The Revenant Queen 2 (wlw)

Chapter Twenty- Four

Adira had trod to the end of the tunnel, using a flicker of flame she conjured within her palm to light her way and when she showed up outside the exit, she noticed McLean hunched over in a relatively dark corner outside the walls of the manor.

The man was sitting alone, his formidable hand grazing through his greying hair that looked dark due to the lack of light at that angle. The way he sat, the fact that he didn't even raise his head when she knew he heard her approach stated so much. It was the truth she thought observing the familiar figure, silence did speak volumes and just then it screamed in her face.

Because when her majesty didn't see Colette beside the man an immediate doom settled in the pit of her stomach and she was fastened in the spot she stood, her body stiffened as if she was struck by lightning. The queen felt like something sharp had pierced her heart and it bled incessantly in her chest. She felt bile that threatened to rise to the edge of her throat, it choked her, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. It tasted like hatred and not just any old hatred but a hatred she was familiar with, the type of hatred she named in honour of her mother.

Frantically, Adira's eyes scanned the vicinity, thinking she might've mistaken the events. The woman hoped that in the height of their troubles, Colette was just pulling a sick and twisted prank to lighten the mood but then it dawned on her that she told McLean to take them away rather than waiting around for her to join them as they escaped, she advised him to do that knowing she'd find them. The fact that he now sat there looking distraught and tired told her all she needed to know.

Her heart sank further, anger permeated and Adira blinked back the tears of hatred and anger that stung her eyes.

"She snatched the girl from beside me. I couldn't have caught her even if I wanted to."

"I begged you to protect her for a reason," Adira's tone was nothing but solid ice as she responded. She didn't approach but stood glaring down at the man who didn't dare look up. There were so many dangerous thoughts circulating in her mind, so many malicious and malevolent intent she needed to subdue by distracting herself.

Deterring her mind, Adira studied the night around them: the wind whistled songs of lamentation for it too realized the deed that was done. The trees danced to the sad songs that played as the queen wrapped her mind around her mother taking her girl out of vengeance and spite. The grounds of the estate suddenly felt dreary, the night suddenly began to crawl and in the distance Adira knew that the citadel guards on her property were probably searching for them as they stood there, adding more salt to an already deep wound of anger and frustration.

"I did protect her, I tried, however, I'm but a mere revenant in the face of Isabella. I was like a speck of dust in the face of God, there wasn't much I could've done from the inception,"

"She's not invincible," answered her majesty. The muscles in her jaw locked around each other as she scowled over to McLean.

The older revenant closed his eyes at the coarseness of Adira's voice. He didn't need to look at her to know she'd shifted, but he felt it. The air was crisp with a warmth that was too familiar, the heat radiating in the atmosphere as usual and just the thickness of her voice told him she was in her true form.

"She's not invincible for you, your majesty but for me she is. The young miss was snatched right from under me, dragged into the atmosphere, gone in a flash before I could even acknowledge that there was a breeze fanning against my nape."

There was silence.

"There's only so much that I can do as my abilities are limited. If I knew where she was I would've gone there for her, but I do not. There's nothing I could do at this point."