Rising Above (Dead War Sequel Book 2)

Chapter Thirteen: Acceptance

I woke up the next day to see Liam lying next to me and the twins in their cribs bouncing while Liam slept next to me. I stood up and walked to the closet and put on a light pink dress that puffed out at my waist not too far but enough to make it bigger around. It was pink with gold roses painted on its fabric. It reached just below my knees enough so I would be able to move, and I put on a pair of flat gold slip-on shoes and my wedding ring and a gold necklace. I pulled my hair into a low bun with two pieces pulled out from the front. I walked over to Rosalie and Roman and picked them up, held them on either hip and placed them on the changing tables getting them dressed. Rosalie was in a white dress with roses embroidered on the bottom of the dress and Roman wore a plaid shirt and pants and little shoes while Rosalie wore slip on shoes. Jasper woke up not long after and I got home dressed into slacks and a sweatshirt. He put on his own shoes and followed me as I took the twins and put them on my hip and walked out the door down into the courtyard. This was the first time since I was 18 years old that I was hosting a children's party on a Friday. I used to host them every single Friday for years and years with my mother until I turned 18 and then I married Oliver and my life turned on its head suddenly and nothing was the same. So i decided last night that today i officially decided that even though there was this war going on my people needed this time to relax and have fun and be able to see their children be with other children. When we reached the courtyard I began to set up the games and toys and food for the children and mothers while the fathers had game day in the palace. The babies were all placed on a mattress surrounded by four walls to keep them contained while they played. I ran with all of the Children and jumped around and danced with the little girls and pretended to sword fight with the boys per request. The girls giggled and laughed and played with each other's hair and the boys played with sticks and metal rings bouncing them around to each other. Ever since I ran the kingdom I had noticed that everything became more modern. From the toys to the beds and buildings and the walls and people I looked around and slowly umbris was returning to its same bright and cheerful home that I had always known but now it was tainted with the knowledge of where this kingdom had been and who its king and queen was. I don't know if I could ever forgive my parents for what they had done in the war they had Caused. Suddenly I looked up and saw a man standing at the front of the woods wearing a white shirt and while slacks barefoot his hair was let loose and long and touched the top of his shoulders. He was a very muscular man but soft looking at the same time I excused myself and walked towards him. When I reached the edge of the wall I recognized him.

"Leonard Caliper." I said softly.

"Hello Serena." He replied his voice was soft and sultry. It had a very husky and rough note to it but it was also soft and charming as well.

"So it's true, you really are dead."

"Yes it is true, my son murdered myself and his mother not long after he arrived back in town."

"You never knew." I replied.

"No, I hated you yes and I hated women but what Oliver did I never knew the letters the threats I never did any of them. I started this war but I never Intended it to get this far. I never wanted this much carnage and this much damage. I never wanted all this death." He said sadly.

"I know what Victoria did to you." I spoke softly.

"Then you know why I did what I did." We began to walk and he told me the entire story. He told me how he met Victoria through my mother and how he was immensely in love with her within days of meeting and he was so excited that he introduced her to his brother Gabriel and then Victoria began to hang out with Gabriel more and he found out it was because she believed him to be more exciting and more fun. He proposed to Victoria and to his surprise she said yes he was so blinded by love he didn't see her hesitation to say yes. He was so blinded by love he never realized how badly he had been betrayed. And then he found out that she was with child. It of course was Leonard's because Gabriel didn't dare do anything like that with Victoria until they were married, which he planned to do. Weeks later at a party she found Victoria kissing Gabriel and he felt his heart shatter the women he loved and the mother of his child was a fraud and a fake he was destroyed. He did everything but in the end she chose Gabriel and took his child with her and then later he found out that she gave birth to a baby girl. He was ecstatic but she refused to let him see the baby and then a year later he got word their daughter had died. He was devastated his daughter was dead and he never once got to see her. He tried to contact my mother and she refused. His anger was so real and so raw. He acted out of spite. He fought this and warned my mother that worse would come unless he got to say goodbye to his daughter and then the letters stopped being received and he stopped receiving letters. His father provided a wife for him, Princess Lilith; he was so infatuated with her looks that he married her weeks later and then a year later they welcomed their sons with open arms they had twin boys and welcomed them with open arms. But nothing, not even his own sons could heal the hurt in his heart and then he heard word that the king and queen had received a daughter named Serena after their first daughter and he was so angry they would betray his daughter like that. He sent warriors to umbris and killed over half of the population Gabriel was so angry that he sent the head of three guards back to prophis and then the war began. He felt like his family was ripped from
His grasp and he could no longer do anything about it. He was angry and frustrated and heartbroken that the woman he loved was gone and his daughter was dead and even though he would never admit it he was angry at his wife for having boys and not a daughter so he tried again and he got his daughter. But five days later she succumbed to pneumonia and died. He felt like his wife was responsible and his hatred for women grew.