𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
It's the beginning of a new age when Jaylah Imperatrix seemingly returns from the dead to reclaim her throne. And in perfect timing.
In her absence, evil has be...
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Act 4 Chapter 158 JAYLAH
Jaylah's entire body was filled with stones as she trudged back to her quarters, readying herself for another night with no sleep, another disappointment. Everything hurt and the physicians said only time would potentially heal her. It was not the pain that kept her awake really, it was the physical proof dangled in her face that what happened was real and she could never go back to the way it was before.
Her family. Each of the huntresses. Antinoch. Saria. Thyros. The entirety of Naxaros, her only home. Millions of her citizens. The only person she had ever truly loved more than herself. And any peace of mind. All were nothing but a memory distantly fogged by blunt trauma.
Perhaps she should begin drinking herself unconscious just to get some rest.
"Imperatrix." At Alexander's voice, Jaylah whipped around, her heart hammering at once despite the fact that he was likely there to insult her one last time. He was there. He was really willingly there in front of her again after their exchange went so badly last time.
"How am I here right now?" he demanded to know, and she knew this was no figment of her imagination because in her fantasy he would not be giving her such a wide berth.
"I...am not following."
"In that temple after I almost killed Aegeus Imperator, I remember he hurt me. I think—I think I almost died. But the physicians only told me I had exterior wounds from the rubble. How is that possible?"
Jaylah stared up at him, deliberating and still taken aback that he had even spoken to her again at all. "Perhaps you should come in."
Instead of voicing his disgust at the lewd insinuation, he only hesitated a moment before joining her in the entrance of her quarters. The doors slammed shut, leaving them alone. Jaylah went to the nearest sitting area and let him trail after her. She was unsure of how to take this turn of events. He had come back. And Hounds, she wished he had not shown his face to her again, knowing it would be lost to her forever tomorrow.
"How much do you recall?" As much as she wanted to, she did not allow herself to collapse onto a chair.
"I can't remember anything solid after cutting his neck. You?"
"Only small shreds of scenes." As hard as she tried to dredge up the details, she could only bring back vague moments. Zensa and Adelié bombed to death. Her father disintegrating. A naga that looked like smoke. Why had it attacked her? "I am not sure what is real."
"I am somehow alive now when I should be dead. If anyone knows how, it's you." Alexander's eyes seemed to have a pressing question in their depths that he would never ask aloud.
Jaylah froze up, torn between wanting to tell him the truth and not wanting to keep any ties between them that he did not want. Though she wanted them. Gods, did she.
