Hell and Back

Chapter Twenty Six

"What changed your mind?" Asks Stacey as I examine the room. Only Mari, Aurora, and Kingsley are in the room.

"Nothing. I hadn't made up my mind until last night." I admit. Stacey responds with a pleased grin.

"We know it's not easy for you, Lena, but the Kingdom will love you for this. Rejoice your name." The way she says Lena makes me sick to my stomach. I love when Damien calls me that. And I want to say fuck the kingdom. I don't care about the massive ego boost from this. This isn't a prize to me. It's literal tragedy upon my shoulders. The weight of the world is on my shoulders right now. I'm sacrificing my own happiness for the sake of saving the world.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumble. "What's the plan?" I get straight to the business.

"The plan is—" Stacey stops short and sniffs the air. "Is someone intoxicated?" And suddenly, a pair of 6 eyes are all trained on me.

"So what?" I slur. "I'm stressed!" I scream.

Aurora blinks at me pathetically and turns her nose away. "I knew she was too stupid to do this." She comments.

"She's the only one who can do this." Stacey snaps. "Alena, this is a big deal, you know? The packs are leaving today, which means tonight —" I feel tears brimming my eyes as I imagine the amount of pain I'm causing myself.

"Damien is gone anyway." I grumble.

"So? Where is he?" Kingsley questions.

I shrug, "I don't know." The room collectively becomes silent. "I don't know when he'll be back either."

"Thoughts?" Stacey turns to the group. It's hard for me to focus on any of my senses. I don't know how I found the liquor room, but it's the best escape for me at the moment. I didn't drink nearly as much as I did at the party, but just enough to not be able to walk in a straight line.

"It has to be done tonight." Mari states.

"We'll need bait then." She explains. She grins shortly after. "And I've got the perfect one. We'll figure out the specifics later. First, we need Alena to be vulnerable enough to subdue him. Can you do that, Alena?" Stacey asks.

"Make him vulnerable?" I groan.

"I saw the two of you in the training room. He was vulnerable then. You can pull it off. As long as he's convinced it's only you two." She explains.

"Just us two? Is someone going to be watching?"

She nods, "I'll be there with help just in case anything goes wrong. You only have on thing to do, Alena. Make him vulnerable and stab him. In his heart. It'll be quickest and easiest and guarantees his demise." Hearing her say the words so effortlessly makes my heart wrench. I can't believe I've agreed to this madness. But perhaps Damien is the darkness I must face. My shadow. My gut is telling me there's more to the situation than meets the eyes, yet I'm not sure which path will lead to the greater success of, well, everything.

"We know this is a huge burden, but it must be done." Mari sighs. I simply nod my head in understanding. I slay the beast, I save the Kingdom. Isn't that how these fairytales go?

———

The white dress draped on me reminds me of the dress I wore in the official cutting cord ceremony 4 years back. It seems like just yesterday I was a homeless kid with nothing to live for. Now I'm a Queen with the dire responsibility of either destroying this kingdom, or becoming it. Overwhelmingly enough, I must sacrifice the love of my life in the name of this responsibility. Will I even be Queen after this? Do I even want to be Queen? The answer to the latter is a simple no, but Stacey explained that I will still be considered Queen unless I pass the position onto someone else. But who can be trusted? After betraying Damien in this way, I know it's not me.