Henk brought them all to the main hall where a few others were also waiting for them. Not all the faes entered the main hall. Half of them stayed outside in order to create a protection circle so that no other Nyxer entered while the talks went on and the other half remained close to Lerna and the rest.
When they were seated, Henk said, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, Princess Lerna. The Hydra Kingdom needs you. We are all--" he paused and looked away. Though Henk had not exactly been a great leader, after what Morava did to all of them, he realized that life got so tough over the last few months. It could have been better if all the Alphas had stayed together even after they had divided the lands. If they had been together and not gotten into Morava's stupid talks, things would have been greatly different.
Lerna shifted in her place uncomfortably as she glanced at Rigel.
When she didn't speak, Henk continued, "More Alphas will be coming in some time."
Lerna nodded once. "I hope all of them are fine."
Sadness crossed Henk's face. "Out of the twelve, only five of us remain..."
"What? Why?" Lerna asked with surprise. When she had left the twelve Alphas were pretty hale and hearty.
Henk shook his head. "Things went down, Princess Lerna. We all began fighting amongst ourselves until it was too late."
Lerna drew her brows together. "But why would you do that?"
"Power!" Henk sighed. "We were misguided by none other than Princess Morava who was our mate. Well not exactly our mate, but our forced mate."
Eltanin jerked his head back, as much surprised as the rest of them. "How did that happen?" he asked, bewildered as hell.
"Don't ask," Henk replied. The rest of the Alphas came at that time and all of them greeted Lerna and the rest with happiness evident on their faces.
Lerna was sure that they would face a lot of resistance, but she was surprised that they were received nicely.
When they were all seated, Eltanin said, "What happened to Princess Morava? Why don't we see her here?" He was shocked that she was mated to all twelve of them.
All the Alphas looked at each other and then it was Henk who started to narrate. "After King Felis died, things just nosedived..." Henk went to speak for a long time as Lerna and others listened to him attentively.
At the end of it, Eltanin appeared so shocked that he didn't have words to speak. Lerna was feeling terrible about the whole situation. She looked at Rigel accusingly. If he had come earlier, things would have been different. Rigel took a deep breath in, seeing how angry she was with him. Fafnir just sat there, blinking his eyes with a gaping mouth. So much had happened in just one year of sealing the Hydra Kingdom.
"We were all so pissed with Morava that we threw her in the dungeons," said Mirik. "If you want to take her back with you, then we can hand her over, but she is a loathsome woman!" Mirik had tortured Morava and during one of the torture sessions, she had revealed that she was also in the dungeons of the King of Draka. They also learned the extent to which her mother, Sirrah used Felis's forces. She would ask him to send Nyxers every now and then to attack Pegasii.
All the Alphas were extremely honored that Eltanin had come along with Princess Morava. They actually looked up to him. After all that happened with them, they realized how important it was for them to have nice relations with every other kingdom.
Henk said on behalf of all of them, "We know that the Nyxers had not exactly been good with the rest of the kingdoms over so many years. We have formed so many enemies that now we are suffering from the outcomes. After our kingdom was sealed by the faes, our lives simply went down so badly that we wondered if we would ever be able to recover." He looked at Eltanin. "King Eltanin, I know it would be too much to ask you because it was King Felis who was responsible for your wife--" he paused, looking for the right words to speak. "--for the death of her parents..." He lowered his head, not able to see him. "But all of us need help and we need it urgently. We are all on the point of--" Henk swallowed thickly, emotions burning at the back of his throat.
Eltanin looked at Rigel and then Fafnir. When his glance went to Lerna, he could see how disturbed she was. He knew that if he didn't take the lead, Rigel would perhaps back out. He could sense the wariness of Rigel about Nyxers. And he was aware that it was mostly because of the safety of his mate.
"I would like to meet Morava first," Eltanin said. He wanted to make sure that what they said was true or not.
"Yes, of course!" Henk said. "She is my dungeon and if you like you can meet her right away."
"I am ready to meet her when you are," Eltanin said.
Lerna wasn't really interested in meeting Morava. "I want to stay here and talk more," she said to Rigel. "Will you stay here with me?"
Rigel held her hand. On a basic instinct he could sense how much she needed his presence. He nodded and held her hand. "I will." Lerna's lips curled up slightly through all the sadness.
Henk took Fafnir and Eltanin to the dungeons. Three faes accompanied them while the rest stayed with Lerna and Rigel.
Eltanin's body shuddered when he saw Morava. She was lodged in a very dark prison. When the guard burned a torch for them to see her, they saw a pulp of a woman lying on a round, rotating torture table that moved like a wheel. Her hands and legs were tied with iron chains. There were numerous bruises and wounds on her body. Her clothes were tattered and she stank horrible.
"Morava?" Eltanin called in a low voice.
"Kill... kill Lusitania... kill her... mother..."
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