Coming for your heart

Chapter 42

Eren POV

"She was my light.", his grandmother said, sadness replacing the soft smile on her face. "I have never loved something more in my entire life."

Eren listened to her, as they were sitting on the dark grass under one of the giant trees in that strange, otherworldly forest. The woman next to him was bathed in the sunlight, a powerful contrast to the gloomy atmosphere that had replaced the loving embrace they had found themselves in just a few minutes ago.

"It is true. I thought I could never give birth to any of my husband's children.", she continued, her voice breaking at every second word. Eren grasped her hand firmly, supporting her without saying anything. "And there has never been a day...I never had a day without the regret my husband didn't want me to have."

"But what about...my father?"

His grandmother sighed, a sound filled with the pain and ache of many years.

"After I accepted that I wouldn't ever be able to give my beloved husband the son he wanted so much, I told him to go and find himself a woman who would give him what his heart longed for."

Eren swallowed and focused his gaze on their intertwined hands.

"It must have hurt to know that someone else..."

"It did.", she said with her head tilted, so her dark hair fell over her shoulders, roaming the fabric of her dress. "The mistress he chose...she was once a good friend of mine. She knew my husband before I did. And she loved him. She loved to be the one to fulfill his biggest wish."

"But why-"

"He loved me, you know?", she interrupted him and Eren winced when she absentmindedly clawed her nails in his soft skin. "He loved me so much and I knew it. But my love for him was strong enough to accept that he had a kingdom to reign. He needed a son."

"Why not a daughter as well?", Eren mumbled. "It's not like they are worse rulers. Anyone would have been better than my father."

"By the time he was born, Eren, your father was only an innocent baby." She caressed his palm with her thumb and looked down on him, old memories reflecting in her eyes. "And his mother didn't want him. What she wanted was my husband's love. And that was the one thing she could never get from him."

Eren hummed, not able to look away from his strong grandmother.

"So, what happened next? How were you able to-"

"To give birth to your aunt? Well, Grisha was already five years old. I raised him in his biological mother's stead and he never questioned it. She only visited my husband whenever she needed money, dresses or jewelry."

The birds sang their song above their heads and Eren closed his eyes, listening to her story and their noises all the same. They sang a song...a familiar one. He couldn't put his finger on it, but...

"But after many, many years of trying...of tears and despair...I finally became pregnant." He heard the tears in her eyes and blinked to see the heartbroken smile on her lips. "I was so happy, darling. Your aunt...I loved her so much. I feared nothing more but the idea of losing the baby I finally could call my own just as much as I did with Grisha."

"But how could you love my father when he wasn't even your own child?"

"Eren, love doesn't end with blood relations. You should know that better than anyone." His grandmother cocked her head with an amused glint in her eyes. "Or do you love your sister any less because you aren't related by blood?"

"She is my sister.", he answered without even thinking about it. "No matter where she came from, no matter who her parents are. Mikasa is my sister just as much as my mother was my mother."