Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 460: Not a Favour ()
Neveah still lay wide awake when a knock sounded from the door.
Neveah did not respond to it, Estelle would let herself in and Neveah could not muster the strength to give an answer.
The door came open after a moment and footsteps approached, coming to a stop by Neveah’s bed.
Neveah pulled the covers over herself, knowing exactly what expression Estelle would have at the moment.
"Do not give me that look... I fine." Neveah murmured beneath her breath.
It took a moment for Estelle to give a response, but when she did, it became apparent that the voice definitely did not belong to Estelle.
"That makes one of you..." Adrienne said.
Neveah frowned slightly, she did not need to turn over to know who it was.
The fairy was surely the last person Neveah wanted to see and it was even more astonishing that she had been daring enough to come to Neveah herself.
"Unless you have come to get rid of me for good, you know the way out." Neveah dismissed without sparing a look over at Adrienne.
"I would not come here...if I had a choice." Adrienne said quietly.
Neveah wondered how coming to see her even became an option to Adrienne after everything that had happened.
"Menarx... he’s gone. We cannot find him anywhere... and I..." Adrienne’s voice cracked mid sentence and she trailed off.
Adrienne did not need to complete her sentence for Neveah to know where this was headed.
"And you do not have much longer." Neveah murmured as she turned over on her bed.
Sure enough, Adrienne looked even worse than the last time Neveah had seen her and how she could even remain standing in her condition was a mystery to Neveah.
Her eyes had sunken deeper into her face and she looked thinner, if that was even possible. Her face was as white as a ghost and Neveah could tell that to have preserved Adrienne’s life for this long already, Lord Everon was the only one capable.
"Lord Everon says if Menarx cannot be found by dawn... " Adrienne said, her voice trailing off again.
Her every word were said with strain and difficulty, she was clearly tired of it all but still holding on with all her strength and will.
And why would she not? Menarx had brought her back from the brink, and confessed that he did not wish for her death... at this point, Neveah could see in Adrienne’s eyes that she held onto her life, for Menarx.
"You wish to find Menarx, any of his brothers can easily find him for you and you know this. Why come to me? We no longer share a bond, I cannot sense him... and even if I could, why would I help you?"
"All that should be returned has been returned, I have given back to him what is his...if he does not wish to give it to you, am I to force his hand also?" Neveah asked in a blank tone.
"To the king’s guard...Menarx’s will is theirs. They will not find him if he does not wish to be found... especially not for me." Adrienne said, taking pauses in between every sentence.
"But you...you are different..." Adrienne said in a tone that almost sounded like awe.
"I must look to you like fool... giving away the man I love to a woman who repeatedly tried to take my life." Neveah replied with a derisive chuckle.
Adrienne shook her head slightly, her head lowered in shame.
"You have always been different...long before this... from the first day you arrived here, you were unlike any other... you glowed, so brightly and beautifully... I saw it... I knew it, everyone else could see it but you... and so I hated you for it." Adrienne confessed quietly.
Neveah scoffed beneath her breath, she was one who had come from a place of darkness, she had been nothing but a shadow of her pain and hatred.
Since when did shadows possess a glow? Since when did darkness know light?
"What do you know... Adrienne? What do any of you know?... nothing, that’s what." Neveah hissed darkly.
Neveah sucked in a deep breath, there was no use for any of this now... everything that needed to come to an end, had come to an end.
All ties in Dragon Keep had been severed, it was time to let go.
"Never mind..." Neveah murmured, shaking her head slightly.
"I would say I have done all I can for you, but nothing I did was for you...you deserve nothing...but he... he is the only one who deserves everything," Neveah made clear, turning over on her bed so she faced away from Adrienne.
"I know I cannot ask you for anything... and I have not come to. Life and death is determined by one’s fate... I have accepted mine." Adrienne said in an exhausted tone.
"Neveah... Menarx is breaking and no one can save him, but you. You cannot just leave in this way... please go to him...help him, somehow." Adrienne pleaded.
Neveah frowned slightly, uncertain she had heard correctly.
"He doesn’t need to come back...it would be best if he stays away until it is over. I do not wish to cause him anymore pain...all I ask is that you do not let him be consumed by pain and self blame... And I am not asking it as a favor, I will make a bargain instead." Adrienne offered.
Neveah chuckled quietly, her hands clenching into tight fists in a bid to restrain herself.
"What could you have that I would possibly want?" Neveah asked in a dark tone.
"The fae captured for making an attempt at your life will never confess to the mastermind...Fae death guards live and die to protect the clan."
"...and one can rope the Fae clans in by reason of association...but there is no true evidence against them by which all races can be convinced."
"But I can assure you that the poison in my blood and that which was sent to you all came from my clan... and there is more, a secret great enough to subdue the fae kind forever..."
"There is a lot you do not know Neveah... and the one who holds knowledge, holds power...with this secret in your grasp, you may choose to offer it to the dragons, or bend the Fae clans to your will and become the most powerful woman in the stronghold..."
"But I can assure you that once you know of it... the fate of the Fae kind and dragon dynasty will be yours to decide....Such power in exchange for fulfilling my final request...would you not consider it a worthy bargain?" Adrienne asked.
