* @WinnieCool this one's for you *

The Heir

back to the Court Hospital when Hades and Persephone appeared in front of me. I came to a halt to prevent myself from bumping into them. Right now was not the right time to chat so I moved to the left and walked past them. Hades caught my wrist.

"If you want to see him, we need to get back to the Underworld." When I tried to free my wrist from his grip, he added, "his soul has left his body, sweetheart. Even if you go there, you can only see his body."

"Why didn't you save him?" I asked, closing my eyes against the tears that were pooling in my eyes. I started sobbing, the thought of never seeing Vlad crushed my heart. "Why?"

Persephone answered it for him, "because we can't mess with the human's lives."

"But Zeus brought Rhea back!" I yelled out of frustration. "You brought me back!"

"And chaos happened," said someone behind me. I turned around to see Spyridon and Adrian walking towards us. "You saw what happened after Hades had brought you back," added Spyridon.

I wanted to say that I didn't care. I wanted to tell them that I didn't care if the world crashed and burned as long as I got Vlad back but one tiny part of my heart felt guilty for even thinking about it.

"Avery sweetheart," said my father softly. "If you come with us now to the Underworld, you might catch Vladimir before he meets the judges."

I quickly reached for the keys on the necklace but his hand caught mine. "We don't need to use that." With a blink of an eye, we were back in the Underworld. My father told me to take a seat, he said Charon was on his way to bring Vladimir's soul here.

Honestly, I didn't know how to feel. Although my mind started to accept the fact that he died, my heart refused to do so. We hadn't had much time together. In fact, the longest time we'd spent together was before I was brought back. After I'd come back from the Underworld, it felt like the world was angry and kept throwing bad things at me. This, losing Vlad, was the worst.

Zeus and Queen Rhea appeared a few minutes after we got here. They eyed me warily from across the room. My outburst earlier probably had surprised them. Well, they should know that I was no longer Sienna Rose who always put their love story as a priority. Now I had my own love to be worried about.

I waited for another five minutes before Charon finally arrived. He docked his boat by the balcony and Vladimir stepped out. The second our eyes met, we ran towards each other only to walk through one another. I blinked, realizing that he was just a soul and just like Queen Rhea and Caesar, I wasn't able to touch him.

I turned around and walked towards him, stopping on at arm's length. "I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me."

Those words sounded like a cliché that I'd watched being reiterated dozen times in movies. Me being me, I'd always hated those words and mocked the character saying that they should've known better. It was ironic that I used the exact same words now but those words were true. I truly regretted ever leaving him behind. If I could turn back time, I would've stayed. No, if I could turn back time, I would've asked him to come with me instead of leaving him with Klas and Spyridon.

As if he could read my thoughts, he muttered softly, "it's not your fault. I made you leave."

I shook my head. "I should've fought back, I should've argued."

"It's fate and it's done. There's no point of regretting it now, Avy." He lifted his hand, about to caress my cheek to soothe me, something that he would always do whenever I was down, but then he recalled that he couldn't and dropped his hand, making my body ache for his touch.

"You're not alone," said Zeus from behind. I turned around and glared at him. How could he ruin someone's moment? I'd never ruin his for gods' sake. "You're with someone."

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Yes. I'm with my soulmate now could you be quiet?"

"Avy." There was a warning in his tone. He wasn't stupid, he knew Zeus could turn me into dust in a heartbeat. I knew that too but I simply didn't care.

"It's okay," I said carelessly. "He's in love with my sister, he won't do anything that could make her hate him."

His only reaction was a rise of one brow. Arrogant was his middle name after all.

My father moved to my side and put one hand on my shoulder. "Sweetheart, I didn't notice this earlier but he was right. You're with someone." I was going to ask what did that even mean when he continued, "no, the right sentence is you're carrying someone. A child. It is still an embryo but it's growing."

"So the Fates were right," mused Queen Rhea.

"The Fates?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos."

"Oh," I nodded. "the one from Supernatural. I think Dean met Atropos twice."

"Well, you've met them dozen times."

"Huh?"

"They are the three ladies sitting at the reception desk in the Hyped. They usually stay for the whole month of December to help with the gathering," explained Queen Rhea.

I'd always thought that those stern looking ladies were odd, this confirmed that.

"And they said I'll get knocked up at eighteen?" I asked curiously.

Queen Rhea laughed. "No. They said a Stavros heir will be born this year and since I'm no longer a Stavros, I assumed it's you."

My eyes caught the sadness in Vlad's dark green eyes and my heart broke. The realization hit me, he could never see his child. Tears started to run down my face in a heavy flood. It was more than just a regular cry, it was the kind of desolate sobbing that comes from a person drained of all hope. Not only the hope of seeing Vlad again but the hope for this child to see him, to know his father.

I sank to my knees as my feet begun to fail me. The pain followed by regret suffocating me without mercy. I continued sobbing into my hands, letting the flow of tears dripped between my fingers, pooling on the floor between my knees. Two arms wrapped around me and I turned, hoping by some miracle they were Vlad's, only to be surprised when I looked into a pair of green eyes, a few shades lighter than Vlad. They were Adrian's.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, confused.

Zeus answered that for him, "I brought him here. I'm not that heartless, I know you need a pair of arms to keep you steady and I know he couldn't." He nudged at Vlad with his chin.

"You'll get through this, Montgomery. Kris, Renata, and I will be there for you," said Adrian, sounded like a responsible adult, something I'd always doubted he could ever be. Then I realized that he had matured. I didn't know if it was because of Renata or something that came from within her but he truly had changed.

I slid my gaze to Vlad who was crouching in front of me. "Don't worry, love. You're strong. I know you can do this." His eyes showed how much he truly meant it. "Tell our child how much I love him. If he's a boy, tell him to be a gentleman, to always treat girls right. But if he's a girl," he paused, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes, "tell her that boys don't have cooties."

I giggled and brushed away my tears. "I think it's better to tell her that they do."

"Well, I trust you." Vlad smiled. "I'll agree and second whatever you tell her."

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, trying to remember every detail of our faces and engrave it to our mind.

"You know," said Zeus, interrupting us for gods know how many times, "there might be a way for him to see the child."

Vlad and I shared one look before turning our gaze to Zeus who seemed pleased that he finally got everyone's attention.

Narcissistic asshole.

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(refer to photos below)🤦🏻‍♀️