Broken Vows
Chapter 16: One more day

Time is a funny thing; it doesn’t care what you are going through; time doesn’t care what moments you want to last forever or what moments you would rather rush through. Time just keeps its steady march.

That was precisely what time did: it just kept marching on, unaware that I needed so much more of it. My daughter was born healthy and strong. She grew far too quickly for my liking. I wanted a saver every moment with my Serena. She was like a light in the dark, and I clung to every happy moment with my sweet girl. I would give anything for one more day.

Strangely, I can remember all the happy memories we shared. Even now, I can see the three of us laughing. It seemed like it was always that way. I saw all the ways he loved me. For years I told myself he loved me and only wanted what was best for us. Somehow, I missed something. I don’t know when it happened.

It was like drowning one drop at a time. You don’t notice the water is getting deeper until you are lost, treading water just to keep afloat. I know I should have seen more. I know I should have done more. My magic never returned to me as it should have, and I just felt so sick all the time after Serena was born. Doctors, healers, and coven members could never tell me why or what had happened. Some even said it was because I was stressed and needed to relax, then I would be fine.

Nothing helped, and I only got worse. At first, Hadeon was the perfect father and husband, looking after me and helping with Serena. But all too soon, it seemed he pulled away. He began talking about the shifters more and more like animals when the wolves or bears shifters would ask for our aid. This was something my coven had provided for hundreds of years previously. We would use our magic and knowledge to help in any way we could, as long as it wasn’t for darker purposes like murder or war.

I would grant requests, but I would later learn that no one was ever sent. I even noticed over the years that coven members either went missing or seemed different in some way. Being cut off from my magic, I couldn’t even feel theirs. I had no idea what was happening in front of my very eyes.

Within six years, my castle had become nothing but shadows. The few people that remained haunted the halls like ghosts. Hadeon still looked unchanged and as handsome as ever, but he was cold. I began to age faster than I would have liked. My own vanity, I suppose, but I looked older than twenty-eight.

Hadeon hardly left his study when he was home. So often, he would leave the castle for weeks without speaking to Serena or me. No one would tell me where he went. For years, I thought perhaps he had a lover. I wish that was all it was. It would have been far better than what he was really doing.

I later learned that my husband was responsible for genocide. He was systematically killing all the shifters he could. He was even attacking the smaller covens that would not submit to him. He was draining them of their power and killing them. All this I learned much too late. But I have gotten ahead of myself again. I just want to explain that I could have prevented so much if I had seen it. If I hadn’t been so blind, I wouldn’t have over two hundred years of regret.

***

“Mommy, where is daddy? Do you think he will play tea party with me?” Serena asks as we sit in the garden with her tea set.

“I don’t know, my angel,” I quietly respond.

I’m feeling ill again, but I want to enjoy the afternoon with Serena. Tomorrow is her birthday, and I want to spend as much time with her as possible. I might have shriveled up long ago if it hadn’t been for her. I always feel so weak, and it is only getting worse.

“Mommy, look!” Serena happily squeals, holding out her hand as the teacup floats inches above her palm.

“That’s it, angel!” I praise her.

Her gifts started presenting a few days ago. She has quickly mastered many simple spells. I tried to tell Hadeon the news, but I learned that he had left. I wish I knew where he went. It kills me to think that I’m a burden to him. He has had to do so much for me. I know it must be the reason he leaves.

“Well, look at my girl,” Hadeon says as he walks carelessly across the garden.

“Daddy!” Serena jumps up from her seat and races to him.

“When did my little girl get so big? Doing magic like that?” Hadeon scoops her up, and I cringe. He’s the one that hasn’t been around. I hate that he isn’t here for Serena like he should be. If he wants to avoid me because I have become a burden to him, then fine, but I wish he would still spend time with her.

“Where have you been?” I ask as he sets Serena down.

“Please don’t start with all that, Willow. I just came out to see my girls. You know now that she is finally developing her powers, perhaps I should begin instruction with her?” Hadeon muses.

“I already have,” I reply.

“Well, yes, but I mean real lessons. I can show her how to use her power.” Hadeon’s tone is flat, but I feel the sting with every word he says.

“Oh,” I simply say, returning to the book I was reading.

“Oh? Did I say something to offend you? Did I say something wrong? I was merely thinking of our child’s education and am met with disdain from you?” Hadeon retorts, and I fold. I don’t want to argue with him in front of Serena.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Hadeon. I think it is a lovely idea.”

I try and sound sincere. I don’t have the energy for a fight. Fighting with Hadeon is something I learned to avoid at all cost. His anger is not something I wanted to ever see again.

“Great. I think we should start bright and early in the morning then.” Hadeon smiles smugly.

“Well, my girl, you will come to my study after breakfast?” Hadeon kneels down at the little table Serena sits at playing.

“Don’t you want to stay and have tea with mommy and me?” Serena pouts.

“I would love to, but I need to get some work done for mommy. She needs her rest, so I must take care of things in her place.”

The look of hurt on my face doesn’t go unnoticed by Hadeon. He almost seems to relish it. I don’t want to think that he wants to hurt me. Whenever I try and talk to him about what I am feeling, he tells me that it is all in my head. He never says things or does things the way I think he will. He brings up everything he has done for me and replaces things to prove that I don’t love him the way I say I do. Most of the time, I feel like I am the crazy one just looking for a reason to fight. I feel like I am all the things he tells me I am.

I let out a long breath trying to hold back tears. My life has turned out so much different than I ever thought. The only beautiful thing in it is Serena. I don’t know what I would do without her.

Hadeon POV

I can’t stand that weak woman; she is a pathetic thing. The only reason I haven’t finished her off yet is to keep stealing power from her. But now I have little Serena to take Willow’s place. In the morning, I will see how much energy that little body holds.

I have already done away with most of the coven, feeding my ever-growing need for power. I can feel something new; something has changed. It’s like I can feel everything. The more magic I consume, the closer to perfection I become. Soon I will be like a God.

I plan to rule this world. I have managed to convert some of the coven members to my cause for a new world. I tried so many times to convince Willow that the shifters are unworthy of our assistance. Still, she insists on wanting to always help them. She refuses to think that we should rule all of them. She tells me she would hate to see anyone be subservient to another.

If she only knew it was too late, I only have a few of the more prominent shifter clans left. They will never even know what is happening. They see only smoke and darkness before they perish. I have found an old and ancient force of magic through my studying. It is something close to what most would call death. It isn’t a being like any I have ever known, but now, with the power I have consumed, it serves me in exchange for some of the souls I collect. This power has no name and is as old as the world. It serves me now. I am its master. Soon, it will be strong enough to consume the world if I allow it.

Willow POV

I kiss Serena on the cheek as she smiles up at me.

“Okay, my angel, you are all set.”

I give her one last look, smiling. I’m happy Hadeon wants to spend time with her. I hope this is a sign that things will be better again. Perhaps he will be happy again. Maybe he will love us the way he once did. I wish I was the same as I was. I wish I still had my power. I want so many things.

Serena skips her way out the door and down the hall heading to Hadeon’s study where he has all of his work and experiments. These are things I have only caught glimpses of. Serena’s blonde curls bounce as she skips. I smile watching her.

Hours tick by so slowly, and I feel restless waiting for Serena to return to tell me everything she learned. Then, the idea occurs to me to just go and see how they are doing. I know Hadeon doesn’t like when I intrude on him when he is working, but this is different.

As I walk down the hall and get closer to his study, the air turns so cold that I shiver. Summer has only just started, so the weather has been warm and pleasant. I don’t know how it can be so cold in the hall. I get closer to his study door, turn the handle, and push the door open. I’m smiling, thinking of seeing Serena.

What I see when I open the door is something I will never forget. Her little body is suspended in the air as a mass of black and silver mist and shadow swarms her. The air itself is so cold it stings like ice hitting my skin.

I scream and rush to her to save her from whatever it is holding her. The black mass pulses as I hit it like a solid wall. It won’t let me through. That’s when I hear him laughing. I turn to see the man I love grinning and laughing as our child is consumed in that mass. I look back at Serena, and it’s as if she is vanishing before my eyes. She seems to be asleep, but she is a ghost. Her body grows more and more translucent.

I turn back to Hadeon and rush at him.

“Stop this! What are you doing?” I shriek and try to hit him, but I hit the same invisible wall. As I try to rush at him again, the wall-like force pulses again, knocking into me. It strikes me so hard that I fly back into the wall knocking bottles off a shelf and shattering them. My head hits the wall so hard that I start to lose consciousness. Darkness is trying to take me as I fight to get up again. Serena is nearly gone.

I manage to scream at Hadeon: “What have you done?! What Have you done?!” I see the last of her fade from view as I’m hit over the head with something hard. Hadeon’s laughter is all that I hear.