Double Claims: The Lost mate-Chapter 77

"Hey! Hey! Stop there!" The man shouted behind me. I glanced behind to see that he was already following behind me.

I swallowed hard and tried running faster. I could only take penguin steps as both legs were bound. My hands were sweaty, my legs ached and my entire body was clammy with sweat.

As if the moon goddess heard my plea, the rope on my legs which were already loose started to loosen more. I kicked them off my legs and ran even faster.

The hand of the man brushed against my back just before I escaped completely. My breathing was ragged, with adrenaline pumping through me.

He kept shouting behind me, but I had an added advantage because I had been a runner my entire life. I got to the end of the corridor which led to five other directions.

I didn’t have time to think before dashing into one. I breathed heavily as he didn’t come after me. Maybe he hadn’t seen where I entered.

I continued running, careful this time not to stomp my feet against the floor and make a noise. This area was poorly illuminated and dark because of the lack of windows. My chest heaved rapidly. I was filled with so much fear. I heard footsteps approaching and my heartbeat got more intense.

In a bid to escape, I ran faster through the winding corridors. I heard his voice shouting and his steps getting louder. My legs hurt, my throat burned, my body seemed to betray me and wanted to break down, but I couldn’t relent when I was close to escaping.

The exit stood in front of me and I could see the outside clearly. There were no men manning the outside. They didn’t possibly see the need to do so because they tied us up and didn’t expect anyone to be able to escape.

I dashed forward and in an instant, I was outside. I let out a sigh of relief, pausing to hide in a corner by the side, before placing my hands on both thighs and panting heavily.

My period of triumph was brief as I felt a cold hand on my arm. It grabbed me and dragged me into a strange dark room that was by the corner of the outside.

My first instinct was to scream, but my screams would be of no use and the hand of my captor had already gone over my mouth to muffle any screams that would come out of it. I gave up entirely.

He wore a mask over his face and I couldn’t recognize him. He released his grip on me once he had dragged me into the room.

I gasped for my breath and moved backwards, away from him until I hit the wall and there was no more escape route.

I did something unexpected as I dropped to my knees, both hands clasped in front of me and pleaded with the man.

"Please don’t hurt me. Spare my life. I didn’t mean trouble."

He didn’t say anything but kept fidgeting with the mask on his face. The mask seemed hard to take off.

"Please come help me,"

I raised my voice at his absurd request and something else clicked in my mind. That voice was familiar and I could recognize it anywhere.

"Triton?" I echoed.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Triton!" I screamed this time and sprung up from the floor.

He finally took the mask off and placed a finger on his lips, warning me to shush.

"We can’t let them hear us,"

His facial features were almost the same as I knew except there was a scar on his right cheek. He noticed me looking at it and touched the spot on his face.

"It’s from a fight. I don’t know why it hasn’t healed." He touched my tied hand and tried breaking the silver cuffs, but it seemed impossible. Then, he took a stone and asked that I hold still.

He hit it hard against the handcuffs that I had to wince in pain, but I felt relieved when I could see the cuffs beginning to give away in the middle.

After a few more hits, it broke free from my hand.

"Thank you," I murmured, while rubbing my wrists that stung badly.

I glanced back at him. He had been looking at me the entire while without saying anything.

"Triton, do you mind sharing how you got here or do you want to keep staring. Did she capture you too?"

He shook his head, "She didn’t. I sneaked here myself after..." He stopped and gave a long pause while staring at the wall like he was avoiding my gaze.

"I came here after what happened in Veilwood. I had to steal a mask uniform to blend in while I look for you and others."

I raised a confused brow. "What happened in Veilwood?"

He didn’t answer, but held my hand. "Maria, we have to leave now before anyone comes."

I wriggled my hand free from his grip. "I’m not leaving without Sasha, my father and Alice. You’ve still not answered, what happened in Veilwood?"

He tried reaching for my hand again, but I jerked away. "I’d tell you on the way. Let’s leave before it’s late."

I shook my head in defiance. "I’m not leaving without Sasha and father at least."

Triton let out a sigh as if he was running out of patience in convincing me.

"Triton, what happened to Veilwood? I need to know what happened to my people."

I noticed his Adam’s apple bop as he swallowed nervously. He was making me nervous with the way he was acting.

"Your mother..."

"She isn’t my mother." I cut through immediately. "Refer to her by her name."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "Veilwood is in ruins. It’s...it’s destroyed."

"She did it?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I didn’t know when I felt overwhelmed and took several steps backwards, almost tripping. Triton moved towards me and held my hand to steady me. Long ago, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t cry as tears never solved a problem. But here I was, threatening to break down which was even worse than crying. My mind didn’t know if there was a solution to this crisis.

"How many people were killed?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"Lots of them."

My heart sank, filled with hopelessness and my mind ran with thoughts of why mother was doing a thing like this. I couldn’t fathom or wrap my head around a reason for her actions. Everything seemed to get more confusing the more I tried to understand.

"It’s okay, Maria." Triton placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We’d find a solution to it."

I felt like laughing at his statement that was meant to be comforting. What solution? What could possibly solve the problem? We had no plans, no initiative of what to do next and no hope. What if the only people who could help us were already gone?

I faced Triton with tired eyes. "What do we do?"

Triton looked toward the door, jaw tight.

"What we do next depends on whether you’re ready to hear everything. Because it gets worse."