Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 878: Only Fate ()

The ground was cold and hard beneath her bare feet. Every step she took forward was painful. The rough, jagged stones scraped against the soles of her feet. The skin felt raw...it was sure to leave blisters.

But no one seemed to care. If they did, they didn’t dare to show it . And so Neveah kept walking.

The stripping was an important aspect of the ritual. The Alpha King’s bride-to-be was to show her willingness to leave behind her own life and walk his path alone. To share weal and woe with him, by walking barefoot to the ritual hall before the eyes of many ranked spectators.

It was the most sacred of all bonding ceremonies, she’d been told. But it felt to her like a desecration.

Not far behind, over a dozen attendants trailed her in a neat line. They held colourful, festive garlands and other rare gifts and treasures Alessio had sent by an hourly interval since dawn, as was a part of the bonding ritual.

The attendant leading the match right behind Neveah carried a platter with her dress and veil neatly folded on it.

After the ritual was completed, she would be dressed and Alessio would arrive to fetch her for the official ceremony in the throne room.

They’d begun to march a short time ago already. But rounding the palace meant one thing, they were to pass through one last place that would come before they arrived at the ritual hall.

The back courtyard, which at the moment served as the execution grounds.

While the Eclipse Hunt wolves had been broken out, there were still a good number of prisoners on Alessio’s death row.

Men and women Neveah may or may not have known once. But she would never get to figure it out.

It must have been quite the number, seeing as the execution had already begun at noon and was still ongoing.

The sounds from the grounds reached them first. The hiss of steel slicing through the air. The atmosphere behind her tensed the closer they got to the back courtyard.

The metallic stench of blood filled the air, thick enough to choke on. Neveah’s eyes caught movement first. A burly man dragged a limp body across the courtyard grounds, leaving a trail of blood behind as he piled it on a cart already waiting to the side, with such precision as though he was merely stacking up logs of wood.

There were three executioners busy at work. Their blade sliced through flesh and bone like butter, rising and falling without pause.

They didn’t grimace. They barely even broke a sweat. Their expressions were perfectly calm as though this was just another serenade to accompany the festivities to come.

Blood ran in shallow paths through the dirt, a direct trail towards the path Neveah now walked.

If this has been intentional or not, Neveah would never know. But her first step into the thick, wet liquid created a squelching sound that unsettled her gut.

She could feel the dampness seeping into the soles of her foot. But she did not stop walking. There was nothing she could do for the men to lose their lives today.

The blood spread thinly on the path, dark patches soaking into the hem of her white ceremonial dress like an accusation. A taint warning her of an inevitable fate if the end of this day made her his wife.

An accomplice...bound in whatever disaster would eventually end Alessio if she failed to do it herself.

The attendants trailing her also did not falter. They seemed to be intent on maintaining whatever facade of festivity they had going on. One even reached around to adjust the flower in Neveah’s hand, a bright smile on her lips like they were not currently walking past a pile of headless bodies.

But Neveah could hardly blame them. Knowing Alessio, a grimace or a wince out of place was enough to earn one a spot on the death row.

The attendants displayed dazzling smiles, and cheerful expressions like their lives depended on it. And it did.

This was a statement... this was utter dominance. The entire domain was being bent to the depraved will of one man. One undeserving ruler.

Neveah kept her eyes fixed ahead of her. But out of the corners, she could still see them...the open eyes of the dead, staring at nothing.

Staring at her...

She walked on, leaving the back courtyard behind as they rounded the corner to the ritual hall. The hem of her dress left a trail of its own, where it had brushed the ground.

And as the courtyard disappeared behind, the attendants began humming a cheerful tune. Bright smiles greeted them outside the ritual hall... the numbness she’d been carrying thickened.

What was left behind went unacknowledged by all. Only the wedding existed.

________

"It’s time." Luna Ashley’s words drew Neveah out of her reverie.

She glanced up from where she sat on a bed of flowers. Somewhere along the line, she’d zoned out from the ritual process.

The moon blessings had been said. The solstice chant read. The fertility sash fitted around her waist and whatever else it had taken to convince the elders and Lunas that she was qualified to be the highest ranked woman in the domain.

Now, everyone looked at her like she was something special... someone special. Neveah didn’t feel all that special.

Underneath all of this charade, she felt trapped. Her muscles ached terribly, the skin around her neck still felt sore and it didn’t help that all their oils and ointments stung.

The pleasant scents still couldn’t conceal the stench of blood that clung to her nostrils and the forced smiles couldn’t hide the depressing reality that this was a horror. Not to her alone but to everyone present here.

"Quickly. Dry her up and change into the wedding dress."

It was said by an elder Neveah couldn’t quite place a name to.

Not long after, Neveah stood in the emerald dress once again. Her lush hair, now glossy with oils, cascaded down her back in an elegant half-updo.

Her lips were tinted a light, rosy shade of pink, matching the blush applied to her cheeks. Her eyebrows had been primed and plucked, and lined to perfection and her eyes were darkened around the edges.

All around her were gasps of awe. Like they hadn’t been the ones to turn her into this...a bride worthy of a kingdom’s ruin. Their idea of what an Alpha Queen should be.

"Come now, Your Grace." Luna Ashley offered Neveah a hand to escort her. "The Alpha King waits."

Neveah hesitated. But it only lasted a moment as the memory of Colleen’s piece of clothing surfaced in her mind.

Had Scott been successful? She didn’t know. It was a cruel feeling...not knowing what the repercussions of her choices would be.

Win or lose, if Scott failed to track Colleen and take her to safety, Colleen would not survive this disaster.

The doors to the ritual hall opened again and Alessio stood on the other side. He was dressed in black breeches and a bejewelled coat, the same shade as her dress.

A black sash was strapped over his shoulder, with tassels dangling from the hems.

He turned then, and their eyes met. For a moment, he just stared. His eyes slightly widened.

And then he snapped out of it, exhaling a slow breath. He closed the distance between them and took Neveah’s hand from Luna Ashley’s.

Drawing her close, he leaned down. The tip of his nose grazing her neck as he inhaled deeply.

"You put the moon in all its glory to shame, Neveah. The world is for the taking, victory and defeat abound. Yet no treasure in all this domain...no throne, nor title is comparable to you."

"You are enchanting..." He breathed shakily, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. "You were born to bring a man to glory, or ruin..."

"For your love, I have known both..." He trailed off, like the words were too heavy, he needed a moment to bear their weight.

"I have killed for you. I will do it again without hesitation...do you see how you have ruined me? Do you see how far I have gone for you? Have I not kept my vow when I swore to reclaim you?" He nuzzled her neck tenderly.

"The ties of our fates were interwoven from the moment we were born. We will never part, not in life or in death."

"In all lifetimes, you and I are inevitably bound. So I hope you never wonder, why I am unable to love any other...as I do you."

"You were made for me. You were made for my darkness, to embrace it...to be one with it. And I will have you wrapped in it, till you forget you ever tasted light...till the world itself, bends to us."

"Neveah...you are my fate. My only fate." His tone was solemn, almost sacred. "I will have you, or be damned for a thousand lifetimes."