The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 400: Cursed

Chapter 400: Cursed

The trio walked into the dining hall to meet their parents all seated. Indistinct murmurs resonated from them until the trio walked in and the place fell dead silent.

Their parents’s eyes dropped on them in unison as they approached the table. As they finally neared them, Rama gave Ares a warm smile as she extended her hand to hold him.

Ares, with a small smile clinging to his lips accepted her hand as he gave her a kiss on the cheeks and then a kiss at the back of her hand.

Ari hugged Zoya from behind while Vlad sat stiffly after merely exchanging an acknowledged glance with his father.

As they all sat and proceeded with their dinner, Draco broke the silence "Don’t I deserve a kiss also?" He quipped with a sarcastic smirk.

Throughout the years of Ares’s childhood, they had formed an undeniable bond of father and son. Draco had become the father he never had, giving his son the parental love and tenderness he lacked, but at the same time, he didn’t refrain from teaching him how to be strong.

Ares’s head mechanically snapped to his father. A sardonic grin cut through his lips as he spoke "I don’t think you deserve anything from me when it was so easy to use me as a dealbreaker before I was even born." Ares emphasized on his words with a blatant tone.

They all froze in both confusion at Ares’s words, except of course the mischievous offsprings.

Draco was slightly astounded and the air around was filled with eerie tension, but it was not emanating from either Draco or Ares, it was oozing from the obviously provoked yet calm Rama, as her neck twisted to Draco’s direction with a skeptical glance.

Rama averted her gaze from Draco and dropped it on Ares with a subtle smile that never reached her eyes.Despite the facade, Ares knew that she was angry because somehow, she had managed to put two and two together and now, his father was sitting on hot coal.

Ares had always known that his father had always been mindful of his mother. Draco was never afraid of anyone or anything, but when it came to Rama, Ares noticed how watchful and overly prudent, perhaps fearful even.

Then, Rama asked Ares with a sweet voice, "My darling, what do you mean by those words? Did your father do something to offend you?" She enquired as she brushed a stray lock of hair from his face, tucking it behind his ears.

They were all aware of how much Rama adored her son, most especially Ares himself and he was undeniably aware that if she were to find out the truth, Draco would face the consequences of her anger, but even he was unaware of what she would do to Draco.

Ares knew how much she doted on his father as well, perhaps his punishment would be her pain and broken trust.

"It seems father hasn’t told you the truth either." Ares began, while he saw both Vlad and Ari from the corner of his eyes as they questioned him with their eyes.

Ignoring them, he focused back on his mother whose soft brows were creased together as she listened attentively.

Her beautiful emerald eyes flickered with a calm rage that was slowly brewing as she sensed whatever enigmatic secret to be significant.

"What is it?" She asked between gritted teeth as she flashed Draco a deathly glare.

"Grandfather has been paying me visits since I was fourteen." Ares confessed, his silver eyes never leaving hers as he revealed her greatest fear to her.

Ares had thought it was wise to inform his parents, realizing they could maybe help since the allure was becoming almost irresistible. He had thought he could refrain from choosing the darkness, but it only grew more difficult.

As he confessed, he saw the rage in his mother’s eyes to dissipate, leaving behind only trepidation clouding her eyes. He saw her lips quiver and her heart erratically skipped a beat.

Ares had never seen his mother trembling with such fear before. She had always been tough and now that he had thought about it, she never revealed a vulnerable side of her unless in front of him or his father.

Whatever had made her this terrified, was not just because of his grandfather, but what he had done. She had undoubtedly gone through a traumatizing phase of her life because of him and the thought only filled Ares with a subtle rage.

"Mother.." Ares called her softly.

Suddenly, the fear in her eyes was suddenly masked with displeasure as she glared at him and Ares subconsciously braced himself for her scolding.

"And why did you not inform me or your father ever since? Why would you hide this from us?!" She scolded him, but her voice was oddly calm, although the fire in her eyes did enough yelling.

"Be calm, mother. I wasn’t planning to succumb or let my guard down." Ares said calmly, despite knowing it would irk his mother even more with his nonchalance.

"Be. Calm?" She emphasized on the words in a low voice as she slowly rose from her seat, looking down at Ares with a despicable look in her eyes.

"Mother, just breathe." Ares said as he rose from his seat in a bid to calm her down, but it only provoked her even more.

"Just because you tower above me doesn’t mean I will calm down, now sit, young man." She lashed out at him, while tilting her gaze up to look at his face.

Ares breathed out deeply, but to avoid her justified rage, he sat back down. Afterwards, she took her seat.

Rama’s countenance swiftly changed into a tender one as she took his hands in hers "Ares, you know how much both your Father and I love you, I just don’t understand why you would choose to keep it a secret from us? We are always here for you, we will listen to you."

"I know, I’m sorry I lied." Ares said apologetically.

"And your needs will always come first, so no mmore secrets." Rama said, squeezing his hand delicately.

"It didn’t for him, but I don’t blame father. He was only trying to protect you, so you both shouldn’t fight too much." Ares said reasonably, although there was a slight pinch of hurt in his eyes.

"What exactly did he do?" Rama snapped, her fists clenching into a tight ball as she waited for a response.

Before Ares could spill, Draco interrupted with a somber demeanor "I’ll tell your mother myself."

"When you lost your memories for the second time, Lucifer struck a deal with me. Unless I offer our firstborn offspring to him, he would never stop altering your memories and if you didn’t remember me, then we would have no future together, Rama." Draco revealed.

Her eyes dilated and a tinge of crimson his slowly seeped into her dilated jade irises. They could feel the rising anger swell within her like a volcano about to erupt but oddly, she somehow maintained her composure.

"So, you offered our son to him?" Rama repeated as if she hadn’t heard him clearly. A dry chuckle suddenly erupted from her lips in disbelief.

"I had to, to protect you. What would you have had me done? Give you up? I had no choice, I couldn’t. I was..desperate." Draco implied. His last words were said in a smattering whisper.

There were no regrets in his eyes, although there was a flicker of guilt but he wouldn’t bat an eyelid in repeating history. He loved his son, but Rama was his missing half, his soulmate and without her, he would be utterly miserable.

Living would be meaningless without her and the thought of saving an unborn child in eexchange for her was rather absurd to him.

"He is our son. You should have tried to find a way and knowing you, I doubt you even tried." Rama snapped, her voice breaking under the weight of unshed tears.

"You have every right to rage at me, but there was no way and I couldn’t lose you, besides, we hhadn’t had a son yet, I wasn’t even sure if we could." He pointed out.

Ares could sense his mother’s resolve shake just by merely listening to his father pour out his sincere heart on how much he adored her. He realized how powerful the mating bond was, to be bonded with someone for all of eternity, to feel what they feel and to care about them above everything else.

It was a beautiful connection, but it also seemed more like a curse to Ares. Watching Zamiel over the years live with a dead spirit and shallow heart, unable to give his son the love and emotional support he needed because he was broken by the death of his mate seemed like hell, but what could he do about it? He was cursed as well.