Our Last Hope

Resolutions

"Boys! Boys, that's enough. This is not going to solve anything!" Celeste was trying to break up the fight. "We must stand united if we are to take over this puny kingdom."

When Gregor and William didn't stop, the lights began to flicker and ground started to quake beneath their feet.I didn’t realize that the surge of power was coming from me. It was fueled by my extreme frustration. All I wanted was to kill my husband and ensure my babies safety. I was so focused on the brawl in front of me that I hadn't noticed that most of the party guests had scattered. They had slipped out any door possible. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, the only thing that could be heard was the shuffling of feet and the occasional grunt.

Although the room was shaking, the men did not stop. I knew that I was taking a risk, but I was the only one that could stop all of this. I broke away from my parents and walked around the end of the table.

"ENOUGH!" I used every ounce of strength and power that I had left in my body. My voice was louder than I thought that it would be, I could tell that it was coming from my pelvic floor. To my surprise, they actually stopped. I took another step into the middle and pushed them apart. It wasn't until they were separated that I realized how badly they were both injured. William's nose and cheeks bones looked shattered and Gregor's arm was out of socket. If we didn't set their bones, they would heal incorrectly.

"Don't you see what she is doing? She is trying to pin you two against one another to get what she wants!"

I didn't think that I actually had control over them, but something in my voice told them that I wasn't f*****g around anymore. I felt my courage and my moxie settling back into my soul. It was something that I haven't felt in about a year or so. Now that my bond was forever broken with William, I felt my power awaken.. The fear left my body and I was stronger than ever.

"You two have been at odds your entire lives! Have you ever wondered why that is? The one common denominator is your parents. You need to put your differences aside and do what is best for our community. Fighting each other is not going to make this go away peacefully."

Celeste scoffed at me, she was really starting to piss me off.

The boys looked at me while gasping for air. I looked past them and settled my gaze on Celeste. She stared back at me with great annoyance in her eyes.

"I know what you've been through and I know that you are out for revenge. But sacrificing the innocent lives of the members in our community is no way to get what you want. Our numbers have been dwindling for the last 2 centuries. A fight of this magnitude will not save us, it will destroy us."

Celeste didn't seem bothered by what I was saying to her, it was going in one ear and out the other. I turned to address the rest of room. Some higher officials had stuck around to see what would happen and aid in any way that they could.

"There must be a more peaceful way to solve this issue." I turned back to face celeste. "If a coven is what she wants, then let's give her one."

I felt my father's presence behind me. He was just as anxious as the rest of them to find out where my mind was at. In all honesty, I had no concrete plan but I knew that it would be better than this. If there was one thing that I had learned the last year, that force doesn't always give you what you want.

Celeste began her cackling once more, which didn't help matters any.

"There is nothing you could offer me that would change things." She then turned to the rest of the room. "You don't honesty think that I would listen to this little girl, do you? She has no pull in this matter. There is nothing that she can say to change my mind."

Instead of father yelling at me for speaking out of turn, I could see his thoughts coming together in his mind. He must have decided that it was worth a try. When no one spoke, Celeste began getting restless.

"Now I am the one who has had enough. I will call in my troops and there will blood spilt. This is a huge waste of time."

My father squared off with her and puffed out his chest. His features settled into hard lines and he narrowed his eyes.

"Bring them in. I would like to see who you assembled to fight us."

Now it was father that had humor in his voice. He must have had a pretty decent plan in the works.

Within minutes, a hoard of 400 or so men and women flooded our foyer. The front line were those with machine guns while the soldiers in the back had only their wits and their hands. Most of their eyes were glowing red, but there were a few scattered about that still had their natural colored eyes. Those were the vulnerable ones, the ones that could be persuaded with promise of land and wealth. They would be the first to die so Celeste would never have to pay up.

Father took a deep breath as he prepared to speak to the battalion.

"So this is the army that you have assembled?" Father paused for a moment and walked up and down the line, examining every face that he came across. "Most of you, I have known my entire life. You are dentists, doctors, lawyers, and scientists. Most of all, you were once my friends and confidants. I am curious to know, what this woman has told you to turn you all against me? Do you really think that things will be better with her at the helm?"

I watched Celeste carefully as father tried to debunk her logic in front of her troops. She crossed her arms in front of her body and rolled her eyes. It was no doubt her unimaginable trauma that caused her to be so immature. She was a spoiled brat that wanted what she couldn't have, she would raise hell if she didn't get what she wanted. I quickly glanced over to the hoard in front of me. To my surprise, father's words were actually resonating with some of them.

In truth, our community had fallen on hard times. Our birth rates and mating pool was becoming smaller and smaller. It was no surprise why our numbers were declining with each passing year. Our economy, our crops and our way of life was struggling. Father was doing the best he could, trying to keep things running smoothly. His mind was constantly reeling with what to address first, it was no surprise that certain things were slipping through the cracks. Most of our coven members were understanding and continued to pledge their allegiance to our family. But there were those, like these soldiers that had given up on us all together.

I'm sure Celeste was giving an offer that they couldn't refuse for them to turn on their emperor. I was lost in my own thoughts that I didn't hear the rest of father's speech. I finally clued back in and was able to comprehend the rest of it.

"So I say for peace and the longevity of our people and the greater good of the community. That you put down your guns. There is a more peaceful way to solve the issues that we are facing. Please, join us and we will find a solution together."

It always amazed me how father could command the attention of an entire room. He was able to persuade them otherwise.

"My family and I, welcome you with open arms. We can use our strengths and build an even stronger coven than before."

It was at that moment that Celeste realized that her cause had been extinguished. I hadn't noticed before, but Gregor had made his way closer to me and I felt his bloody arm on my back. I welcomed the contact and felt William's aura change once more. It was unsettling to all of us, William will always be a piece of s**t, but he to was seeing the error in his ways. This whole year had been a s**t show in its own right and we have all made mistakes, myself included.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Celeste fuming, she was about to go full on maniac. Gregor continued to shift his weight next to me, until he was shielding me from the throng. I knew that he didn’t want harm to come to me, but I hated feeling like I constantly needed protecting. I tried to mirror his movements so I still had an open line of sight.

I could feel the peace beginning to fall across the room. It was quiet as the group of soldiers let fathers words sink in. It was then I saw Celeste turn and run full force to me.

“This is all your fault!” She screamed as she charged at me and checked my vulnerable shoulder. I heard an echoing pop and my body was sent flying across the room. If Celeste didn’t get her kingdom, she was still going to get her war. I hit the stone wall and fell on the entry way table crushing it with my weight as I crashed to the ground. I felt Gregor’s hands on me first as he tried to help me up. Luckily, I didn’t feel any pain, only fury. Gregor immediately stepped in front of me, shielding me from his mother.

“NO!” I pushed Gregor aside. “I’ve had enough of this b***h!” I squared off with Celeste. Someone is going to die today, but it wouldn’t be William. I saw a smirk tug at the corners of her mouth and her brows furrowed.

“It’s just you and me princess.”

In one swift motion, I pulled the corner of my slit and ripped. I flung the bottom half of my dress off to the side and kicked off my heels. Within seconds, Celeste was charging for me once more, I slipped passed Gregor and took off towards Celeste. I ducked suddenly and slid under her, popping up on the other side. If she wanted to kill me, I wasn’t going to make it easy. I may not have the strength, but I’m fast and flexible.

She whipped around to face me, she looked annoyed, but it didn’t last long. We took another charge towards one another and I felt her hands on me. I ducked at every punch she threw, dodged every kick, and side stepped her every attempt to take me down.it was almost pathetic as she tried grasping for my neck. She did get a couple hits in every now and then, but she was just wearing her self out.

I could hear the whoosh of air as our movements became faster and faster. I saw an open shot and took it. She left her left shoulder open. I checked her hard enough to disorient her and threw my arm around her neck and pulled her to my chest. Her head was tilted just enough, that with just a little bit of force, I could twist her head from her body. I grabbed tight of her chin and felt her body tense as she realized that she had lost. I leaned in close to her ear and my lips grazed the side of her cheek bone.

“As you can see, you were ill-prepared. I’m going to give you two options. You leave now and are never seen again, or I snap your neck. You came from nothing, and you will leave with nothing.”

She was gasping against my chest. The entire room was silent, no one knew what to do. I don’t think that any of them knew that I was capable of this.

“I will never stop fighting for what is mine.” There was venom laced with her threat. I tightened my grip on her chin so she knew that I wasn’t f*****g around.

“Well then you will die. Like you should have 20 years ago!” Just as I was about to twist, William shouted from across the room.

“No Winnie!” He had a desperate tone to his voice. When he took a step towards me, Gregor stepped up behind him and held his arms behind his back. I locked eyes with William.

“Don’t even get me started on you! You and your mother think that constant abuse was normal! Well guess what!? You will never lay another hand on me again! Should we let everyone in on what you’ve done to me this past year?”

The room gasped, this was all news to them.

“The constant rapes, mutilation, the beatings? No, I’ve been a good girl for too long, but we’ll get to you later!”

I didn’t know where all of this was coming from. I think that it had been bubbling up for a while now. I was just so sick and tired of being beaten down and mistreated. I had no mercy for these two. I was going to do what was necessary to protect my family and my coven.

Without another thought, I jerked my hand to the right and heard the snap that I was looking for. I released my arms and watched as Celeste's lifeless body fall to floor in front of me. William collapsed to his knees just like his mother did.

I wasn’t sorry for what I did, there was no need, I did what was necessary.

The room echoed gasps in my direction, I don’t think that anyone thought that I was capable of something like that. After another brief moment, Gregor came bounding across the room towards me and pulled me to his chest. He quickly looked me over in search of injuries and wounds.

“You’re hurt.” He sounded angry and frustrated as I followed his gaze down to my left arm. There was a large gash across the top of arm from my elbow to my wrist. I had no idea that it had happened. I was half expecting it to heal as I looked at it.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” I tried to brush it off as quickly as possible. I was surrounded in seconds by my parents and few of the elders. I still hadn’t seen William. He must have disappeared right after I killed his mother. He would no doubt go down as a traitor and be prosecuted as such. I craned my neck at the far corners of the large room, there was no sign of him. I was brought back to reality when my mother grasped both sides of my face and placed the tip of her nose on mine.

“My lord in heaven! What were you thinking? I could have lost you too!” Her face was filled with anger for a few seconds before he began to soften. She pulled me to her chest and refused to let me go. I felt a tightening on my arm and knew that it was my wound healing.

I suddenly felt my adrenaline wearing off and I knew that I was close to fainting. My body started to wavier in my mother’s arms.

“Woah!” She exclaimed as I felt her arms tighten around me, trying to keep me upright. I could hear my father’s tone deepen as he leaned over to my mother’s ear.

“We should get her upstairs to rest. This was too much excitement for her in her condition.”

I knew what they were trying to do, they wanted to keep me shielded from the discussions and agreements. I shook my head rapidly, I knew that I couldn’t just sit in the background this time around. I needed to be present for everything, especially when it regarded my future, my coven’s future.

“No! Absolutely not!” I separated from my mother and stood my ground. “I will not take the passenger seat on this. Not after I have been through this past year!” I knew that I was sounding like a brat, but I didn’t care. They couldn’t just stick me in the background.

Father took a step forward and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Okay, okay. Let’s just all take a deep breath.” He turned his attention to the room, “Let’s reset everyone, reset.”

******

I was sitting in the second chair on the left, my father was standing at the head of the table. The room was filled with elders, coven members, and Celeste’s warriors. It was standing room only. In fact, one of the solders was examining my arm as father spoke. He was the doctor that father spoke of earlier.

“I want to thank all of you for agreeing to this meeting. I know that this is not the way that we all thought today was going to go.” There was a light chuckles coming from different points of the room. It seemed like father wasn’t going to own up to the fact that we were all in cahoots to kill my fiancé, I don’t think anyone was about to utter whispers of our discretions.

My cut was deeper than anyone of us had imagined. I required several stitches to ensure that the wound would heal properly. The doctor kept apologizing to me as he sewed up my arm, I’m sure he thought that I was in a lot of pain, but the truth is that I had become numb to pain. The one thing that bothered me the most was that William had escaped. I hope that he will continue to be hard to find, because when I do find him, I will kill him.

I must have lost focus while I thought of all the ways I would get William back for all the pain and torture that he had caused me. My sense of hearing returned just as father began talking about our new borders and defenses. There was mention that of calling in combat trainers and ensuring that our coven would be amongst the best fighters in the region. He spoke about new duties and introducing a new ranking system. One that would be beneficial to us all. We would have constant security for our loved ones and a revamped justice system. I realized that I wanted to be apart of all of it, but I wasn’t qualified for much of what father was describing. I wanted to pull my own weight but how and in what part of our new monarchy. I didn’t want things to just be handed to me, I knew that I was the Emperor's daughter, but I didn’t feel like calling that one in.

When the doctor finished bandaging my arm, he bowed quickly and disappeared into the crowd. I suddenly felt all eyes on me, what did I miss?

“Edwina, will you please stand?” I swallowed quickly and slowly pushed myself up from the table. I bowed my head at father once I was firmly on my feet.

Father looked back to the room. “As most of you know, this is my daughter Edwina. I would like to propose to elect her our treaty advisor and match maker. She has extensive knowledge of the process and I believe that she would help ensure that no one else goes through the same fate as she did.”

I was surprised that dad was just kind of airing out my dirty laundry, but I knew that it was only a matter of time. I would eventually have to testify against William in front of the council and prove that I was not to blame and that William broke the treaty first.

I wasn’t sure how to take this news, I didn’t know if that is the official title that I wanted after all. Yes of course I wanted to prevent things like this happening to anyone else, but I didn’t want to use my own experience, I would be forced to relive it over and over again, I’m not sure my mental health could handle that. I wasn’t even sure how I was handling it right now. I decided that this conversation would have to wait until the meeting was adjourned, father was just starting to make a turn towards peace, he didn’t need his insolent daughter making trouble.

“We will need to finalize details and arrange a formal hearing for her appointment, but out of curiosity, how many of you would support my decision?”

I was in shock at how many hands shot up into the air. I know that most of them are pity votes, those who only feel sorry for me. I’m sure that I am not the only one that has ever been in this situation, am I really the best choice for this?

There was no reason to second guess myself right now, all I cared about was getting out of here, and holding my babies. I sat silently through the rest of the meeting and became more anxious every passing minute. Gregor walked up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders, I knew that he could sense my discomfort and that I was ready to make a break for it.

I checked the twins, they’re doing just fine. They just finished eating and will fall asleep quickly.

I nodded my head quietly as Father finished up. He had brought up several good ideas and gave everyone a lot to think about. Father had decided to adjourn today's meeting and scheduled a follow up meeting in a week's time.

I was finally free. I took all my strength to keep me from sprinting upstairs but I knew that it would only draw attention. My head was reeling from all the information that I was sorting through. We were in the conference room for nearly two hours and there was no mention about the “hybrid monster” that had been terrorizing the northern region for the last year. We all had hoped that he or she had simply disappeared but there had been several new sightings this past month. I don’t know if we were trying to keep it under wraps to prevent panic throughout our coven. We’ve gone through enough these past couple weeks, maybe that’s why father was suggesting revamping our defenses. He was preparing us without actually having to say it.

When I finally reached the top of the stairs, I heard my children giggling from the other side of my bedroom door. I hadn’t realized that Gregor was close behind me this whole time. I instinctively picked up my pace in the hallway due to the anticipation. I had been away from them for 5 hours now, it was much too long.

I opened the door slowly so I didn’t startle them. They both stopped playing with their toys and turned their heads to me. Their beaming smiles warmed my heart and caused tears to fill the lower rim of my eyes. This is why I do what I do, they are the reason that I will be strong. I will protect them at all costs, things were definitely about to change.