The Rise

Truths

"I'm sorry." He hugged her tighter but his body was still rigid and tense. Pulling away from her, he wipes her tears. "Stop crying Rai. You look ugly." She laughs and punches him in the chest. "No I'm not. Idiot." Patting her head, he looked over and bowed in Elder Haclin's direction. "Greetings Elder Haclin." Elder Haclin waved him off and moved the chest piece on his board excitedly. Erebus sat on the opposite side, playing along with the old man. "Jai, you.... You're not dead?" King Kaa stood up in shock. Jai nods, "Yeah. I've always been alive." Kaa and Jai has been friends growing up but then Kaa became King and Jai supported his sister to be Matriarch, despite others objecting furiously.

"What happened?" Jai's eyes go to Queen Lanai. "I fell in love with someone who wasn't my mate." He sighed. "She betrayed me once but I didn't know that she would do something to my nieces and nephew." The chair handle that Queen Lanai held onto tightly broke, the snap was barely audible. "I'm not feeling so well. It might be the child." She said to King Kaa who nods. "Then head back." Queen Lanai stood, hand over stomach and walked down the stairs. Jai grabbed her hand, "Where do you think you're going?" She struggled to pull away. With a hand on her stomach, she yelled out. "Release me this instant!" Jai looked at King Kaa, "This is the woman I'm speaking of. Your so called Queen! The woman you're married to." Jai threw her to the ground. "Kaa! He's lying! I don't even know him!"

Jai scoffs, "There's a small mark on her lower back. It's red." Kaa seemed taken aback, "You idiot! Who remembers something like that?" Reina smirks. "Why didn't you argue that King Kaa could've said something to him. It would've helped you a bit." Realization dawned in Lanai's eyes as her hand covers her mouth shakingly. She turns to Kaa. "Kaa! Our child!" Kaa looked at Lanai who was clutching her stomach and sighed. He was about to say something, Jai cut him off. "Lanai is unable to have children. She's lying. It's been that way since she killed the child she was pregnant with before." Kaa stumbled back into his chair in shock, not knowing what to say. Lanai saw the lost look in his eyes and couldn't help but to laugh in despair. She was done for.

"So what? The so called child would've died by one of your hands eventually to get rid of you." Lanai pointed to the members of the Royal family and stood. Her head high but didn't expect that soon as she turned, she was kicked down. No one expected Princess Consort Nayeli to do such a thing. She was always a good natured woman and never acted out but now... Lanai coughed up blood and glared at Princess Consort. "What? You can't hold it in any longer?" Wiping her mouth, she pushed herself up. Nayeli scoffed and glared at her. "I always knew you were dirty." Nayeli's words were sharp and cut through the air like daggers. Lanai chuckles, "As if any of you are clean! Especially that beloved daughter of yours! She was even dirtier than me, wasn't she? Pity you didn't know."

The room turned extremely cold, the glare Nayeli threw her way was so intense that Lanai was having a hard time breathing. "You actually dared to say my precious daughter was dirty!" Lanai laughs madly, gasping as she spoke. "Mother dearest doesn't know! She and that bastard child of hers! Hahaha! The father of her child isn't the Wolf King but the Grand Prince of the Angel Kingdom. It's no wonder the King didn't want her anymore. The whore gave birth to a bast-" A vine reaches up and wraps around Lanai's throat, the thorns pierced her throat and stopped her from speaking. "My actions aren't yours to judge." A voice whispered throughout the room, in a dark corner a white haired woman appeared.

It was King Kaa's turn to become pale. He attempted to leave sneakily but was spotted. "Where are you going Uncle? Scared?" The voice was louder and came from behind everyone. Kaa dropped to the floor and scrambled back in complete fear. "Please! Don't hurt me! It was her!" Kaa just looked at the white haired woman as though she were a ghost, fear evident in his eyes while pointing at Lanai. "Brother! Help me!" Kaa reached out to Prince Kai but vines wrapped his hands together so he wouldn't do anything. "Help you? You seem frightened Uncle. Did you do something wrong?" Kaa shook his head, tears clouding his eyes.  "I-... Please don't kill me." Kaa didn't know where to turn as Flora approached him. He knew she was going to kill him for what he did. The memory of the dream he had when she died forever haunted him. The situation isn't in his favor, things got out of hand the moment Jai showed up.

Everyone stood dumbfounded as the woman stepped into the light. Her white hair and red half moon mark on her forehead was a clear giveaway to the woman's identity. No one spoke as she reached out and pulled Kaa from the ground into a kneeling position. "Why don't you tell us what you did?" Flora still looked the same as she always did but her aura changed. It had the stench of death in it, the once warm feeling one got from her was gone now. If her aura was golden then, it is now with strings of black flowing through it. Flora's eyes seemed to be commanding as Kaa started talking. He seemed spaced out while speaking, as if being forced to speak.

"She grew too strong, especially with the people's backing. Father would've given her the throne instead of me. I had to do something. That Alpha always made it evident that he wanted her so I made that possible. Of course I know my niece in this aspect. She wouldn't want to bring conflict between the countries so she'd say that they were mates even after he defiled her. That way, Flora would leave the Kingdom and Father would pass the throne to me. But it was wrong to make her leave because she took more than my Kingdom away, she took my ambition! I hated her. How dare she unite the Kingdoms so easily! Luckily, I wasn't the only one trying to destroy her. The one fault that she had was that people trusted her too easily." Kaa glared at his niece, coming out of the trance. "You should've just died and stayed that way!"  Something flew in Flora's direction, it was blocked by her wing and bounced off.

"Poison needles, how pathetic of you Uncle." Flora flicked her wing and bent down to pick up the needle. "You can be in pain by your own weapon." She flicked the needle and it pierced his chest instantly. A scream escaped his throat as his body writhed on the floor. "Throw him in the dungeon, keep him alive for a few hours." Guards appear and drag Kaa's writhing body out. His glare turned to fear under Flora's gaze. Her eyes has a flash of gold in them that shocked him immensely. It was as if two different people were looking at him from the same body.  Just as the guards leave, Flora turns and drops to her knee. Hand over heart, she bows. The flash of gold in her eyes now gone.