Free Web NovelChapter 120: Chapter 119: I’m not easy to kill
He smiled through his tears, and the resemblance to her father....to the man from her dream....was so strong it made fresh sobs tear from Eve’s throat. "You were the most beautiful baby. You had your mother’s eyes and your father’s stubborn chin, and you screamed your displeasure at the world from the moment you were born. The healers said they’d never heard such powerful lungs."
Eve laughed wetly, the sound half-sob, half-genuine amusement. "My mom used to say I was born yelling and never stopped."
"Margaret was a treasure," Raphael said, his expression turning sad. "She loved you so completely. Raised you with such care. I am forever in her debt for keeping you safe when I couldn’t reveal myself."
The mention of Margaret made Eve’s chest tighten with fresh grief. "She’s dying," she whispered. "Days, maybe hours. The cancer.....there’s nothing more they can do."
"I know," Raphael said gently, and something in his tone made Eve look at him sharply.
"You knew? About the cancer?"
"I’ve been watching you, remember?" Raphael’s smile was sad. "I knew she was sick. Knew you were trying everything to save her. Knew it was breaking your heart to watch her decline."
He hesitated, then seemed to make a decision. "There are... techniques. Old royal healing methods. They might not cure her completely, but they could buy her more time. Ease her pain. Give you the chance to say goodbye properly."
Hope flared in Eve’s chest so intensely it hurt. "You could help her? Really help her?"
"I can try," Raphael said carefully. "No promises. The cancer is advanced, and I’m not a healer by specialty. But I know methods that might work. If you want me to attempt it."
"Yes," Eve said immediately, gripping his arms with desperate intensity. "Yes, please, anything you can do...."
"Then I will," Raphael promised. "After we’re done here. After you’ve had time to process everything. I’ll go to her and do what I can."
From across the room, Damian cleared his throat.....a pointed reminder that they weren’t alone, that the brothers had been watching this entire emotional reunion with expressions Eve couldn’t quite read.
Eve turned to look at them, suddenly aware that she was still wrapped in Raphael’s arms, still pressed against his chest, still clinging to him like a lifeline. She started to pull away, but Raphael’s arms tightened fractionally....not restricting, just... reluctant to let her go.
"Perhaps we should all sit," Silas suggested gently, gesturing to the chairs arranged in front of Damian’s desk. "There’s much to discuss, and Eve looks like she needs to be off her feet."
He wasn’t wrong. Eve’s legs were trembling, her entire body shaking with the aftermath of such intense emotion. The crying had drained her, left her feeling wrung out and exhausted.
Raphael guided her to one of the chairs, his hand at the small of her back, his touch gentle and protective. He took the seat beside her, and Eve noticed he positioned himself so he was between her and the door....an unconscious protective instinct that made something warm bloom in her chest.
The brothers arranged themselves around them. Damian remained behind his desk, Damon took the chair on Eve’s other side, and Silas leaned against the desk itself, close enough to touch if needed.
The territorial positioning wasn’t lost on anyone. Eve sandwiched between her mate and her uncle, with the other two brothers creating a protective barrier around them both.
"I have so many questions," Eve said, her voice still rough from crying. She wiped at her face, probably smearing what was left of her minimal makeup, but she didn’t care. "I don’t even know where to start."
"Start anywhere," Raphael said, his amber eyes....so like her own....warm with understanding. "I will answer anything you want to know.’’
Eve took a shaky breath, trying to organize the thousand questions swirling in her mind. Finally, she settled on the one that had haunted her since childhood.
"What were they like?" she asked quietly. "My parents. Not as king and queen....I know they were powerful, I know they ruled the Seraphim Court. But as people. As... as my mother and father. What were they really like?"
Raphael’s expression softened, becoming distant as he sank into memory. "Your father....my brother Azrael.....was the most brilliant person I’ve ever known. Strategic, calculating, always three steps ahead of everyone else. He could read people like books, predict their moves before they knew what they were going to do themselves."
He smiled, the expression filled with love and lingering grief. "But with family, with the people he loved, he was completely different. Warm. Affectionate. He had this laugh....this deep, booming laugh that would fill entire rooms. And he was utterly devoted to your mother. Lilith was everything to him. His mate, his queen, his perfect match in every way."
"And my mother?" Eve prompted, leaning forward, desperate for every detail.
"Lilith was... extraordinary," Raphael said, his voice taking on a reverent tone. "Powerful beyond measure. She was the strongest succubus queen in five generations....her abilities were legendary even before she took the throne. But she was also kind. Compassionate. She believed in using power to protect, not just to dominate." freeweɓnøvel.com
He reached out and took Eve’s hand, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on her palm. "You have her eyes. Her gift for reading emotions. Her capacity for both fierce love and ruthless protection. And you have your father’s strategic mind....I can see it in how you’ve survived, how you’ve adapted to everything thrown at you."
"Did they...." Eve’s voice caught. "Did they love me? I know they had to give me up, but did they actually want me? Or was I just... an heir? An obligation?"
Raphael’s grip on her hand tightened, his expression fierce. "They loved you more than life itself, Evangeline. You were their miracle....succubi queens rarely have children, the power required for pregnancy often proves too much. Your mother nearly died bringing you into this world, and your father aged years in those hours, terrified he would lose both of you."
He pulled something from inside his coat....a small leather journal, worn with age and handling. "They kept this for you. Started writing in it the day your mother discovered she was pregnant. They knew the coup was coming....knew there was a good chance they wouldn’t survive to raise you. So they wrote down everything they wanted you to know."
Eve took the journal with trembling hands, staring at the worn leather like it might vanish if she blinked. "They wrote to me?"
"Every day," Raphael confirmed, his voice thick with emotion. "About their hopes for you. About the lessons they wanted to teach you. About how much they loved you, how proud they were of you, how they dreamed of the woman you would become."
He paused, then added quietly, "The last entry was written the night of the coup. Hours before they died. Your mother wrote about how she could feel you sleeping safely in the nursery. How she wished she could hold you one more time. How she prayed you would grow up strong and happy and free."
Eve clutched the journal to her chest, fresh tears streaming down her face. She wanted to open it, wanted to read every word, wanted to hear her parents’ voices reaching across twenty-three years of silence. But she also knew that if she started reading now, she wouldn’t be able to stop, wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else.
"Thank you," she whispered, looking at Raphael with such gratitude it made her chest ache. "Thank you for keeping this. For bringing it to me."
"I have more," Raphael said, and his smile turned slightly mischievous despite the tears still glistening in his eyes. "I’ve been... collecting things. For twenty-three years. Every artifact I could save from the palace, every item that belonged to your parents, every piece of your heritage I could preserve. I have them in a secure location. When you’re ready, I’ll bring them all to you."
Damon spoke up for the first time since Eve had entered the room, his voice sounded gruff. "Where have you been keeping all this? For over two decades?"
Raphael’s expression turned cautious, his eyes flicking to Damon as if weighing how much to reveal. "I maintained a hidden residence. Multiple locations, actually, moved every few years to avoid detection. The Court believes Lord Raphael died in the coup along with most of the royal family. Only a handful of people know I survived."
"But they’ll know now," Damian said, his tactical mind already working through implications. "The moment you revealed yourself to us, the moment you used power to stabilize Eve.....anyone monitoring for Seraphim energy signatures would have felt it."
"Yes," Raphael agreed calmly. "Which is why I’ve prepared for this moment. I have contingencies in place. Resources hidden. Allies ready to move. The Court knowing I’m alive changes the game, but it doesn’t end it."
He looked at Eve, his expression turning serious. "It also gives you an advantage. Having a member of the royal family....having me.....actively supporting your claim to the throne carries weight. There are factions that will rally to you now that they know you’re not alone." freeweɓnovel.cøm
"But there are also factions that will come after both of us," Eve said, her strategic mind.....inherited from her father....already seeing the complications. "Malachai won’t just send assassins for me anymore. He’ll send them for you too."
"Let him try," Raphael said, and for the first time, Eve saw the predator beneath the gentle uncle. His eyes flashed with something cold and deadly, his power flickering around him in barely visible waves. "I’ve survived twenty-three years of hiding. I’m not easy to kill."
