Chapter 199: Chapter 199 The Crushing Sorrow
Perry’s POV
I watched Elder Augustus’s body go rigid when he heard my words. He couldn’t lift his head to meet my gaze, but neither could anyone else in the war room, so his reaction wasn’t unusual.
Still, he fought back hard against my accusation.
"That’s a complete lie! I never did it! I never betrayed our kingdom or sold us out to our enemies!" Elder Augustus dropped to his knees before me. "Please, don’t believe that traitor, my king!"
I turned my focus back to the final traitor. "Valerium gold, you said? What else do you know?"
Confusion clouded his face. "I’m not sure what more you want from me, my king... I... I have no idea. He’s also a traitor. He’ll be..."
"So beyond the Valerium gold, you’ve got nothing?"
The warrior struggled to think of his next words, but the truth was obvious. He knew nothing beyond the Valerium gold he’d already mentioned.
Before he could speak again, I took his head clean off. The strike was lightning fast—he probably never felt his life slip away as his head hit the floor.
"Anyone can get their hands on Valerium gold." I cleaned the blood off my hand with the tablecloth, then faced everyone in the room. "We’re done here. We’ll pick this up in two hours. Get someone to deal with this mess."
I left the war room, motioning for one of my senior warriors to follow.
"Yes, my king?" Paul’s voice was barely a whisper when he caught up. He was one of the senior warriors who’d come to the main gates with Phoebe.
"I need you to handle something..."
——
Fiona jolted awake from a horrific nightmare, her entire body shaking.
She didn’t recognize her surroundings. Reginald lay sleeping beside her on the forest floor.
Two warriors talked quietly in the distance, their words too muffled for her to catch.
Her head spun as memories crashed through her mind. The escape, the royal warriors, the confession, the baby, the anger, the frustration, and then... grief.
A crushing sorrow settled in Fiona’s chest, like she’d forgotten something crucial that she desperately needed to remember. Yet fear crept through her heart—an unexplainable terror. She was terrified.
She didn’t want to recall what caused this overwhelming grief, but her heart wouldn’t let her forget.
But what?
What did she need to remember?
What was she so afraid of?
None of it made sense.
Fiona scanned the area. Reginald, Tiara, the twins...
Someone was missing. Draven.
"Where is Adri... an?"
The moment his name left her lips, the memory slammed into her.
He was dead. He’d died during the chase.
He’d fallen from the cliff and died.
"Draven..?" Fiona searched frantically, hoping this was just a nightmare, that her memories were wrong. Her little brother was alive, sleeping somewhere nearby.
But no matter where she looked, she couldn’t find him.
"Draven? Draven! DRAVEN!"
Fiona lost control as Draven’s death became too real to deny.
This was her answer. This was the crushing sorrow she’d tried to forget.
Her screams shattered the quiet night.
"DRAVEN! DRAVEN!" Fiona’s voice tore through the darkness, waking everyone.
Reginald clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her, but Fiona fought him. "Have you lost your mind?! You’re going to get us all killed!"
Reginald’s anger flared, even though he understood her pain.
"Don’t be so rough with her," Tiara said softly, feeling sorry for Fiona, especially in her condition. "She’s pregnant—go easy on her."
The baby. The baby!
Fiona wanted to destroy it! She didn’t want it!
Reginald sensed Fiona’s grief shifting to rage. "Stay out of this, Mom!" he scolded his mother gently before turning back to Fiona.
"Shut her up! We’re dead if any royal warriors hear her!" Allen looked around anxiously while the other warrior did the same.
But they couldn’t force Reginald to silence Fiona—they understood what she was going through.
Draven had been her only remaining family, and she’d lost him in the worst way.
"Quiet, quiet, Fiona." Reginald wished he were an alpha so he could use an alpha voice to calm her, but even if he were, it would barely affect Fiona with alpha blood running through her veins.
Fortunately, Fiona settled down after several minutes.
"Get ready to move," Reginald told the other warriors as he held the sobbing Fiona.
"But we haven’t seen any royal warriors," one of the twins protested.
"No, we can’t risk it. We leave now."
Reginald was being extremely careful. They were so close to crossing the border—they couldn’t get caught now.
The other warriors wanted to argue, but ultimately followed his orders because Reginald was right.
They couldn’t take chances.
Ten minutes later, they were ready to go.
"Take point, Allen," Reginald ordered the royal beta.
Allen wasn’t pleased, but he couldn’t argue—not until they reached the Valerium Kingdom.
"What did you do with Draven’s body?" Fiona asked.
"I buried him."
No. Reginald was lying.
