#Chapter 61 - A False Prophecy

Mona’s POV

“Mona! This isn’t funny! Please!” I watched the pathetic Wisdom girl plead for her werewolf lover.

I had to fight the urge to vomit. “Oh, my dear Eloise. Don’t you see? If you love something, sometimes it’s best to let it go.”

“You told me you weren’t in love with him!” I yelled at her.

I watched as Eloise’s mouth could only open but would utter no words.

“So, you lied to me.” I didn’t phrase it as a question because I already knew the answer. I knew the answer long before she even realized it.

“I…I didn’t plan for it to happen!”

“Oh, Eloise. You shouldn’t have lied to me.” I taunted her. “Now you’ll get to see what happens when you lie about falling in love with the enemy!”

It was like a waterfall streamed down her face as Eloise looked at Xavier and back at me.

“Don’t be sad, little witch,” I couldn’t hide the triumph in my voice. “You’ve said you always wanted justice and now we get to have it!”

I couldn’t help but feel just a tad sad for her. Eloise was truly a nice witch and a part of me wished that she had more of a backbone. She let love dictate her actions and now she had to pay the price.

“You know, I had to keep convincing myself that you were strong enough to not fall in love with a man who constantly mistreated you, called you a liar, and even went so far as to humiliate your body.” I started to talk out loud.

“But then as time went on and you kept forgiving him and going back to him, and on top of that making love to him–” I pretended to vomit. “That’s when I knew that you were a lost cause.”

“But I knew that my patience was going to eventually pay off and…” I floated out of the mirror and smiled as I looked at Xavier’s dying body. “I finally got to fulfill my greatest desire.”

I looked up at Eloise. “With your help, of course.”

“Why, Mona?” Eloise’s voice was raspy from yelling and crying so much.

“Why?” I didn’t know if I was to snort at the question or laugh. “Well, it’s a little bit of a story but I’ll explain it to you as a gift.”

“You see, I was once a powerful and beautiful woman like yourself, Eloise. My existence dates back to the First Era when the Lowell continent was in nothing but chaos. The vampires, werewolves, and witches were at odds with one another.” I started.

“I didn’t think peace was an option until…” I smile involuntarily. “I fell in love with someone. This man was working towards building a better future for everyone in Lowell. He wanted all three groups to coexist in harmony.”

“He was working to build the first werewolf kingdom,” I revealed to Eloise.

“Unfortunately, there was trouble in paradise. As soon as he was crowned as the first king of the Werewolf Kingdom, he decided that he didn’t want me at his side anymore.” I held back the tears that threatened to flow down my astral face.

“He lied to the other two kingdoms and said that I was the only person capable of sabotaging him–this came after the murder of half of his advisory committee.” Anger started to build in my chest.

“I was with him every step of the way! I helped build that kingdom and instead of crowning me as his queen, he accused me of something I didn’t do. And all of those idiotic kingdoms believed him!” I was shouting at this point.

“That selfish king went to crown another woman, a true werewolf. She would become the queen and luna of the first Werewolf Kingdom. And her first decree? To sentence me to death!”

Eloise’s face was full of shock but she remained quiet.

“They tried to hang me,” I continued. “But by the grace of whatever god was looking out for me, I survived. That was when I made my way to the basement of an old estate close to the borders of Witches Land and found that mirror. What was left of me slept in that mirror for hundreds of years.”

“But then you found me.” I smiled, though it wasn’t out of happiness. “All that hatred in my heart burned like a raging fire and I knew that all of the descendants of the first king needed to pay!”

“W-wait, are you saying that–”

I interrupted Eloise. “Yes. Your precious little Xavier is the descendant of the first werewolf king.”

“I could sense the power from Xavier’s blood. Ancient blood isn’t hard to miss.” I smirked. “You know what else I found coursing through his blood?”

Eloise shook her head.

“The mate bond!” I pretended to be excited. “You’re Xavier’s fated mate, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. I knew about it and used my magical abilities to suppress it. After all, I wanted you to kill him, not fall in love with him because of some stupid “blessed” bond.”

“But alas,” I continued. “You fell in love with him anyway, But hey, your softness towards him would still result in his death! I can’t believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book.”

“What do you mean by that?” Eloise’s expression had gone sour.

“I’ve been wanting you to kill him, Eloise! Why would you think I’d give you a HEALING potion?”

Eloise’s POV

“Are you trying to tell me you gave me poison instead?!” I screeched at Mona.

“A smart witch like you should’ve seen that from the start? I can’t believe you fell for such an old trick!” Mona laughed at me.

Anger swelled through in my chest as I felt a sudden tug at my soul. It was then that I used the energy from my emotions and pushed my soul outside of my body.

Mona stared at me in shock. “What?! What is this?!”

I looked at my hands and realized that I had taken on an astral form similar to Mona’s. I then grabbed Mona by the neck and shoved her back into the mirror.

“You’re going to give me an antidote, now! Your hatred blinded you to commit something atrocious on someone who was innocent! Xavier had nothing to do with what happened to you!” I yelled at her.

Mona laughed at me again. “Antidote? You really must be stupid if you think there’s anything you can do to save Xavier!”

“The ingredients I used were from so long ago that they no longer exist! I’ve allowed them to ferment in my mirror and the effects are too potent for any modern medicine to help.” Mona’s smile was wicked.

“Don’t you see? Xavier will die there’s nothing you can do about it!”

In a fit of rage, I grabbed her wrists and began to feel heat well in my hands. At first, I was casting a fire spell to burn her but the light turned from orange to white–I actually had no idea what spell I was casting.

But soon, Mona’s astral form began to crack.

She looked at me in horror. “Don’t do this, Eloise!”

I held onto her wrists as she began to crack even more. After a few seconds, her astral form exploded and sent me flying out of the mirror and back into my physical body.

Did I kill Mona…?

I shook my head, knowing that I had no time to actually think about whether or not I truly did. Instead, I rushed to Xavier’s side. It was then that Adrian had jogged up to me.

His face was grim. “Lady Eloise…”

“Take him back to the Wisdom castle!” I ordered. “We don’t have much time.”

Aside from our magical abilities, the witches of Witches Land were some of the most skilled and respected healers throughout the Lowell continent. I was hoping that they would be able to find a way to save Xavier.

But they couldn’t.

Seeing the color drained from Xavier’s face completely sent me into a spiral of hopelessness. I can’t live this life without you…

I left the medical wing of my castle to be alone. I truly had no idea how I was going to cope with losing Xavier after everything we went through together.

I walked away from the castle and to the woods behind it. There was only one other place I would go to aside from my grandmother’s when I was feeling lost and hopeless.

When I approached the familiar clear opening, I saw the entrance to the ruins I used to run inside of when I was a kid. As I went down the narrow and dark hallways, I finally came entered a large room with the statue of the Moon Goddess.

I had just entered the Sacred Hall of the Lady of the Moon.

I got down on my knees, closed my eyes, and clasped my hands together. When it doubt, I always turned to prayer.

Oh, Moon Goddess, hear my plea…

As I was beginning to pray, I felt a rush of cool air swirl around me. When I opened my eyes to see if someone had followed me, my eyes widened in shock when I realized that I wasn’t even in the sacred hall anymore.

The night sky surrounded me as bright stars twinkled like fairy lights. The moon was so close to me I could touch it as it illuminated the space around me.

And standing just a few feet away was a beautiful woman with silver hair so long it almost touched her feet. When she turned around and her dark blue eyes met mine, she smiled.

It was the Moon Goddess, Elara!