CHAPTER 23

Laverna stayed in a dense hidden forest, far from the palace where no one ventured, so Onyx and Avian had to drive to the hidden forest which would take at least a day to get there.

Avian drove the car in pure silence, Onyx was like a living ghost to him and it was like she didn't even exist in his eyes which upset her but what upset her the most, was the way he abandoned her when Lothaire strangled her in front of him.

"You can't ignore me forever you know." Onyx finally broke the silent but Avian didn't flinch as he continued to fix his eyes on the road. He didn't say a word and Onyx had never felt so angry before as her blue eyes flamed with anger.

"Its not right what you do to me Avian, the other day you let Lothaire strangle me and you didn't even do anything about it." Onyx complained with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

"You can't control your emotions because you let it control you instead. Stop depending on me, I won't give in." His voice was as cold as ice, not a hint of emotion was heard, it was like his resolve was made of steel but she wondered how he could be in control of the mating bond because of how strong it was.

Onyx's lips pressed tightly against each other in a thin line as she stifled the tear that threatened to break through.

Avian knew his words would hurt her, but he had to for his plan to work. He couldn't let anything distract him especially not his mate.

He couldn't bear to see her hurt filled face because it'd shake his resolve strongly so he avoided looking at her face and focused on the road instead as he heard her sniffing which made his jaw tick in frustration and anger at Lothaire that made Onyx accompany him.

He should have been able to go through this journey smoothly but with Onyx by his side, it felt like a great turbulence had hit him.

....

Lothaire walked into the dining room to see Larisa eating but it seemed like her appetite was gone since she mostly fiddled with her spoon.

Larisa couldn't hear Lothaire come in because she was lost in her deep thoughts, she wondered if she made the right decision by staying with Lothaire since her staying there was already putting people in danger, because of her a war was going to break out and wars between the supernatural were bound to be highly destructive and hectic.

She didn't want to be the reason innocent people died even though she thought of leaving for peace to reign she couldn't help but selfishly want to stay with Lothaire, maybe they could just run away to where no one would find them but they were supernatural beings and she wondered how long it'd take before their location was found out.

"Larisa!" Lothaire's deep honey coated voice woke her up from her deep thoughts. She whipped her head to the direction of his voice to meet a pair of golden eyes staring into her soul.

"Whats wrong? You haven't touched your food." Lothaire said as his eyes diverted to the untouched food and she gasped. "You should eat." Lothaire said, he moved closer to her as he took her cutleries and picked up a piece of steak with the fork, bringing it closer to her mouth.

She was flustered by his action, she couldn't help but blush as she took the piece of meat from the fork with her mouth. Her appetite magically came back as she savoured the meat.

Lothaire couldn't help but stare at her juicy pink lips as they moved. He continued feeding her till she was full.

"What have you been thinking about? I promised that I'll answer all your questions and here I am." Lothaire said.

"Oh! I..I'm...I'm just thinking that its all my fault, all the bad things that have been happening since I came here." She said with a gloomy expression.

"Angels don't cause bad things to happen, Devils do and I'm the Devil." He said with a stoic expression on his face.

"But you're not the Devil, your father is." She said as if she was trying to make him believe that he was still good no matter what which wasn't true in any way.

"What's the difference between a woodcutter and the son of a woodcutter?" He asked with a sardonic smile on his devilishly handsome face.

"He could choose a different occupation and be a tailor or a farmer instead, he doesn't have to be a woodcutter." She said, her words made his smile even more darker.

"Are you trying to be funny, Angel?" He said with a glued sarcastic smirk on his face.

"Its true, you don't have to be your father and if you were really like him you wouldn't be here then." She argued and he could do nothing but admire her some more, her beauty, her brains and her innocence.

"Just because I'm not with him doesn't make me an Angel, I'm still a demon, inside and out. I'm full of darkness because I am darkness." He said and she could feel the menacing darkness oozing from his body, the air became eerie but she wasn't scared, she had held her resolve to not show her petty human emotions anymore like fear.

"I don't care anyways." She said with not a care in the world, she couldn't care if he was the devil or not, she had already made up her mind to stick with him till the end and that is exactly what she planned on doing, regardless of what would happen.

"I murdered my entire family when I was fourteen." He said and she froze for a second, examining his expressions to know whether he was joking or not but his expression was hard, not a hint of joke on his face. She was stunned by his confession but not scared of him but still she wondered what could have possibly made him do what he did.

"I killed the woman who gave birth to me,the Queen , my step brothers and step father, king Luther. I ripped them apart in cold blood and I personally enjoyed watching them suffer, especially the queen, she was the one I hated the most and her death was definitely the most painful and slow." He said with not a pinch of remorse or empathy in his eyes, instead they were filled with nothing but hatred and darkness as he spoke of them.

Lothaire was expecting her to be scared but she had a sad and curious expression on her face. Sad because she knew that he must have had a terrible mother and childhood to not even be able to call her his mother and curious because she wondered what the reason could be for him to kill his entire family.

She knew that if he had a wonderful family, there wouldn't be any reason for him to kill them, would he? She thought.

"What happened?" Larisa asked, there was no judging look in her eyes instead she was curious to find out what really happened. But even after knowing the truth, in her eyes would it still be okay that he murdered his family for vengeance?

"They all hated me, especially the Queen, its ironic to say but she didn't even look at me when she gave birth to me, she tried to murder me immediately I was born,she stabbed my heart but I'm immortal so I didn't die. I don't remember but I was told and I'm not surprised she did.." Lothaire paused for a moment as if he was choosing his next words carefully.

Larisa couldn't believe her ears, his own mother tried to kill him as a baby, was there anything more painful than a mother trying to kill her own child and for what reason?

"Why would she do that?" Larisa exclaimed in shock.

"Because I'm the devil's son, he seduced her and then abandoned her, she said I reminded her of him. I had a choice to not kill her, I had a choice to leave and be successful somewhere else but instead I chose to murder her as ruthless and heartless as possible because I'm nothing but pure evil, I don't forgive or forget." He said and his dark aura became heavier than usual.

A sarcastic smirk curved on his lips without him knowing as he thought of how he had made them all suffer and how they had begged on their knees for their lives.

Larisa could see clearly what he was talking about, he was full of darkness but still she had chosen to stay, darkness or not.

"Do you regret it?" Larisa asked.

"Regret what?" He asked sarcastically.

"Killing your mother." She answered anyway and she saw Lothaire's golden eyes light up with a sadistic smile on his lips.

"I'd do it again."