The Alpha King's Nemesis-Chapter 223: All That Matters ()

Even if Askel loathed her and did not wish to lay eyes on her again, in this moment, Zariah could only think of gazing into those eyes, so he would see in her own eyes, that there was nothing he could become that would make her loathe him.

Zariah’s hands trembled as they reached up to Askel’s face, lifting his gaze up to her.

Askel’s eyes fluttered open slowly, animalistic as they looked, there was nothing but pain reflected in them as he opened his mouth to speak with great difficulty.

"I...did not want...you to see me like this. Why... have you come down here?" Askel asked Zariah in a slow, pained tone.

His words were more of a growl than they were words but Zariah picked up on every word he had said, her heart clenching painfully.

How had she let her rage and thirst for revenge blind her to Askel’s troubles? How could she not have seen his struggles all this time they had spent together? He had done so much for her in this short time already yet how had she repaid him?

Zariah did not even have the words to justify her actions to her own self anymore. Was the past truly worth hurting the one who had stuck by her side through everything in this lifetime? The one who had made each day easier to wake up to?

"How could you not tell me of this? I knew nothing and I... I just kept on..." Zariah broke into a sob, unable to complete her statement.

"Queen Sancia was right, this is all my fault... I did this to you. I pushed you to the edge repeatedly, selfishly, without a care for what it would cost you... I made you vulnerable to the darkness within..." Zariah sobbed out, her heart tight and aching.

Zariah could not believe it, all this time, Askel battled with the same darkness she had been sentenced to in the last moments of her previous lifetime and somehow, he managed to keep his sanity, to keep himself from sinking into the abyss,

Something even Zariah had failed at, yet there she had been, continuously pushing him under, despite how much he struggled to stay afloat,

He had grabbed onto her tightly for dear life, unto the feelings he had for her, the purity of his love for her that kept him rooted to the light but Zariah had shoved him away on multiple occasions, leaving him with nothing to hold onto.

Zariah had no words for herself, for her actions... revenge, pain, anger, she could not think of anything that had been worth putting Askel through this, and yet she had.

And despite it all, he was still so gentle with her and had never intentionally tried to force her decision in his favour or make things difficult for her.

Despite it all, he kept this truth from her, so she would not be swayed or have to worry for him.

"Leave... I am hideous, I do not want...to hurt you..." Askel struggled to say, his tone pleading.

Zariah shook her head fervently, staring straight into Askel’s eyes, tears streamed down her own cheeks and she did not bother to blink them away or stop them,

For the first time, Zariah did as Askel always would, she did not conceal her feelings from her eyes, or try to hide the pain or guilt that she felt, she let it all show, giving free reign to emotions she would loathe to reveal at any other time.

"I will never...never leave you again, Askel. Not in this lifetime, not in the next...not if you were a beast, a demon, or forsaken... I will never let go of you again." Zariah vowed solemnly,

Askel did not know it as well as Zariah did. Someone had made him this way and Askel did not deserve to lose everyone he loved and cared about because of this...not like Zariah had.

Zariah threw her arms around Askel’s neck, hugging him tightly as she sobbed her heart out, the silver cuff around his neck singed her flesh where it touched but Zariah did not mind it.

Zariah could feel Askel’s tears dampen the fabric of her shirt, he trembled in her arms, his fear and pain so palpable, Zariah could feel it as though they were her own...and they were, they should always have been.

Zariah understood it now, there was more to the second chance she had been given at life than the thirst for vengeance she carried in her heart,

No, this lifetime had been about discovering the truth, about finding the love she had failed to find before her death... about a bond that was interrupted and cut short before either party could ever discover it or even meet,

This second chance had been about a man who she needed to stand beside this time...a man who could be her strength as she was his, against the whole world and whatever came their way.

Zariah realized now that there was one more person she had failed to protect in the past lifetime, one person she had not even realised was also hers to protect, one more failure added to her long list of wrong choices in the past lifetime,

A heart and a bond she had betrayed in the past lifetime in her ignorance, giving herself to another, this was a man she had loathed wrongfully and accused of being the mastermind when he had simply been just another victim of a cruel fate and her ignorant choices.

Her true mate Askel whom Zariah had never met in the previous lifetime.

Zariah did not dare imagine what fate Askel had met in that life, if hers and that of Crimson Moon had been so cruel, what had become of Askel?

How early in time did his sufferings begin? Perhaps as far back as when she had let an impostor mark her and claim her body, how much of it had he felt as her true mate? Or was it even further back than that?

The more Zariah thought, her heart broke even more.

In that moment, the pains of the past no longer mattered to Zariah, all that mattered was him...Askel Vance Niolen.