The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 282: Delusions

Chapter 282: Delusions

"I’ll wait for you outside, let’s take a quick wash." Dalen suggested, although he was barely stained with dirt unlike her.

"I will do just that." She said when she noticed her disheveled and sweaty self.

Parting ways, they both retreated to their chambers for a quick wash. She was elated about the fact that she would finally be stepping out of the castle for the first time after a long period that seemed like years, moreover, she was excited to see the outside world.

Dalen was quick to wash up and as he proceeded outside, he came across Aurora.

"Dalen!" She called, her tone cheerful as usual.

"We might have a slight issue." He spoke softly while scrutinizing the empty corridor with sharp eyes.

"About what?" Her light demeanor suddenly turned heavy.

"Rama. She’s been questioning me a lot today and..." He trailed off as a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

"You never told her a single word, did you?" Her voice was low with wary, her face slowly contorting into a grim as prolonged silence followed.

"I never told her any significant details," Dalen said.

"You were never supposed to reveal anything to her, keeping silent is not so difficult. She doesn’t remember a single thing, telling her the truth will never help her in anyway, it only fries her brain even more, she has to relive the moments with him again for her to remember and it is only possible if he awakens." Aurora noted with a grunt.

"I understand, I apologize." Dalen said sincerely and her hardened gaze immediately softened.

"What did you tell her?" She asked.

"Nothing much, I only told her that she never lost her memories from a war. She pressured me to tell her more, but I didn’t go any deeper than that." Dalen confessed and her brows furrowed grimly, displeased by the news.

"You should have never said anything, telling her the truth won’t help her in anyway." Aurora pointed out with a grave look.

She had dealt with and observed memory loss victims over the years of her life and she was well aware that mere words held no profound effect in triggering their memory back, but actions were indeed more yielding, which often took time.

"I just couldn’t lie to her face anymore." Dalen murmured under his breath.

Her brow raised up at his remark, but she swallowed back the words she wanted to spew as she observed his lost countenance.

"If you don’t mind, I’m taking her back to her ruined kingdom, she pleaded with me to." He suddenly disclosed to her.

Her lips twitched "There’s nothing there to see anyway, it’s all ruins now, just make sure you’re both back before nightfall and make sure she comes back in one piece no matter what you have to do or whom you have to sacrifice to make that happen."

"She’ll be safe, I swear on my life." He vowed.

"Well, don’t just say it, I want to see her in one piece by nightfall. We have no idea how many enemies of his are searching relentlessly to destroy her, I don’t think letting her out of this fortress is a good idea regardless. Try to change her mind, at least."

"I doubt she’ll agree to it, she’s already excited to go out." Dalen remarked.

"Alright then, but make it clear to her that this is the first and last time she will ever be leaving the castle." Aurora noted and he nodded.

"Also, I think lord Zamiel may have found a way to fasten the awakening of Draco, we’re not entirely certain about his theory but, hopefully it might work." She revealed to him.

"What way?" Dalen asked, his mood slowly turning sour at the news.

"Using her blood to trigger him. Since they’re bonded in all ways, a powerful essence like her blood should be able to help him break out of the hibernation." Aurora explained with hope lighting up her eyes, but his expression was rather indifferent as he had a frown look etched on his face.

"Is that even possible just using her blood?" He queried, his voice coated with suppressed displeasure at the news.

"Obviously he wouldn’t break out immediately after the consumption of her blood, it will take time but hopefully, less than a millennia. He’s the one doing the work anyway using his mental strength and willpower, her blood is just a trigger to push him more." She explained with an exasperated sigh.

"I see." He murmured, as he clenched his hidden fists into a tight ball and his jaws ticked unnervingly.

"Is there something wrong, Dalen?" She asked, noticing his unease.

"Do we really have to release him into the world again so he can induce more havoc?" Dalen voiced out his thoughts between gritted teeth.

"That is not even a topic to debate Dalen, you are very well aware of the reason why we’re doing everything in our power to release him as fast as possible." Aurora pointed out as she scoffed in disbelief.

"Or perhaps we could find a way to imprison him there forever, lengthen his time so he can never break out, that would be a greater evil contained and the world will be at peace from it. Have you forgotten all the atrocities he committed? He killed our parents Aurora!" He roared in a guttural echo that resonated along the corridors.

"Revenge brings nothing but destruction and sacrificing the lives of millions of innocents is not worth it Dalen." She said, locking eye contact with him, her silver eyes sparkling like diamonds as it glistened with tears.

"Isn’t our parent’s lives worth it?" Dalen’s voice rumbled lowly.

"No, because they’re dead, they have no life and the ones that do have life needs to be protected, so stop this mindless hunger for revenge and focus on the important things at hand, you’re not just my brother, you’re also a leader, the people look up to you and I do too." Aurora spoke with a soft voice as she caressed his face with a tenderness that belied his thirst for hunger.

"Then we shouldn’t be doing this, releasing a monster into the world is not something a true leader would do, rather than finding a way to release him, we should be finding a way to trap him in there for all of eternity. Evils need to be contained, not released." Dalen remarked as he shoved her hand away, fuming at her decision.

"At the cost of innocent lives? I can’t." She said as she withdrew her hand and firmed her demeanor.

"All the more reason why that monster needs to rot in his own nightmare." Dalen hissed in fury, his eyes burning with anger and a mixture of unease.

"Let’s say I agreed to trap him instead, it still won’t work, Draco is too powerful. Lord Zamiel told me his eyes twitched, he was trying to break free and it had barely been three months since he was in hibernation, we have no idea what will happen next." She reasoned out with heedfulness in her eyes, but Dalen seemed unmoving to reason with her, he was rather blinded with hate.

"His riddance is the only thing best for this world, nothing else." He growled.

"Are you in love with her?" She shot at him with wary eyes and immediately she blurted out those words, his composure wavered.

He scoffed nervously "I’m not in love with Rama, what does it have to do with getting rid of Draco?"

"I never called a name, Dalen but somehow you got it right." She said calmly while maintaining her gaze on him.

His body writhed in unease as he darted his eyes around as if searching for an escape route "It was very obvious you were talking about her, she’s his mate after all." He said defensively.

"It’s all very clear now the motive behind you being relentless to get rid of Draco once and for all, but mind you that is a very ludicrous, suicide mission. You can never have her Dalen, she was never yours, she’s not yours and she’ll never be yours. They’re already bonded and nothing on earth, heaven and hell can break it, so better control whatever feelings you harbour for her and don’t let it control you into doing something stupid and dooming yourself." Aurora remarked, her voice ever calm and soft, a contrast to the grave matter at hand.

"Like I said, I’m not in love with her, so there’s nothing to worry yourself about." The words rolled out forcefully from his tongue even as he tried to keep it neutral and she saw his anger filled eyes replaced with a flicker of sadness at her unfiltered words.

She knew she had been a bit harsh with her tongue, but it was the only way to stick sense into her love blinded brother’s head, she needed him to snap out of his delusions and come back to reality.

"The best way to avoid Draco’s wrath is to avoid angering him." She muttered softly in a consoling tone.

"Who is Draco?" A distant voice echoed from behind Aurora and when she turned to look back from within the distance, Rama emerged from the pillar she had been hiding, her innocent, youthful eyes keen and filled with curiosity.