Chapter 223 Mother's Chat
AYLETH
Ayleth's chest when cold when she saw that thing, and the memories rushed back to her—her mother had woken her in the darkest hours of the night, taken her from her bed, to a cold, damp chamber somewhere under the castle, where Ayleth had shivered and cried as the ritual was performed on an altar not unlike the one beside her.
The memories flashed through her head in a blink as she snapped her eyes up to meet her mother's.
"Why did you bring that?" she asked, her voice breathless and hushed.
"Because I told you, Ayleth, I would never allow you to be tortured or harmed by our enemies. I would never allow them to steal you and hurt you—"
"No one is hurting me mother."
"I'm glad that you've remained safe so far, but they stole you from us and brought you here. Now I will steal you back and bring you home."
"Mother, no, Etan is my—"
"Ayleth, I know this man has a hold on you, but you will see much more clearly when you are out of his grip. Now, we must pay our respects to the Goddess first, then I will take you—"
"Mother, listen to me," Ayleth said, fisting her hands and fixing her mother with a glare that she knew mimicked her mother's own fierce stare when she was displeased. "I am not leaving. Etan is my husband. I am staying here—but if you don't believe me, please... come sit at the negotiation table. The Peace Accord still holds if we allow it. We all want peace. Etan will rule Summitras, I will rule Zenithra—we can make this world bigger and better, but together! You have taken his parents, let that be enough. Let us make peace now, between both Kingdoms."
Her mother stared at her blankly. "Enough?" she said quietly. "Enough?!" Her mother stepped forward, leaning over Ayleth with her superior height, fixing her with her own fierce gaze. "That man invaded our home, took our daughter even after I warned him what would happen if he did so, and you want me to say that killing his parents is enough? He spat in the face of my authority and our Kingdom. Nothing will be ever 'enough' except his painful death and the destruction of his kingdom. I will raze this city to the ground, Ayleth, before it will be enough."
But Ayleth had frozen. "What do you mean... you warned him what would happen?"
She caught the slightest hesitation, the flutter of a shadow of concern in her mother's gaze, but it was gone in blink, and her mother fixed her with that patronizing smile that Ayleth loathed. "Come, Ayleth. You know that I've always trained you to use words before might. When I learned what he'd done—tricking you into believing he loved you, stealing away with you to take your virtue—I threatened your life, Ayleth. But only to motivate him. I would never—"
"You forced him to deny me," Ayleth hissed. "You forced him to break my heart and humiliate me—because he truly loved me! Because his heart was to protect me even before his own desires. Do not whisper to me of deceit—he did not deceive me. You did! You pretended not to know about us. You lied to cover yourself. Well, there will be no more lies between us now, mother. Hear me:
"I was not stolen. I followed him, mother. He didn't take me. He did as you asked. He took Sarya even though he did not love her, and I went after him. You find me here by my choice, not by his. His parents didn't even know until we caught up with them—
and the King was furious. You would have agreed with every word he said, I have no doubt. But do not deceive yourself: I am here of my own free will. Do you see guards on me just now? Do you see me shackled? No. I love Etan and he loves me. I came to him by choice."
She glared at her mother and didn't let herself waver, even when her mother's face began to redden and her eyes narrowed.
Ayleth recognized the signs of her mother's true rage—cold and relentless. But she would not waver, she held her mother's gaze.
"He is so much more than that. He is no savage. You lied to me—about him and his family, and about this Kingdom. He is intelligent and courageous and he loves me—"
"You left us for this... savage?"
The breath rushed out of Ayleth. "You call HIM a savage, mother?"
Her mother's upper lip curled and she shook her head. "I can't believe you have left me so disappointed," she sneered. "I knew we'd been too soft on you, Ayleth. Indulged you far too much. Kept you away from the ugly side of power. Your father claimed we would allow you to have your childhood, but we have ruined you. You are blind! You would abandon us—your parents—the Rule of Zenithra and its people for... what? A handsome face and a nice chest?"
"He is so much more than that. He is no savage. You lied to me—about him and his family, and about this Kingdom. He is intelligent and courageous and he loves me—"
"You know nothing of love!"
"True love, mother," Ayleth hissed, stepping right up into her mother's chest. "The kind that people sacrifice their own desires to give—not take. To give of themselves, even when it costs!"
Her mother sneered again. "The kind of trembling emotion that weakens you and turns you, Ayleth, you—a strong, fierce warrior into this... shrinking damsel?"
She waved her hand at Ayleth as if to shoo a fly.
"I am no damsel," Ayleth growled.
"Only because you are nothing at all, but a receptacle for this man's seed."
"What did you say?" Ayleth hissed.
"You heard me. I have never been so disappointed... so furious in my entire life. Twenty years of raising you, culturing you, growing you, indulging you and this is what I get for it?"
Ayleth gaped. "A daughter who wants peace for all, who loves her husband and who would forgive you for killing his parents?! That disappoints you?"
"Yes," her mother snapped. "Because that woman lacks ambition, lacks power. She has given everything to the man and sits on his knee in her pretty skirts expecting to be taken care of."
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