Chapter 229

Carol’s POV

“You promised you’d help me buy a ring for Fiona,” Oliver said as he leaned against the doorframe of my suite. I had just finished changing Caleb’s dirty typer for the 5(th) time this hour when Oliver decided to bless me with his visit.

Collectively, we’ve been in the Empire for 2 months. We are planning on returning to the Capitol in a week. I had been training like crazy with my biological father and on the downtime, he had been on the hunt for Queen Elizabeth and Raelyn who seemed to have been wiped off the face of the earth. Meanwhile, Jenna thankfully remained in prison.

Things have calmed some and I did promise Oliver once things calmed down; we will go ring shopping for Fiona. But I hadn’t wanted to leave my baby boy at the manor, and I feared he wasn’t ready to actually go out yet. Aiden had been so busy helping the King and his warriors in the search for the Queen that he hadn’t been around much during the day.

My mom and dad have been staying with us at the manor for the past month and helping as much as they could with the baby, which I was beyond grateful for.

“I’ll see if my mom can watch Caleb while we go shopping,” I told him.

He smiled and closed the door behind him as he walked into the suite.

“How’s the little guy doing?” He asked, peeking into the bassinet near the couch. Caleb, thankfully, had just fallen asleep.

“He had a checkup earlier today and got his first set of shots. So, he’s extra sleepy and a little uncomfortable. But the doctor said he’s growing at a good rate and he’s healthy,” I told him.

“I still can’t believe Aiden is a dad,” Oliver said, shaking his head in disbelief.

I smirked.

“I can’t believe I’m a mom,” I replied.

Soon, my mother walked into the room. She smiled when she saw Oliver and gave him a quick hug. They have all gotten close this past month considering we’ve been living in the same area.

“Hey, Mom. Can watch Caleb for a few hours?” I asked her.

She beamed at the request; since I’ve had Caleb, I hadn’t left anyone alone with him. As nervous as I was, I committed Oliver, and I didn’t feel comfortable bringing Caleb with us. I trusted my parents more than anything and I knew they would take care of Caleb.

“Of course,” she cooed. “I would love to.”

I smiled.

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a quick hug.

I spent some time pumping breast milk, getting dressed, and making sure that my mom had everything she needed for Caleb for the next couple of hours. She eventually shooed me away and told me she raised me just fine, and she knew how to take care of a baby.

Soon, Oliver and I were taking one of the King’s cars into the city.

Once we reached the jewelry store, there was so much to choose from it was almost overwhelming. Oliver looked like his head was spinning in all sorts of directions.

“Fiona isn’t the kind who would like something big and flashy. So, we should keep it simple. She really likes pink, so maybe something with pink diamonds and definitely a silver band,” I told him as we walked around the store.

He nodded thoughtfully as he gazed at all the rings.

“Would she like an engraving?” He asked.

“That might be nice. But something small and simple,” I told him.

He nodded and just as we were about to speak with the jeweler at the counter, screaming at the counter interrupted our train of thought. I looked at Oliver, whose eyes darkened.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

More screaming erupted and soon I saw crowds of people running past the service, each of them looking terrified. Without much thought, Oliver and I ran towards the doorway and pushed through it until we were outside.

My entire body went cold when I saw what they were running from. Clouds of darkness snaked through the ground, slithering like snakes. I could feel the cold darkness and the chilling aura that penetrated it.

In the distance, I squinted at the figures standing in the center of the town.

The Queen.

Standing beside her was Raelyn and the darkness was spilling off her in waves. The Queen looked furious with her glowing red eyes and her gown made of black raven feathers. Destruction and chaos fell in her path as she terrorized the empire, using Raelyn’s dark magic.

“I have been waiting years for this moment! Now, it is finally time I get what I want!” The Queen growled through the crowded street. “If anyone gets in my way, they will have to face my daughter!”

Raelyn started to glow as more darkness spilled from her. Screams for miles rang through the streets and nearly everyone tried to get away from the dark tendrils that slithered through the streets.

“I just mindlinked Aiden. He’s on his way with the King but he wants me to get you out of here,” Oliver said, grabbing onto my arm.

I shook my head and pulled my arm away from his.

“I have to stop them,” I told him. “I think I might be the only one who can.”

“Not like this, Carol. It’s way too dangerous!” He told me. “If anything happened to you…”

“I can do this! Let me do this,” I told him firmly.

I didn’t give him enough time to protest any further because I turned and started to run towards the Queen and Raelyn. My feet moved faster than my mind; truth be told, I had no idea what I was going to do, and I was a little nervous about it. But I couldn’t stop… I wouldn’t stop. The King had been training me for the last couple of months, even more so since I woke from my coma last month. I was much stronger than I was when I first arrived at the empire.

The Queen spotted me just as I broke through the crowd and a large smile spread across her lips.

“Carol, how nice of you to join us,” she said, her tone cold and sending a shiver down my spine. “We’ve been waiting for you. Too bad you didn’t bring your little one. Could have made things a lot easier. I suppose we will just have to find him ourselves.”

The mention of my son royally pissed me off, but before I could utter a single word, dark swirls slithered snakelike across the ground and in my direction, wrapping around my feet and sliding its way up my body.

My heart hammered in my chest wildly as I fought off the darkness, but it was no use; there was no fighting it. It wrapped around my torso tightly, squeezing the life out of me as it lifted me into the air. I could practically feel my powers draining as the darkness tightened its hold.

“Find me that baby!” The Queen demanded as guards sprang into action. They were powered by her and the darkness and doing her bidding. They were once the King’s men, but now they were traitors.

Panic sunk in… my baby. He was in danger!

Just then, two wolves came out of nowhere, both growling furiously. One of them was significantly bigger than the other and I knew immediately that it was the king. The other was my mate.

The King brought his own men along with him who were also in wolf form. But when they noticed some of their comrades and brothers fighting alongside the queen, confusion and hurt washed over their faces.

The King shifted into his wolf form once his eyes found his beloved Queen and I could see the hurt and anger in his own eyes.

“Elizabeth…” he breathed. “How could you do this?”

“It’s not personal darling,” she said, waving off his concern. “It’s strictly business.”

“Was any of it real?” He asked, shaking his head with disgust written all over his face. “Did you ever love me?”

She let out a bitter laugh.

“Love?” She scoffed. “Please… There’s no room for love when I have a nation to take over. I must say, it was a lot easier to get what I wanted than I thought it would. Killing your wife was the easiest part of the entire plan.”

The King’s face went completely pale, and my heart shattered. So, it was the Queen that killed my mother, Emalyn… the King’s fated mate. This was all her doing.

The King let out a ferocious growl.

“You did this?! You were behind it all??”

I was so focused on the King and his conversation with the Queen that I was taken by surprise when Aiden lunged for me, breaking me free from the darkness that wrapped around my body. With the Queen and Raelyn distracted, the tendrils were momentarily weakened.

I fell to the ground with a thud, but Aiden cushioned most of my fall. He quickly shifted back into human form so he could take a look at me.

“Are you okay?” He asked breathlessly.

“Caleb… where’s Caleb?” I asked him, panicked, knowing that they were going after him on the Queen’s orders.

“He’s with your mom still. He’s okay,” he assured me, wrapping me in his arms.

“She’s going to go after him,” I warned. “She wants us both dead so Raelyn can inherit my powers.”

He nodded.

“I won’t let that happen,” he reassured me.

“Carol!” The King roared just as another dark tendril lunged towards me. The Queen had shifted her attention back to me and Raelyn’s eyes were fixed on me entirely.

I lifted my hand to shield it off with my own powers, but I didn’t even get the chance because Aiden shoved me out of the way; It grabbed him instead.

“No!!” I screamed, trying to grab him, but it was too late; he was high in the sky, swirling around in the darkness. I looked at Raelyn who had a small smile on her face as she watched her dark tendrils do their job. “Raelyn! Please stop this!!” I begged. “We are sisters; you don’t need to do this! You don’t have to listen to her!”

Maybe if I spoke to her heart, things could be different. Even Candance admitted that there was still goodness in her somewhere and it just needed to come out of hiding. But I wasn’t sure how true that was.

She glanced at me, and I saw something flash in her eyes, but it was gone before I could blink.

The Queen laughed as she said something to the guards behind her. They all shifted into wolf forms and lunged in my direction. I stood to my feet and clenched my fists, getting ready to fight. But the King jumped in front of me; he was back in wolf form and was ready to fight in my honor.

This only made the Queen laugh even harder as she motioned for Raelyn to do something. With a quick flick of her wrist, the dark tendril wrapped around the King’s neck and squeezed tightly.

“Like I said, it’s not personal…” the Queen said darkly. “It’s business.”

With those words left in the air, the tendrils squeezed even tighter as the King’s wolf whimpered in despair and then I heard a cracking sound. My heart dropped when the King’s body returned to his human form, and he remained lifeless.

The tendrils dropped him to the ground.

I screamed in horror; the King was dead!