The Extra Wants Control

Valeriana continued"Before they could finish me, the Elders returned. My father…" she faltered, her eyes welling up again. "He was awaking from seclusion."

Verona just looked at her quietly.

"They… they fled," Valeriana continued, her voice trembling slightly. "But not before Ethan… he looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes. \'Remember this, Valeriana, I\'ll be back. I\'ll destroy everything you have and love… everything and everyone.\'"

He looked at her stomach to mean the born child th back at Eliana. A chilling reminder of the life he was willing to destroy.

The weight of the revelation hung heavy.

"I…" she began, her voice barely a whisper, "I convinced myself that staying away from Rav would keep him safe. That if I ignored him, erased any trace of him in my life, th this… this creature posing as my husband wouldn\'t come looking."

A flicker of understanding crossed Verona\'s face. She understood the twisted logic, the desperate hope that fueled Valeriana\'s actions. But the cost, the emotional toll it must have tak on a child…

"Eliana," Valeriana continued, her voice choked with emotion, "she was already in danger. Keeping her close, protecting her… it was the only thing I knew to do."

Verona watched her and Valeriana misjudged her gaze as a judgemtal look.

"I know," Valeriana yelled, her voice cracking, "it doesn\'t make sse. It\'s… hypocritical of me, abandoning one and taking care of the other. But it was the only weapon I had. The only way I could think to protect them both."

The pain in her eyes mirrored the pain she had inflicted. The silce stretched on, heavy with unspok apologies, guilt and regret.

Valeriana had made a choice, a desperate gamble to protect her childr. Now, with the truth laid bare before them.

Verona squeezed her hand gtly. "He suffered," she said, her voice low but firm. "But he survived. But..."

Verona\'s crimson eyes narrowed, a flicker of suspicion replacing the understanding she had. Despite the raw emotion of Valeriana\'s confession, something didn\'t quite add up.

"There\'s something else you\'re not telling me," Verona stated, her voice cold and laced with a hint of threat. The air crackled with tsion as she held Valeriana\'s gaze.

Valeriana didn\'t flinch under the scrutiny, she just calmly said. " I was cursed," she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper. "I know it sounds convit for my story, but it\'s true. Convit indeed right?A curse that convitly explains my neglect."

Valeriana bowed her head, tears welling up again. "It\'s not like that. I assure you. My feelings for my son was damped and I didn\'t ev notice it. But…" she looked up, a flicker of confusion in her own eyes. "You see, two years ago, I...

I reached Stars. At that stage, the curse was brok and I felt it again how much I missed my son."

"And yet," Verona interjected, her voice still laced with suspicion, "you only come looking for Neveah now?"

"No, that\'s not it!" Valeriana cried out, her voice cracking with desperation. "Six years ago, almost sev now… it was at Silvcrest, where he first disappeared. Eliana had just started to look for Rav to keep an eye on him wh we were made aware that he was gone wh it was already too late.

But we didn\'t know how or who took him… and I…" she faltered, her voice dropping to a pained whisper, "I didn\'t care."

Valeriana continued, her voice raw with shame. "At the time," she confessed, "I was consumed by the rage. My focus was solely on regaining my power making me and my daughter stronger. I… I abandoned him. I let him down."

.Valeriana, the woman who was supposed to be Neveah\'s protector, had failed him in his most vulnerable hour. Verona just quietly watched her.

The silce stretched on, filled with the echoes of past mistakes and the burd of a mother\'s regret.

Red-eyed Verona\'s gaze remained fixed on the tear-stained face of the human woman, a complex mix of emotions swirling within her crimson depths.

"She blames herself, but it\'s not ev her fault" Verona finally muttered, her voice devoid of its usual bite. "But the curse… and what is it with this family and these damned curses? First Neveah with that nasty curse th ev her?"

Violet-eyed Verona, ever the silt observer, remained unmoving, her thoughts unknown behind her stoic face.

"Wh you reached Stars, what did you do?" Verona asked her, a hint of understanding creeping into her tone.

Valeriana continued " That was two years ago. Th, I cleaned up the palace, ascded the empty throne. Once order was restored… well, you know the rest. The academy, Eliana spotting Neveah, the frantic search…" Shame washed over her features once more. "And here I am."

The silce that followed was heavy, punctuated only by the crackling ergy of Neveah. Verona held Valeriana\'s gaze, a silt acknowledgmt of the pain etched on the human woman\'s face.

She th closed her eyes.

Finally, red-eyed Verona spoke, her voice softer than before. "Well, that was quite a story."

Violet eyed Verona was battling with some emotions.

Red-eyed Verona, seemingly oblivious, continued. "And you," she asked Violet-eyed Verona, "you\'ve be awfully quiet."

Violet-eyed Verona met her gaze, a flicker of sadness replacing her usual stoicism. "I know the feeling," she spoke, her voice low and melancholic. "Years separated from Neveah, forced to watch from the shadows. A great ache that gnawed at my very being."

Her voice cracked slightly. "Now, imagine that… with her power, her status, and still unable to protect or be with him. Unfortunate doesn\'t ev begin to describe it. She is pitiful… yes, that\'s the word."

A heavy silce descded upon the space, thick with empathy and a shared understanding of a mother\'s love. Red-eyed Verona stared into violet eyed Verona\'s figure, her expression unreadable.

Finally, she spoke, her voice a low rumble. "This… this isn\'t a choice for us to make. We\'ll let Neveah decide for himself."

Violet-eyed Verona offered a grateful nod. F