Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 808: Worth in Loyalty ()

Lodenworth said nothing, though he was visibly shaken by her words and the truth in them. She was in pain, he knew that.

She knew him so well, she had seen his intent when she let him through the barrier. He had not bothered hiding it, he couldn’t if he tried. She could bear to do that to him...but he couldn’t do it to her.

He couldn’t lie to her. Even now.

How unfair was love exactly?

But her pain was more than just that. More than the reality that he now knew everything... their child was coming.

He had sworn to her his vows, to honour and protect her for all eternity. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He loved her with everything in him. Selflessly, completely...where had he gone wrong?

How did it come to this?

He didn’t understand it. He couldn’t.

His silence clearly devastated Keila and she grew even more restless.

Her magic spun furiously around her, forcing him back. Her hair whipped wildly and the foot of the throne cracked. She was so out of it, she hadn’t noticed the new presence yet.

But he had.

Yet his eyes did not stray from her.

Lodenworth held his ground as the arcane lashed out at him. He was tossed back through the air, slamming into the barrier, but he still landed on his feet. Scales lined his neck, his predator side rising to protect him from the unrestrained magic.

He suppressed it. This pain...he wanted to feel it. He wouldn’t avoid it. He wouldn’t leave behind any regrets.

"Don’t force me...to hurt you..." She sobbed. "I know... I know you can’t bear to hurt me...us. So stop this madness!"

"I need you now! This...is when I need you most! I don’t expect you to understand me. But I’ve only ever wanted the best for our son! Please Loden... please..."

Lodenworth’s fists clenched. His eyes reflected his pain. His struggle.

He remembered how she laughed so purely, it lit up her eyes. Her smile...soft, unburdened. How she would dance in the first snow, carefree as the wind,

He had thought that moment would last forever.

Foolish, foolish man.

"Will you still...deny responsibility? You played me for a fool. You have made me a traitor to my kin. You have trampled on centuries of loyalty... Dishonored my clan irreparably."

"For what? Do you not see the harm you have dealt me? Do you not see how you have ruined me in your greed? Do you not see your love damns me to a cursed end?"

"Our son...will be King." She sobbed. "It is his destiny. The arcane chose him for a reason."

"It won’t be long now. If you just trust me, no one will hurt you...no one will hurt us." She reasoned, eyes wide with desperation.

When did she change so much? How had he missed it? Was he so blinded that he could not sense the rot taking hold of her before it spread this far?

Or had it always been there and he was just too naive?

"The arcane doesn’t make choices. That was all you." Lodenworth hissed. "His father is no King...why is it so important that he becomes one? Is it not good enough to just find his own path? His own happiness?"

"I won’t have my child serve another!" She shrieked.

Lodenworth swallowed down the lump in his throat. "You won’t have him be like his father, you mean."

"I was never good enough for you, was I? Princess?"

He laughed then. A low, mournful sound.

"You wanted a King for a husband. And when fate gave me instead, you saw a second chance in our child."

He shook his head. "Lower the barrier, Keila. Let them in. You will have the child... and then, we will submit to our fate. You and I."

Keila’s eyes were savage. "Never. This child is the only reason you can’t hurt me yet...if you do not swear to me your devotion, I will die with this child in me!" She shrieked.

Silence.

Lodenworth had no words, he only stared.

"My name... Lodenworth," he finally broke the silence, his voice was quiet but resolute.

Keila flinched, as if she was just hearing it for the first time. Her eyes were wild with fear, pain...hope.

"Lodenworth," he repeated "You once asked me what it meant."

She nodded slowly, her lips trembled. "Loyalty is worthy...you said." she whispered.

He shook his head slowly. "That was never quite right." He took a step forward, his eyes burning into hers. "That was just what you wanted it to mean."

"It means: ’Worth in loyalty.’"

He was silent for a beat.

"Loyalty is not just what I give, Keila. It’s what defines me. It’s my oath. My soul. My curse."

"It is who I am. It’s all I ever was. Not a King, not even a hero. Just a man whose entire worth... his soul, was built on loyalty."

"And when you shattered that, when you turned my devotion into a weapon, turned me into your pawn, your sacrifice...

"You didn’t just betray me..." He exhaled harshly, voice cracking.

"...You ended me."

She sobbed, trembling. Diandre’s words rang through her mind.

’Lodenworth...he has no ambition to be a monarch, or a father to one. And your ambition will be your damnation... and his also’

’You will break him.’

She had.

"It doesn’t have to be like this. I love you Loden... Insane as you believe me to be, I love you!"

"I know." He murmured.

"Then... what we have? What we’ve built? You can toss it away... you can’t toss us away!"

"You ask me for devotion?" he whispered, voice raw. "You already had it. You still do."

"And that...is the tragedy."

His hand clenched into a fist at his side. Not in anger, but in an attempt to hold onto the last pieces of himself.

Then a ghost of a smile stretched his lips, tears welled in his eyes:

"I swore to protect you for all eternity." His voice broke. "But I never swore to follow you into madness."

He sighed quietly.

"So be it. You and I were meant to burn together. In life... and in death.

And then he let his flames loose. They burst from him like a mournful howl, wild, unrestrained, heavy with grief.

The barrier trembled from the sheer force of everything he held within his veins. Everything he was.

His love, his rage, his sorrow...