Chapter 150 Blook Pool

Avalyn

A chill spread around me, and I let out a little shiver. It was weird because we usually cuddled the whole night. He must've rolled over or something, which was very unlike him. "Cold. Cuddle." I mumbled sleepily to Nik. He was my personal heater. I swear that man was never cold.

I waited for a second before whining, "Nik!" I flailed my arm over to his side, but it was cold

too.

My eyes snapped open, and my heart dropped when I remembered.

Nik's not here. He hasn't been here for a while now. It's been a whole month since he is gone, and it feels like an eternity. This was even worse than the last time he wasn't here for a month. Because we haven't communicated at all. Only once where he had called me two days after he left. I picked up because I missed him terribly but didn't reply because I wanted to give him the silent treatment. He apologized for his behaviour before told me that they had found Adrik and that he needed to go. He said that he'd be back in two days at the most, and he wasn't sure if the place they were going to would have a network on their phones. When I didn't say anything, he just sighed, apologized for his behaviour again, told me that he loved me and then cut the call. During those two days of radio silence, my longing for him surpassed my anger, and I waited for his call. When I didn't hear from him for a whole week, my anger surpassed my longing for him.

He knew I didn't have much time. But apparently, his hatred for his father and his will to kill him was greater than his love for me. I didn't see any other reason why he couldn't just let Adrik go and spend as much as he could with me. He had the rest of his life to hunt his father down. Why now?

Why now when he knows that time is the one thing I don't have?

It made me so mad, so furious, that I refused to talk to him until he returned and grovelled for my forgiveness. I knew that he called Eli every day, multiple times a day and asked him about our family and me. Apparently, they had followed Adrik to a different location that had a network. He called me too, but I let the call ring itself out. If he wanted to talk, he needed to show up and do it face to face.

I pulled the comforter over my head and curled up. I missed him so much.

I placed my hand over my belly. They were due any day now.

The fact that I was going to die hadn't really set it. I mean, I could see the effect it had on me; it was evident every time I looked in the mirror. Which is why I avoided it.

And even after everything, I had no regrets. It was two lives for one. I knew I was doing the right thing.

Mamma loves you, babies.

And I don't care what Dadda says; I know that deep down, he loves you too.

The thought of him brought tears to my eyes. I missed him. I just wanted him to come back home to me at this point. I wanted to kiss him, hold him, hear his heartbeat, hear his voice.

Oh, Goddess, I missed him.

Unable to resist myself, my hand reached for my phone. A second later, I was calling Nikolai.

The phone kept ringing, and he picked up just when I thought he wasn't going to.

"Avalyn." He breathed.

My throat closed up upon hearing his voice. I squeezed my eyes shut, and a tear slid down my cheek. I missed him. Goddess, I missed him so much.

"Nikolai." A sob raised up my throat.

"Aw, Love. Don't cry." His voice was pained. It increased my hopes. Maybe, it wasn't all bad. Perhaps he would come back.

My tongue felt thick, and I couldn't speak. I didn't want to cry in front of him.

"I love you, Ava." He whispered. "I love you more than life itself. I hope you know that."

Why aren't you here then? I wanted to scream at him.

"Everything is going to be okay." He said, his tone weird. Something was up. Or he was up to something. "We're on our way to Adrik's safe house. Everything is set up. We're going to kill him tonight."

When he brought up his father, I got angry all over again. He was so obsessed with his hatred for his father that he refused to see past it!

The moment I opened my mouth to reply, the door creak open softly.

I stiffened. No one comes into my room without my permission. Or without my explicit demand.

Her scent wafted to my nose.

It was Althea.

What was she doing here?

I could hear her soft footsteps coming closer to the bed.

And for some reason, it didn't feel right. My gut was saying that something was going to go terribly wrong tonight.

I turned over, and she stilled. I cracked open my eyes and saw a knife in her hands.

I wasn't scared of her, but what the hell?

I decided to give her a chance to explain herself.

I sat up straight, and she quickly hid the knife behind herself. "What are you doing here?"

She jumped, quickly hiding the knife behind herself. I could have smelled her fear from a mile away. That's how scared she was. Her heart was racing, and she was sweating. I knew she was nervous. But the fact that she was here with a knife also meant that she was

determined.

Things could go pretty bad pretty quick. But for the sake of Dimitri, I decided to take the high road and give her a chance to change her mind.

I could hear the low voice of Nikolai frantically calling out my name on the phone. I quickly cut the call, confident that Althea hadn't heard it because my phone lay between the sheets and even I barely heard it. I also wanted to punish Nikolai for still choosing his hater over me. He should be here for me. But he's not, so a small, cruel part of me wanted to make him suffer just like he was making me suffer.

"I -I ...." Althea stuttered, her chest heaving up and down because of the deep breaths that she was taking.

"Do you want to go out to the balcony and talk? Fresh air might help." I suggested. I was offering her an olive branch. I could only hope that she took it.

She worked hard to swallow before nodding.

"Very well." I turned around and walked towards the ceiling to floor glass windows, slid them open and walked out into the balcony, allowing her to hide the knife. I had a feeling that this was going to be a turning point in our lives. Whether it was for the better or for, the worse, I didn't know.

I caressed my belly. Whatever it was, I was going to keep my babies safe. That was all that mattered to me in the end.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked her when she came into my view. A shiver passed through my spine. It was cold out here, more so than usual. I wish Nikolai was here to warm me up. He was so warm all the damn time.

She took a deep breath before looking at the night sky. "From the moment I was born, I was trained to be the perfect mate for Nikolai. For eighteen years, I have barely been allowed to step out of the Bellehaven palace. I barely had any friends. Father was afraid that I might become friends with boys and get...tainted." Her voice was empty like she was trying to portray that she had made her peace with it. But I didn't believe it. She was distancing herself from her past so that she could talk about it without feeling vulnerable. "I was trained to be the Queen one day."

I detected jealousy in her voice.

"Do you know how hard it is to change after you have only known and believed one thing all your life?" She titled her head to look at me.

"I do." I'm not sure if she knows the extent of my knowledge on this.

"Then maybe you understand my behaviour up until now." She sighed softly. "I -I know that you don't like me. All of you."

I wanted to object, but she wasn't exactly wrong.

"And I just wanted to say that I wasn't like this before..." her breath got caught in her throat, "after Father..." she choked up, "he was all I knew. He might not have been the best father, but he was mine, and I loved him."

"I'm sorry." I was. I was sorry that she had to see her father die. I knew it wasn't easy in any

sense.

But he hurt my Nikolai. And his death was a result of all the deeds he had done in his long life. Thousands of people had died because of him. And tens of thousands of witches had suffered for years because of the entire council.

"My world shifted on its axis when I met Dimitri." She whispered. "I never thought...I was supposed to be Nikolai's mate! I was supposed to be the Queen."

All this while, we thought that she was upset because Nikolai killed her father and rescued all those witches. But now, I had a sinking feeling that she was simply jealous.

"Dimitri is your mate," I spoke carefully, not wanting to show my anger. Dimitri deserved better than her. "He was chosen by the Moon Goddess to be with you. He is your other half. He loves you. He do—"

"I deserve better than him." She sobbed. How the fuck could she even say it?

"What makes you think that?" I asked sharply.

"I like him. I know he is a good man. I know he has a nice heart. I know he will make me very happy if I let him. But...." What was the freaking problem with them? "But I was supposed to be the Queen. I have been trained to become one all my life! I have everything it takes to be a good mate and a good ruler. I deserve a King. And not some Second in Hand." When she said 'second in hand', especially about Dimitri, the disgust in her voice was it for

me.

"Shut up," I hissed, and her eyes widened. She had a lot of audacity but the heart of a coward. "I have been more than patient with you. I know you have the knife with you. I know you are probably here to kill me. But I thought I will give you a second chance. Everyone deserves one. Especially the mate of Dimitri, who is a gem of a person. And I love him with all my heart." The jealousy on her face was instant. She was never going to understand our bond. "I have had enough of disrespecting Nikolai, me, Dimitri and my bond with both of them. I know Dimitri has told you about it a million times, but I will repeat it for the last time. He is like my little brother. Nothing you do or say will change that." I said in one breath. "And your story almost made me pity you enough to let you go without any repercussions. But now, I am going to have to punish you."

She pressed her lips together, and her hands turned into fists. "Punish me?" Her voice was confident this time around. "Without your ability to use magic and your wolf, you are weak. Without Nikolai, you are weak. Without the title and the crown, you are weak." She said as if she was reciting lines that had been drilled into her mind. And then she took out the knife from the back of her shorts and looked at it with a hint of fear.

It was her first kill.

If there was even a sliver of a chance to stop this from happening, I would. Because there was no turning back from his. If she tried to take my life, the only punishment for that would be death. And I did not want to do that to Dimitri.

'Come to my room. The balcony. Now.' I commanded Dimitri through the mind-link.

"I love Dimitri. I am doing this for him. For us." She whispered like she was talking to herself.

"Don't do it, Althea," I warned her and took a step back, making sure there was enough space between her and my babies before I used my powers.

It was true that I couldn't use them a lot. It hurt me. But it didn't mean I couldn't use them at all.

She thought that me taking a step back was a sign of me being afraid.

No one makes me afraid in my own home.

"I'm sorry. But I have to do it. It's too late now. I'm sorry." Tears rose in her eyes. "It's too late to back out. It has already begun!"

For some reason, my stomach flipped. "What has begun?"

"King Adrik knows they're coming!" She cried. "They told King Adrik that Nikolai is coming for them. They're all going to die!"

It's an ambush.

It's a fucking ambush.

'Adrik knows you're coming!' I screamed into the mind-link of Nikolai and Mikhail, but they had shut me out.

Most probably to avoid distractions and focus on the mission.

Tears filled my eyes.

"No." Nikolai can't die. He just can't.

He's...he's supposed to come back. He's supposed to be here with me. He's supposed to raise our kids and then join me on the other side!

I screamed in the mind-links of our family. 'Nikolai's walking in an ambush! Stop them!'

'On it.' Natalia promptly replied, and I took a relieved breath.

"And I'm supposed to kill you. So that Dimitri and I can be the King and Queen." She took a step forward, still crying. Her hand was trembling like she didn't want to do it.

I caressed my belly. My babies were shifting, feeling uncomfortable. They could sense that their mother was in danger. I hated it.

'Dimitri!' I hissed. Where was he?

There was banging on the door of my bedroom. "Avalyn! Open the door!" Dimitri was yelling. It was locked. She must have locked it.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She cried before raising the knife in her hand to strike me.

Before I even got the chance to use my magic, out of nowhere, she flew out of the balcony with an unimaginable force.

A scream ripped out of her mouth when she hit the ground and a pool of blood formed around her.

I uncurled my wings and slowly flew down to the ground.

People were already coming out by the time I landed on the ground.

"Queen Avalyn!" A guard, I recognized as Zoravar, came running towards me, "are you

okay?"

"I am. Thank you, Zoravar." I nodded. The man nodded before lowering his head.

A group of people had gathered around Althea, trying to make sure she was alright.

"Avalyn!" Max and Nat appeared. Nat's bump had finally begun showing two weeks ago, and it had grown drastically. I didn't want to stress her out, but I knew there was no stopping the inevitable. "What happened?"

"Althea!" Dimitri was by his mate's side in an instant, obviously distraught. He had pulled her in his lap and cradled her profusely bleeding head, pressing against it to stop the bleeding.

She would live.

"Avalyn! Please heal her." Dimitri begged.

"Althea tried to kill me," I said without beating around the bush. I heard multiple gasps before the air around us started charging with raw power and anger. Everyone was on edge, and the only reason Althea was alive after my declaration was that she was Dimitri's mate.

Every single werewolf, vampire and witch were on edge at the thought of anyone hurting their Queen. They wanted blood.

"No!" Althea cried out, looking terrified. "Sh-She's lying!"

Dimitri looked up at me, silently begging me with his eyes. I know that anything I would say would put him in a tough spot. I could downplay everything that happened, so she doesn't have to be killed. But she put my life in danger and my kids, Nikolai, Mikhail, and everyone with them. She was a part of a rebellion. She was on Adrik's side. And I could not have that in my Kingdom.

My babies shifted in my belly, and I caressed my bump in an attempt to calm them and assure them of their safety.

Nat looked me in the eyes. They narrowed in realization before anger crossed her face. "Althea is a traitor. She's working for Adrik. She's the reason Nikolai, Ratmir and his comrades almost lost their lives, and the reason Adrik has Mikhail."

More gasps spread.

"He has Mikhail?" My heart sped up.

Natalia nodded, her jaw clenched and her eyes furious. "We can't contact him. Nikolai said they won't kill him, that they would demand for something in return."

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. But still, anything could happen. Mikhail could end up losing his life!

"And this is all happening because of her!" Natalia glared at Althea with more fury and hatred than I had ever seen her display before. Of course, she was furious. I was furious too.

"Is it true?" Dimitri whispered, his voice hollow.

"No!" She lied, crying. "Believe me!"

"Whose knife is this?" Nat picked up the knife Althea had brought with her to kill me from the hilt.

Dimitri looked at it, and tears filled his eyes, "mine."

Natalia brought it closer to her nose, careful to keep the silver away, "it has Althea's smell all over it." She had been hiding it in her clothes for a while. Her smell was bound to stick to it.

"If you were even a little smart, you would have known that since I am a faye, silver does not affect me," I took the knife out of Natalia's hand and slid my finger down the silver edge. "And to think that you could kill me in my own home..." I scoffed. I wasn't scared one bit.

She was not strong enough to harm me.

She cried harder, knowing she was not getting out of this. She was caught.

I pitied her. I really did. She was a naive girl who refused to learn. She was so fixated on her past that she refused to see the amazing life the future had the potential to offer her. But naive or not, she let the negativity get to her. She knew what she was doing was wrong but still went ahead and did it. That's where nativity stopped, and stupidity started.

And I knew that she wasn't the only one behind all of this. This has to be a plan, which consisted of killing both Nik and me, along with our children. It clearly was not a well thought out one. And they obviously picked the wrong girl. Althea was not the devious or strong type. She wasn't very smart or courageous either.

The ones who planned this were clearly amateurs in the art of strategizing. Which meant they had to be either young, inexperienced or too used to following orders.

"You met a few people in Volk, didn't you?" The terror on her face gave it away.

The process of weeding out Adrik's fanatic followers was still a work in progress. I knew that the people here were way too loyal to me to have a hand in any of this. But the wolves of Volk were a different story.

"I'm guessing they also told you lies about me? Like I am not Nik's true mate? That I don't deserve to be the Queen?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"And you believed them?"

She nodded again.

"And what made you think you could be the Queen?"

Dimitri's pleading gaze that was fixated on me shifted to Althea. I think he is only now realizing his mate's true wishes.

She swallowed noisily.

"You want to become the Queen?" Dimitri hissed angrily at her.

That seemed to charge her with anger. "I was doing this for us! You are the one doing all the real work here. Nikolai is out frolicking God knows where," she looked at me, " and you sit around all day waiting for your impending death."

I gritted my teeth, furious now.

I was not going to listen to another word out of her mouth.

"Dimitri," I hissed. He looked up at me with helplessness and resignation. He knew what was coming.

"The punishment of the crimes your mate has committed is death." His eyes slid shut as tears slid down his cheeks.

"But as an act of good faith towards you, and all that you have done for me, Nikolai, our family, our Kingdom, I will spare her life. But she is banished from Jiv for the rest of eternity. She will be killed on sight should she decide to return. I do not wish to make you choose between your mate and your Queen. Which is why I will make that decision for you."

A small piece of my heart broke when I finally said it, "I believe it will be best if you leave with her too."

"I'm sorry! Please don't do this!" Althea sobbed. "Where will we go?" The influence of supernaturals outside of Jiv was limited. There were many packs outside of the main supernatural island, but none of them was nearly as strong as the ones here. They were weaker than us. They thought that we were arrogant and we weren't very fond of them either.

And Dimitri and Althea would have to struggle a lot before they got accepted in any of them. And even if they did get accepted, they would not be given a very high hierarchy position.

"Tell her to not do this, Dimitri! Tell her she's making a mistake."

And the man in question had his eyes on me, filled with heartbreak.

I couldn't believe I had just told Dimitri to go far away from our lives.

But the weight of the crown was heavy, and the deeds it made us do were heavier.

Some decisions needed to be taken.

"You're making a mistake," Max spoke. "Letting her go is a mistake. As your advisor, I must remind you to make decisions as a Queen and not as a sister."

"No!" Althea spoke in horror, her eyes wide. "Tell them it was a mistake, Dimitri! They can't do this! I love you! Fight for us!" She cried pathetically.

"My decision is final," I whispered, looking at Max. I knew I was making a mistake. But my love for Dimitri refused to let me hurt him like that.

"A good Queen will not make you choose between her and your mate. A good mate will not make you betray your Queen." Max looked deep into Dimitri's eyes. "Just like that, a good mate will not make you choose between her and your Queen. And a good Queen will not make you betray your mate."

What he was saying was a hundred percent true, but why was he saying that right now?

Dimitri's lips parted, and his chest heaved as he began hyperventilating.

"It is time," Max spoke, and a tingle went down my back. Something terrible was about to happen. I could feel it. I wanted to do something; I wanted to say something.

But for some reason, I was frozen in my place. I felt like a spectator watching what was inevitable.

"You know what to do," Max said, and Dimitri's eyes turned black before a drop of blood leaked out of the corner of his eye like a tear.

What is it time for?

What does Dimitri have to do?

And in the next second, Dimitri's hand was inside Althea's chest before he ripped her heart out.