Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 337: Failed attempt.

Leilani.

"Your father was not a thief. I mean, what could he possibly steal from Alpha Stormborn that he doesn’t already have in excess?!" Mother screamed, her voice cutting through the quiet air and causing a tremor to run up my spine.

I lowered my head to hide the tears in my eyes, but there was no way I could totally hide my heartache or bring myself to look at her without feeling like a piece of shit.

"He wasn’t given the right to a fair trial. He wasn’t even given a chance to speak for himself before he was doused in bucketfuls of silver and the Moonveil draught elixir." Mother cried out shakily as she fell to the floor, her voice piercing through the air.

For a moment, I was completely stunned, unsure of what to say because goddess, I have never ever seen her like this!

Never, not even for once in my wildest dreams did I think she held such big secrets to her heart.

A gasp escaped my lips as I stumbled backwards, unable to be mad at her yet also unable to dispel the raging anger coursing through my veins like a freaking tornado.

The air felt tense, charged with currents I couldn’t see but feel. And when she began to crawl her way upwards, scratching on the metal barricades as she rose to her feet, I found myself stumbling even further away from her.

"I do not know how your father always had access to that accursed elixir as it is a banned substance. It is not in circulation—"

"He is not my father." I hissed, interrupting her. Malakai was not my father. He has never been my father and would never be.

She shrugged but didn’t comment on it and continued; "I also do not know how he managed to find out that it is strong enough to bring down a powerful Alpha such as Ragnar..."

"And I do not care to know." I voiced out, my tone gruff. "I do not care what kind of malice he held against my father, all I care about is the fact that he engineered his death. He made sure to lie against my father and had him killed. But he wasn’t satisfied with that, he also allowed his corpse to be left out in the open for stray dogs and vultures to feast on."

The harshness of my words made mother physically shrivel. She shrunk into herself, so much so that she appeared way smaller within seconds. Her hands shook when she tried to reach out to me, and even though I could see the tears pouring down her face and feel the terror lancing through her body, I felt nothing.

This was not her fault, I knew that, but she should have told me the truth. She shouldn’t have watched me give everything away just because I wanted to be accepted by Malakai, whilst knowing fully well that I could never have his approval.

My bottom lip trembled as I bowed at her and with a voice cold enough to freeze fire, I drawled; "Thank you, mother."

She paused. "Leilani—"

"Thank you for finally telling me the truth. Thank you for trying in your own small way to protect me. Thank you for shielding me from Malakai even though it meant forcing me to hate you; And I am sorry for your loss."

Mother was stunned. She couldn’t even hide the surprise she felt when she heard those words as her eyes widened. Slowly, it began to look as though the lines on her face smoothened out and she sighed shakily.

"Thank yo—"

"He was your mate, right?" I cut in, interrupting her. I knew that she knew I was talking about Ragnar, and I had half expected her to deny it... but to my utmost surprise, she didn’t.

She nodded once and drawled; "Yes. He was my mate."

"And Malakai knew that."

"Yes, Malakai knew that... but he believed that I was his mate, with or without the bond."

"Selfish." I mused under my breath, causing mother to turn to me before letting out another shaky sigh.

I turned away just then because I knew I had nothing left to say to her, and just when I was about to walk away, she whispered, causing me to halt in my tracks; "I’m sorry."

Her voice was quiet. Barely there. But I could hear the sorrow dripping off each word she said like honey. I could feel her heartache— it was heavy and suffocating. And it brought tears to my eyes.

I smiled. "I know, and I forgive you."

The fact that I readily forgave her made her stunned. Her mouth hung open in shock, her eyes too. She gaped at me as if seeing me for the first time, but I wasn’t done talking. I wasn’t sure I could ever say everything I had to say to her in a day.

I drawled; "I forgive you for trying so hard to protect me. I forgive you for hurting me in the way only a mother could... but I cannot promise that I’ve forgiven you for everything else. For embarrassing me publicly at every chance you got. For taking Chalice’s side even when you knew that she was wrong. For allowing Malakai to engineer Chalice’s engagement with my mates and for simply watching without telling me the truth while I suffered for things that were way out of my control..."

"But I could never go against him! I could never stand against Malakai!" She snapped loudly at me, interrupting me and for some reason, I nodded in understanding.

"And I understand!" I screamed back. "I understand how you felt... but it doesn’t change the way I felt too. It doesn’t erase the damage all of your actions caused to me. Your actions and that of your other children!"

My words made her snap her lips together. She took a step back then several more. And as she went, I couldn’t help but notice the way she trembled slightly, followed by the dejected look that now made its way across her face.

She now looked like a complete shadow of her once vibrant self. So I bowed one more time in respect, but seeing as she couldn’t spare me another glance, I turned and walked away, feeling lighter... feeling less sorrowful but still extremely angry at the thought of the injustice that my biological father had suffered.

And his death.

—

I should’ve gone home after the discussion with my mother. I should’ve rested and perhaps thought about a way forward.

But I did none of that. Instead, I went over to the triplets’ mansion, my feet making tiny almost inaudible sounds as I went.

I do not know how I passed through the gates without being spotted— it wasn’t locked yet; But by the time I arrived at the front door, there were two bodyguards standing there.

Their faces scrunched up upon seeing me, and one of them— the less burly one— asked; "What do you want madam? Why are you here?"

"I am here to see the alphas." I replied coldly. I then went ahead to pull the same stunt I had pulled earlier with the dungeon’s security guards, and just as expected, that also gave me a free pass into the house.

However, just as I stepped into the house, ready to lunge, my hopes of attacking the triplets soon went down the drain when I found Caelum lounging on one of the chairs, his head resting on the sofa’s headrest as he said to someone whom I couldn’t see yet;

"I wonder how Leilani is doing. I have been feeling strangely for quite a while now."

"Same with me," the person replied— Zevran. "I have been worried about her for no reason since sometime in the afternoon and I do not know what to do."

I froze and gasped when they both turned at the same time to look at me.