Chapter 57 - Shattered Hearts

Xavier’s POV

Before setting off for Normand with Eloise, I made sure that Captain Oliver was briefed on getting the city of Gray protected against Douglas. Many of the citizens expressed warmth and loyalty to my cause after rumors of vampires in the Royal City fell on their ears.

It didn’t help that after I took Gray, the Royal City Guards began to prohibit Gray citizens from entering the Royal City.

To give them peace of mind, I made sure that they were all well-protected in my absence. Many of the citizens were grateful and began to work alongside my men in fortifying their western walls that bordered the Royal City.

The day was mostly gone by the time we arrived back in Normand and although I was hesitant on leaving Eloise alone again, I knew I had to plan the next steps to weaken Douglas’s hold around the Royal City even more.

Now that Gray was mine, I knew I didn’t have a lot of time until a retaliation was expected.

I entered my study while Eloise went back to the room. I smiled as thoughts of her entered my mind. I’m happy that we were able to repair our relationship once again.

A knock came at my door and interrupted the happy thoughts. I sighed. “Come in.”

A scout walked in alongside Adrian. The two bowed at me.

“My Lord,” the scout spoke. “There’s something I think you should know about the Wisdom family.”

I lifted my eyes off my paper to the scout. “Continue.”

“They’ve… changed a lot these past couple of weeks.”

“Please elaborate.”

“Their castle wall has grown to new heights. It looks almost un-scalable, even for your best men.” He spoke.

“Not only that, their defensive magic has improved greatly. Many of the witches can cast various shielding magic.”

“I wonder what they’re protecting themselves from,” Adrian pondered.

The scout continued. “They’ve also purchased weapons…” He hesitated.

“To protect themselves against Douglas, I would assume.”

“And us, too.”

My eyebrows shot up as my heart sank to my stomach. “They’re protecting themselves against my family?”

“Those are the rumors I’ve heard. A lot of them are talking about protecting themselves against all of the royal families—the vampires, Douglas, and you…” The scout avoided my eyes.

What do I really mean to you, Eloise? Am I your husband or a threat?

Anger welled in my chest as I took time to process everything the scout said to me. The time Eloise had spent in Witches Land must have been used to start building their defenses up against me.

Adrian cleared his throat.

My eyes darted to him. “Do you have something to say?”

Adrian nodded for the scout to leave and he did so. Then, Adrian spoke up. “I’d like to preface this by saying that I think Lady Eloise is a wonderful and selfless Lady. She’s done a lot for the Leonards despite the mistreatment she’s received because of her family name.”

I narrowed my eyes at Adrian.

“However,” he continued. “I think subduing the powerful elders of the Wisdom family would prove beneficial given the circumstances.”

“In the unforeseen event that things go wrong with the war against Douglas, the Wisdoms could side with him once more. Especially now that he has the power of the vampire royals behind him, they may not have a choice, despite the defenses they’ve built.”

“It could very well mean the end of the Leonards if we allowed that to happen.” Adrian ended.

Before I could get a word in, Adrian handed me a pamphlet. Inside of folded paper was an in-depth plan of how to apprehend and possibly execute the Wisdom elders.

I looked at Adrian with widened eyes.

“This is the last resort, my Lord, but I have thought about this since you first married Lady Eloise. At the end of the day, my duty is to serve you and the Leonards. We must think of them and their safety above everyone else.” Adrian says.

“That also includes Lady Eloise. She’s still a daughter of the Wisdoms after all.”

I took the pamphlet but didn’t readily agree to the plan. I was too shocked by the information and the proposition to make a decision. My mind was heavy with conflicting thoughts and emotions.

“We will discuss this at another later date,” I stated simply.

Adrian nodded and left me alone to think.

I sunk myself into my chair.

It seems that Eloise has truly prioritized her family over mine, regardless of what she told me yesterday.

Perhaps it’s time I do the same.

Eloise’s POV

I found myself in the castle’s kitchens, baking sweets and preparing a nice lunch for Xavier. He had been so busy with planning his next moves against Douglas that I hadn’t seen much of him lately.

I’m sure he’d appreciate the surprise visit and treats.

I made my way to his study with love and happiness in my heart, although I still couldn’t escape the feeling of needing to be on guard. Even though we reconciled and I wanted to hold on to the hope that things really did change, a part of me felt like it was just another fleeting moment.

I don’t want to be made a fool for feeling hopeful…

I got to his study and knocked on the door, unsurprised by the fact that Xavier didn’t answer. Maybe he’s out visiting the barracks.

I shrugged my shoulders and let myself inside, deciding that I could wait for him to come back. I still wanted to be able to surprise him rather than just leave the treats and lunch alone.

As I set the basket on his desk, a peculiar little pamphlet caught my eye. It was red and so I thought it to be too important to be hidden by all of the paper.

I wouldn’t want Xavier to miss this.

I picked up the paper and let curiosity get the best of me as I opened the pamphlet and began to read its contents.

Oh, how I wished I hadn’t.

“That wasn’t meant for you…” I heard a familiar voice speak to me in a cold tone.

Anger caused my body to shake as I threw the pamphlet on the table.

“Oh, do tell, Xavier! Plans to kill my family weren’t meant for my eyes?!”

I didn’t even give him the chance to respond. “I can’t believe you! What lengths are you willing to go to deceive me just to end my bloodline?!”

My eyes widened. “Now I understand why you tried to cut me off from my family in order for me to become your Luna! Did you think it would soften the blow of such a horrible act?!”

I couldn’t control the hot tears that stung my cheeks nor the way anger boiled my blood. How could he do this to me? To us? I can’t believe I expected him to change!

Xavier’s eyebrows knitted together in a hard knot. Now it was his turn to argue. “And what of your visit in Witches Land? You don’t mean to tell me that you’ve been raising the defenses of your homeland against me? The weapons, the heightened magic?”

“Are you honestly comparing that to you planning to kill my family?!”

“It boils to trust, you arrogant woman! After everything I’ve done for you and your family—”

“Arrogant?!” My throat scratched at the sheer volume I was yelling at. “Are we resulting in petty insults now? I thought you were above that.”

Pain twisted my heart into a knot. “You’ve made a fool out of me not once, not twice, but three times?! Maybe more! Who knows?!”

“Time and time again I forgive you for the things you say to me AND the things you do to me. But that’s never enough, is it?!” I spat the words at him.

“You want to talk about trust? You haven’t had an ounce of it ever since we got married! I’ve had to prove myself to you three times over. And what of you? Your apologies have been nothing but empty promises!”

At that moment, I wanted Xavier to feel the pain he caused me. I wanted him to truly know the weight of his actions.

Xavier, who had been mostly quiet but visibly angry, finally was able to get a word in. Though, I had wished he stayed quiet for the sake of my sanity.

“I agreed to marry you despite what your family had done to evade justice. My father was killed at the hands of Douglas and the Wisdoms dared to take his side and absolve him of his crimes?!” Xavier began his argument.

“You come to me with a proposal, not out of love but out of duty and obligation. Did you honestly believe that I wasn’t going to think anything of it?”

“I accommodated you. You were not a prisoner but nobility and royalty to a family who bore hatred for you and your family. When things got ugly between us, you had more than enough chances to leave.” His expression softened slightly.

“But when you didn’t and after we continued to spend time together, I thought that maybe you had turned a new leaf. I thought you began to care.” There was hurt in Xavier’s eyes.

“But then your behavior didn’t match up. You told me nothing happened between you and Liam, yet I’ve never known him to “fall in love” as quickly as he did with you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ve told you time and time again that nothing has happened between us! You knew that he lied about the earring as a gift and you knew that he was only doing that to tear us apart!”

“How can I know you’re telling me the truth, Eloise?!”

“THIS is what I’m talking about! Why is it that I always have to prove myself to you when you haven’t done the same for me?!” I groaned at his incompetence.

“I proved my innocence when it came to cursing your mother—not to mention that I saved her life twice! And then, Liam literally admitted to lying about what he said to you because he wanted me as his wife.” I threw my hands in the air.

“But you…” I closed the distance between us and pushed my finger into his hard chest. “You called me a liar. You violated my body. You’ve shown me coldness when I’ve done NOTHING to deserve it!”

“You being a Wisdom is more than enough to awaken wrath in me! If your family can be so easily influenced by power, who’s to say that your intentions have been pure this entire time?!” Xavier roared.

When he realized that he admitted to never being able to get over his prejudices against my family, his expression had gone cold.

I looked at the ring on my hand as tears continued to fall. I guess I never stopped crying throughout this entire argument.

“Eloise…” Xavier’s voice was gentle. “I…”

I took the ring off of my hand and tossed it onto the table.

“Well, now you can rest well knowing that this is genuine.” I lifted my hand with the empty ring finger. “We’re done, Xavier.”

When he reached his hand out to me, I recoiled my body away from him and ran out of his study. I ran for the stables and saw Adrian tending to the horses.

The smile on his face formed and faded quickly as he saw my current state. “Lady Eloise, is something wrong?”

“I’m no longer your Lady, Adrian. I want to go home.”

I could tell he was confused and wanted to protest but he simply got a carriage ready for me to leave. I didn’t even bother packing anything. I didn’t want anything to come with me that would serve as a reminder of the life I had.

I got into the carriage and laid down on the seats. I had cried so much that more tears fell. My body and mind were so exhausted that I fell asleep.

I awoke to the sound of knocking coming from the carriage window and I saw that we had already arrived in Witches Land. The massive walls of the castle eased the pain in my heart.

When I looked out of the window, I saw that everyone was okay. Witches were still practicing their spells, children playing out on the sidewalk, and business going about as usual.

When I arrived at the castle, I went straight to my room and avoided all questions. I was happy to see that my family members were still alive, though. I was glad that Xavier had enacted any part of his stupid plan to kill them.

I threw myself onto my bed and hugged a pillow to my chest. The weight of the impending prophecy started to make my head hurt.

After Xavier was able to take Caspian and defeat a large portion of Douglas’s army for the siege of Gray, I started to wonder if I could really alter the course of the prophecy.

Every plan he’s executed has always ended with him on top. If I kill him, will it really solve anything?

It would only drive the rest of the werewolf families to side with Douglas. We would have no true allies left…

But Xavier… He’s done and said many things to hurt me. There’s no way what he feels for me is love.

But he’s also shown me all of the sides of love and pleasure. He knows tenderness. He knows kindness, too.

My heart twisted when I thought about him.

I hated how he made me feel safe and frightened. I hated how his heart was warm and gentle but also cold and rough.

Every now and then I would feel a pull to him I couldn’t explain. When things got better between us, I would feel like I was being drawn to him.

Xavier made me feel so many conflicting emotions but despite it all, I still wanted him. I wanted us.

I looked at the empty finger where my wedding ring used to be.

“It doesn’t matter now… Whatever comes, I just have to be ready.”