Chapter 197

Chapter 197

(Lord Shevek’s Pov)

It took a moment before they all recovered from that.

It was a time I would never forget easily either. Every word Lyraea spewed in the dungeon was like a nail with a hammer drove into my skull. It ripped me apart…

When she announced she was pregnant, I knew there was no turning back. She would never come back to me.

She knew how much I loved her. She was mine, but she allowed herself to be a mistress for another just because of money and power.

I couldn’t recognize her. All I saw was a woman filled with a bitterness that made her different from the Lyraea I loved and was ready to protect with my life.

“That wasn’t all.” I sighed. “Lyraea knew having a child was not enough. She knew that before she could ascend the throne, she needed to get rid of the queen.”

“There was no way she could have done that.” Eden frowned.

I raised a brow. “Not for Lyraea. She was the queen’s personal maid before the King officially made her his concubine. She knew how to bribe the palace maids to do whatever she wanted. She used this method to slip poison into the queen’s tea in small quantities.”

“She did?” Eden’s eyes widen.

“Yes. She told me herself. Her goal was to make the queen die in a way that looked natural. That was why she used poison in small amounts and hoped that she would succeed.”

“That’s evil.” Rose said.

“After she told me about what she was doing to the queen, she left.”

I remembered how Kaliyah, Lyraea’s maid, had looked at me with pity. It was obvious she was not in support of what Lyraea was doing, but there was nothing else she could do.

“I cried.” My eyes fell on Rose as a tear slipped from her eyes. “I was heartbroken, and I couldn’t stop how I felt. I trusted Lyraea to keep our bond sacred. But she ruined everything.”

I felt a sting in my chest, and I gasped. The emotions from years ago came back with a force.

“I don’t think I have ever prayed as hard as I did back then. I was desperate for help. I needed to escape, not just the prison cell, but to run away from everything else.”

“Night after night, I called on the moon goddess to help me, and she finally did.”

“You were released?” Eden’s female friend asked in surprise. “That is surprising. I would have never-”

“Beauty.” Adonis cautioned her.

Beauty, that was her name. She stopped and looked around her. When she noticed that she had gotten too close to me out of sheer curiosity, her eyes widened.

“Sorry.” She murmured and stepped back quickly.

I nodded and answered her question. “No. I escaped.” My eyes softened. “It was Kaliyah. We escaped together and came to

the coven.”

“Kaliyah?” Eden frowned.

B

“Yes.” I replied. “Lamia’s mother. She was the maid Lyraea brought along to the dungeon to see me.”

Eden frowned. “Who is Lamia?”

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“You met her today. The little girl that helped you through the maze.” Ryker said softly. “Kaliyah found her beloved here and got pregnant, but she died after she gave birth, then her beloved died from heartbreak.”

Eden’s eyes widened “I remember Lamia.” Then she continued, “But how? Didn’t you say Kaliyah was Lyraea’s maid? How could she have rescued you?” Eden asked.

I nodded. “Yes, she was. Even though Kaliyah was a slave, which was a rank lower than the palace maids, Kaliyah and Lyraea started out as friends before she got involved with the king.

“Kaliyah had never been in support of the affair, but Lyraea didn’t care. Kaliyah was the same maid that told me Lyraea was in the garden. When I told her I was her beloved and was searching for her, Kaliyah told me where to find her.”

“Oh, by the moon…” Beauty chuckled. “She sounds like my kind of woman.”

I smiled. “It was when the king officially made her his concubine that she demanded that Kaliyah become her maid.”

“Oh no.” Beauty grimaced.

“wasn’t the only one who suffered. Kaliyah had it bad too. Lyraea never failed to torture and harass her because she felt she was above her,”

I sighed.

“Still Kaliyah was concerned about me. She felt so much pity for me because she knew what Lyraea was doing wasn’t right, and she was tired of the maltreatment and needed to escape just like I did.”

“So how did she help you?” Rose looked at me.

“She lied that Lyraea had sent her to feed the guards. She gave them soup that was laced with some kind of sleeping potion The guards slept off. Then she got the keys from them and set me free. That was how we escaped from the dungeon.”

“Wow.” Eden murmured. “It must have been tough.”

“It was,” I nodded. “We never thought we could pull it through to the end, but we did. And I took Kaliyah along with me to the coven.”

I shivered.

“When we got here, it was too late. The whole place was in ruin. The king’s armies were burning the place to the ground. Families were being ripped apart, children were killed, and parents were burned to ashes.” A sob escaped my lips. “There was nothing I could do.”

“The king did that?” Adonis frowned. “Now I understand why Erps never liked his father.” He murmured

I was too lost in my thoughts to dwell on his words. “When the King’s armies left and I went home, I saw my parents lifeless bodies discarded on the ground. Only a few maids had escaped the attack.

I paused and stared at a crack in the wall from where Eros had held me down. My hate returned in full force.

“That day, I dug my fingers into the ground and cursed the King Dimitrois lineage, saying that as long as they had a desire to ascend the throne, they would always know pain and bloodthirst. They would never be able to love or be loved.”

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“Immediately after I said that, the earth shook and lightning struck the ground. When I looked at Kaliyah, she was glowing and floated on air as she casted spells to my curse. That was when I knew she was a witch. The curse had become real.”

Eden gasped; tears sprung in her eyes.

I looked away. “That is the reason why I don’t want you to stay with Eros. He would never make you happy. As long as he wants to become king, it’s either he dies or his mate dies at the end. There is no future with him.”

“What about the child Lyraea had?” Rose asked.

I looked at Ryker. “I went a little crazy after the death of my parents. I was thirsty for revenge. I built the coven up from scratch and trained those that were left to become warriors. Kaliyah fortified me, and I snuck an attack on the royal

old son.” kingdom. At the time, Lyraea had given birth. I killed Lyraea and took her two year

I paused, then continued.

“I couldn’t hurt him. The little boy captured my heart, and I also wanted to have a part of Lyraea, even though she betrayed me. So I raised him. Ryker is Lyraea’s son.”

Rose gasps in surprise. Eden nodded as if she had it figured out earlier.

“You knew Ryker might never ascend the throne, that’s why you wanted him to become my mate.” Eden said softly.

I nodded. “Yes. In place of Eros.”