Page 15 of Inheritance
Pleading with her, feeling a surge of panic, I explained, "I was different back then…and I didn't let it end that way."
Her eyes were hard as I continued, "I quickly realized that it didn't make me feel better. It only made me feel immense guilt at knowing it had been my job to watch over this realm, and I had allowed it to burn to the ground, even encouraging it for a brief period."
"I believe you know the story from there..." I trailed off, remembering she had said she was daughter to the King of Mortem. But I finished the story, in case she didn't, "At first, I'd tried to make amends by pointing the remaining hybrids to the darklands and providing a drop of my blood to a line of my choosing for them to recuperate their numbers in safety."
Her lips pursed, but she nodded her head, "Go on."
"I hand-picked the pure-bloods I had observed possessed the qualities that I felt wouldn't burn the realm to the ground in my absence and appointed them to rule over a new kingdom I would create. The Kingdom of Pura. This would ensure they stuck to themselves and the hybrids could rebuild in peace."
"And why did you decide to go to sleep after that?" my mate asked, her expression unreadable, but I had a feeling that what was under the expressionless facade wasn’t good.
"It's simple. I had no desire to watch hundreds of years go by, continuously reminding me of how I was not only incapable of earning love, but now also not deserving of it after allowing the realm to fall into such ruin."
Suddenly, she pushed to her feet, wobbling slightly as she pulled the blanket around her once more. I moved to assist her back to her room, where I would bestow her powers back to her, but she held a hand up, "Stop."
Standing before her, I awaited her judgement.
"You say you went to sleep because you didn't want a reminder of how alone you are and that you knew why you didn't deserve it, but that isn't the truth."
Hope burned brightly in my chest, but then it was quickly doused with her next statement.
"No. You went to sleep because you weren't strong enough to look in the mirror and accept your role in this realm having a near genocide of the hybrids. You could have stayed and accepted your actions and the weight of your sins. Instead, you chose to go to sleep and put yourself before your people once again. You chose yourself, Luce. You seem to always choose yourself."
I reached for her, but the ice in her gaze made me stop. "Amare...No...that—"
Turning her back on me, she slowly walked around the table and opened the door to leave. Holding onto the side of it to steady herself, she glanced over at me, "You're selfish, Luce. It's that simple. The war that is happening right now could have easily been avoided if you hadn’t gone to sleep. You could have ensured peace in the realm. But instead, you buried your head in the sand, and now my father could be dead because of that."
My heart fractured at the truth in her words. I was selfish...I was a coward. I was a broken, bitter man who had kidnapped my own mate to hide us away from the realm I hadn’t even wanted in the first place.
"And what you are doing now, holding me here against my will when I want to be out there fighting for the safety of my friends and family...it's incredibly selfish of you once again."
As she stalked from the room, I was left with the fact of the matter.
I hadn't been good enough for God to keep.
I hadn't been good enough for a soul mate for the entirety of my life until now.
And now...I wasn't good enough for my mate.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jace
Iwatched from an elevated hilltop as the last of our army pulled through the mountain pass, the nighttime air and lack of light hiding our location from anyone from the Kingdom of Pura who might be looking towards the mountains. It was one of the reasons we had banned all fire for the night, making sure that everyone had food rations that would last them until we marched towards the Kingdom of Pura come dawn. Finias was right—from here, I could see the massive barrier that surrounded the entire kingdom in a dome shape. The fuckers were isolating the kingdom completely to gain control, and I feared it could be working.
Throughout the entire day of traveling, I had managed to keep calm. But now, I could feel anger and frustration welling up inside of me, my Hellhound calling for a level of bloodshed I was more than happy to embrace. Our tent for the night was set up next to one belonging to Commander Pandora and her men. The two temporary residences overlooked the massive grouping of soldiers—all of whom seemed to have begun mental preparations for the fight to come tomorrow. It wasn't just a fight for Pura, and they knew that. It was so much more.
I wasn't quite sure how I was keeping it together, considering I normally would have been the first to demand we go after my mate. I couldn't, though. Ama needed me to lead this war forward. My mate needed me to be strong, and that was exactly what I was going to fucking do. That was how I would prove to her that I was worthy of her love.
I regretted wasting so much of my time with her fighting this. Not the mate bond, but the life Ama led that came along with making her happy. These other men—men I was grudgingly gaining respect for. There may have been a lot we disagreed about, but Ama's safety and wants were not on that list. I could...I thought I could handle being around them if it meant making her happy. Plus, my Hellhound had apparently begun to consider them our pack.
It was a surprising turn of events, considering I'd never been protective of anyone but my parents. But now? Now these men were considered part of our pack because my mate wanted them there. It was an odd way of coming to terms with the reality that I would do anything to keep Ama in my life. Whether that was leading an army into battle for a kingdom that hated what we were or accepting these other men my mate considered hers—or both.
"You good?" Damien asked, appearing beside me.
Of all of them, I related most to Damien. Despite his Hellhound being a vicious opponent, he was a rather collected individual, and the fight he seemed to have between his two halves often reminded me of my own struggles. I couldn't imagine being a pure-blood, but being a hybrid was no walk in the park, especially when the factions of magic inside you were so different. Where my Wraith magic was a cool, calm, chill beneath my skin, my Hellhound was all fire and anger. It left me feeling like I was suffering from fucking whiplash sometimes.
"Yes." I turned back towards the tent, where the others were looking over the massive army. Finias was sitting on the elevated ledge and ignoring Nico, who stood a few feet away, pacing back and forth. I was glad to see the Incubus was no longer wallowing in self-pity, but his energy now was almost manic. The two of them were strong in their own ways, but I could see how much Ama disappearing had affected them, completely ruining their ability to focus.
