Sweet Redemption: The Morningstar Series Book 3
Sweet Redemption Chapter 72

When I woke up I was back in the ballroom of the castle inside the painting. It didn't take my eyes long to adjust to the candle light room. The flooring was all still torn up from Aciaisa and I. Now I could see the symbols of the summoning cirlce that Bianca had tried to explain to me. My mate was right, this is definitely similar to a summing circle, but I fear that it is something more than that.

I was alone when I woke up, and chained to the wall. The chains must be spelled powerfully or something because I could not break them. Though I find it odd that they weren't laced with wolfsbane, vervane, not even devilsbane. Does this guy really not know who my sister and I are?

Just then Omen walked into the room. He looked over to me, seeing that I am now awake, but disregarded me completely. I watched as he walked to a table in the middle of the room and started to fumble with things. After a few moments I couldn't take the silence anymore. "Where is my twin?" I asked him.

Omen sighed. "Women should be seen and not heard." He told me.

I rolled my eyes. "Do I look like I give a flying f**k about that? Where is my sister?" I asked again.

Omen ignored me. I dropped it for now. Acaisia was still alive, that much I was sure of. It was clear that Omen needs us both alive for now. Maybe he is purposely keeping us apart. "How long have I been out?" I asked him.

"30 hours." He said plainly.

My eyes buldged. How could he have knocked me out for that long? What kind of power does he have?

"You must be really powerful to knock me out for that long." I commented.

Omen scoffed. "I have noticed in this day and age that women seem to think they have power, that they have rights." Then he looked at me. "They do not." He sneered.

I raised my eyebrow at him. "How much of the world have you seen? There are plenty of women who are powerful. Take your Queen for example." I said referring to the Fae Queen. "That women is NOT my Queen!" Omen shouted at me.

Okay the guy has mommy issues.

"Really? The crown on her head says otherwise." I said simply.

Omen slammed down whatever he was holding and walked over to me. He stood above me, only inches away, and glared down at me. I think that him standing above me gives him a sense of power. Which is silly considering I'm in the perfect spot to head b**t his groin.

"She is a false Queen. She is only Queen becasue the King died and her son is lost." He said.

"That doesn't make her any less powerful." I argued.

"Doesn't it?" Omen asked. "The Fae world is to be run by a man. Annag is going to run the Fae kingdom into the ground. Especially with all of the cross breeding that happens now." He said disgusted. "That does not matter though. The Queen is growing old, she is weak. She can't reign forever." He told me with a creepy smile.

"Then I guess it's a good thing many people are looking for her son." I said.

It was true. Queen Annag did not ask for our help but Tia sent out a team anyways. Our best trackers were sent to find what they could. I know that the Queen has her own people out searching for her son as well. And Pops also sent some people out. He won't admit it but I know that is what Aunt Lenny has been doing. I overheard them talking about it. It was only a matter of time before someone found him.

Omen chuckled darkly as he crouched down to look into my eyes.

"Silly girl." He tsked. "They will never find him." His smile was sickening.

I glared at him. "What did you do with the him?" I accused.

Omen walked back to the make shift alter ignoring my question. He began to fiddle with items on the table. I didn't think he was going to answer me so when he did I was surprised.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. You won't be alive long enough to tell anyone anyways." He told me with a smug smile. "I did not kill him if that's what you are thinking." He said.

I scoffed. "And I'm just supposed to believe that?" I asked incredulously.

"I would never kill my own nephew." He told me.

"The Prince is your nephew?" I asked shocked.

Omen nodded while working on...well whatever he's working on.

"His father was my brother. My plan has been in motion for centuries. My own brother disowned me once he caught me stealing the power of Fae's and the forest. He couldn't kill his little brother so he banished me, locked me away with a powerful seal with the help of other realm leaders." Omen told me. "For centuries I was stuck in this god forsaken place. Though I should have thanked him. It showed me all of the things I really could do with my power." Omen walked over to another area in the room and began writing on the floor. "After sometime I was able to break the seal enough to slip through the worlds. I, of course paid my dear brother a visit." He told me with a wicked smile.

"You killed your own brother? After he couldn't kill you?" I asked absolutely disgusted.

Omen's beedy eyes snapped to mine.

"He deserved everything he had coming!" He shouted at me. "My brother was a stupid man who didn't believe in the ultimate power!" He was literally foaming at the mouth.

This is what happens to the body when someone possesses too much power. It doesn't happen the same when you are born with a lot of power, but when you steal it.. Your body was not made to hold all of that energy. Omen is falling apart, that much is clear now. "So, you killed the King. That was quite some time ago. Long before that tree started to drain the forest." I said.

"Yes well I had to remain inconspicuous my dear." He said completely calm now. "I bid my time and after a few months I went after the Prince. They were supposed to unseal me and make me King. I was the only one left in line for the throne." He was starting to lose it again. "But they didn't. Instead they made that...that...that women the ruler. They let a female lead them instead of unleashing me!" His breathing grew harsher. "Now they will all pay." He said as he continued to draw onto the floor. "And how will they be paying?" I asked.

Omen smiled but didn't look up at me. "After I drain you and your sister I will have enough power to enslave this entire realm. Then I will work on moving to the other realms." He told me.

"So your plan is world domination?" I asked with a laugh. "Do you have any idea how powerful supernaturals have become since you've been locked up?" I asked him. "My plan will work." He mumbled.

Omen was not only losing his body but his sanity. How sad? Not.

"So," I started after about 30 minutes of silence. "What did you do with the Prince?" I asked Omen.

"I erased his memory, locked his powers inside of him, and sent him to a different realm." He told me.

"What realm?" I asked innocently, though I wasn't sure if it would work.

"Yours." He said.

Damn, he really disregards women to that degree. He told me almost his entire plan, that killed his brother, and what he had done with the lost prince. I wonder what else he would tell me.

"Where at in my world? You must have hid him pretty well if no one has been able to find him yet." I said stroking his ego a bit.

Omen smirked to himself. "One would think that. But I honestly have no idea. I teleported us to a random location and dropped him in the forest. Who knows what has become of him since. He might not even be alive." Omen said almost amused.

I frowned. The moment I get us free and this nightmare is over I have to find Aunt Lenny. There has to be some reason why he hasn't been found yet. Some of the realms most powerful beings have been searching each realm for him, yet none of them found him? I find that hard to believe. Something is definitely going on with that.

"So, what's your plan for my sister and I then? How are you going to drain us?" I asked him.

Just then my twin walked into the room. Her eyes connected with my shocked ones. She isn't tied up? How did she get free?

"Acaisia! Kill him and let's get out of here." I shouted to her.

Omen looked up at my sister before turning back to his writting. Acaisia stared at me for a moment but it was like she was seeing through me. What the hell?

"Where do you want this?" Acaisia asked Omen, ignoring me.

She's holding a silver bowl in her hands. Her skin is dull and her hair flat. The usual light in her eyes was gone. My sister looks more like a shell of herself than her actual self.

"Over there." Omen pointed to the middle of the room.

I'm confused. Why is she helping him? She has to be under the same spell I was. That's what is going on, she's still under his spell.

"Acaisia, you gotta wake up. You have to fight him off." I started trying to reason with my twin.

Omen laughed. "She is much more awake than you think my dear." He told me.

I ignored him.

"Cais please. You're under his spell just like we were!" That seemed to get her attention.

Acaisia's eyes snapped to mine. Her's held confusion and mine desperation. She opened her mouth but before she could say anything Omen stood between us blocking our view of each other. "Go and get the rest of the things. We will be starting the ritual soon." He said dismissing Acaisia. Then he turned to me. "I assure you that your sister is not under a spell girl." He sneered at me. "She has to be. Acaisia would never willingingly help you." I spat at him.

Omen chuckled. "I can promise you that your sister is acting of her own free will. In fact, she is the only one out of the four of you that I didn't put under a spell." He told me.

"You're lying." I said sternly.

No way he was telling the truth. Bou said that Acaisia went willingly. She wouldn't really do that. My sister wouldn't abandom her mate, her family, for death. Would she?

Again, Omen laughed. "I'm not. Her mate did all the work for me. I might have had him under a slight spell. You have no idea the inner turmoil your twin sister has been going through over those eight days. It might have not felt as long to her, much like with you, but... A few harsh words from her mate and she crumbled. Seems your sister has more guilt built up inside of her than even you knew." He told me before going to write more on the floor. "What did you promise her?" I asked him. "You had to have offered her something in exchange for her help."

I already knew about her leaving because he promised her death, but I needed to know for myself if it were true.

Omen looked up at me. "Death of course." He smiled wickedly. "Your sister wished for death and I plan to give it to her." He told me.

I went quiet after that. How could this have gotten this far without us knowing? Acaisia is one of the strongest people I know. She was rejected simply for existing, and bottled it all up. My twin went through her most devastating moments in her life alone and always came out smiling. How could her mental health have crumbled to this extent? No wonder why Bou was beating himself up so badly.

Over the next few hours I remained silent. I watched as Omen wrote all over the floors but I couldn't see what he was writing. Acaisia came in and out and each time I had tried to talk to her. I could see in her eyes that she wanted to say something to me but she never would. That was when I took a moment to realize that our wolves are blocked out. Which means we can't use the mind link.

I was beginning to feel hopeless. What could I do? The chains wouldn't budge and my twin is too depressed to help. How did our lives end up like this? All I could do now was hope that we would be rescued.

Acaisia's P.O.V.

*************

"You didn't tell me you were also going to be taking my sister." I gritted out to Omen after seeing my passed out twin in the other room.

For the last almost two days I was helping Omen to prepare for the ritual. He wouldn't divulge much information to me but I was quickly learning that he wasn't good at hiding much either. I think that Omen thinks women are weak which is why he didn't care how much I knew. What a mistake he was making with that.

I had only agreed to go with him because he promised me death. There was no mentioin of him needing my twin or us having to prepare for something. I realized that I had made a rash decision in my state of depression. Omen might kill me, but at his own pace. And I was not going to take my twin down with me.

Regardless, I held no regret. Coming along with him only gave me information that we didn't already have. For one, I don't think Omen knows exactly what he's doing. He keeps asking me to gather things and bring them to him but it seems he is frantic. It's almost like he is making this up as he goes. The more time I spend in his presence, the more sure I am that he has too much power and that it is getting to him. His body isn't able to handle how much power he's gathered and now he is losing his mind.

Omen also doesn't know much about how the world has changed. Apparently he's been in a deep sleep for the last 400 years, or around then. There was some talk about him coming back to set up key events that lead us here but I wasn't sure on the details. I found that the less I asked, the more he let me see. That was what lead me to really take in what he was going to do. He thought stabbing me with a ritual knife would kill me. I mean, it would but I would come right back. My sister and I both would. Omen said something about drianing us but honestly I don't think he can. His body would explode before he even got half way through one of us. And his views of womemn..ugh. What a noodle.

Still, it was different when it was just me here, now he has my twin. I continued to go along with Omen's plans and ignore my sister but it was hard. He never left us alone and where ever we are, we could not reach our wolves. At first I didn't care but the longer I stayed here the more anxious I got.

I overheard him tell Ahkari that he had all of them under a spell. I wasn't sure what that meant but the more I thought about it the more I started to realize that Bou wasn't himself. I still wasn't convinced that everything he said to me wasn't something he felt deep down though. His words and the way he treated me still hurt. It was still stuck on a loop inside my head. And I still did not feel better. But I knew I had to get back to him. At the very least he owes me an explaination. If Bou still doesn't want me after that, then I would leave. I'm sure there is somewhere I can go to wallow in my self pity alone.

"I did not know that I would need her. Never mind that girl." Omen spit out the word 'girl' like he always did.

I sighed. Ahkari got here shortly after me. We were back at the castle of the painting in the ballroom. This is where we were to do the ritual. Omen has Ahkari chained to a wall in the corner. I wondered what he had used that was strong enough to hold my sister and that was when I started to piece together what Omen is.

Omen is a powerful Fae. I couldn't tell you how he got his power but if I had to guess, he stole it. That tree that was draining the Fae forrest was powering him. If only he realized how much of a mistake that was on his part. With the way he is going, all we have to do is sit back and watch him destroy himself. Omen was still angry that my twin and I had interfered with his plan. I heard him mumble to himself about how he needed more power. He planned to drain that power from Ahkari and I, but he doesn't even realize what we are. How disappointing. I'm sure his plan to 'kill' me wouldn't work.

I wantd it to though. I didn't want to be alive anymore. Bou might have been under a spell but I wasn't sure if I would ever recover from his treatment. He never hit me, but the things he said and they way he acted. I fear that no matter what happened during this ritual I would never be the same. I don't want to be the same anymore.

All of me was shouting to kill Omen, take Ahkari, and run, but I couldn't. There is still something that we're missing. I think Omen has more power than he is putting off. He might be crumbling from the inside out but I fear he will take down the whole world with him. We can't let that happen.

For the next few hours Omen had me running in and out of the ballroom. Ahkari tried to talk to me every single time but I had to ignore her. Omen was watching to see if I would react and I knew it. He was letting me walk around freely, only because he thought he still hand me in the palm of his hand. So, I had to keep up on my facade.

The desperation in my twin sisters eyes was devastating. I felt so guilty about not doing something sooner. Ahkari was worried about me and I could do nothing about it. Though she had every right to be. Just becasue Omen was a total looney didn't mean that I wasn't wanting to die. I never wanted to see her look at me like that.

"When will the ritual begin?" I asked him after I finished getting everything he needed.

Omen snapped his fingers and two long stone tables appeared in the middle of the room. Looks like we are going to be laying on the tables to be sacrificed. This is like something from a bad movie.

"Get your sister and tie her to one of these." He ordered me.

If I was feeling like my normal self I would have come back with a snide comment. But I wasn't feeling like myself anymore. I wasn't sure I would ever feel that way again. Right now I was putting on a facade. For the first time I was doing something right. I might have jumped into this head first like always but I have gathered so much information. For once I was the soilder that Atiana always wanted me to be.

I walked over to my sister and unlocked her chains. She stared up at me as I yanked her from the wall. I tried to not make eye contact. She can't know what I'm about to do or it won't work. Omen will know if Ahkari knows.

"Cais... Don't do this." My twin begged me as I practically dragged her to the table. "This isn't you. How can you even be so sure that he'll kill you?" She asked and Omen laughed. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Think about Bou. How could you do this to him? He's your mate." She said.

I paused as I forced her on the table.

"Some mate he is. He's no different than Hayden. Bou never really wanted me." I spat out.

I tried to keep my voice full of venom but it broke at the end. A lone tear rolled down my cheek as I finally looked my sister in her eyes. Ahkari was begging me to come to my senses. Omen was behind me so I tried my best to give her a look that said 'just trust me'. Though I don't think she caught on.

Getting Ahkari to lay down on the table was hard. She fought me tooth and nail until I was forced to punch her in her face. I did't hit her hard enough to knock her out but enough to tie her down. Ahkari groaned before she started to fight against her retraints again. "Stop fighting this Kari. Don't you want to help me?" I asked her.

"Help you?" She asked incredulously. "Help you!" She shouted. "Help you what?! Kill yourself!? Acaisia, Bou was under a spell. You have no idea how much he has been beating himself up since you left. He misses you Cais. Please don't do this." My twin begged me. I did my best to look like her words had no effect on me. Bou was upset? He regretted how he treated me? I shook my head, damn I hope this is convincing.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's too late." I told her.

"Please.." Ahkari's voice grew softer. Tears started to fall from her eyes down the sides of her head. "I can't leave Bianca, Acaisia please. We just met them. Don't make me do this to her." She begged.

I looked down at my sister. Her tears were breaking my heart. Just when I opened my mouth Omen came up behind me.

"She is secure. Now, lay down on your table." He ordered.

"I have a question first." I told him and he turned to me. "Will we be drained at the same time or one at a time?" I asked him.

"It will be one at a time." He admitted to me.

"I want to go first. I don't want to watch my sister die." I told him.

Omen nodded. "Very well." He said as he gestured to the empty table.

Reluctanly, I walked to the table and hopped on. Laying down on the cold stone surface, I lay my palms flat against it. I stared at the ceiling as Omen began speaking a language that I didn't know. The symbols on the floor began to glow and the world seemed to slow.

So much has happened over the last couple of weeks. I met my mate and fell in love. We went on a mission that got Ahkari and I cursed. Hayden was finally paying for everything he had done to me. Tears streamed down the sides of my head as all the emotions came back. I fell in love. For the first time, because it was definitly not love I felt with Hayden. And I miss Bou so much. The pain of being away from him was almost unbearable.

A white-clear dome fell over the room at the same time that a loud crash sounded from the front door. Ahkari thrashed around on her table as she shouted. I could hear the voices and shouts of other people. They are all here to save us. Tia, Max, Aunt Lenny, Kee, Bianca, and Bou. Hearing his soft voice after all the harsh things he said to me had more tears flowing. I didn't look at any of the people who came to save me.

They can't get past the dome. Omen wasn't worried as he spoke to them. He seemed almost annoyed and I feared that he would start with Ahkari just to shut her up. Omen was many things, but thankfully he was a man of his word. After telling our family that they would never be able to break past the dome he walked over to my right side. He held his hands above me while he spoke words I did not understand. Bou screamed for me and the desperation in his voice was breaking me.

He doesn't love you. He doesn't want you. I had to keep repeating to myself.

Omen held the dagger over my heart and once again the world moved slower. He plungged the dagger into my chest at the same time that Bou screamed no with more devastation than I've ever heard from somebody. And then the dagger disappeared completely. Omen's face morphed into one of shock before one of pure rage.

"What is this?" He sneered at me.

With a heavy sigh, I sat up and pulled the real dagger from behind me.

"You shouldn't have trusted me with important things." I told him emotionless.

"You are going to pay for this. Give me that dagger!" He ordered.

I looked up at him. "Gladly." I said before plungging it into his heart.

Omen's eyes went wide as he stared at me. So much happened at once. The symbols started to glow even brighter, almost blinding. Omen slowly fell to his knees in front of me after I pulled the dagger back out of his chest. I watched as his body started to crumble until turning to ash. Then everything around me went pure white, before everything disappeared altogether.