Taming Darkness
Chapter 19

~Aleera~

Thankfully, I have forged my own path and am nothing like my parents. Both were inherently evil in their own sick and twisted ways, with plans for power and dominance. As a result of everything Darius had experienced at the hands of my father, through his memories, and experiencing my mother firsthand, I realize that I am a better and apparently smarter person than they were.

Maybe my mother has been too enamored with the idea that she has finally won against me to even notice the walls of my trap closing. She hadn't overpowered me, even if she believed that to be the case. But my goal all along was to get my mates out. Not only out of that awful place but far away from the eyes of my mother. Her hatred for them clouds the reality of what's actually going on. They are her kryptonite, which I will use to my full advantage, keeping her focused on where I want.

As much as they played a part, it seemed I was enough of a distraction. I was her grand prize, the main attraction of all the twisted things she has worked so hard to accomplish. I was the key to everything she has ever wanted to become. From the moment I decided to go after my mother, I knew I would do whatever it took to ensure the safety of my mates, even if I let them think I risked my life for them. It's a small price to pay for the song of revenge that plays beneath my breath. Given the choice of suffering their wrath over having to watch them in agony for another moment, it's not one I had to think about. What she attempted to do to all of them inside that barrier cements my decision. I would not be the reason they lost their lives. The one thing that lingered at the forefront of my mind was the fact that my mates were not just Demonic-Fae. Tobias is Vampiric-Fae, Lycus is We're-Fae and Kalen is darkness. For these reasons, I forced each of my mates through that portal and ignored their reactions. My mother would have killed them without a second thought. Her precious crystal would have drained my power, and we all would have been immobilized. If my plan had failed, she would have siphoned all their magic, leaving them and me powerless while she slaughtered them, forcing me to watch as they died.

If she had succeeded, they would have been temporarily defenseless to her power. This was more than enough time for that vicious woman to extinguish their lives.

With my plan firmly in place, step one was complete. Although it had been heartbreaking to hear my mates, as I saved them one at a time, it worked. I needed to get caught and taken away from them. I'd allowed my mother to tap into my magic, as a distraction, so she wouldn't touch theirs. It was risky, that woman's greed knew no bounds, but that worked to my advantage and I accomplished my first goal.

When it came to me, I understood her plan, but she overlooked an extremely significant detail. Her demonic crystals weakened me, as she knew they would, but the effect was only temporary.

Even now, I can feel my power creeping back. It fills my being and overrides the shackles she'd constructed to defeat a Demonic-Fae. That dark side of me is gone, it had burned out the moment her crystal towers zapped the power from me. She immobilized Darius' magic in me, but completely forgot I wielded my own. Although intelligent, my mother overlooked the significant small details, like the fact I'm a Harmony-Fae.

Okay, apparently, according to her, I'm Seraphim, which makes zero sense. I still am not sure if she is trying to trick me with an obvious lie or if there is more to it. It would be something to figure out later if time permits. One thing is painfully clear: my mother keeps underestimating me and what I'm capable of. It's as if she is stuck in some vicious self-sabotage cycle.

Her sole focus is on how close she is to attaining her heart's desire and everything she worked towards and ever wanted. She is blind to my previous actions, my current ones, and how I am acting now. She is so tied up in herself, she probably wouldn't even notice me falling off a cliff.

For the briefest of moments, I worry she might catch on to how calm I am, and how I haven't resisted, or tried to fight back. I haven't spit profanities, at least out loud. In fact, I'm acting like a model prisoner, not someone who wants to escape her.

It's almost laughable that she believes she's the one who trapped me. That she could drain me of my magic and leave me powerless, an easy target. All of this was far from the truth.

Standing here, being restrained by her minions is all on me and my choices. I needed them to think they won this grand battle. I had given up my freedom to put myself in a position to take them all down.

The moment we step through the veils and wards that surround this place, I feel the shimmer of magic around me. I realize it isn't just this place but the land that holds power, almost a supercharged amount of it too. I don't have enough left to understand exactly what it is, but it seems like some sort of protection or concealment spell. It was also clear how her men moved in and out of the shields, disappearing and reappearing elsewhere.

They push and shove me toward the house. The house looks exactly how I remember it, drying my throat. My mother casually walks through the door as if she's never left, and it makes me wonder if she ever did.

Magic crackles around me as we go through the door. The fake outside layer melts away, revealing the illusion I suspected was there. It's camouflage for this place's true identity.

I am hot on my mother's heels when I step through the door frame. I am transported, or maybe just exposed, to what is no longer my childhood home. She brought me to her dirty little secret, or not so little from the looks of this place. It's not a house, but a massive facility, and I fight to hide the surge of joy flooding through me.

She'd just led my mates directly to her.