Chapter 145: Diamonds Don't Shatter, Beautiful and Battered
* Diamond Hearts by Alan Walker - might break your heart, but we're all in the same pot atp 🙁
[RUKIYA]
With the blood rain, and Mbali still in Sicario, Malika knew she had to do something. Now that they had figured Hawi was probably alive somewhere, she knew she had to find her and make sure she was alright. Stay with m _v _l _e _mp _y _r.
She had managed to push through the mind links and was met with emptiness, the kind that was so sad and had so much grief. It was like there was so much pain that for a moment, Malika faltered.
She was supposed to be strong, hell, she always was, but grief had a way of crippling even the strongest. That was also how Malika knew that Hawi was feeling worse than she was and that she needed to find her Mistress.
'She'll give me the answers even if I have to choke it out of her,' Malika said to herself as she went to Rukiya's camp. She had managed to figure out why Rukiya was being evasive earlier and it was because the woman was feeling everything Hawi was feeling.
There was no point in her looking for Hawi, given she knew where the woman was and Malika wasn't going to waste any time. She would find her mistress, and she would take away her pain, just like she always did.
But perhaps a nicer approach would determine whether her dark thoughts of killing Rukiya Greyson in the worst of ways would be justified or not, despite the knowledge of Rukiya being Hawi's interest — or it being a red zone for anyone alive or dead.
"Rukiya! It's raining blood in Sicario. We need to be ready for the rage of the white wolf. If only I knew where she—" Malika let out in one breath when she saw Rukiya Greyson hunched in front of someone.
The Greyson alpha looked genuinely busy and occupied, given there weren't even any warriors with her on this side. However, that could wait, because this time, Malika was going to use the blood oath against Rukiya, if she had to.
"Huh?" Rukiya responded subconsciously as she turned to look at Malika, a move that got Malika to realize that there was no point in looking further anymore. The woman she needed was here, and that should have been comforting, so why was Malika scared?
"—Was," Malika said, completing her sentence as she took in the sight of Hawi.
In all her years serving the moon goddess and the realm, Malika had never encountered this much hurt. She had never imagined it possible for anyone and honestly, she finally understood why it was raining blood.
It all made sense why the white wolf's blood rage was so intense and unforgiving to the point that most of the wolves who were outside their houses when the blood rain began, were already nursing their non-healing wounds, thanks to the acidic nature of the rain.
"Mistress?" Malika called out and Hawi looked at her, with sudden blank yet blood-red eyes. She knew what this meant and that even she, as Hawi's protector, wouldn't be able to stop Hawi from whatever she was going to do.
"He was innocent. He spent his time in the dungeons because he cared for me a little too much. He shouldn't have done that. He was supposed to be my father and guide, but now–" Hawi breathed out defeatedly.
Anyone listening to her could have assumed that she wasn't thankful for what her father had done, but maybe she just hated how the man had approached the situation. If she was that powerful then why did they need to protect her?
Why did they need to sacrifice themselves for her? What use was their sacrifice when she was left completely and utterly alone in a world that was so cruel and harsh to her even though she was as innocent as everyone out there with their unknown fates?
"Sorry, I didn't do my job well, Mistress. I am at your mercy," Malika said shamefully, her head bowed, as her armor suddenly disappeared and she was suddenly clothed in the servant clothes that the executioners forced the guilty to wear before they were sent to hang.
"Then go, Malika. Go be that little shit's wife. Go save his life before my poison and Mbali's poison kills him. Go make sure he lives," Hawi said and Malika looked up at her Mistress, wondering what the fuck the woman was on again.
This was the right time for them to strike down Jeremiah Warner. This was the best time to show the wolves of the man's incompetencies and bury him in the acidic rain so he would never come back to life again and wouldn't be able to go to the afterlife.
This was the perfect opportunity to sacrifice Jer to the worst of the worst and yet Hawi was letting him go? Hell, she was fucking healing him? This had to be a joke and Malika was certainly not finding it funny.
"You can't be serious, mistress," Malika said, the disbelief so clear in her voice.
Rukiya, who was with them was with Malika on this, but she knew better than to talk about it because before she was Hawi's mate or even love interest, she was just a pawn for Hawi to use as she wished fit.
It was a fate Rukiya Greyson had willingly subjected herself to, despite all the warnings and she wasn't about to take it back, not that she could even if she so desired. The only thing she could do was try and wait it out, but at what cost?
"If your mission is hard for you, I can always get Mbali to do it. She has some excellent shape-shifting skills. It would be a shame to lose you, after how hard you've worked beside me," Hawi said, her tone so chill.
At that, Rukiya felt the hair behind her neck stand, and she wasn't even the target of Hawi's statements. Oh, this woman was scary when she wanted to, at least now Rukiya was finally getting a glimpse of what it looked like to have a broken Hawi.
"Please don't shut off your mind links this time?" Malika pleaded with Hawi, knowing how crazy she had almost gotten because of this woman. However, she wasn't doing it for herself, but because she needed to know if Hawi was okay or not.
"I won't, not unless I'm fucking Ruru senseless," Hawi said, with a straight face while Rukiya choked on air. She loved the idea of Hawi fucking her but this was certainly not how she had expected to what this.
"Careful love, I got something better for you to choke on. All you gotta do is ask for it, and I'll deep-throat you as far as you want me to go," Hawi added and Malika was done listening.
"Y'know what? I get the idea," Malika complained as she stared at Hawi whose face was still blank and cold. The tears in her eyes were still finding their way down, and she didn't even seem bothered by it. She was numb to everything.
"I don't even know why you're still here when you got Kane wishing you were finding your way through to her ovaries right now," Hawi said, and this time, Malika just created a portal and went through it, leaving a shocked Rukiya and a broken Hawi behind.
"Hawi, we can get Hudhayfah to perform his rituals," Rukiya said softly once it was just them and a dead Sicario that Hawi hadn't let go of yet.
"It hurts so bad I can't breathe, Ruru. I… I didn't think it would hurt. I feel like my heart is exploding over and over, my chest hurts so bad. I thought I could handle myself, I… I don't want to feel like this, Ruru," Hawi said as she furiously wiped her tears.
Hawi's emotions were so raw that Rukiya was nearly taken aback by how vulnerable the strongest woman she had ever met had become. There were days when all Rukiya wished to see Hawi let herself be vulnerable.
However, now that she was seeing her like that, Rukiya felt like going on a murder spree herself. She finally understood why Malika wanted to take out Jer and never let him live to see the next second.
"I'm so sorry, baby," the Greyson alpha said as she sat beside Hawi, gently guiding Hawi's head to her shoulders.
"Tell me what to do, my love. Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it, no questions asked," Rukiya said earnestly.
"Ruru… Please take my pain away," Hawi said in a broken voice before adding.
"Make it go away. I'm so tired of the endless pain."