The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 401: Revolving Secrets

Chapter 401: Revolving Secrets

"You know very well why Lucifer wanted our son, yet you gave Ares to him, just like that. What were you even thinking?" Rama argued, but her voice was softer.

"I was thinking of you." Draco let out, silencing Rama for a second.

Fluttering her lashes, she spoke, "The deed has already been done, the only thing that we can do is find a way to not let Lucifer have our son and you will find a way because it’s your mistake to correct." She pronounced firmly.

"The deal wasn’t just offering our son to him, I had a condition with it." Draco said.

"What condition?" Rama queried.

"It would be my choice to make on whether I want to go with him or not." Ares stated out.

Rama’s eyes shone with hope and a grin broke through her lips as she gasped in relief, "Well, that’s a relief. Just refuse him and you’re free." She said nonchalantly, but when she looked at her son’s contrasting demeanor, the light in her eyes dimmed.

"What is wrong, Ares? Is there something else? Good heavens!" Rama breathed out in exasperation as she braced herself for whatever shocking news was to come next.

"It’s nothing." Ares assured her with a charming smile, hiding the tension in his eyes, but unfortunately, his mother was capable of reading through his tepid countenance.

"Speak, I don’t want any more lies." She urged him with a stern look.

Ares pressed his lips in a thin line as everyone watched with an eager keenness to know the secrets brewing within their family.

But before Ares could utter a word, his father chipped in "He’s unable to resist the darkness and maybe, he might succumb to it." Draco implied.

Immediately he spoke, Ares’s burning silver eyes bore into his with a subtle glare. Despite the disparity in their eye color, the resemblance and melancholic essence oozing from their intimidating stares were uncanny.

Ares averted his gaze from him as he returned it to his mother who was rather dumnstruck by the revelation. When he thought he had seen her afraid when he mentioned Lucifer, it was nothing compared to her state right then.

The hair on the nape of her neck stood erect as a shiver slithered down her spine. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and her blood turned cold.

Ares suddenly realized that her greatest fear was not his grandfather, her greatest fear was her son turning to the darkness and succumbing to it.

As Ares realized it, he could now understand why she had been so enamored with him as a child, portraying to him what a mother’s love and tenderness was.

Ares could now fathom why she had given him utmost attention and undeniable care. She had always shown him the path of life, always making sure Ares would never turn to the darkness but rather flee away from it.

When he was younger, she had always been against sending him to war, in fear that he would tap into his dark sides and enjoy the sadistic pleasure of killing and fear but apparently, she had to leave him to go to war, to learn how to fight and protect.

In every free time she got, she would try to instill good morals in him, trying to push him away from the darkness within him, but unfortunately, the darkness flowed through his veins, it was a part of him, one he couldn’t deny even as he tried to turn away from it and his grandfather only made it harder.

"Is it true, Ares?" Rama asked, her words coming out in almost a stutter.

Ares sighed deeply before he proceeded to speak "He’s right, but it’s not either of your fault. I know you’ve always feared this to happen one day, but it’s a part of me, the darkness, I just have to learn to control it like father did." Ares assured her as he gently squeezed her hand.

Rama took a deep shaky breath as she nodded, forcing a smile to hide her anxiousness and tension.

"You are right, you will control it." She said, her eyes suddenly becoming teary as she spoke.

"I will, I promise." Ares muttered softly, his heart breaking at his mother’s teary eyes.

She nodded, unable to speak anymore as she gulped down the tears.

"It’s alright to cry, I’ve never seen you cry before." Ares pointed out and she snorted out a chuckle accompanied with beads of tears rolling down her cheeks.

Immediately the tears dropped down her cheeks, she wiped them off with a kerchief as she maintained a strong composure.

"I trust you son, you are strong and you will be able to resist your grandfather, but your father here also has work to do, after all, we have to help you. It will be almost impossible to fight him off yourself so we will both help you." Rama suggested.

"Ahh, uhm actually." Ares stuttered slightly, scratching the nape of his neck as he proceeded to spill more secrets.

Rama’s eyes dilated as she realized there were more words hanging in his lips yet to release. Her brows furrowed at him as she cast him a skeptical glance.

"What is it again? I thought we were done with the revolvingsecrets?" She spat out firmly between gritted teeth.

Ares chuckled nonchalantly as he said, "Fret not, you won’t have a heart attack with this one." Ares assured her and Rama squinted her eyes at him, her lips pursed as she listened eagerly.

"Go on then, I hope this is the very last one I will be getting from anyone today, so if you have any secrets to spill, now is a great time to release them." Rama remarked as her eyes screened through them all with a skeptical look, but no one else budged except of course, Vlad and Ari who shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

Before she could point out to them, Ares suddenly spoke. "We already found a way to resist grandfather." He began with a tinge of uncertainty.

Rama’s brows furrowed in confusion as she asked "Who’s the ’we’? And what way have you found?"

Ares’s eyes mechanicaly darted to both Vlad and Ari. Immediately his eyes dropped on them, they both melted into their seats, hiding their faces with an oblivious look on it.

"Oh, I see." Rama muttered softly.

"What’s going on, Ari? What have you three been up to?" Zoya scolded her daughter and Ari gave her a nervous chuckle.

"I knew they were up to something." Draco muttered loudly.

"It wasn’t mischievous in any way, they were trying to help me." Ares explained.

"As friends should." Ari said with a smile.

"Okay, so what is this about?" Rama said impatiently.

"Father was only able to resist his darkness by finding his nate, so I thought I could do the same..." Ares paused.

"By finding his mate also and fortunately, mother had told me about his mate so I did some research to find her and we did, but unfortunately she’s locked in a castle, never to go out. She’s like a damsel in distress but not to forget, they say she’s dangerous because of her powers." Ari blabbed out in excitement, breathing heavily after she was done.

Their eyes mechanically dropped on her.

"Could you elaborate on what you just said, love?" Rama said to her.

"Uhm, actually we figured out who Ares’s mate is. Mother told me she once had a prophecy of Ares’s mate who was the Phoenix. We followed the lead to find his mate and we found her, actually, I found her." Ari said with pride bubbling in her voice.

"That is so impressive, but how certain are you that you found the right person?" Draco who had been listening, finally chipped in.

"She lives in East Ravka and as we all know, the kingdom is home to magical secrets beyond our comprehension. So it all makes sense that she possesses powers we have never heard of before. And from my sources, her mother, who is one of the seven councils consumed an elixir with the heart of the Phoenix to heal her sick baby, and that is how the powers were infused into her. It all corresponds with my theory and researched facts." Ari implied.

"That is one smart young woman. Well, Ari, we shall retrieve this Phoenix girl and hopefully you’re right but if not, then your head will be hanging on a stake." Draco quipped sarcastically, leaving the girl with horror masking her face.

"Fret not, it was a joke." Draco said with a devilish grin and she chuckled nervously.

"So when are we leaving?" Rama asked Draco.

"I’ll go instead, she’s my mate after all." Ares remarked.

"And we’ll go with you, we won’t let you have all the fun to yourself." Vlad intoned with a scoff.

"Of course not, East Ravka is too dangerous for you three." Rama argued.

"I wasn’t asking you, I was telling you. I will go." Ares said, his velvety timbre voice ringing with a finality.