Her Forever

Willa’s POV

Elaine gripped onto my Father’s neck collar as Onyx tried to stand up but slipped in his own puddle of urine. His eyes were hazed, and an evil smirk tainted his face as he grew closer to the bars. My Father gripped Elaine and whispered encouraging words in her ear while Orion held me back. I never knew just how evil a fae could look until this moment.

The dark shadows clung to his features, the slight shine of his fangs that had now descended. Feral is the only word to describe him now. No longer the strong Speaker of the Court fae, he had fallen from his pedestal he had put himself on, and he had given up.

Onyx gripped the bars and showed his fangs, something he would have never done before coming down here. He was untamed, a monster, and the dirt on his face only enhanced the slimy person he indeed was.

“Elaine,…” he hissed. “Never thought I would see you again after sending you away. Did you finally get someone to love your sorry a*s?” Elaine stood frozen while my Father growled lowly.

“Watch to whom you speak, for she is the future Queen of Atlantis.” My Father’s deep voice made Elaine squirm while I held back a laugh. She was turned on even though she was scared to death. I knew that feeling all too well.

Onyx glared at Elaine while he banged the bars with his hands. “Impossible! She has no mate! She was as worthless the day I chose her. The only good thing that came out of her was nothing but a good, forced virgin f**k. Everything else was useless!” My Father handed off Elaine to Luke as he reached through the bars and grabbed his neck. Wings flew out of Onyx as he tried to struggle and get away; sputters of spit landed on my Father but never once flinched. His wings banged the bars violently like a bird in a cage trying to get away from an apex predator.

“What was that? I didn’t catch what you said. I swore you said you forced her.” The grip grew impossibly tight as Onyx’s face turned a bright red. Veins protruded from his forehead as the b***d was trapped in his face.

“Your Majesty, will all due respect, we need him to speak until we get the information we seek,” Orion took his hand to calm my Father, but his grip only tightened. Elaine forced herself out of Luke’s arms and ran to my Father as her arms went around his waist, hugging him tightly.

“I’m alright now,” she whispered into his back. “We are here together; that is all that matters. Let’s save Willa and Orion from a terrible fate.” The grip loosened around Onyx, but my Father’s large hand remained.

“The serum, Orion.” Orion immediately handed over the vile and puckered Onyx’s lips open, and he swallowed. With a hard push, he was forced to the ground and landed in his filth. Father turned and gripped Elaine as he kissed her cheeks and had her bury her face into his chest. “I’ll kill him,” he whispered to her. “I’ll make him suffer a thousand deaths for forcing you.” Elaine gave a soft smile while she held onto him. “He will never see the light of day, and I will rip his wings from his back and hang them on my trophy wall.”

“That’s gross,” Luke whispered while I slapped his chest.

Onyx sputtered and g*****d as he rose to his feet. On the way down to the dungeons, Orion said it would take just minutes to work, but the minutes passed by like hours to us. The serum would eventually tell us all we needed to know how to get Sibille to stop the madness. My thoughts wavered at the idea he might want to strike a deal with us, his life for his own daughter, but the way the evil had overcome his soul, I doubt anyone would win at this point.

Orion stepped up to the bars, “Onyx, you can no longer hold your secrets, and we plan to extract everything we need to know. For your first secret to spill, we need to know if you are still in contact with Sibille.” Orion’s command gave me shivers as I drew closer to him. My hand was holding his as he squeezed it tightly, letting him know I was never letting go.

“That brat? She ratted me out as soon as she could. Who knew my b***d would betray me? I gave that b***h everything. The clothes on her back to the political gain. She is just like her mother, a conniving worthless slave. I’m glad I left her to starve after she gave birth.”

Our confusion was heightened after his words spilled from his mouth. “What?” Elaine spoke. “I was never a slave or servant?” It was true; Elaine was born in a noble household and was bartered so Onyx could take Elaine’s status while her own father ran off with his true mate. She was never a slave or commoner. “Ha, after all these years, you couldn’t figure it out. Does Sibille look anything like you?” Elaine grabbed her heart with one hand and rubbed her stomach with another. Disgust clouded her face as she stared at him.

“I carried her in my womb for six months, I birthed her, cared for her until she could take care of herself. Of course, Sibille is mine! She has lost her way, but I will do my best to set her on the right path; I love her and will do what is best for her. I just need you to talk some sense into her since you brainwashed her!”

Laughing manically, Onyx sat in the chair on the far side of the room. His ankle crossed over his leg as he scratched the scraggly beard. “Sibille isn’t yours,” he whispered. Elaine’s eyes watered as she gripped her chest. Father picked her up again as Elaine began to feel faint. What could Onyx possibly have done? The filthy man was more screwed up than I thought and the chances of Sibille coming to her senses were now low.

“Sibille is the product of my true mate,” he scoffed as he rose from his chair. He was now pacing the bars as he looked at her dead in the eye. Instead of being the prey, Onyx tried to be the predator. He wanted nothing but to feel in charge, to break Elaine’s soul even more. With my Father here, that wouldn’t happen. Elaine was in good hands now, with a large family to love her.

I found Marsha near the sea, picking shells to sell at the market. Her hair was a chestnut brown, and the rose-colored lips had my d**k instantly got hard at the sight of her.” Onyx started rubbing himself, and I looked away in disgust. “I had already made my plans to bond to you that night, and I dared not give that position of power.” The room grew silent. The only thing that could be heard was the constant dripping of water hitting puddles in a nearby cell.

“Took her to the nearest, cheapest hotel I could. I told her I would give her the world, and she believed it. The poor thing hung on every word, so she took me and my c**k.” My heart clenched—the poor woman.

“I never marked her, just f****d her. That was the best I ever had, sorry, sweetheart,” his look glanced over to Elaine. “She fought me a bit once I said I wasn’t going to mark her, but she gave up. She straight-up rejected me, ballsy if you ask me, but she was supposed to be my chosen, so of course, she was strong. Luckily for me, you both fell pregnant simultaneously, and with my watchful eye, switching them out was but a gift from the gods when you birthed the children on the same day.

Marsha was a strong fae, and our child would be too. I watched her birth Sibille with only two pushes, and immediately Sibille cried and fought for life on the forest floor. I immediately ran to her and scooped her up into my arms. I knew she was the key, the key so my family name would rise and have her sit beside Orion as his bride.”

I growled out myself, startling everyone as I held Orion close to me. This prick has another thing coming. Fighting the urge to take my claws and rip him to pieces was so damn strong, but Orion kept me in his arms repeatedly, telling me he wasn’t leaving me.

“Marsha was weak, losing b***d, so I took Sibille as my mate passed out. She didn’t even know what gender she had just given birth to, so I brought back Elaine’s child, a son that Elaine had birthed. Marsha knew it wasn’t her baby, but she clutched to it like a lifeline. Motherly instincts can be so,” Onyx shook his head as he pensively stared at the wall, “primitive.”

“Dear gods, what a sick f**k!” Luke yelled as he banged the stone wall. It crumbled beneath him as Elaine started crying hysterically. My Father’s rage was severe; he wanted to go into the cell and kill him off then. Father’s hair became white, his scales ran up his neck, and his claws extended. With great restraint, he held onto Elaine as he neared the cell.

“Where is your mate and Elaine’s child?” The rumble was felt through the floor and up to my chest. Orion didn’t’ let me go for fear I would vanish.

Onyx started laughing hysterically. “Really? Do you want to know? The b***h hid. She hid from me, she tried to get away, I know she is here in the kingdom, I can feel it, but she put a cloaking spell on her and the child once she figured out who I was and figured out what my intentions were. If Sibille had ever died or didn’t listen to me as a child, I would have taken Elaine’s child back and work on him. Marsha was damn smart.” Onyx through the chair across the cell.

“A cloaking spell! A damn good one too. The child’s cloak will not let him grow up, can you believe that?! I looked for years for a witch that specializes in it only to find out she had died after casting it!” Onyx waved his hand dismissively as he sat back down in the chair. “He g*****d and laid his head into his hands.

“It’s wearing off,” Orion spoke.

Luke and I looked at each other, cloaking spell? To not grow up? “Orion? Can that be done?” Orion’s jaw ticked. “Yes, it can. It is a strong spell. If the spell is to be taken off the boy now, he would have to grow on his own; he wouldn’t revert to his true age.”

This world became must stranger to me than it already was. I knew nothing about the witches, only the elves and the shifters. Witches scared me and learning all that they could do with just a simple spell. Now that we were going up against a whole coven, would we be able to withstand it all? Two kingdoms fighting just one coven seems easy if it was a physical fight, but this isn’t going to be a physical fight. It was magical and scary.

Doubts crossed my mind; we were in trouble. Orion pulled me to his chest as tears brimmed my eyes. Violet was in more distress than I realized, and we needed to get her back. It was all my fault that I sent her into the lion’s den. Not word has been brought back, and it had been days. Alexo trusts me to bring her home safe. So many supernaturals are on the line; lives will be lost. “Shh,” Orion cooed. “It will be alright, I promise. We will win.” Petting my hair, I nodded into his chest.

Orion has not once told me wrong, and he has always told me nothing but truths. The whirlwind I now call my life was beginning to be too much. There were days I wanted nothing more than to hide in the walls of my cabin, away from it all. The one night in the dragon territory was heaven. We slept, we loved each other, worshiped each other, but we were leaders. We had to save everyone or at least forge a plan.

Why do people want power? It is a messy thing. Is it so wrong for people just to live their lives and love each other? They are all so blessed to have the goddess give them mates and find their soul’s match. Humans would kill for such a thing. Why make it complicated with power and greed?

Elaine again stepped down from my Father’s arms and came to the cage. “What is my son’s name? Where are they?” Elaine’s voice was more substantial than I ever knew possible. She radiated the anger, the contempt, the suffering in her voice. Onyx’s eyes widened at the mighty strength that stood behind her words.

“I don’t know what Marsha goes by, but the boy’s name, its Cricket.” Onyx g*****d as his body now hit the floor, going unconscious.