shape and height made them seem different.

While Aunt Emmeline was skinny with a few curves, her sister was curvy and a few inches shorter.

"Oh, Elin I thought I was never going to meet you again." Emmeline pulled back from the hug. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Emmeline what have you gotten yourself into?" Elin said her voice thick with emotions. She touched Emmeline's face with such tenderness that it tugged at everyone's heart.

The sisters had met after a long time. Everyone can see the struggle they were putting in trying to keep in their emotions, trying to be strong for each other.

"I can ask you the same, I thought you were going to claim the Fey Throne after I left but you ran away with a Lycan." Emmeline questioned back.

The words have been out that the two sole heirs of the Fey throne were on a run. One was running away from her past while the younger sister was running from her own father, the Fey King.

"The word of you leaving the Lycan King in a pool of his own blood and the reason behind that spread like fire. Father finally got the chance to utilize his hatred towards the Lycans. He forbid the Feys to be mated to the beasts. I had no other way so I ran with my mate." Elin said, her voice strong indicating that she didn't regret running away with her mate even a bit.

"I had no choice, I was not strong enough like you to face father's wrath. He was never going to let me accept my soulmate if I had stayed in the Fey Kingdom and he wasn't going to let me go after he shunned you. I was the only one who was left to take the throne." Elin explained, trying to make Emmeline understand her reasonings.

Anyone can guess by the sister's interaction that they had shared a strong bond in the past.

"I am not strong Elin, you were right about me I am more like our father then I liked to accept. I had let my Fey overpower me, I did things that I can't change no matter how much I want them to change." Emmeline looked down in shame.

"You abandoned your daughter Emmeline, I know. Everyone knows." Emmeline's glared at her sister in shock. She tried to steel herself against the verbal abuse that her sister might give her but Emmeline was appalled to witness sympathy and understanding in Elin's eyes.

"I swear I didn't want to but I couldn't bear to look at her at that time. She was a reminder of that witch. She had her essence in her! She was a Lycan and Witch hybrid Elin! I'm a woman I couldn't bear to hold her in my arms. I had carried her inside me for four months." Emmeline caressed her stomach unconsciously. 

"I had fought an inner battle with my Fey who wanted to kill her when I sensed her growing within me but the moment she was born it felt like fate had rubbed Aric's betrayal on my face in a sick and twisted way. I lost the battle with my Fey. I gave into my Fey nature. I abandoned her, my own blood." Emmeline's voice cracked at the end. 

Elin pulled Emmeline in her embrace, trying to soothe her sister's pain.

"I understand your reasonings sister but you are wrong. Your daughter has a Fey residing inside her who's very eager to take revenge from you for throwing her in the face of the death." Elin announced.

"You are lying it can't be true. I would have sensed a Fey in her." Emmeline broke away from her sister's embrace. Giving Elin a look of mistrust.

"She had a mixture of fractions within her. Maybe at that time, her witch part was more dominant and you know that the Lycans and Feys within us remain dormant until a certain age." Emmeline's jaw dropped at her Elin's words. 

Emmeline was a Fey and knowledge float within her veins. How could she be so dumb? 

Did her Fey totally blinded her judgment?

From her childhood, Emmeline was trained to overpower her inner Fey. She thought she wouldn't have the problem of dominating her Fey. 

Emmeline had underestimated her Fey for which she had already paid a large price. 

She had lost everything. . .

Fey have destructive natures and Feys are trained from a younger age to not give in to their natures. The Fey residing within them makes them strong as well as weak. The inner Fey can demolish as well as uplift a person.

The only enemy Emmeline's kind fear in the monster residing within their own souls.

"We came to deliver a message that you have clearly forgotten about Fey." The witch standing behind them sneered at Elin and gave Emmeline a look of pure contempt.

Emmeline had ignored the witch's presence before because her sole focus was on Elin. But now when the witch had opened her mouth Emmeline wants nothing more than to stab her in the mouth.

But the witch might not have sensed Emmeline's chaotic thoughts because she dauntlessly started addressing everyone present in the courtroom.

"If you don't mind then I would like to deliver a message from Queen Amber to the Fey Princess. Amber from the 'House of Untouchables' also known as the Cold Queen, soon to be the crowned Queen of the witches had invited the Fey Princess Emmeline to her Queendom for the very first ceremony held to break a mate Bond, to start an 'Era of Enlightenment'." 

Everyone present in the room gasped at the witch's words including Emmeline. 


"Whose mate bond is she going to break?" Connor growled, his beast shimmering just below his skin. 

He took a threatening step towards the witch. His golden eyes were prepared to rip the witch apart if she uttered his name.

The witch grinned at Connor's question, not even slightly intimidated by his beast.

"It's not your turn beast but you can come along to watch." She actually winked at Connor.
"I would like to invite anyone who wants to witness Queen Amber breaking the mate bond of the legendary Lycan Aric King and the coward Princess Emmeline." Emmeline had the witch pinned against a wall by her throat the moment those words left her mouth.

It all happened in a blur~

No one was able to detect the Fey Princess's movement. Her Fey speed was unmatchable even by her own kind.

The Lycan Queen was the fastest of them all~

"Emmeline." Elin hissed at her sister. 
"Leave her she is only delivering the words of your daughter, she is just a messenger."

When Emmeline didn't leave the witch's throat Elin tried a different approach. "You don't want her blood on your hands. Look what killing one of her kind did to you. You still haven't got the last one's blood off your hands." 

Emmeline let go of the witch's throat as if she had burnt her hand. The witch collapsed on the floor, her breaths were uneven but the look of satisfaction was still there in her eyes.

"Aric would never agree to this, he can't do this to me, to his own soulmate." Emmeline shrieked like a madwoman far away from the calm Lycan Queen and the calculating Fey Princess who never acted impulsively.

Emmeline had thought that everything was going to be fine when she found that her daughter was alive. She had even returned to the Kingdom of Lycans with Darach, Connor and Lucia in hopes of her life getting back on track.

But maybe she had hoped for too much. . .

"Your daughter made him choose between herself and you and he had chosen your daughter, he chose a daughter over her mother. His blood over his Soulmate."

"But why would Eva make Aric do that?" Emmeline mumbled brokenly while stepping away from the witch.

Darach winced at the name his Aunt used to address Amber. It was the same name Amber had told Darach when he had asked her about the Queen who ruled the wastelands. She had told him her real name and he had accused her of lying and enchanting him in return.

Amber was Uncle Aric and Aunt Emmeline's daughter then how the fuck she had witch abilities?

Everything was making sense but at the same time, nothing was making sense to Darach.

"Apparently Amber remembers when you had forsaken her in the face of death and now the Fey within her wants you to suffer. She is a true Fey who had given in to her true nature. And I am afraid that Amber has our father's Fey. The one born to rule with ruthlessness in its veins. Her Fey is stronger than both of us so we won't be able to make her Fey bend into submission."

"That's not possible!" Emmeline screamed.

"You know that our kind is not known for their forgiving skills and above all that our father is not known for his kindness. Amber's not trained to control her Fey, maybe her mother snatched that leverage from her."

Emmeline winced at his sister's words. Maybe she still has to face the verbal attacks for her deeds.

"I won't go to Eva's Queendom. I can't face her and Aric." Emmeline's voice shook with emotions.

"It's not the time to hide Emmeline. You are a Fey so act like one. If you didn't come with me then Amber will come for you. I don't see any scenario where you can avoid the inevitable." Elin said bluntly, not sugar coating anything for Emmeline.

"Elin you are a woman tell me that you wouldn't have done the same if you were in my place!" Emmeline tried to justify her deeds by raising her voice. She so badly wanted her sister to see things from her perspective. 

"It's not about what I or any other woman in your place would have done Emmeline. Because I or any other woman wasn't the Queen of the Lycans. You didn't just abound Amber, you abounded your Kingdom too. You should be glad that things didn't turn out any worse. It's not time to justify your actions it's time to face the consequences of your deeds."

"What could be worse than this? I'm going to lose them both." A lone tear escaped from Emmeline's eyes. The proud Fey fell on her knees, the will to fight left her.

"Believe me when I say that things could have turned out to be worse than this. I'm just asking you to stop running from your daughter and mate." Elin looked away from Emmeline. It was too much to witness her proud sister falling apart. Elin didn't have the heart to tell Emmeline that Amber was going to going to make Aric kill her. 

For now, Emmeline doesn't need to know the extent of her daughter's hatred for her.

"I'll accompany you, Aunt!" Darach announced while kneeling beside Emmeline, pulling her in his arms.

Emmeline leaned into him for support. Suddenly she was tired. Very tired.

She just wants to close her eyes for a bit. . .

Emmeline tilted her face and looked at Darach's face. She tried to find anger, resentment or any other emotion on Darach's face but to her surprise Darach was looking at her with sympathy and understanding.

Emmeline wasn't unaware of the fact that Darach was Eva's mate. Then why wasn't he angry at her for what she did to his mate?

"Why aren't you fighting me for what I did to your mate Son?" The witch laughed at Emmeline's question.

Emmeline's gazed at the witch in rage. The witch was making it hard for Emmeline to not to kill her.

She had already killed one and killing this one won't fuck Emmeline's already fucked up life.

"As if he was any better than you. Won't you tell her beast about what you did to her daughter?" The witch mocked.

Emmeline gave Darach a questioning look but Darach couldn't make himself look her in the eye. The remorse shining in his eyes was as bright as a day for everyone to witness.

Not looking away from Darach, Emmeline threatened the witch.

"The next time you dared to disrespect me or any other person related to my kin, I will skin you alive and I vow to the Moon that I won't give you an easy death like Charlie." Emmeline peeked at the witch only to find her fuming in rage.

Good!

The bitch doesn't know when to keep her noisy nose out of others' business.

Emmeline looked around the courtroom, Lucia was crying. Even with the strong faced Emmeline can sense that Connor was scared out of his mind and Darach, his shoulders were curved under the weight of guilt.

Guilt that Emmeline had no idea why he carried. . .

They were all like her own children to Emmeline and they all were fucked up in their own way.

No one was judging Emmeline because all of them had their own fair share of guilt.

Elin wasn't meeting Emmeline's gaze. Even in the middle of her meltdown Emmeline knew that her sister was hiding something but she didn't have any energy left in her to confront Elin.

It dawned on Emmeline that she can't run anymore. If not for herself then she had to be strong for her family.

She had to face Eva and Aric, there was no way out of it. . .

Emmeline wished that she had never returned to the Cursed Woods. The witch must be laughing at Emmeline's fate from her grave. 

No doubt she had smiled at Emmeline in her last time. Charlie had escaped to a happy place while Emmeline was left behind to deal with everything.

Emmeline wished that she hadn't killed Charlie, she wished that she hadn't abandoned  Eva. . . 

Her past was going to cost Emmeline her mate. Giving in to her Fey nature was going to cost her Aric. . .

And she can do nothing to stop this. . .