KEEPER OF THE DESERTED ISLAND

LEAVING YOU BEHIND

Shirley reunited with her parents after being taken as a slave when the new king waged war against the pack and won. The queen whose only goal and purpose of being alive was because she was hoping to see her daughter again was so happy that night when Shirley was brought to the palace and they finally had the reunion she wanted to have badly

“Do not be sorry my dear, I am the one sorry, I shouldn’t have thrown you out coldly at the time when you needed me the most” her mother apologized and they reunited with tears

“Don’t blame yourself, I have never regretted the decision I made because I am always happy to have my husband by my side so that is enough for me. I don’t know how long it will take for this time to pass but it will surely pass, we just have to stay strong” she assured them

“What of your kid? Where is she?” the queen asked with a faint voice, she had been battling with extreme cough and cold but had just little layer of clothes to cover up

“I don’t even know whether my child is alive thanks to the prime minister” she replied bursting into tears

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine” the queen said slowly hugging her

“how did you both get to this? You should be the king and queen not some lowly slave, why did the prime minister do this to you both?” she asked holding her mother’s hand

“he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, your father thought he was a good friend to him but it turned out that he was only after his throne” the queen replied with sadness in her voice

“Now I know where the wickedness of Jerrick came from, they are just power driven demons” Shirley muttered

“You have to stay strong, I will make sure to do my best for you both so you have to stay strong” she added holding her mother’s hand once again

“But why can’t you use your powers? You were out of our territory before the power blocking ritual was carried out, how come you were affected?” the queen asked

“The prime minister carried out a stripping ritual on me, he made sure to drain me of every bit of my power before he sold me and my husband to the pack to work as slaves. He was the one that found me at the place we were living together and dragged me to s*****y on my wedding day. He also told me that I will be the weakness for you both so I came to understand that he threatened father with the secret of getting pregnant for a werewolf” she narrated

“the prime minister is a sick bastard, how can he just disorganize the law of the universe and turn the royal house upside down? The gods will judge him, that I am sure of” the queen remarked

“You should rest up now, I will visit father tomorrow so we can also talk. Let’s be strong through this turbulent times so we can all be strong together again” she told the queen who nodded

They said goodbye to each other and Shirley went out of the room to attend to other things, the queen looked for Convel in the palace and called him to have a word with him about her daughter and him too.

“You do know that you are the center of everything that had happened right? I am not trying to blame you but the truth has to be said you know” she said to him and he nodded in agreement

“yes my queen, I understand that all these happened due to my foolishness” he replied remorsefully

“since we are already at a junction with no return, let’s just face it on and do our best to overcome it. Please make sure that my daughter doesn’t end up lonely, she’s passing through something so difficult all because of love and her choice to be a mother. I saw her hands today and they all looked rough and chapped, she has never done any hard work except learning archery when she was growing up but now she has to serve people and also listen to many degrading comments, she’s such a sweet soul but no one wants to understand that, I’m sure she has been yelled at, given hard jobs and ridiculed, if possible beaten because she is a slave in a foreign land. The most regretful moment of my life was when I let her go that night, I should have stayed with her as her mother but I was so bent on upholding the standard of the kingdom instead of warming up my heart to my only child, am I not a failed mother like this?” she ranted with tears dropping down her cheeks

“You don’t have to beat yourself too hard, you just did what you had to do because you are the mother of the kingdom, no one should blame you because you are protecting the kingdom, I promise to always be by her side no matter what happens so you can be rest assured” he slowly said to the queen

“Are you giving me your words that you will be always next to her? You will not forsake her?” she asked once again

“I swear on the spirit of the wolf guided by the moon, I will always be by her side through thick and thin till the day we get to reunite with our daughter” he assured her

“Did you even get to name the baby?” she asked

“We couldn’t name the baby before Lady Carolyn helped us escape with her, I believe she will take good care of her like she has done with the princess” he said to the queen who breathed in relief

She left Convel and went to her room to sleep for the night but she couldn’t sleep because she was restless, she stared at the roof for many hours as her whole life flashed in front of her, she remembered when she became the queen, was pregnant with Shirley, how she raised her and what happened that led to her leaving the palace.

“She was so bright and bubbly ever since birth, how did she get to this point? I wish the universe was a little bit nicer towards her. She didn’t even get to hold and raise her daughter herself, she doesn’t even know if her daughter is alive, what a terrible fate” she said to herself as she wiped the tears falling down her eyes

She ended up standing from her bed when she thought about all her life and everything, she also felt that her goal of wanting to meet her daughter once more has been achieved so she stood up and walked around the palace before finally stopping at the kitchen, she searched for the pot of primrose and took a large cup of the freshly extracted liquid from the pot where it was kept and gulped it down at instead of thinking twice. She left the kitchen and walked fast to her bed in the room before the primrose started taking effect, she groaned and but gagged her mouth with clothes as she fought the feeling of what she took, it was tearing her insides and eating deep into her, it was one of the dangerous substance to them and since she took it in large quantity, she struggled with the feeling and pain till she finally gave up the ghost overnight

“I am sorry for leaving you to face this alone, I know you can come out live so don’t be too hard on yourself who is much more stronger than I who was a coward that couldn’t even protect her own child, this mother loves you” were the words passing through her mind as life slowly seeped out of her.

Shirley woke up the following morning and went to her assigned place to work when one of the maids ran up to her, she had seen many people whispering and gossiping but since she had been trained over the years not to involve herself in anything gossiping since the outcome was always outrageous or lead to punishment, she ignored all of them and didn’t bother to ask what happened or what was happening. The maid tapped her on the shoulder to call her attention and so much sadness was written on her face as she delivered the news to her

“Your mom is dead” the maid announced and she could not believe her ears

 “what did you just say?” she slowly asked her again as the bowl she was wiping dropped from her hand and got shattered to piece