Rising from the Ashes

Healing myself

Chapter 13

Lilith’s pov

It took me two weeks to leave the castle, and it was only because Lilith was throwing up and almost fainted on me. That girl is as stubborn as I am, but as soon as I said I was taking her to the hospital, she gave in. I think she was just happy to get me out of the house.

So it turned out she was pregnant with twins, I was excited that I was about to be an auntie. It gave me something to look forward to, and it was nice to see Lilith so happy. She had been through enough, and she deserved all the best things in life.

Even though she had made steps to prevent pregnancy, she knew that they were unlikely to work against a demigod as a mate. She was happy, and that was the main thing, I think she mainly wanted to get through the ceremonies anyway before that, and she had managed well almost anyway.

She was only a month gone as an estimate. Apparently, with Ezekiel being part god, she would be lucky to make it to 5 months regardless of her hybrid status. God sperm trumps everything genetics wise, so Claudia told her.

She was lucky if I ended up mated to Marcus, it would extend my pregnancy by a couple of months, which I wasn’t thrilled about, but for him, I didn’t mind. It was at that moment I gave my healing a time limit, I needed to heal by the time she gave birth. I wouldn’t make him or myself wait any longer to find out.

I knew Zeke was going to be thrilled about the news. He was more than ready to be a father, and I was excited for them both. The guy I would have cut off his p***s to get him away from my sister was now like a brother to me. He had more than proved himself worthy.

Lilith didn’t get the chance to tell him when she was informed the same day that Cassie and Alaric had adopted two children, a two year old boy and a newborn daughter. I had to admire them. They already had 6 month old twins, but they had space in their hearts for these to precious gifts.

I knew that Lilith decided at the moment she heard that, that she would wait a day to make the announcement in front of everyone. I was happy to keep her secret so she could surprise them, I would have loved to be there, but I knew I wasn’t ready yet.

I made her promise to take lots of pictures, I couldn’t wait to see the new additions. Claudia at first wanted to stay back for me, but I made her promise she would go. I knew she was excited to meet them, and I also didn’t want her to miss Lilith’s announcement.

She was so looking forward to having grandchildren that I didn’t want her to be the last to know. She was still determined to come back quickly to check in on me, but I was hoping that she would change her mind when she heard the news.

She did stay a bit longer but was back quickly, still pretending it wasn’t for me but to help look after things so Lilith and Zeke could stay longer. Hades just smiled at her indulgently. None of us were convinced by her protests.

It did feel nice to have people care and worry about you so much that they would leave other things just to make sure you were fine. Mum did the best she could she had three other children, but it would have been nice if she had done it more often. I can’t remember the last time mum held me through my nightmares.

I don’t blame her entirely. She had no idea the half of what I went through. I couldn’t tell her, and the rest of them did a great job of keeping us apart when I was too much in pain to hide it. It still hurt that Lilith noticed, but she didn’t at times.

I know she had a lot on her plate. She had a kingdom to run, 4 children to try and keep happy, and a mate that she felt like she no longer understood. Her ranked members rallied around dad more, I think it was only Clara, her gamma female, who believed something wasn’t right.

She wasn’t so strongly swayed that she went against her mate or even tried to talk him around, but she listened to Mum. She was also one of the few who were genuinely kind to me. Only when people were not around, but it was better than nothing.

After that day, when I heard how disappointed Marcus was that I didn’t turn up to meet the kids, I went and got help. Even in the underworld, they have counselling. Claudia set me up with a lovely female demon and even came with me to my first appointment.

She helped me to realise that I had spent my life expecting far too little from people. As my family, they should have done more for me. At times, it was less than the bare minimum of what I needed to survive, let alone thrive.

I knew Sophia was getting questioned and sentenced, but I had no urge to see how it went or try to influence the outcome. Claudia kept me updated on what I needed to know. Her and Hades had to abscond on the vote for her punishment as they saw me as a daughter, and so did grandpa Julius.

I didn’t go to the sentencing of her because I didn’t care about her enough to bother. I had no urge to have final words or a heart to heart in the hope that she had finally changed. She was nothing to me now.

I was glad that she was stripped of her dragon and that she would spend 20 years in a cell. Because a lot of it was done as a child, she was protected from a lot of it.

In Elysium, we don’t punish children unless they are truly evil and do something as heinous as murdering someone. Even then, they have special rehabilitation centres in the hope they will grow into good humans and adults.

I guess I am just glad she was still a mega bi.tch after she turned 18, or she may have gotten away with everything. My dad had spent the entire time visiting her and trying to get her sentence reduced. He still hadn’t bothered to call asking for me yet.

I did hear that Nelson the Beta heir was her mate, she had known since she turned 18, funnily enough he was the one to take her virginity, but neither of them was over 18 at the time so he didn’t feel the sparks.

I knew he liked her. He followed her around like a puppy. It must have hurt him to know she was hiding something so big from him and sleeping around in the hope of getting someone of a higher rank. He was allowed to reject her, and she was forced to reject him.

It had caused even more disruption between him and my brother, and my dad and his father. I was well out of there, so it wasn’t my problem any longer, and if I happened to end up mated to Marcus, I am sure he will deal with them for me.

August was apparently filled with guilt and refused to take over as king unless the moon goddess or I forgave him for his sins. It was a bit late for sorry now, he never liked me, even though he never tried to know me, it wasn’t my job to make him feel better.

After another couple of months, I finally gave in and called my mum. I am quite good at art, but I have nothing on her. I think she has personally painted the rooms of every king and Queens children before they were born, and I wanted my niece and nephew to have the best.

I was looking forward to seeing her but I was also nervous about it. I knew that she would want her family back together now that the truth was out, but I never wanted to stay in either of the dragon kingdoms again. There were too many bad memories there.

“Regina baby, I have missed you so much. You know your dad and Julius really want to see you. They feel terrible about everything. Julius is devastated that you rejected him as your brother” she says, not even asking how I am.

“I am doing great by the way, well not really but I guess from rock bottom there is only one place to go so I guess I am moving in the right direction” I say rolling my eyes.

“Of course I want to know how you are, I just want you to have family around to support you through this” she says, trying to placate me.

“Mum I don’t want to fall out, but I don’t have much of a family. I don’t have a relationship with most of them as they didn’t want anything to do with me. Now that Sophia isn’t in the picture, I won’t replace her for them. None of them wanted me before, and I don’t want them now” I said more strongly than I felt.

“Regina you were always more forgiving than that” she says pleadingly.

“They sucked the forgiveness out of me, mum. I know that dad hasn’t even tried to get in touch, but he managed to visit his favourite daughter every day and try to help her. Even now, I am in last place for him. If you can’t be here without trying to convince me on them, then you can go, I will do it on my own” I say, getting irritated.

“Sorry I won’t say anything else unless you ask. I don’t want to lose you just to make things better for them, I am sorry I just wanted my family together I miss the days when everyone one got along and loved each other” she admits.

For the rest of the time, she didn’t bring them up, and we actually had fun. The last time we spent this much time together was when Angelina was getting her training. It was nice to bond again, and I was just as sad as she was when she left.