Page 152 of Of Realms and Chaos

Yet I had just bore witness to Asher doing everything I had always been taught not to do. She chose a male over me. Not just any male either, but the very male that sullied my family line. The first male Mounbetton to be born in the last ten millennia. A stain. A weed in my beautiful garden. One that I had gotten so lucky as to replace with my Asher—my flower—only to have her ruin it.

“Mia!” I heard Xavier’s voice ring out just as my trembling fingers touched the gilded handle of one of my chamber doors. A growl tore its way up my throat, an inner nearly animalistic part of me breaking free from the confines that were the expectations of a Mounbetton queen.

If I kill him, I will be forced to find another and retrain that one.

With that thought on my mind, I took a heavy breath and turned towards my husband. Xavier walked up to me wearing golden silk from head-to-toe, his form-fitting button-up shirt clinging to every muscle. All of his black waves were pulled back in a twist at the nape of his neck, his pale skin and dark eyes making him appear fierce. Or perhaps that was the look of rage upon his face as his gaze took in my disheveled appearance.

“Where is Ash?” Panic bled through his voice like an open wound, that heart of his once more getting in the way of his usefulness. Just as it always did. He was not formidable. He was weak.

“Obviously not here,” I hissed, ripping open my chamber door and walking through it. Though he knew he was not allowed to enter, Xavier still barreled through the doorway, his loud stomps against my beautiful gold marble making my teeth grind. Oh, how I hated him, how I loathed all of his filthy kind. Each male was more insufferable than the last, and I desperately wished that I could simply rid the world of them all.

“You did not get her? Is she harmed? Where is she now?” His questions shot my way like a whip, and I had the distinct memory of watching him snap leather upon Asher’s skin for the first time. Of the way he gagged and cried. How he begged me afterwards to never make him do it again. As if my father had not whipped me, just as my grandfather had whipped my mother. The males did the hard things so the females would remain close, united, strong.

“No, I did not get her, you idiot! She is still with Baron,” I seethed, kicking off my heels and shedding my blood-stained dress. The gold pooled at my feet, and I wondered, not for the first time, if the solution was to simply make another heir. But Asher was special. She was everything I could have dreamed of in a daughter, and I wanted her back.

Xavier’s stuttered reply was soft, just as he was. “Has he harmed her? Is she being held captive?” Eternity save me from this idiot.

My body spun around so fast that I nearly lost my sense of gravity, but a lifetime of training steadied me as I faced off with the imbecile I called husband.

“No, stupid male, she is willingly staying with him! She had the audacity to attempt harm upon me, as if I was not practically her mother!”

His gaze went wide as I shouted the truths that threatened to bring me to my knees. I watched in disgust when his mouth opened and closed, that stupid dimple of his popping out as he grimaced at the glare I leveled him with. After another few beats of silence, he spoke. “Perhaps the solution is to welcome Baron home. We once planned to marry them, so let us do that. He is our son after all. We would be immeasurably stronger with both at our sides. Taking down the demons might be far simpler that—”

Another scream of outrage clawed up my throat like an unleashed predator, and I could not stop myself from crafting vines that shot towards Xavier. They wrapped around him, tightening slowly before he shouted and burned them away—oh, how I hated fire. We stared at one another, each angry for far different reasons, though we both, above all else, wanted our Asher back. That was the one thing that I could never fault him for. He knew just as I did that she was exceptional—remarkable. But the rest?

“Get. Out.” With that, I turned towards my bathing chamber, giving him my naked back in a show of defiance. Of disrespect.

“I cannot lose another, Mia.” His plea was met with silence, as I would not even deign to acknowledge that Baron was some sort of loss. It was a blessing that he was taken.

“Out!” I screamed, slamming the golden door behind me. And then, with all the grace of a mere peasant, I got into my empty tub and broke down in sobs. Pulling my knees to my chest, I allowed the sorrow to eat me alive. I pictured Asher’s face as she stared at me like I was the villain of her story. Like I was not cultivating a world good enough for her—for us. Everything I did was to hone her into what she needed to be.

Did I keep her weak for my own benefit? Of course. But I would have trained her one day, perhaps when she took the throne and I finally rid myself of Xavier. She was never meant to hate me. She was mine.

And now, as my chest heaved and my eyes burned and my cries echoed throughout the chamber, I realized that I could not live without her.

My daughter.

Around me, the many scarlet roses that lined the walls began to wilt.

Henry

~ Henry’s attempted apology to the mortal princess, Genevieve, takes a surprising turn~

Gods, I hated yellow. And Asher. And Bellamy. And the nasty little mortal princess.

My black shoes reflected the candlelight and smacked loudly against the hideous yellow tile as I made my way towards where the servant said Genevieve Windsor’s chambers were located. All the while, I pictured the way Bellamy had held Asher, the serenity that was there behind the annoyance.

He loved her. The prick really loved her. And now we were all forced to watch and see all that we did not have. With Ranbir and Nona, it had been different. They were secretive, only really showing their love in small ways or in private. While even I could sense their undeniable chemistry and genuine connection, the mere recollection of them together enough to bring a tear to my eye, it still was nothing like Asher and Bellamy.

Even before Asher had finally given in, we all knew they were unavoidable. Watching her fall apart had slowly torn Bellamy to shreds, and each of us had monitored him as we traveled, making sure he slept and ate and maintained communication with Damon. He barely breathed when she was not around.

Getting to know Asher had forced us all to truly understand why he loved her so deeply. There was something about her that was intoxicating. She was not just funny or kind, she was like the first star winking into existence within the bleak black sky.

Together, the two of them would not only change the world, but they would change one another. Every smile or new inside joke. All the times I saw him leave her tent in the mornings with the most ridiculous smile on his face when we all knew he was not having sex with her. Each instance that he would smirk after she said something silently to him. It all added up to the unavoidable truth.

They were desperately in love, and I was desperately jealous.

I wanted that love. Someone who cared about me enough to burn the world to dust. Everyone thought Asher’s exigent need to save the world meant she cared less for Bellamy, but I could see that it was the exact opposite. Asher knew what she had in him—she valued that love she was gifted so much that she felt the need to earn it. I would do the same if I were awarded such a luxury, but instead, I stood in front of an obnoxiously yellow door prepared to beg for the forgiveness of the most vexing mortal to walk Alemthian.

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