Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 854: For Good ()

Neveah shook her head slowly, she was going to protest but her voice faltered. Her words stuck in her throat.

The woman... was her mother.

Neveah wished she could deny it. But even if it hadn’t been said, the truth was glaring.

Her connection to this woman was something she could feel as surely as she could see it. The moment she had set eyes on her, Neveah’s heart pulsed with a deep-rooted ache and that in itself attested to the truth.

But how much of his words were true and how much could she believe? If there was one thing she’d learned since waking up, it was that everyone in the halls of this Eclipse Palace hid secrets and spun the truth to suit their own purposes.

No one could be trusted. Not one of them.

She exhaled an inaudible breath. Standing up straight. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Why?" He asked in disbelief, "To prove to you that I never did lie to you. I told you I’d let you meet your mother someday if you simply did as you were told. And all along, she was right here. I kept her safe and kept you both together like she would have wanted." He took a few steps closer, straining the silver chains to their limit.

"The only reason you can be united today is because of me...not Alessio. And the only person who can truly save your mother, is me."

"But Alessio...he wants me dead. You won’t stand for that, would you?" He asked eagerly.

Neveah blinked in bafflement. It didn’t take much to understand what he was driving at. For some reason, he seemed to believe she could protect him from Alessio, and that he was entitled to that protection.

She scoffed beneath her breath. The men in this palace lived in a different kind of delusion. It was pathetic. "You just admitted to selling me off in exchange for gold. And now what?"

"I didn’t have a choice." He murmured, turning away to resume his pacing. "If I didn’t give you away, not just me but Eira and the entire Eclipse Domain would be making an enemy of them."

"Them..." Neveah murmured with a frown.

He glanced over, eyes shining with a myriad of emotions, the most prominent of which was terror. "The dragons."

The ruby beast crossed Neveah’s mind. Its eyes... those eyes that had stirred in her heart the first glimpse of warmth after so long.

That pulsing pain returned. Her thoughts grew clouded and everything ached. Neveah shook her head slightly to clear the mist swarming through her head but it only aggravated the ache.

She inhaled sharply, and exhaled slowly. But there was no relief to be found.

Her knees felt weak and had she not been leaning against the ice platform, she might have lost her balance.

She needed to leave. Any longer and she would give herself away.

"So, what is it you want from me?" She asked hoarsely,

"Alessio..." He paused, his tone barely audible. "Kill him."

For a moment, Neveah was silent. She had expected to hear something extremely worrisome, but she had not expected that.

"Kill...him?" She asked uncertainly. "Why would I do that?"

He stared at her blankly. "Because you can. You’ve never needed a reason to take a life."

"Are you hesitant? Because of the mate bond?" He asked, his tone was hard to decipher.

"Will you let your mother remain in his hands? Will you submit to him? If you kill him, I will reclaim my title... and you and your mother can be free."

Neveah shook her head in disbelief. Everything seemed to revolve around Eira. Alessio and this strange man both, they intended to prey on Neveah’s ties to Eira.

Between both of them, she knew there was no winning this. There was no right choice. Each was just as bad as the other.

But at least, she knew what was at stake now.

"You’re not in any position to bargain with me." Neveah clarified. "And neither is he."

"Whatever happens from this moment on...who lives or dies, I’ll make the sole decision."

She didn’t wait to hear what else he had to say. She didn’t pause or turn when he called out dark and hateful threats... she just kept walking.

When she stepped out of the dark hallway, she exhaled the breath she had been holding.

Her chest felt tight. Her heart constricted within. Every beat ached, every breath sent a sharp pain radiating through her.

The ache in her head had only grown stronger and her mind churned restlessly, like something held just beneath the surface struggled to break free, even at expense of her sanity.

She clutched her head, gritting her teeth against the cry of pain rising in her throat as she hurried out of the study and down the deserted hallways of the palace.

She wasn’t certain where she was headed. She had no set destination. Her mind was too clouded to come up with a sane thought.

The only thing she knew was that she needed to get away. The urge to flee and never look back...never return, pulsed so strongly within her, it overwhelmed the pain.

Her legs guided her through the palace, her instincts navigating all on their own and Neveah didn’t fight it... she couldn’t.

At this rate, she would be caught by the guards. But that was the last thing on Neveah’s mind. Her thoughts were muddled in confusion, all she had heard had only put her in greater uncertainty than before.

She needed to breathe. Her lungs had clamped so tightly, all the air she took in seemed to get stuck in her throat. Suffocating her...

Neveah wasn’t certain for how long or how far she had walked in her gaze, but when she came to, she was standing in the clearing again, surrounded on all sides by towering trees.

It was the same clearing... the exact spot she’d met the ruby beast. How she had escaped the palace and gotten this far into the forest without being sighted by any of Alessio’s patrol guards, she didn’t know.

There was so much she was capable of that made no sense to her. So much she could do that she rightly shouldn’t have been able to if there was an ounce of truth to Alessio’s account of her past.

When exactly did she become so skilled at evading highly trained shifters? How could she still be so stealthy even in her current state?

Even the man in the ice cavern wanted her to kill Alessio. Like he was certain, without a doubt that she could achieve it.

Though she had said the words to Alessio once herself, she hadn’t really contemplated the possibility of it.

Alessio wasn’t just any man...he was an Alpha King. Not many stood a chance against him. If she could kill him, what did that make her?

Neveah dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. Her heart thudded within her and her vision spun.

It could have been just a few heartbeats, or hours, Neveah wasn’t certain. But when the pain finally faded, her vision stopped spinning and her breaths evened out. The forest came into focus, and she realized she was not alone.

Neveah stiffened on instinct. She glanced up slowly, her eyes trailing the mountain of ruby scales until she met those eyes... already staring at her.

How and when the ruby beast had landed, or how it had escaped her notice, Neveah didn’t know. She hadn’t noticed it at all until now.

But it was here...not just in her head, but in the flesh. It stood just a few paces away, and it stared directly at her, just as she did.

Neveah wanted to speak, but her words were stuck in her throat. She hadn’t imagined she would cross paths with the beast again...not when she was to leave for the moon ceremony.

But it had come to her, like it knew she would be unable to keep their appointment. Or perhaps, it had never truly left at all... perhaps it had always been close by. Watching, and waiting...

When Neveah found her voice, she asked "Have you been... waiting for me?"

The beast didn’t respond. But its eyes provided her the answers she needed.

Neveah exhaled a slow breath, dragging herself up to her feet. "I... I will be leaving here soon. I don’t know where to... or when I’ll return."

Its eyes grew dark, scales rippling in visible agitation.

"Please just...hear me out, okay?" Neveah pleaded.

"I don’t know...who I am." She admitted, "Or where I belong. But I know it’s not here... and I know you have my answers,"

"Because you’re the only thing that truly feels familiar to me." She exhaled heavily,

"But I can also tell, for some reason... you can’t shift..." Neveah searched the beast’s eyes and a pained look flashed through them.

She nodded slowly, forcing a smile to her lips. "It’s not your fault. I know, you’ve been through your fair share of troubles and I’m just grateful... you found me."

"But I don’t think I will leave here. I can’t... leave here." Her tone grew hoarse, "And I now understand, that you’re not welcome here. If Alessio finds you...he’ll stop at nothing to hurt you."

"Do not wait for me anymore. This time, I need you to leave. For good."