Twilight of the Gods ✔️

Chapter 37: Mother's Love

Queen Alexandra was a vision to behold on her wedding day.

Her warm, sunkissed skin glowed in her pale blue gown, accentuated by simple sparkling pearl jewelry. Tropical blue flowers were woven into her long, inky black hair, which she had chosen to wear loosely, showing off her wavy locks.

This was also how the spirit of Daeva's biological mother chose to appear when summoned by Nyx.

"You've changed so much," she said, wrapping her arms around Daeva in a warm embrace. "I'm sorry you had to suffer through this life without me."

Daeva stood there awkwardly, letting Alexandra hug her. She wasn't sure what she should do with her hands, wondering if she needed to hug the woman back. She just wasn't used to having a mother.

"It's not your fault," she replied. "There wasn't anything you could do to prevent everything that happened to me."

"Death claimed her too early," Nyx added. "She died when you were twelve in your first life."

Alexandra's arms around her tightened. "My visions drove me mad and into an early grave. I had to watch you weep over me and be unable to do anything about it. My sweet, precious Evelyn. If I were alive, I would've joined your stepmother in telling you to never run away with that awful boy."

    Daeva pulled away. "Haydn isn't that awful."

    Alexandra brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Cordelia warned me that it would be difficult to convince you. Maybe it's time that we bring her in."

    "After you tell your story," Nyx said. "I think she needs to understand her role in facilitating humanity's greatness."

    Humanity's greatness, she thought. What a joke. They can't be serious.

"Of course," Alexandra said. "How could I forget? When I was younger, I was plagued with visions of a girl who looked just like me dying at the hands of a dark-haired man. I thought these visions were trying to warn me of your father, who sought my hand. But the girl in these visions wore a lilac dress, a color I despised. When I gave birth to you and saw that you loved the purple flowers in the castle gardens, I realized those visions were about you."

Tears glimmered in the Queen's eyes. "I did everything in my power to stop that future from happening. I even asked your father to banish all of the dark-haired boys from the kingdom. For a while, that seemed to work. I began to see new visions, one where you became a great conqueror that united all of the five islands into one great country. I even found other seers who saw the same thing. Many strands of fate were destined to intersect when you finally came of age. You were going to change the world. It's too bad I died before I could see it."

The memory hit Daeva with full force and all of a sudden, she was twelve again, kneeling by her mother's grave and clutching the stems of a handful of blue flowers. She managed to stay composed during the funeral procession, but since all of the guests left, she was free to cry alone. Even so, she kept her sobs quiet. Princesses, after all, did not make a scene.

She returned to reality, looking at her mother with new eyes.

"Was there any chance you could have lived longer? Maybe for an extra year?"

Alexandra shook her head. "Given the nature of my gift, I should have never lived that long. Seers rarely make it to adulthood. Most of my life was spent in pain."

"Unfortunate," Nyx said. "Someone as gifted as you should have been granted a more carefree existence. But there's someone else that would like to meet you, Daeva. She's waited a long time to see you again."