Serene’s POV

"Did you love mother like you loved Marinine?" I asked in a murmur.

"I tried Serene but Fae’s heart always belongs to their first love. It’s not easy for them to fall in love again. What you have with Zeph, you won’t be able to have with anyone else." I could feel the pain his words carried so I hugged him and said:

"Father, I never knew you carried so much pain and guilt inside you. I am glad we had this conversation. Being at my lowest point right now and learning about your life is giving me strength, and I will strive to do better."

"Together we will pull through. We are a family and no matter what these circumstances throw our way, we will remain united. I will not let anyone harm both my kids." He kissed the top of my head.

"Father is that why you don’t like Alexis and warlocks in particular?" The point he was always invariably making was that Alexis had an orthodox approach, it made sense to me why father loathed the man.

"Yes, we had an amiable relationship with Haxum Realm before Alexis took power. That was the time we stopped sending novices over to UIMB Institute as well and I tried to raise the standard of our own so no one would feel the need to travel there. But I guess you had different plans." He smiled down at me and I felt a bit ashamed of myself. How I had begged my father to talk to Alexis about it. If I had known I wouldn’t have pressed him so much.

He continued to speak: "I was very skeptical of you attending that Institute and never believed they will treat you fairly. But I guess I was wrong, their treatment exceeded my expectations."

"They treated me, well father, they treated me as their own each one of them and I never felt alien especially by our Senseis. They protected me and didn’t judge me after what happened." I confided in him and it was the truth.

"I know my dear, Kilamin told me everything. Just focus on healing now and leave the rest to us."

There was another knock on the door.

"Yes," I called out and Kilamin opened the door and entered. A sense of happiness washed over me seeing him as he came towards us and settled down in the chair beside my bed.

"How are you feeling Serene?" He inquired straightening his red cape.

"Better, Ayara said I will be back to normal in a few days. I guessed she figured out the creature that attacked me and prepared the antidote."

"It was a Ghorian, a deadly creature with paralytic toxins in its pincers. You were unconscious at the Institute so Mariela wasn’t sure what had attacked you. She gave you some antitoxins but they didn’t have much effect and now when you described it to Ayara, she was able to figure it out and prepared the correct antidote." I nodded and he focused his attention on father and continued talking:

"Forces are holding the border but no creatures are coming out for now. They seemed to have retreated but I have given orders to remain alert."

"She will be controlling them and I believe a spontaneous attack will be carried out so we have to be on our toes." My father added as they discussed the situation further.

"Father since Kilamin is here as well so I have a request," I spoke gazing at Kilamin.

"Yes, my child. Speak."

"I want you to officially declare Kilamin as your son and announce him as heir to the throne instead of me." My words filled the room with tension as both men stared at me with strange expressions before Kilamin bellowed:

"NOOOO, don’t even think about it. This is not up for discussion." His eyes held fierceness as if the words had physically hurt him.

"Why not? You are clearly more capable than I am in these matters. And it hurts me to think that I can’t even call you brother and father can’t call you son." I glared back at him. Father was surreptitiously watching us without saying anything.

"You both care for me and that’s enough for me, I don’t need the world to know nor do I care what they think. I would rather keep this fact from the world. And you are still young and have lots to learn but one day you will emerge the strongest among us. Besides I am not a pure Fae, I am a part warlock. People will never accept me as their leader."

"I thought you didn’t care what people thought about you." I scoffed at his words and he gave me an annoyed look.

"I do when it concerns matters of the Realm, I can’t have the whole Realm rioting to be deprived of their rightful Queen. My objective will be to remain your right-hand man and guide. That’s the role I want."

"Father, are you not going to put any sense into him?" I shifted my gaze to my father with pleading eyes. He straightened a little before saying:

"I agree with Kilamin’s decision, he will be better suited as your advisor. People have cemented the belief that you will be their future Queen and if we change that now, they will lose faith in us and they will never accept him. It will lead to disarray and chaos." He gave me a small smile and I pouted at them.

"Well, this topic hasn’t closed, I will wait for the turn of events and will keep pushing it. If you think I am going to give up that easily, you are mistaken." I shrugged at them making them laugh.

"We will see little sister we will see." Kilamin winked at me making me frown some more.

"Kilamin, I have been summoned to Elder’s Meeting Tomorrow in Haxum Realm. I will be leaving everything in your hands." I inhaled deeply at his words and my heartbeat quickened.

"You should take Kilamin with you. Remember what happened last time." I blurted out.

"Don’t worry Serene, they will think twice before coming for me. We have to discuss what the next action of the plan will be. And I will not cave into the decision of your imprisonment. You were under mind control and nothing you did was under your control. What I fear is another civil war breaking out." My father sounded skeptical and I couldn’t blame him, considering what went down last time. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"I will handle everything here, be at ease," Kilamin told him.

My father got up and patted my head before speaking: "Take care of yourself while I am away, don’t drown yourself in guilt and listen to your brother." I nodded at him as he made his way out of my room.

Once father was gone I turned to Kilamin and said: "I know why you opposed my idea. Even someone blind can see that you are better suited for this than me." He raised an eyebrow at me while his lips twitched as he retorted:

"Enlighten me."

"Because of my mother, my father made a promise to her and both of you want to honour it." I didn’t hesitate to speak my truth. Kilamin remained quiet for a while before saying:

"Nothing is limited to just one factor Serene, there are multiple factors to such decisions. You will learn with time."

"Hmm, I am sure I will learn a lot from you." He smiled at my words before speaking mischievously:

"Can’t wait to teach you more. Get better now so I can boss you around." I scowled at his words and his face lit up, his features brightening with a hearty smile that crept up on his face. I wished he would smile more for he had such a tough life and I wanted that to change now.

"Yahh, yahh I know how much you enjoy that." I smiled too.

"Well, that’s what elder brothers do. Annoy their little sisters." He pinched my nose and I enjoyed seeing this side of him.

"Kilamin, I have a request."

"I am listening." He sat up straight to give me his full attention.

"Can you check up on my friends and see if all of them reached their homes, safely? Also, I invited them here so in case they decide to come, please make arrangements for their stay." I pleaded.

"I will send some people over soon, will inform you as soon as I will receive the information. But it might take one or two days because of the situation at hand. Arrangements will be done too, don’t worry." His words provided some comfort.

"Thank you, I am worried about them."

"You don’t have to, Artins will have made sure that everyone reaches their destinations, safely." He reassured me and I hoped that was the case for I felt responsible.

Just then we heard a commotion outside our room as if several people came running, followed by a swift knock...