Use Me, Royal Stranger (mxm)

Chapter 23 - Who Is My Enemy?

Silence.

She could see her husband's shaking hands, cradling her baby very precariously, wrapped in his shirt. But it wasn't crying like it should. It was eerily silent.

"Is- Is-"

Her husband's face looked shocked, stunned and sorrowful as he gazed upon their baby's face. "It's a boy." He whispered, his voice cracking as his body shook with sobs.

She began to cry for her child, "He's- He's dead?"

Her husband's face snapped towards her, his eyes wide with surprise, "No, no my love. No. He is alive. He is very alive. So beautiful, look my love. Our son." He presented the child to his wife, and the couple began to cry tears of joy as the gazed upon their son's smiling face, his eyes still yet to open.
"He's beautiful." She whispered under her breath, she sobbed, "So beautiful. Thank the goddess of our blessings, thank the goddess he is safe. Thank the goddess he is so beautiful."

But their joy was cut short. Her husband, with his enhanced senses, picked up the sound of boots heading their way. "We have to go, they are near."

With a panicked cry, she pulled her baby to her chest, ignoring the aches and pains in her body, as she planted kisses upon her baby's face. "He hasn't had his first cry yet! Where do we go? How can we? They will find us. Take the baby and run my love. Leave me."

He growled harshly, not having any of it.

"You condemn our entire family to death if you stay here with me, my love." She cried, "I cannot move from here, I cannot run. I do not have the strength to. But you can save yourself and our beautiful child. Go!" She pushed the baby into his arms, turning away from him so she would not have to watch them leave.

"No!" he growled under his breath, his demeanour turning animalistic. "You are my mate, my destiny, my love. In joy and in good health, we will prosper together. In pain and in sickness, we will endure together. You are my mate!" With a snarl, he pushed himself off the ground, holding his child to his chest. "You are my mate. We live and breathe together, we will also die together."

With that, he rushed out of the house, leaving his sobbing, confused wife still on the bed in the abandoned house. Turning two corners, he knew he did not have any time to waste, glancing around desperately, he found only one place that seemed to be inhabited, and he wished he could ensure the safety of his child, but he couldn't. He glanced at his baby son's face, kissing him with all the love he could muster, "I love you my beautiful son, your mother loves you so too. I wished things were different and we could show you exactly how much we love and cherish you. I'm sorry we are not in your life. But survive this. I know you can, you are my son, and your mother's child. Grow strong, do us proud. I know you can. My son. My darling son. I love you. I pray to the goddess that you never grow up thinking we didn't love you, we do, so much. I pray to the moon goddess that she watches over you every moment of your life, keeping you safe and happy and warm always. I love you. I truly do." With all the resolve in his heart, he placed his baby on the ground, tears falling freely from his eyes, "I love you. I'm sorry."

Turning on his heels, he sprinted down where he came from, his ears knowing that in a few seconds, the guards would discover his wife, they would attack a helpless women without reason. He would fight back with all he had, taking several lives with him before they would both succumb to their wounds, hand in hand, as they whispered their last affections, and drawing their last breath together.

∞

Carlen inhaled sharply as he jerked awake, his head numb with sleep, tears flowing freely from his eyes. Darting his eyes around, he held his breath as he found Nana asleep on a nearby chair, Lance nowhere to be seen. His heart clenched in pain as he replayed his dream in his mind once more. Did he really just have a dream of his parents? Was that what really happened? Or had he dreamt it up because he had been so bothered by the story of his assumed parents? What was real anymore?