Worth Waiting For

Chapter Twenty Two

"Father!" Ashlynn shouted as she was pulled away from the hallway towards the reinforced safe room near the basement. "Please don't this! Please let me go!" She pleaded over and over again as her father overpowered her. "I need to see him!"

"Stop your whining!" Her father ordered as he pushed her through the steel doors and into her mother's grasp inside. "You are to remain here and wait for Lucas to kill that abomination. Then you two will wed and this will all be behind us." He added before he turned and left his panic filled daughter behind. He closed the steel doors with a soft clang.

"Why. mother?" She asked almost on the verge of tears. "Why are you doing this?"

"It's for the best." Her mother simply replied as she released her daughter and turned towards the beds on the opposite side of the room.

"How is this for the best?" Ashlynn shouted towards her mother. "You are keeping me from my Beloved! Knowingly!"

"Why is that abomination in the safe room?!" Ashlynn's mother shouted to Gretta who sat on a stool beside a bed that currently held Haylie.

"She needs to rest." Gretta replied and to give her credit, she didn't flinch at the Queen's shouting.

"She can rest elsewhere. This safe room is for the royal family. Not abominations!" The Queen shouted once more.

"It is not wise to not ensure her safety." Gretta replied and still not affected by the Queen herself, shouted at her. She seemed calm, sure of herself. Yet what she said piqued Ashlynn's interest. Why was it not wise? Just who was Haylie? These are the thoughts that went through Ashlynn's mind.

"It doesn't matter. We are the royals! She is nothing to us! An insect within a continent!" The Queen shouted and once more Ashlynn began to wonder if her mother had ever cared for anything in her long life. If she even cared about her own daughter. What happened to her mother to turn her into such an uncaring, unempathetic towards the ones she is supposed to care about the most.

"She is Gertrude's granddaughter!" Gretta suddenly shouted towards the Queen and the events that following left Ashlynn speechless.

To the blatant disrespect shown to the Queen, Ashlynn could almost see the retaliation from the Queen. She had always abhorred disrespect. Yet in this moment, the Queen did nothing. She stood their stunned and shocked at what Gretta had just told her. Just who is this Gertrude? Is it the same one Haylie mentioned earlier? Is she so powerful that even the royals are scared of her? Ashlynn wanted answers but had no idea of how to get them. Not unless Haylie woke up soon.

"What?" Ashlynn's mother let out softly as she stared at the unconscious form of Haylie on the bed before her.

"If we leave her by herself and something happens, who do you think Gertrude would blame?" Gretta let out as she brushed a piece of Haylie's hair from her forehead. At this moment, Gretta showed Ashlynn just how caring she could be. Even if it wasn't her own family, she cared enough for it to appear to be.

"I would blame the royals." Came the familiar old voice that I heard in the trance of Haylie's mind. How the hell did she manage to get in here? Ashlynn thought to herself as she turned to see an old woman of about seventy or maybe closer to eighty. She wore a long sleeve, ankle length dark red dress. She was leaning forward slightly, resting her weight on the twisted wooden walking stick. Her face looked her age but her body was far thinner than one would expect. Her body looked as if she had been exercising everyday since her teens. Her greyed hair pulled up in a bun and her deep green eyes watched the Queen carefully.

The Queen quickly turned to see the intruder but as her gaze landed on Gertrude, a distinct look of fear filled her eyes.

"So you're the Regis Mors's Beloved?" Gertrude looked towards Ashlynn as a soft smile appeared on her face. "That's good. He needs a solid Beloved beside him. Actually the Supernatural world needs a solid Beloved beside him." She added with a nod of her head.