Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Leilani.

Merely saying it made me feel as though my throat was burning. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes but for some reason, I couldn’t even bring them to fall.

Not right now.

Not with this bombshell that had just landed right in front of me.

And but when my mind was buzzing with questions— a thousand and one questions that my lips couldn’t bring itself to form.

When I raised my eyes to meet his gaze, it was stern. Unwavering. But nothing about it felt cold. If anything, I could describe it as the warmest, most sincere expression I have seen on anyone’s face in so long.

My heart dropped one more time.

I struggled to speak but my voice was lost, and after trying and failing so many times, I finally mustered enough courage to ask;

"What do you mean, Uncle Theon?"

That question felt like a slap to his face and I know this because of the way he recoiled into himself, squeezed his eyes together and pressed his hand into his chest as if it hurt.

His voice wavered slightly when he spoke up again. He said; "What I mean is that you do not have to refer to me as Uncle Theon..."

I gulped. I certainly could not believe what I was hearing.

"...because I was never Uncle Theon to begin with. Your Uncle Theon, my twin, was the man who was beheaded in front of a crowd of filthy people like his death was nothing but a circus. Your uncle Theon was the one whose decapitated head had rolled down the—"

"How is that possible?"

I thought I was the one who had asked that question until the wheels in my brain turned one more time, making me realize that it wasn’t my voice that had echoed around the room, interrupting this man in front of me...

This man who could be my father.

This man whom I suddenly couldn’t bring myself to look in the eyes in fear of what I might see.

I lifted my head to look at Zevran and the look on his face was... well, priceless. He looked like his soul had practically left his body with his flushed face and almost purple lips.

The man— now, I can no longer call him Uncle Theon— didn’t turn to acknowledge him or his question. Hell, he didn’t even flinch as he let his eyes drop to my clasped hands and drawled;

"My brother died in my stead."

My body stiffened.

"A couple of years ago, four years and seven months ago to be precise, I held a private meeting in my private study with a handful of my elders where we discussed matters concerning you and my son, Darius."

Something about the way he said those two words: ’my son’ made me shrink into myself. It made tears pool one more time in my eyes and made my chest burn with so much rage, I could feel the heat on the surface of my clothes.

Why?

Because that same son was the first person to betray him. That same son was the one who had done whatever he did to make him get killed or almost killed... and that same son, because of his greed, had tried several times to convince me to wed him, even going as far as threatening me.

I noticed the way his breath caught in his throat and I instantly knew that he felt just the same way I did, if not more. But pushing past the obvious pain in his eyes and voice, he continued;

"Darius, whose full name is Darius the Second, is not my blood. He is the son of my late mad brother, Darius the first. And for this reason, a lot of people were against letting him rule in my stead."

"Oh."

"Besides him, I had no other child but you. The court knew about you. They knew about my illicit relationship with your mother and knew how far your mother and her husband, Malakai, would go to protect you from me..."

Once again, his breath hitched and this time, I noticed that his eyes were turning into a lighter shade of red and glossy. However, before I could bring myself to react, he lowered his head, his voice slightly gruffer as he continued;

"They didn’t want me in your life. I had tried several times in the past to reach out to you but I failed at every turn. I also do not know how but they managed to cloak your lycan in such a way that it never recognised me but no matter how many times I snuck into Malakai’s home, I never found you."

I wanted to tell him that they didn’t cloak my lycan-wolf. That they didn’t even have the decency to do that and had settled for stripping me off my other half completely, but I could not.

Goddess, I couldn’t find my voice because all of this felt too much to handle all at the same time.

The clear picture had formed in my head. Hell, I was not a dunce to not realize that all he meant was to say that he is my biological father... but my brain was refusing to accept that reality. My heart too.

Hell, I have been without a father for so long. I cannot remember the last time I had a father figure in my life even when I used to think I was one of Malakai’s... so this truth... this story... it did not sit well with me.

I rose to my feet.

"And I continued to sneak into Malakai’s home until that day four years ago..."

The way his voice trailed off, settling into something dark made my heart churn. My breath caught in my chest and I didn’t even know that I had been crying until I felt how wet the collar of my dress shirt was.

I fisted my hands so tightly that my nails dug into my flesh. But no matter how hard I did that, the pain could not compare to the one rising in my chest, suffocating me... pushing me six feet under.

"... when I was caught. I only wanted to talk to Maurice. I only wanted to tell her about the court’s decision to make you rule after me, not Darius. I only went there to claim what was rightfully mine to begin with— you— but I was met with an ambush."

I cried out. I couldn’t help it.

The sound was as raw as it was agonizing. It tore out from somewhere deep inside my soul, tearing at my insides as it fought its way up.

I tried to hold it in but I failed. And then father added;

"I have never seen something like that before in my entire life. Goddess, I can swear that it felt as though they knew I was coming..."

And I do not know how, but I immediately knew how they knew...

It was Darius.