36
Kaya’s POV.
From afar, my ears pick up on the sounds of cheering coming from a great crowd. I wonder what is happening that’s caused the guards to march to the center room where I was chained a few hours ago.
Aiden is in the front, watching out for the both of us. We cannot afford to be caught, unknowing whatever could happen, especially for someone like me.
I can’t see the triplets in this state. Just thinking about their existence alone is a fear that sends chills down my spine. My palms suddenly perspire from the trauma that I’ve faced in their hands, knowing that as long as I remain alive, I cannot escape it.
But then, at least for now, I’m with Aiden, and I shouldn’t spoil the good mood. His whispering voice calls my attention before a wave from him.
“Here, Kaya.” I raise my face to meet his and hurry to the side of the wall where we’ve hidden.
Blinking profusely, my lips part at the sight in front of me, and my heart resumes its hammering, clanking against my sternum.
I grip the gown tightly as I watch the triplets walk onto the center stadium like the predators that they are, unfazed and boisterous about anything at all.
“Today, we have won a victory, which shall forever be plastered across every kingdom of werewolves out there in this world!” Kade’s voice reaches every corner of the room. While he continues, my eyes shift to his brothers behind him, who have grins on their faces, looking so satisfied with their statements.
“Today, we rule over Crestwood, and no one is taking that from us. We have conquered and made it known just who we are.” Kade pauses and steps down from the stadium. He walks into the midst of the people around him, all of the royals, while the members of the pack are positioned to distance themselves from the royals who are from other packs. “This speech of mine is distributed to you royals. Make it known that we rule over everything, and if any of you think that you can fight against us or go against what the triplets want, then there will be consequences. My brothers and I have thought of it clearly.” His hand spreads to the back, to Kieran and Kyle, who then settle a predatory look at everyone as though they are some pawn in a chess game.
“We won’t hesitate to mute anyone who goes against whatever we have made clear of detesting; make this known to the rulers of all other kingdoms out there. In the meantime, our guards would spread out to the Crestwood pack to rule over it with a new ruler. That’s all.” As he finishes, Kade goes back to join his brothers.
My brows are lower, and the skin on my forehead wrinkles. I can’t believe this. I am left in confusion, awe, and all other qualities of not understanding why a person could be so cruel, and not only that, but justifying their barbarism.
Clearly, I am in agreement that Alpha Alaric is a sadistic being, but his being killed by these beings, who are none less than Alpha Alaric’s personality himself, is inconveniencing and unsettling in my mind.
It makes me more scared of what’s going to happen in the future. This is like a stronger evil wiping out another evil because the stronger one wants to show its abilities. That’s disastrous for anything or anyone, good and of light.
“Let us get out of here.” Aiden pats me on the shoulder, and quickly, I nod my head. I cannot emphasize enough how much I need that.
We get out of the space into one of the lower hallways, and then from there, we make our way through a window, jumping down to the grounds and running into the woods.
“I really do wonder how you know all these secret pathways. Has it been that very long since you’ve been working for your master, I mean, the triplets’ uncle?” He chuckles lightly at my words.
I’m glad that he’s here. Aiden is that saviour that I know nothing about but that makes me happy and helps clear my fretful thoughts of the triplets, and that’s enough appreciation. Perhaps he would tell me about him later.
“I may have been smart with my job.” He shrugs and looks away. His eyes are fixed on a tree close by, an apple tree, and he goes there to pick some for us.
I whisper a thank you as I eat. “My master takes me around quite often, but he’s been busy lately, so let’s say I’m not wasting my leisure period, then. He’s got his dark sides, which is very...which is undescribably terrific, but I manage.”
I clear my throat, his words bringing back a conversation between us. Once again, he didn’t allow me to express my thoughts. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how much pain you’ve gone through.”
“You can. Because you have. Who knows? Maybe you’ve even passed through worse than mine. At least, I didn’t suffer entirely with my body. You have, which means you’ve faced more evil than I ever have. I get punished alone, which could be brutal, but you...” He pauses there and turns his eyes at me; a single tear has formed on the edge of my eyes.
I’m trying as much as I can to fight against it, but I can’t. It’s not possible. I’m so lucid and readable—perhaps that’s why the triplets are able to weaken me as well.
My vision catches Aiden sighing before he resumes, “I saw your face in there. It was horrible. You didn’t want to see all that, but from where we’re standing, we can’t help it.”
My jaw twitches there, anger resurfacing from deep inside me to the very top. In between a fight between tears and fury, I say, “they are so unnecessarily dauntless and rollicking about their actions. They are evil. They kill people and think they can just go away with it. I...I can’t empathize with it enough, and that’s all of my annoyance.”
“How could you kill someone of your species and feel so fine just because they didn’t do as you wished?” and it’s not even like Alpha Alaric was against the purely wicked rule of the werewolf land, “and they come back with a sense of victory in their minds. Imagine how far they can go to ruin people like us, and they’ll feel nothing. Now, I understand better.” I stop there, not wanting to continue.
I close my eyes for a moment to cleanse myself of my thoughts. They are making my stomach churn, twisting my every lining so that I feel as though I wanted to pee—everything out of a traumatizing fear.
“There’s no escaping here.” I whisper in my mind, my cheeks reddened, tears threatening to fall. My vision is starting to be blurry.
Silence rules for some time; Aiden is not saying anything. We walk deeper into the woods, both of us lost in our thoughts. I try as much as possible to wander my eyes around, hoping to interest myself with something else, but it’s impossible.
Aiden’s tone fills the quiescence all of a sudden, “the triplets killed my foster parents because they are witches.”
By the time his eyes are on mine, I am blinking blankly at him. I know not what to say but to part my lips and watch him, hoping he would continue, which he did. “They finished them off like fowls.” Those were people who raised me when I was a baby, thrown out by my parents because they didn’t want to have a baby. They knew having a baby was a disaster in this world, as they were humans.”
“My foster parents, however, turned out to be witches; they told me when I turned eighteen, and that was also exactly the same day that they got killed. Everything happened in a flash. I knew the truth, and a few hours later, our cottage got attacked by the triplets’. Then, after they did all that evil, they left me as a gift to their uncle. Because, well, I was nothing to them but a thing. We are all disposable, like a wrapper for a gift. You use the inside, but dispose of the wrapper. They do the same. They suck the goodness in our souls and leave our skin rotten and wasted.”
While Aiden speaks, I sincerely understand him. He’s right in all ramifications; indeed, our body is used like a wrapper, mine, for example, a vessel for them to release all their sexual tension before they then discard me away.
It brings me to a dreadful thought. Once that happens, maybe it will forever change my reason for existence.
My eyes pierce into Aiden’s. “I’m so sorry about what happened to them. I know now why we have similar problems. I’ve faced the cruelty of these people, and I see you as the brother that was taken from me by the same set of monsters, and today, I shall promise you one thing.” I did not think twice before I proceeded. “From all that I have faced, from all that my body has suffered, one day when I gain my powers, I shall destroy the triplets, then everything and everyone that they love with their cold, icy hearts!” I affirm without hesitating.
I have a reason to live now. I must take revenge for all the witches who have died, and until I can, I shall keep these thoughts deep away.
~**~
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