The Alpha Queen and Her Rogue Kingdom

CHAPTER THIRTY

ELINA

I couldn't sleep all night, my head kept buzzing with thoughts about what had happened in the forest, Bastian's words kept repeating in my head as if they were a legendary story of those that I had to learn at school , I find it hard to believe that my father could have chosen death even knowing what it would do to my mother and my brothers, and also to me, so I suppose I will have to wait until I see my mother again, so I can ask her if she believes that this version that Bastian told is credible or just a vile attempt to manipulate me.

When I see the first rays of sunlight coming through the window, I start to quietly prepare to go out, as I don't want to wake up the babies, who also seemed to have trouble falling asleep after I arrived last night, and I felt bad thinking that somehow my worries were affecting them; and when I am ready, I send a mind link to Camille, who is also awake, asking her to wake up the rest of our people, and I notice in the tone of her responses that she also seems restless, but I refrain from telling her anything.

Once I have left the nanny with the babies , I go in search of King Arnold to thank him for his hospitality and inform him of my early departure, which makes him a bit disappointed, as he intended to have a dinner tonight since he had noticed that Both Bastian and I didn't seem quite as tense as last time, and I suppose he was planning some kind of reunion between us for a possible settlement on the war, King Arnold is, after all, one of the wisest men on the continent, and his Peace slogan has always earned him praise from most of the people who know him.

However, he does not seem to understand that in this case, it would be useless to try to sit both of us at a table so that we can talk about our differences, because this war is very different from the others, in this one we are not facing enemies from some old battles, or enmities and resentments based on power or ego , this one is much worse than all the others, this war started with a very strong love, and we all know that this type of love produces the worst hatreds.

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When I return to the room where the babysitter is finishing dressing the babies, I find all my warriors outside in the hall, with their luggage ready and waiting for my orders, so I take the babies, one in each arm, I tell them that it's time to go now, and everyone starts to get off towards the vehicles that are already outside and waiting for us, and when I am going down the stairs, I hear someone yell my name.

I don't have to turn around to see who that voice belongs to, and then I resume my walk, determined to ignore him and get out of here as soon as possible, but a few seconds later I hear him coming down the stairs quickly after me, so I turn to him, and with a tense voice I say:

"What do you want, Bastian?"

"Are you leaving?" he asks, and I raise an eyebrow at him, because the answer is obvious.

"Why? Are you not going to continue the search?" he insists, and then smiles at the babies, which makes me even more furious.

"No, it's useless, I shouldn't be doing your job, if you want to prove your innocence, look for the evidence yourself," I tell him, and he frowns slightly.

"I thought you wanted to know the truth too," he tells me.

"I am sticking with the truth that I know right now, the one the evidence shows me," I tell him, and he looks hurt.

"So, you didn't care at all what happened yesterday?" he tells me, and I shake my head.

"No," I answer firmly, as I try to hold Alissa tightly, as she seems determined to go into Bastian's arms.

"Not even what I told you about your father?" he asks me.

“I have no way of knowing if it's true or not, the only person I could ask is dead, so I am not just going to take your word for it, which, after everything that has happened, has no value to me,” I reply, and this time he really seems pained at my words.

"I have never done anything to make you distrust me, I explained what happened, I apologized for not having handled things in a better way, but ultimately the fault was not mine, I did not decide to take his life, he did, you are choosing not to believe in what I tell you because it is more convenient for you to paint me as the villain of the story, because then you can go around the world telling everyone that I am as bad as my family was, because that way you have the perfect excuse to use your bloody husband's army and attack my kingdom… I thought you cared about the lives of all the innocent people who will die if there is a war between us, but evidently, I was wrong about you,” he tells me, and I have to do an enormous effort not to lose control.

“Evidently,” I reply, and when I notice his confusion, I add: “You don't know me at all if you think I am going to take your word for it as an idiotic child, and about the people who would die if the war starts, there is a simple solution: give me back my kingdom and go back to the hole that you and your family came out of so that no one will have to lose their lives, starting with yours,” I reply.

"Is that a threat?" he tells me through clenched teeth.

"Take it however you want, if you care so much about the welfare of your people, act like a bloody king for once and do what is best for you and them, and not what your ego tells you," I tell him, and he snorts.

"My ego? What about yours? I have shown you in a thousand ways that you are starting a war over a f*cking misunderstanding, but you are too proud to admit that you judged me too quickly and acted irrationally as you always did,” he responds furiously.

"It's just a misunderstanding because you say so, show me the proof that it was, and then we will talk about the war," I tell him, and he runs his hands through his hair in exasperation.

"Goodbye, Bastian," I add before turning to leave.

"Wait!" he tells me, and I stop for a second, then he says to me in a calmer voice looking at the babies:

"Can you at least tell me their names?"

I frown for a moment, wondering what this is all about, but in the end, I decided that it won't hurt to answer this, so I say in a monotonous voice: "Aiden and Alissa,"

"Those are pretty names, I like them," he replies.

"I don't care if you like them or not, I wasn't asking for your opinion," I reply, and he rolls his eyes.

"Aiden like your father, the Crown Prince Aiden Bloodmoon, I think it suits him, your father was a legendary warrior," he says smiling.

"Yes, until some bloody sadists murdered him," I reply, and he shakes his head but doesn't respond to my venomous comment.

"Why Alissa?" asks me.

"For my other father, Alistair, the one you executed, remember?" I tell him, and he looks at me with a frown.

"You really have a lot of hatred for me, don't you?" he asks me sadly.

"Yes," I reply simply.

"I don't care, I know you still love me as much as I love you, I know it and you know it too, even if you refuse to admit it," he starts to say, and before I can protest, he approaches me, wraps his arms around the three of us, and whispers in my ear:

"We make beautiful babies, we should try to make another one, it seems that you need it, and I am more than willing to help you with that," he says with a hoarse voice, and I feel my heart stop as I feel the familiar tension start to build up in the lower part of my abdomen, but before I can answer him anything, he turns around and heads back to the second floor.

Damn Bastian and his stupid effect on my treacherous body.

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