Amor Enim Bellum

24

As he is about to stalk his way over to the mystery person, said being removes the hood and stares at him with eyes that he has seen before.

Only seen before on his kärlek.

Then the realisation hit him like a freight train. He was staring at the thought to be dead mother of his fiance.

Lyra Ström.

Elias' eyes widened in shock and his mouth fell agape. He had no idea what to do or say about finding out that his future mother in law was still kicking and breathing, very much alive.

Before he could utter a word, the woman who looks so much like the love of his life stepped forward and made her way to him. Once she was in front of him, she graced him with a beautiful smile.

"I do have to apologize for killing that rat before you could. You must understand I have had a personal vendetta since they day my lovely daughter was born."

Seemingly breaking out of his stupor, he replied, "I understand, but how are you still alive? Everyone believed you were dead. Forgive me, where are my manners, I am Elias-"

"I know who you are honey. I will answer all your questions in due time, however I wish to see my daughter first. I have not seen her in almost twenty one (21) years. Before you ask, no she has never had a clue that I was alive."

"How do you know who I am?"

"I have been watching you for some time Elias, I knew you had my daughter when I followed her from this horrible place all over Stockholm. I paid people to hand her food, water, a shelter for the night. I knew she could not just stay at a random place. She needed people who could protect her and ultimately care for her."

Nodding in understanding, he offered her a hand so they could get away from the stench of decomposing flesh and finish their discussion elsewhere.

Making their way over to the SUV's that were parked there, waiting for his arrival, the duo watched as the passenger door flew open and out came Benjamin.

Stopping almost immediately in his tracks, his face morphed into one of a fish. His brain could swear it was seeing a slightly older version of Nova.

"Benji? Benjiiii? Helllooooo? I would like to introduce you to the one and only Lyra Ström, Nova's biological mother."

Even with saying all of that, his best friend still stood there frozen. Turning to his mother in law, he chuckled and said, "I think you broke him."

That sent the two into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, by the time they calmed down, he was out of his confused state and glaring at them. Beaming at him, Elias skipped over and jumped on him, giving him a bear hug.

"Come on, we got a lot of stuff to do back at the castle now Ellie. Get off of me please, your fat ass is heavy. I am not asking anything till we get to my little bub."

Nudging him off, he was met by Lyra's menacing glare and she had her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean, 'your little bub'?"

Realisation dawned on the two men and realised what she must have been thinking. They quickly defused the situation, explaining to her that was just a nickname for her, that she was nothing more than a little sister to him and that he was happily married to his pregnant wife, Serah.

Finally back at the castle, they were greeted by all the members and their allies.

Everyone started cheering that they were all back and okay, as well as their massive victory. Before anyone could open their mouth to ask who the woman standing next to them was, Nova spoke up.

"Mum????"

Mouths fell agape as they all watched with wide eyes at this revelation. Lyra turned to her daughter and smiled, "Hi my little star."

The second those words left her mouth, she felt a body slam into hers, arms wrapped around her and she felt tears running down her neck. tearing up as well, she returned the embrace and held her. The whole castle's residents were filled with unbelievable happiness and warmth.

It was a beautiful reunion, one that none of them saw coming .

Pulling back from her mum, Nova turned to Elias and asked, "How did you find her?"

Explaining that she was the one who ended up killing Vinnie, before he even could get to him and then tossing off the hood. His gaze was met one that was so similar to her's. He also told her how that apparently Lyra has been keeping an eye on them since she arrived at The Odin's Riders' Castle and even earlier than that.

Spinning to face her mum, she fired off several questions.

"Bub, let's get your fiance and mum a change of clothes first. Then some food and we'll discuss it over food okay?"

Pouting, she agreed with Benjamin. Twenty (20) minutes later, all four of them were seated around one of the table's in the ice cream parlor. Their food was just placed in front of them and they all turned to face the woman everyone thought was dead.

"I'll begin with how I managed to fake my death and why, okay?"

Heads bobbed in agreement and she smiled at how in sync the three of them are.

"I am sure all of you are aware that Vinnie had a problem with staying faithful to his wife. Well, he was never in love with her, it was all an arranged marriage done by his parents. He loved me, but I have never once reciprocated his feelings and I told him that countless of times. Never one to take no for an answer, he would continue his advances and one day got me drunk, assaulted me and I landed up pregnant with my little star."

Taking a deep breath, she continued on, not looking up at any of them.

"Vanessa was completely dumbfounded on how I was pregnant, because I was always with her or Vinnie. She never put two and two together. He made sure I was always okay and that I had everything I needed for my pregnancy. Always talking about how when I gave birth, he would leave Vanessa and we could be together, despite the fact that I said no. Nine (9) months later, I gave birth and 'died'. I decided to fake my death because I could not stay in the place where I was violently assaulted when I was not in a sound state of mind."

Lyra felt a hand be placed over her's, looking up to be eye to eye to Elias, who smiled at her and said, "You are so strong for pulling through, making that hard decision to have to leave your baby daughter. As well as making a new life for yourself."

Tears streamed down Nova's face at all the hardships her mum must have went through, also for the fact that her bebis was being so kind to her and reassuring her.

"Thank you honey, it means a lot to me. I was constantly on the move because I was afraid that Vinnie might have figured out that I was still alive."

Benjamin leaned forward and spoke up, "I just want to ask , who helped you fake your death and escape?"

Sighing, she ran her hand through her hair.

"It was one of the doctors, I was madly in love with him and he was too. I confided in him what had happen and he was furious. We created a plan where I would do everything that Vinnie wanted and then he would help me fake my death. I 'died' of severe bleeding and sepsis. He was the one who asked Vinnie if he wanted to bury or cremate 'me'. I was 'cremated. While the 'body' was burning, I was sneaked out in the doctor's suitcase as he told them had to go on an important trip."

"So, what happened to the doctor?"

Thinking about what happened to him made her heart fall, "He ended up dying at the hands of The Kröw's. I don't know what transpired leading up to his death, but from what I was able to gather, he refused to administer a lethal dose to one the girls from the club. He was executed a day later and I was heartbroken."

Standing up from her chair, Nova made her way around to the other side of the booth and grabbed her mother in a tight hug. Continuously whispering "I'm so sorry mummy."

There was a lot of healing to be done for both of them and a lot of bonding.

It was all over now and they could all finally move on with their lives together.