The Alpha King's Nemesis-Chapter 141: A Sea Lord’s Memory 2 ()

"He came to me Melven, he begged me to be his. He did not mind that I had already given up hope of ever finding him and gave my heart to another man, birthing him a son too... he did not mind Melven, he was willing to be a father to you."

"But I just couldn’t... I couldn’t give my heart to another, not after your father..." Lady Darla sobbed,

"But why mother? Father betrayed you for his own mate...yet you gave yours up? Father crowned another woman Sea Queen! He fathered a son with her!" Lord Melven exclaimed in rage.

"Do not blame your father Melven, our love was true and beautiful... the years we had together were precious but the mate bond is irreplaceable."

" I will forever be grateful to him for giving me you, my beloved son. My warrior...Lord of the Coral Seas." Lady Darla said in an adoring tone, lifting a hand to Lord Melven whilst she cradled the infant in her other hand.

"If you rejected him, why did you have his child?" Lord Melven asked, shaking his head as he tried to restrain his grief.

"I have wronged him Melven, this is all I can do for him... I want this, I chose this." Lady Darla said in a shaky tone.

"But he didn’t come... even when you are like this, he didn’t come! Does he bear so great a grudge? Has my existence ruined what would have been between you two?" Lord Melven asked, his tone sad.

"No...you are my everything Melven. I will never, ever regret having you. He did not come because he cannot...he knows not that I conceived his child, I did not dare tell him for if he knew, rejection or not...he would not leave." Lady Darla confessed.

"Why mother? Why must you hurt yourself so? Why must you forsake your one true chance at happiness?" Lord Melven asked in a sad tone.

"I am happy Melven... I have you and now, we have your sister. You are her elder by over a century Melven, when I leave...you must care for her like she is your own daughter."

"When she is of age to reveal her true form...if she is a mer, you will continue to raise her as Princess of the Coral Seas. But if she is a Crimson wolf...you will take her to her father and you will tell him that I will forever be in his debt." Lady Darla said.

"I... I will obey." Lord Melven said, tears streaming down his cheek as his mother’s grip weakened on his hand, her hand falling away.

"My daughter...my dear daughter, to have held you in my arms for just this once... I have no regrets. May my love always be with you for I love you with all that I am..." Lady Darla whispered weakly.

"Melven...I leave her in your care for a time, you must send her to her father if her gills do not develop but if they do, you shall raise her but let her father know so she may at least have one parent... I believe in you." Lady Darla finished.

Lord Melven nodded as he took the child into his arms, staring down at her, his eyes fluttering closed as he heard his mother breathe her last.

"It’s just you and me now... little one..." Lord Melven murmured quietly, tears streaming down his cheeks and solidifying into pearls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zariah gasped as the memory faded away and her eyes fluttered open, her hands trembling.

"What... what happened afterwards?" Zariah asked in shaky tone.

"My mother passed away then... and I raised the child, naming her after my mother."

"Darla, a lovely girl, the most beautiful and brightest I have ever had the pleasure of meeting... just like you, Zariah..." Lord Melven murmured in a fond tone.

"My mate birthed Kristen not long after and I raised them both. They brought so much happiness and joy to me, soon...all the hate and rage I felt at my father and my desire to reclaim the throne from my brother faded away..."

"All I wanted to do was protect the Coral Seas and protect my family, but as the days passed by and her gills did not surface, everyone believed Darla was only a late bloomer...but I knew better." Lord Melven paused at this point, sucking in a deep breath to calm himself

"I procured a supply of breathing potion for Darla ever so often whilst knowing my happiness would be short lived..."

"Fifteen years had passed by beneath the sea, whereas the surface had only seen five summers in that time. And with the difference in aging process, Darla looked to be merely five year old as she would be by the time movement on the surface."

"Whereas Kristen had come of age to join the ranks of the battle mers, aging by the time movement beneath the surface... the difference was clear, the truth could not be hidden for much longer."

"On her sixteenth birthday...her sixth birthday by the surface time, Darla experienced her first shift. I knew before it began what she would shift to, it was already apparent when she aged differently than the mers did."

" I took her with me to the surface, I knew not how to find her father and I was unwilling to let go of one I had come to love as my own daughter but there was no choice."

"A wolf could not survive at the depths of the Sea... she would slowly wither away before our eyes and I would rather let her go than watch that happen."

"I never told my mate or my son Kristen of this because that would mean revealing a secret I swore to my mother never to reveal."

"My family was lead to believe Darla had been swept away by the currents and never found again...but instead, I left a message in the way my mother had taught me."

"I told Darla the truth and why she had to leave and then I left her at the shores, knowing she could never return to the Sea Kingdom without my aid."

"She screamed and called for me but I hid beneath the surface watching, my heart aching but I knew this was the only way...her father appeared soon and the moment he saw her, he knew without a doubt that she was his."

"I cast a spell to put her asleep before emerging again, I told him of all my mother had asked me to and I severed all ties as my mother had instructed..."

" Darla had found her true home... I dove back beneath the surface and returned to my home, the Coral Seas. Leaving behind a piece of my heart." Lord Melven said, tears streaming down his cheeks.