Page 52 of Inheritance
I swallowed, hating the weird surge of comfort I took from her words, “Don’t say shit like that. You have no idea what type of woman I am.”
“I do.” She spoke softly, “Not only have they told me—“ She motioned to the other moms. “But your father sent updates to me once a month through a secure line...I hated him for doing it for a while,” she huffed out. “Didn’t even open them for years, but when I did, it was very clear that you had become someone the likes of which this kingdom has never seen before.”
“Because I’m a hybrid,” I hissed out quietly.
“Yes, you are,” she smiled proudly. “A talented, powerful hybrid who is far better than most people in this fucking kingdom.”
Damn this woman.
“We can agree with that,” Damien’s mom said softly, and her hand on my shoulder had me looking up at her as she offered me a soft and supportive smile.
It was then that I realized I probably needed to update both of them on their sons—something that was almost impossible to do without also mentioning that we were mates. Yeah, I was going to wait on that conversation. I looked towards the door. Speaking of which...where exactly were they? I knew they would have been fine with that battle…a dark sensation worked its way up my back at the idea of something bad happening to them.
I would kill anyone that hurt them.
The door swung open, but instead of my boys it was guards. A sick feeling formed in the pit of my stomach because I had a feeling they weren’t here for a good reason.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ama
Alarge number of soldiers filled the room, and I could hear my dad’s booming voice in the room next door, demanding they stop. It didn’t work, and the center man, who I had to assume was in charge, walked forward, not even hesitating to come up to the cell. I looked towards the other women in here with me, and all of them were glaring at the guards, not afraid but for sure cautious.
“What do you want?” my mother demanded, coming forward and standing next to me, clearly trying to edge me out. I nearly scoffed at that. What,nowshe wanted to act protective? I moved to the side and stepped forward, resisting the urge to throw my wing out and hit her.
“We need the girl. This doesn’t pertain to you,” the man said with a stiff disposition. “I would highly suggest that you step back—“
“No,” my mother hissed, “Amare does not leave this cell. Take me.”
“That isn’t up to you,” one of the other soldiers stated, activating a rune. I ducked, tugging my mother down as a blast of wind sent all of us back on our asses anyway.
I groaned and I let out a growl as I was suddenly lifted and carried out by a soldier. It was a move that was so fast it had my head spinning as my mother called after me. The two other women were saying something as well, but the look on my mother’s face stayed with me as I was carried down a different hallway, leaving the cells behind. That did not bode well.
I still felt anger towards my mother, possibly more than before, especially at how furious and angry she’d looked at the idea of me getting hurt. I could hear someone screaming, and I was pretty positive it was her. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Why did she think she had a right to be protective? She didn’t. Did she?
When the soldier set me down and gripped the back of my neck, another gripped my arm, and they led me forward, six soldiers in front of us and presumably six behind. There were a lot of guards for little old me with nullifying cuffs on.
I couldn’t help but smirk at that, realizing it was possible they were afraid. Unfortunately, my smirk quickly disappeared as the sound of shoes echoed through the space and cold weather began assaulting my skin. I could feel a weird sinking sensation invade my gut as the sound of battle rose up to my ears.
When the door in front of us opened, I noticed several things at once.
The first being that we were on a balcony. It wasn’t a normal balcony. No, this was a simple stone one, with no rail or any type of structure, just holding a ton of guards and a metal chair, overlooking the battle raging.
My eyes traced the dried blood covering the ground beneath it, the concept of who had been here before me distracting me enough that I hadn’t noticed Queen Ava.
She stood looking out onto the capital grounds where our forces were surrounding the place, continuously fighting the smaller grouping of Dark Elves, Incubi, and Succubi that continuously flowed from the palace. I would give them this, we had greatly underestimated their numbers.Then again,none of us had expected them to pull from their main populous of mere citizens with no battle training.
Who the hell sent children into battle?People that deserved to die.
Finally, my fight, flight, or freeze instincts went into full blast as I began to struggle more than ever before, causing Queen Ava to turn and smile at me.
When I was put in the metal chair, I barely had a chance to lunge forward before someone used a rune to lock my hands together by my wrists and my feet together by my ankles. It was like I had invisible cuffs on, or puppet strings…I had no doubt if they wanted to move my hands or my body they would be able to, and that was terrifying.
I tried to move out of my seat and let out a scream of frustration as I found that the most I could do was shift side to side, my head turning to stare at the guards receding.
My breathing was fast, and I didn’t feel any safer as Queen Ava approached, looking absolutely thrilled.
“How the mighty have fallen,” Ava sighed dramatically, a triumphant smirk on her face as looked towards the battlefield, “They believe they are winning right now.Youbelieve you are winning right now.”
