(Amaia)

(The contents of this Chapter are sensitive. Reader discretion is advised. Please, keep your mental health in check while reading.)

I can’t believe my ears. My widened eyes blink at her, ensuring I am not trapped in a nightmare.

What is she planning on doing, kill him? Kill her own son? The one she carried for nine months.

And what does she mean by triplets? Is Alnilam Natianu’s son? That can’t be. He can’t come from two of the most evil people alive.

Alnilam is too pure for that. With tears shining in my eyes, the ones I am trying to control but unable to, I ask.

"What do you mean by triplets?" The agonising pain has now travelled up to my arm.

"You would think I let that filthy Orion fill me up with his disgusting semen and not go to my real mate straight away? I took potions so if I became pregnant with Orion’s child, I would be with Natianu too. A desperate measure that I could tolerate Orion’s child. Got lucky at Alnilam’s time, not so with Alnitak and Mintaka."

This is fucked up. This shameless woman not only forced Queen Adrnia to have sex with her former lover and have a double pregnancy, but she also did the same to herself. She must have taken special potions to prepare her body for double pregnancies. The length this woman has gone to just fulfil her plans is insane.

Not only was she jealous of Queen Adrnia’s double pregnancy she was also disgusted by King Orion.

It also explains why Alnilam and B-Twins are of the same age. They are half-siblings. This is going to break Alnilam. He hates them from his core and now to discover he is related to them, has shared a womb with them is going to be devastating for him.

"How can a mother differentiate between her children like that? Alnilam is your firstborn."

Her wrinkly nose reveals how much she dislikes him.

"They are a means to an end for me. Especially Alnilam. And I am so tired of pretending to care for him. I wanted to break him to an extent that he became unfit to be the heir. Just like the firstborn over there, merely reduced to being my servant."

My grieved eyes lift towards my mate. He is watching me. Only emotions flicker in his eyes, his face is a set mask. It terrifies me to imagine what I will unfold once the mask shatters, revealing his true self.

I know nothing of the pure Saiph underneath: the horrors he must have been made to endure, the torture, the trauma he carries. The things he was made to do on her orders.

He only said he had no choice but to sleep with Bellatrix. It now makes sense why he had no choice. She is the beloved daughter of this evil being. The way they must have forced him into this shatters me in ways I don’t think I will ever recover from.

"Saiph!" I softly and painfully call him again, trying to reach him. Our bond has to rise above whatever curse she has him under. We are stronger than this.

He doesn’t move, his eyes plead and the desperation makes every cell in my body ache.

"You can fight this, Saiph. Please," I beg.

Bond in my chest connecting him to me painfully squirms and I see hints of emotions on his face. Dread is registered there, as I heave, my heart painfully beating for him, for his touch.

His elongated shadows behind him have this melancholic feel to them as if desperate to reach me. I know Rigel’s shadow is hiding there with him, maybe holding onto some sanity, feeding into him.

"He can’t. I killed most of the sentiments and emotions he had. Groomed him since childhood and even killed his wolf spirit so no one will connect him to Orion. It’s his sickening magic I couldn’t get rid of..."

Her words alight my world on fire. My head snaps in her direction. Rage rising like a serpent from me.

"You bitch!" My body strains painfully against the chains holding me back. I want to rip my hand off the floor and strangle her.

It would be quite a sight to snuff out that light of hers.

Saiph had a wolf? She killed his wolf? It’s like killing the other half of you. No wonder he is always so empty and blank. Struggles with emotions. Struggles with feelings. Seeks me out, sleeps on my chest.

Her head arrogantly tilts at me, her gaze amusedly takes me in.

"What are you going to do about it? There is nothing you can do but helplessly watch as I tear away the last of his dignity." The sinister grin she offers makes my soul tremble. She begins to walk towards where Saiph is standing right next to the closed door.

My spirit is shaken to its core.

"No, no. Hurt me, let him go. Please." I don’t think I can survive seeing Saiph get tortured in front of me. Part of my heart died when I saw Rigel go through that.

Not Saiph too.

But she doesn’t heed my words. Approaching the door she pulls it open and calls in a sweet sugary voice. Exactly the one she used with her sons in front of others. "Bella, dear. You can come in now."

What in the fresh hell now?

To my utter horror, Bellatrix walks in looking like a sin from hell. Long black heels. Wearing a silver dress so sheer that nothing has been left to imagination. There is nothing underneath. It’s like walking fully nude. Her long hair is open, waving behind her as she walks.

The way I hate this woman. She is a rapist and I detest rapists more than anything.

Her amused gaze finds me.

She flicks her hair back with a wink. "Aww, if it isn’t the Omnifae. Not looking very Omni right now," she teases walking straight over to where a very stiff Saiph is standing.

"My Saiphy! How I have missed you." She places her filthy hands on his chest and evocatively slides it down.

"Get the fuxk away from my mate," I snarl at her. My whole body is taut against these chains but she pays me no heed.

Instead, she is enjoying this.

Her mother on the other hand flicks her pointer finger at me and the remains of Alnilam’s hair tightens against my throat, strangling me again.

"Just shut up and watch." She takes a leisurely step forward while I try to pry away the choking cord. "If you try to close your eyes, I will hurt him until his throat gives way from screaming," she mercilessly says.

The bond between Saiph and me agonisingly aches. The unbearable pain makes me double over.

I struggle to breathe while my mate anguishedly watches me. A patch of darkness I sense on his neck and rage descends on him. He turns his enraged eyes on Bellatrix and firmly says, "No." Pushing her away with an invisible force.

She staggers on the heels she has donned. That malevolent smile disappears from her face, taken by a surprised one.

"What did you just say to me?" She asks, lifting her hands, letting the air turn murky and dense around her.

Her powers are similar to her mother and Alnitak. Both of them can conjure mists which can choke people.

She hurls a vortex of darkened wind at him but Saiph has a barrier around him which sponges her powers off.

"What the hell?" She squeaks but I know it’s part of Rigel’s shadows which have protected him and taken the hit. How much of it has survived is beyond me.

"Maybe he needs an incentive to be a good dog. Get on your knees or I will squeeze the life out of her," Esmelda warns, tightening the coil around me.

My air supply is totally cut off, I wheeze, my eyes refusing to move from Saiph.

"Amaia!" His voice bleeds with his anguish and torment. I bleed with him.

Like a man reduced to ruins with shadows of helplessness clinging to his body, he drops to his knees in slow motion. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The room spins for me. The light in this room feels tired of the atrocities that had happened and were about to happen.

The shadows bleed and darkness awakens, the one which eats away the light.

It’s haunting, it’s hungry. It feeds on the innocent, sponges off whatever hope is left.

Everything in this room bears witness to what follows. The bottles on the shelves. The books on the wall and the two demons who deliberately trampled on the sacred mate bond.

It eats me away like termites in a log, hollowing me out. Corrodes my soul like acid on skin.

They make me witness my mate’s desecration, humiliation and my soul bleeds there on the floor with my hand and heart.