The Alpha's Temptation

"Of course!" Eltanin rasped. He grabbed her hand and together they walked to see her parents. Eltanin wondered if he should talk to her about what Lord Krail told him, but he shoved the thought. Perhaps after her father's funeral.

When they reached the bedchamber, they found Kinshra still lying with Biham. Tania let out a whimper as she rushed to her mother.

"No!" Eltanin warned her because he knew that Kinshra had surrounded herself with an invisible wall of air and if Tania hit it, she would get hurt. He had tried to poke the wall when he was here the last time, and it was very solid like stone.

However, his warning came a tad late because Tania had already got to the wall. He wanted to grab her and yank her back but the wall opened up for Tania and gobbled her inside, jerking him away. "Tania!" he called her, his face paling by seeing her on the other side. He didn't know what Kinshra's condition was and his heart beat a thousand miles in an hour thinking that she might attack his wife. "Tania, come back!" Apparently, Kinshra's magic allowed Tania to come in.

But Tania looked at him with a puzzled expression as to why he was saying that. "Eltanin!" she chided him through her tears to ask him to remain quiet. Then she turned her face towards her mother. She knelt beside her and grabbed her cold hand that was lying limp over her father's chest. "Mother," she whispered as a fresh bout of tears flooded her. "I am here."

Perhaps Kinshra was seeking those words from her daughter. For the first time in so long, she turned her gaze to look at her daughter. "Lusitania..." she murmured. "Your father... he isn't waking up," she said in her fae language.

Tania pursed her lips. "I know, mother," she replied, unable to stop herself anymore. She let her tears flow unbridled.

"When will he wake up?" Kinshra asked her. "He was supposed to marry me... finally..."

"Oh mother!" Tania leaned over and embraced her mother in a tight hug. "I am so sorry about this." Her shoulders trembled as she cried against her mother's face. "I am so sorry..."

Kinshra brought her hand on Tania's head and stroked her hair gently. She gazed up blankly, her thoughts in a different time when she had just met Biham. "Don't cry, Tania," she murmured. "He is still there, waiting for me in the Fade. He said he will wait. I want to go to him to the Fade. And there we will live happily ever after."

Tania had no words. She continued to cry, her face buried in the crook of her mother's neck. Kinshra lifted her other wing and cocooned her daughter in it. She had her entire family in the protective sheath of her wings. Tania didn't know for how long, but they stayed like this for hours. Her mother's misery was beyond words.

Memories of Biham bounced around her head and Kinshra replayed them over and over again. A faint voice pulled her out of her reverie. "Tania... please come back..." Kinshra frowned as to who was disturbing them. She opened her wing that had covered Tania and looked up. Through her blurry vision she saw Eltanin, standing at the edge of the wall she had created, looking panicky as hell.

"Tania..." he called her again. "Eat something..."

Kinshra's eyebrows scrunched up. Tania hadn't eaten anything? She realized that her daughter was still with her, holding her hand and just sitting with them as if offering whatever little support she could. "Tania, my child..." she called her. "You haven't eaten anything? Why?"

Tania was surprised to see her mother talking but it was a good sign. "I don't feel like it, mother," she said. "I can't..."

Kinshra got up for the first time in so long. Only for Tania. "You are pregnant, Tania. How could you not eat? This child is all we have now."

"Mother..." Tania's lips trembled.

Kinshra shook her head. She looked up at Eltanin and said, "Get some hot chicken stew for her."

At first, Eltanin was surprised that he heard her correctly or not but he immediately came into action. He ordered a servant to get hot chicken stew for Tania and Kinshra.

Kinshra cupped Tania's cheeks and said, "Why are you sitting on the ground with me? You should sit up on the mattress."

"But mother..." Tania pursed her lips tightly.

Kinshra got up and tugged her up. "Come," she said. "I have to talk to you about something." She turned to look at Eltanin over her shoulder and called him too. "I have to say something very important to both of you." She removed the wall she had formed around Biham and then dragged herself to the bed.

She sat down over it, her face etched with tiredness and misery. She patted on her side and motioned Tania to sit next to her. Eltanin pulled a chair from the side to sit beside them. He was so thankful that finally Kinshra had come out along with Tania. While Tania was inside the magic wall with her parents, Rigel and Lerna had come, but they had to leave without meeting her. Even Tabit and Fafnir had come. They too left without meeting her. Lord Kral had said that if Kinshra came out, he should be called immediately and so Eltanin gestured to a servant with his chin to call him.

"What is it, mother?" Tania asked, sitting next to her. Her gaze drifted to her father and her heart felt heavy. Ever since he came to know that she was his daughter, he had done everything he could to give her the status of princess of Pegasii.

Kinshra took a deep breath. She started, "Your father and I used to talk about heirs of Pegasii and who would rule once we walked into the Fade."

"Mother!" Tania stopped her. "You will be ruling Pegasii!"

Kinshra gave her a sad smile. "And not go with Biham to the Fade?" She shook her head lightly. "That is impossible, Tania. He is waiting for me. You know that, right?"

Tania stifled a cry. Perhaps her mother was imagining things.

Kinshra's gaze went from her to Eltanin and back to her. "Biham and I had decided that we will marry and that we have an heir for the kingdom of Pegasii. However--" she sighed. "That won't happen." She snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared in her hands. It had the royal seal. "This is your father's will and--" she looked at Eltanin. "Its witnesses are Alpha Alrakis and Taiyi."

Eltanin's eyes widened with pure shock. "Wh--when?" He couldn't believe that his father and his mother had ever come to meet Tania's parents in Pegasii without his knowledge. He looked at the scroll and then at Kinshra in wonder.

Kinshra gave him a small smile and handed the scroll to him. "Open it." Taiyi and Alrakis had come to meet her and Biham only a month back. She had called them to be the witness of the will created by Biham. When she saw Eltanin hesitating, she urged him, "Open it, Eltanin."