The Queen's Conquer

Chapter 28 : Till Death Do Us Part

Mettle • [meh-tl]
The determination and ability to deal with problems and difficult situations; the courage to carry on in the face of adversity.

🖤

~+~

~ Anastasia ~

Present

It's not difficult to identify exactly what it is that I'm staring at—why I was brought here. But there are too many thoughts and possibilities racing through my mind to comprehend what led to such a tragedy.

Samuel's fingers squeeze around mine gently, though I feel like he's the one who lacks a sense of comfort here. Not me. My breathing is off as I attempt to prepare myself for this raw conversation, our eyes glued to the three graves before us.

What's even more unsettling and confusing is the smallest of them all, but I contain the string of questions I want to ask. My arm links through my mate's, hugging it as my head leans against his bicep.

"Samuel," I whisper softly, stroking his arm to gain an idea of what's filling his mind right now.

"My mother..." he exhales unevenly before deciding to start over. "My mother was an amazing cook. She taught me a lot of what I know, actually. It's all she ever spent her time doing after she had me."

I finally look up at him, but his eyes are locked on the stones as they turn glossy like he's remembering every detail of his childhood. Like he's reliving the good and bad moments of his entire life.

"My father though..." Samuel chuckles as though those particular memories are a joke to him. "Goddess, he was a nightmare. A relentless fucking nightmare I could never escape, but it's tradition for the Alpha's son to live up to his father's expectations. I was no exception."

I watch as his empty fists clench slightly, the muscles under my touch contracting at the change.

"It was my mother first," he goes on. "To die, I mean."

I don't feel the next breath enter or leave my chest. "What happened?" I ask carefully.

"She was pregnant with my brother," he starts, eyes profusely blinking away his growing tears. "It happened the same day I was titled a warrior, at an annual traditional ceremony we hold in the fall. She was smiling—happy one minute, then on the ground the next. She was at least eight and a half months along by then. But she just started bleeding and bleeding..."

My eyes grow watery as I imagine the horror my mate was forced to experience. I can't help but stare at the smallest grave, now realizing its purpose. My body goes slack.

"And it was so sudden that I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know how to react correctly. They took her to the hospital with plans for an emergency C-section; they thought they could at least save my brother. But there was so much bleeding, Anastasia, and I couldn't..."

He runs a trembling hand through his hair, tugging against the strands out of some kind of self-hatred. I grab it, though, kissing his knuckles and pulling him into my embrace. His tears finally release, but I hold him as he's reminded of the life he's been so terrified to face, hushing his silent sobs with my lulling voice.

Once he's calmed a little, his head remaining buried in my neck, I finally whisper, "I didn't know you had a brother. I didn't know that—" I choke on my words. "I just didn't know, Samuel."

"I'm sorry for never telling you," he eventually murmurs back, holding me equally as tight.

"No. Please, no." I pull his face away to hold it between my hands, searching his broken expression as if I can put him back together. "You never need to apologize. Never for something like this."