The Fall of Vequera

Chapter fifty-one | Valia

LOCATION: AIREDAL, HELELL

YEAR: 622 C.E

THE SHALLOWLANDS LAY WITHIN THE BOOT OF HELELL.

Highborns avoided the lands out of fear. The lands were bothersome to them, stepping foot in lands, so ridden with death could easily have them killed. Many hunters roamed the lands as well as fledglings of their very own houses. Their sobs and screams filled the night and even the day if you listened hard enough. She had wanted for a few knights to accompany her to the Shallowlands but as time caught up with the high lady, she seemed apprehensive. A broken promise flashed in her mind as she walked to the throne room, a few guards lurking behind her. As she entered the throne room, it was empty, but she could feel his heartbeat. "Koa, you can come out." It came to her ears in a slow rhythm. Koa appeared in front of her with annoyed eyes.

Glancing over her shoulder at the knights, she spoke calmly, "Wait outside." As soon as they were gone, Valia turned back to him with a saddened expression. A week had passed since she had killed the high lord, but she had been so occupied that she could not spare even a second to speak to her friend. Or even Mary. The lost time plagued her even when she could feel his annoyance for her.

"You asked for me?" Said the high lady softly.

"I did more than ask for you, Valia." He responded.

She moved away from him, walking to the throne. A seat made of stone and a thorned crown. That was what she had killed Lazarus over. The high lady did not regret his death. It was needed. She felt more at peace than she did when he was alive. She sighed. "I had to kill him, Koa. I know you are angry with me."

"I'm not angry with you, Valia. Just annoyed you didn't tell me what you planned with my mother." Koa explained as he followed her. Strands of light filled the blackened room, it shined in his face. Koa's hair was braided back into one braid that fell down his back. He wore red and black. He stared into her eyes with an odd expression.

"I didn't want you to worry. I wanted to do it on my own...after what he did to me." Koa's brows knitted together as he listened to her every word. Valia hadn't told Koa or Mary what the high lord had done to her as a child. But she knew she had to tell them. She had to be more open about her past. "When he would come to Vequera, he often stayed at the palace. Some nights he found me in my grandmother's garden. Other times in my bedchamber. He didn't rape me, but it hurt like he had times. I thought he cared about me, but it was an obsession with ownership. His brides were his property. My mother knew about all of it, and she encouraged it. She was going to have me marry him, so I would not contest the throne. If I had married him, I would've forgotten everything I've known." Tears filled her eyes as she tried to explain. The words came out shaky and out of place.

Koa pulled her into his arms, giving her what she wanted when she was a child. Safety. Someone to protect her from the monsters but she wasn't a child anymore. She wasn't weak. Valia was the high lady of Helell, and she had killed Lazarus. "It's okay, I got you." His arms tightened around her as she cried silently. "I would've killed him if you asked. I would kill anyone if you asked it of me." He whispered in her ear.

The high lady chuckled as she pulled away from Koa, tears streaming down her cheeks. "They all deserve to die. I wish I had been there to see Isabella's face when she died. Screaming in pain, wishing it would all just stop." A flash of Nikolai beating her came into her mind.

"Then we will kill them...all of them." He reached out with both hands and caressed her face tenderly. "You will be a force to be reckoned with." His eyes held all the seriousness in the world. Valia glanced down at Koa's lips before she quickly looked away. She could barely control it as a smile fell on her lips.