Author's Note:
Just wanted to make something clear real quick. The time jump last chapter was just a little sneak peak of Alina's life will be like after the three books are finished. I will be doing a couple of these throughout the books to give you kind of a look at the resolution of the series and clues as to what is going to happen. Please don't worry. This chapter is back to regular time.
Alina's POV
Panting, I stood frozen staring at the inhuman prisoners in front of me. My game of hide and seek forgotten as the stench of rotten blood filled my senses overwhelming me. The tears balancing on my eyelashes quickly found my cheeks as they fell in shock. Firelight lit the room from the burning candles hanging on rods around the cages.
Bar's of steel glittered back at me, appearing harmless when standing on there own. The concrete floor was hard under my ballet shoes, and the hot, humid, muggy air was almost forceful into moving me further past the bottom step. My eyes noted everything in the room beside the four seemingly corpses, and at one point my paci clattered to the floor.
I shouted at my body to leave, to get out of this place, but it was frozen whether with shock or alarm or something so profound as to feel my love growing, not for these people but for the ones who had given me retribution.
As a reaction finally left my body, and my chocked sobs wracked the walls of the dungeon, a pair of eyes flittered towards me. They almost seemed to command my body, never leaving my eyes, keeping them locked. The man struggled into a sitting position, never once losing focus on my eyes.
"Come here bitch. It's about time you remembered who owned you. Hurry the Fuck up and get me out of here and then after that, I might think of considering lowering your punishment." His voice rasped with day's without use or water, but his tone was still the same spine-chilling one he had always had.
My feet moved on their own accord, and my body immediately appeared to respond to his demands.
Leave her alone Josses. Alina leave. He does not control you anymore, and he can't do anything to you."
My body faltered as I recognised my father's voice.
I shifted from foot to foot, unsure of how to proceed. The room almost seemed to burn with fire and smoke as my brother rose further, moving from his behind to knees.
Gingerly, I took a step back, my hand falling to my now empty mouth in shock - my paci lay on the floor. Over the past few weeks, I had forgotten about my...family. It had been a pleasant time, something I had never experienced before my cruise. Over the past few weeks, I had awoken and had a bottle, get changed and went on a new adventure. There wasn't time to think about anything other than happy thoughts. They had consumed me whole, turning me into a bubbly happy Alina. The person I was.
But while my shock was starting to wear off, it did nothing to help my shakes or the beating of the heart that was going a mile a minute. Just seeing my brother, my mother unconsciousness in her pool of blood and my pale, milky white, barely alive father seemed to bring back memories of nightmares that had haunted my dreams for the past week. Everything seemed to crumble around me as my happiness drooped and the energy bubble that had been growing inside me died.
Alina.... is the person I am. But she is also the person I have been forced out of.
Thanks to you, everything is your fault.
The voices that had lived inside my head on Earth made their reappearance, and I struggled to stay on two feet. I shook my head angrily. It wasn't my fault for everything that these people did to me. It wasn't. My Daddies had told me as much. They were continually trying to convince me what they complemented with was facts.
Whose fault is it then, if it should not be yours.
The voice of my conscious, a part of me that was determined to blame me, was merciless, unforgiving and would also result in laughing at my attempts at convincing it otherwise.
"It's my fault," I whispered solemnly.
My brother smirked.
That's better...doesn't that feel better?
"Yes." And it did feel better, it truly did. Then it always felt better to agree with the voice. It was my fault. Everything they had done to me was because of how ugly I am, how annoying and stupid and pathetic and dumb I am. Everything was my fault-
"Alina are you down here. Please, your Daddies are getting so worried. Baby please where are you?"
You should never lie to yourself, freak.
Footsteps echoed against the cold stone walls, and my brother retreated into the darkness as I stayed silent from where I stood.
My father called out, "She's down here. She's going into shock."
I shook my head as the voice fell silent and I turned noiselessly to watch as Trex came rushing down the cellar stairs.
"Alina oh thank god."
His arms wrapped around me, pulling me up to his chest and quickly turned.
"I'm sorry you had to see this Princess. No more hide and seek for a while, yeah?"
I didn't reply just whined softly, as we left the room, my pleading eyes never leaving my fallen paci.
--------
The tunnel opened, revealing beautiful stone creatures of familiars who have been a war. They have been displayed in a way that looks as though they're all having a tea party with a large blanket in the middle and a very expensive looking teapot on top of that.
"Daddy it's so magical!" I exclaimed, from my perch in Xavier's arms, with both my arms full of teddies ready for the tea party.
Using the tip of one free finger to run it down the edge of a stone wolf's nose, I smiled softly, my episode from this morning long since forgotten. Of course, that also included my temper tantrum at Emma's party last night/early this morning.
A koi pond sits at the far end of the clearing, and a waterfall sounded in the distance. Voltix walked up and moved to one of the empty spots beside the picnic blanket, Lili followed him.
"Daddy, picnic?"
"Yes baby girl," Pinching my cheeks. "It's too early for lunch, but I figured you might like a few snacks before we head back home for your lessons."
We walk over to the picnic, and he drops me down onto the blanket. Immediately I start to set up my stuffies on one side, before turning to pout at Daddy as he sat beside me.
"Do I weally haf to go to lessons today Dada?"
Mercuries chuckled above me before he to dropped to the ground. Chevron and Zeus followed with their beasts and Lili curling up at the other end of the koi pond. My mind filtered back to an hour ago as Zeus passed me a yucky sandwich and an apple.
Flashback:
Confused, I watched Lili snuggles into Galia and Voltix's arms. They almost seemed to be acting like my Daddies and me.
"Daddy, is Lili their little?" I whispered as Mercuries jumped over another log, my hand gripping onto his fur.
"Yeah baby Lili is, but they have been separated since you and I were so they're just making up for lost time like us."
The first seemed alive with energy. It beckoned me into its pulsing heart. The umber-brown ancient wood of the trees reeked with age. The musky essence floating around was from centuries of snapping branches falling to the forest floor and rotting silently. The organic smell overpowered your senses and rose up in waves like a haze. Every sprawling tree we pass under reminded me of a watchful guardian, a silent sentinel of the grooves. We ventured more in-depth; into the tangled heart of this primeval forest. Its dark secrets and beautiful crystal magic lurked behind every shadow.
"That's so cool Daddy! That means that Lili isn't lonely anymore."
A large root spread-eagle in the ground in front of us, twisting like the high backs of sea dinosaurs. The foliage became thick and lush, forming an arch of fairytale green above our heads. Arthritic boughs, gnarled with age, dripping their bounty of nuts onto our path. Briars, brambles and berry trees flanked the trail, making it almost impenetrable on either side. Especially for one who had not ventured through these woods, for me. Shuffling noises came from deep within those sections, mixed with hoots, growls and snarls. Even so, they were deadened by the web of leaves protecting them. A troupe of weird looking animals crossed the trail in front of us, and I let out a squeal.
Stranger's POV:
She's mine.
She has always been mine.
My past was weak and inadequate to my role, I'll confess, and I had far less control over myself and my beast. I killed planets. I killed my civilians. I killed ungrateful littles, and I would have killed her if not for THEIR strength and THEIR control. But I love her, and I have domination now.
I have changed. And with my improvement, I can see past my weakness, past my want and need.
I need her more then I need air or food or water. Her power, her magic calls to mine. I felt it when she was born. Those weak, loving fools felt it as well. I have to know the extent of her little power, but that knowledge will come with time. It almost feels mind numbingly powerful even being this far away from her although she may be as weak as some of the littles I killed, I doubt that though. With her bloodline and her connections, fail to see how that could even begin to possibly be true. Still I have yet to know but I no longer feel fear towards her...
Fear...I used to suffer through of emotions of fear just at the thought of her magic...of her. I feared what she would do to me...What she would change within me. But i've gown past that. She's mine and I will let no other claim her from me.
I have advanced....and grown...her power against me no longer concerns me except in that it's fitting to her role. I would not and do not claim lesser beings then which my own power can testify against. If I did not exist, she would grow to become one of the strongest Queen's in all galaxies, solar systems and planets, But she is mine and I am her's and everything that is her belongs to me therefore I am the greatest ruler of this time...of all time.
I have hurt her and I must continue to do so if only to love her. it is necessary to have her in my reach. Even for a banished King there are expectations that must be met. One such as an evil lord can not be seen to go from a murderer to a lover in a day. Time is of consequence. But she is mine and with time she and space will come to realize that. I have all of eternity. My followers, slaves, my people know that already and they will not stop me from my pursuit. They too will hurt her but with nothing that could not be irreversible and time also forges forgiveness. They will not kill her. They know she is mine and they believe that I have claimed that right - to kill her - for myself.
How little they understand and how little they can perceive.
She is mine but the pleasure she will give me will not come to death because she will give me what I want...willingly. It might hover on the borderline of crucifying pain but she will learn with time.
I have hurt her. I know that she seems me in unconscious mind, in her dreams. I know. Do THEY really think that THEY could cut the connection between us, a connection I recreated the night of her birth. It was a night that she reduced me to nothing but a mere spirit, a figure of a lost soul, stuck in a endless timezone that was meant to cage me from her. She a mere baby, a child who had yet to do anything much other then breath had taken away everything from me. I was nothing.
Do THEY really think that this bond can be ignored, that it will fade with time. I aware of the bond in this moment more then I have ever been more aware of anything else. I am aware of the pain and anxiousness I my actions against other's cause her. I have not rightfully murdered anyone since her birth because I did not want her to feel the pain of it. I have been beyond careful.
Careful with her. No one else deserves it. Not THEM, not civilians and not even my familiar.
THEY think I do not torture. That I just sit here patiently waiting until they forgive me. Doing nothing all day everyday. THEY think I do not kill and do not torture because I apparently think that everyone is beneath my efforts. THEY do not understand the restraint I force upon myself if not to get out of here sooner, then for Alina's sake. To kill is an honor, to torture even more so but both are something I have refrained from for a very long time. It's hurts her. Any pain I cause to someone, any death I force upon a victim, she feels every little detail and I refuse my damaging my property. When the time comes, when she is beside me, she will no longer feel this hurt, this pain but she feel the honor and she will feel the bravery and prestige that comes with being above all else.
Nevertheless I have people, followers, fools to do my bidding. The images I have shown her, and the ceremonies she has unconsciously witnessed through our bond, it's all preparing her. She learns, with every crack of their whip, with every scream that fills the room and with every last plea breathed through someones torn body. With everything that I have given her, with everything that I have shown her, she learns. Her education with me will uphold until she is ready to return to place she belongs. I cannot afford weakness.
She will stand by my side. My followers all look to me but it is her who commands them. She who is weakness will become my strength.
She is mine. There will be a war for her but time will come and she will realize where she belongs. She will come to me above all others. My plans are finally moving, ready to pounce. Those near who have tried to retrieve their once loving king have been caged. My familiar has been caged, until he too learns. Each day a new truth will be revealed, not only to the world but to her personally. And when she comes to me, I will be waiting.
Honestly, it beautiful our connection. Something that has been gifted to the body I have overtook and now belongs to me. Of course it took time and patience but now it's all falling into place. The curses that had been stowed upon me required sacrifice, strength and power, but now I have turned that energy into mine. And in surviving that curse my path towards ruler has bloomed and become clear to even the incredibly vague prisoners of war will realize the greatness in which I will become. I will have power not only of this universe's people or humans per say but I will own with Alina powers that only her blood can wield. They say that her with her heart and blood you can control any creatures, any littles and every last piece of magic you could ever possibly want. THEY think she's safe from me, that THEY can hide her and protect her. Hah! THEY never considered that their precious king had been stolen by the spirits below - ones who were never given enough for everything they gave up. Their king, everyone's long lost king belongs to me now, which means that she belongs to me.
There was a reason that Lucian was considered the greatest king of all time, the greatest helper of all time, the greatest friend of all time. He only used a scrap of the magic he had, for kindness over evil, for the greater good, rather then greediness and to create new lives for everyone who wanted one. He was the real evil. The things he could do, the things I am now going to do with his power and her's are limitless. Endless.
The scrolls have predicted the future. They say she will drown me. They say he will pull through. They say I will return from where I came from. They are oblivious.
She will not render me weak and he will not pull through my cage. They are mine.
Soon she will submit to me and I will show her the pleasures that are those of mine. The pleasure of darkness and despair. She will take her place at my side. THEY do not and will not believe I have returned. THEY dare to doubt that I have returned. And THEY will dare to doubt against Alina. Perhaps I will present THEIR heads on sticks as a gift to her when she is where she belongs. It's what any good mate would do, correct?
Soon not even THEY will stand in my way.
I have returned and soon she will be mine.
May THEY all tremble.
May Alina tremble.
..........
Author's Note:
And finished. Yay! I love this chapter, but I know a lot of you will hate me for it. Stay calm, although it is going to get a whole lot more hectic. This is the start of the drama that s going to be within the books. Please don't kill....I love you guys
Love
Bekky
xoxoxoxoxoxo