Beauty and His Beast [MxM] (UNEDITED)
Chapter 33

Ares POV

"No! Open it back up! I have to go back! He's hurt!"

I screamed as I tried to break free from the tight grip Urion had on my wrists. I had lost count of the times I had screamed, to the point where my throat had felt as though it had burned and even then, he refused to let me go. I looked around at all his men who looked at each other as though they too didn't know what to do.

"Are you listening to me! Let me go!" I yelled once more and pried my hands out of his grip, glaring at him as I rubbed my wrists.

"Ares calm down. You're in shock. But we're not going to hurt you" he said as he tried to walk towards me only for me to walk three steps back.

"Where are we? Why won't anyone answer me!" I yelled as I turned around to look around me at what seemed like a courtroom.

Numerous paintings depicting stories of the past filled the room. Statues of previous royals , none of whom I recognized, firmly placed at every corner.

"You're safe. That's all that matters. Your parents will be here shortly. They'll explain everything to you." He said as he walked and stood in front of me.

His hands delicately reaching out and replaceing my own. He took them into his hand and smiled at me, a smile that would have caused flitters in me in the past, now made me want to punch him across the face.

"Urion, you have to let me go back. You don't understand, Fortis, he's -"

"He wanted you gone!" Urion said firmly, stopping whatever I had intended to say.

"What?" I asked him in a whisper, uncertain if I had heard correctly.

"You think we found you on our own? He sent us the signal we needed to replace you." Urion said, making me shake my head in disbelief.

"We had been searching for you for the past year Ares and every time we came up with nothing! Their realm was so protected by the damn barrier that not even our blood magic could replace you, until he sent the signal." Urion said as he looked into my eyes.

"He opened the portal for us. He was the first person I saw when I came through. I didn't understand who he was at first, or why he did it and frankly I don't care. All that I care about is that you're home and you're safe. We'll figure out the war later on."

Everything he said after had been nothing but silent murmurings. I couldn't hear whatever was happening around me nor did I even feel anything when he led me away from the eyes of his men.

Had Fortis really wanted me gone?

I couldn't wrap my mind on what I had done wrong for him to want me gone. No matter how much I tried to think about it or analyze it, I couldn't come up with an answer that made sense.

Had everything he had said to me been a lie? Had he felt nothing each time we were together? Were the moments we shared nothing to him? Was I the only one who felt everything so deeply?The more I thought about it the more my head hurt. To the point where I began to feel dizzy.

"My baby. My sweet baby." I froze at the sound of that voice. The very voice I thought I would never hear again.

I turned around, my eyes welling up with tears at the sight of my mother and father standing there and suddenly everything that I had been trying to hold in and make sense of, all broke free and I let out a choked sob as my tears rolled down my cheeks.

I walked towards them and allowed them to engulf in a hug that had always made me feel so safe. In that moment, I felt as though I was a little boy again. When I would run and cry in the arms of parents for all the troubles I faced, and yet, in that moment..

I wanted him. I wanted someone who didn't love me as much I loved him.

I held onto my father as I sobbed against his chest. Feeling him run his hand down my back as I cried. His own silent sobs filling the quiet room.

"I thought we had lost you forever." He whispered as he pulled me away and held the sides of my face, searching my eyes.

"Your mother and I. We never stopped looking for you. Each day and night, she would pray to the gods to return you." He said as he tears rolled down his cheeks as he smiled at me.

I tried so hard so smile back at him. To crush and bury the sorrow that was slowly seeping into my bones, and yet, all I wanted to do was to crawl into a dark hole and lay there for eternity.

"Come. You should rest. You have through a lot." My mother said as she guided me out of the room.

I could only nod at her, unable to word anything in that moment, for my state of mind was still trying to understand what I had been through and how much of it was actually real.

Urion had mentioned that I had been gone a year, and yet it felt like I had been away a lifetime. I had seen and lived a life that felt as though it was a dream. I had met someone who had become the world to me, only to realize that it had meant nothing to him, and that was something that I was not sure I was ever going to overcome.

I followed silently as my parents led me to what I used to call my room, and yet, everything felt so foreign and strange. Standing in a space I called my own, and yet I felt so out of place.

"I'll have the servants run your bath." She said as she called a few servants who moved to run my water only for me to stop them.

They looked at me in confusion and then at my mother who too looked as though she had done something wrong. I smiled at her told her I could do it on my own. She nodded and told the servants to leave, telling me she would be back when I was done.

I watched her leave and pull the door closed behind me. I turned to the bathpool and settled myself into the hot water. I gently untied the tie on my hair and let it loosely fall past my shoulders into the water.

I looked down at my reflection staring back at me and couldn't hold it in anymore. I placed my hand over my mouth in effort to lesson the sound, and allowed my sobs to break free.

Why hadn't he wanted me..