Chapter 147

Valerick scanned the room as he stepped in before even a word would slip out of his mouth. Only his mate and the little one were there. Good, after his long day, she was the only one he wanted to come back to.

Time for accountability.

"As one of my Turned, I had to feed Delice some of my blood so we wouldn't lose her soul. She is recovering now."

He shut the door behind him and looked straight at her. His mate was sitting by the little one's bedside. It looked like she hadn't left that space for a long time.

His steps lessened the distance between them.

"That was where I had been the whole morning. Also, Nicholas and I had to do some damage control and conduct an investigation on the attack. We had to set up a team for that. We are not done yet, the team has continued without me. We are heading somewhere, I believe we will have this resolved soon."

Finally, he was right by her side.

"I should have been here with you, I am sorry that I wasn't."

Zezi looked away wordlessly, her gaze settling back on her daughter.

"Nicholas told me she is doing fine, he has informed me of her peculiar situation."

"So you came to check on her?"

"Of course." He looked at Zezi, something about his gesture implying that he had come to see her too. It brought her great relief that he was here. That rain aura he carried with him was unbelievably pleasing. "They will be conducting some tests when she wakes up and it is confirmed that it is safe enough to draw blood."

"For what?" Her voice squeaked. She knew what it would possibly be for but that wasn't something she felt strong enough to confront just yet.

"Her lineage," Valerick said curtly. He was using that "King's" tone with her again. "She is one of my own now and everything must be confirmed and documented for important purposes. We must know what Blood she is from and---"

"I'm her mother, Valerick." She cut him off sharply. "Mira is my daughter."

A moment of silence passed between them, and he moved next to her, slipping his hand around hers that was interlocked with her daughter's.

It made her feel less alone. He made her feel less alone.

"She is," he answered quietly.

She nodded. "I just needed you to understand that."

The distance between them was a hair's breadth, the world seemed to have gone still, allowing only them to exist within this moment.

"I understand."

"Good." Zezi blinked, the moment broken.

Tears returned to her eyes, as well as all those words that had been spoken to her during these past painful hours.

She sucked in a heavy breath and words pushed out of her mouth in a muddled mess, as her world crashes around her. She just couldn't hold it together anymore.

"You are the reason for everything that has gone wrong in my life. You and your kind."

She didn't need to ask if anything that George had said was true, she knew it was. Valerick was more than capable of pulling all those accusations off, while pretending to her that everything was alright with the universe.

He had done it before.

Valerick.

Oh, Valerick.

This mate that was hers.

"We are not doing this." It was a firm statement. "There are far more pressing matters that demand my attention." He was rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt now, tugging on his collars and putting distance between them.

Their contact gone.

Good, she needed that.

Too much of him made her unable to think.

"If you hadn't stolen me away I would have saved my daughter."

"You would have died." He huffed. "Don't be delusional."

"I would have died saving her and it would have been better than this." She gestured to her daughter laying in bed, her breathing almost too faint to be noticed. "I don't care if you don't understand the concept of," she air-quoted the words, "saving that which isn't yours" but--"

"She is your daughter, that is perfectly understood." He tilted his head to a side, silencing her before she could say something else. "Also, I understand the whole concept of your family being more than real blood and fated relations. I have learnt well." He folded his arms across his bulging chest. "With this foundational knowledge of yours, you should have no problem understanding my perspective. You are my mate, and I protect that which is mine."

His words had stunned her but she went on anyway.

"You should have saved my daughter instead."

He shrugged. "Label me selfish, I do not care. I will do it all over again if I must. To me, you will always come first."

It was her turn to scoff, as she held on to her daughter's cold hands once again.

"I am important, uh? Is that it? Then how about my proposal? Stop killing by kind by changing us, give us weapons---" Her words dissolved into silence, at the rejection that hardened in the features of his face.

She shook her head and looked away.

His people would always come first.

"You are such a liar, Your Majesty."

The battle of hurtful words had begun.

"You are a liar too, but so far I haven't lied to you, but you have been the one lying to me over and over again."

"Hiding the truth is nothing better than lying."

Did he know about the poison?

Her heart skipped a beat at that question and she searched his eyes to find the answer, searched the bond she was now realizing he had blocked for quite some time now.

"You said you would give us a fair chance but you didn't. You were never fair with me." He hadn't moved any closer, the the distance between them had shrunk this one held with it tension. "Or have you? Look at me, Zezi, and tell me you have been fair. You know you haven't."

Her heart dropped.

Oh by the Moon, did he?