Angel Monarch

After the incident in the hall, Sera told Bea everything about Vicky. Bran stayed unconscious as they hurried back to the makeshift hospital. All six children remained nearby, and most of their parents subsequently arrived.

Vicky's surgery was still ongoing, but Henry informed them that the hard part was already over, and she will pull through. When Sera heard this news, a heavy weight disappeared from her shoulder.

She became lightheaded, and her legs gradually gave out. The night's exhaustion finally hit her, and she soon passed out from overexertion.

Luckily, Bea carried Bran, so he didn't fall over. Henry tried catching Sera, but as a 13-year-old normal human, he had no chance. The Deathless Phoenix, the Angel Monarch, a living god for many, plopped onto the muddy ground unceremoniously.

The two Evolved officers standing nearby—Glenn's fathers—quickly helped Sera up, and someone else went to bring beds for both Sera and Bran.

Soon the small tent had a large extension next to it, with lots of beds set up for everyone. Bran and Sera slept on separate beds. Bea looked at both and healed all their physical injuries. She asked a nurse to examine them too; however, they were both fine. They were simply tired.

Bea wasn't feeling the best either, but she stayed awake, waiting for Vicky's results. The six children also tried their best, but after they brought in the beds, only Henry and Lydia didn't fall asleep.

The two kids stood near the small tent's entrance, where Vicky was operated on. To get her mind off her daughter, Bea joined in the parents on their conversation.

They were quite a bit surprised by Sera's entrance, even though Henry and the others brought them up to speed the best they could. Also, since they knew both of Henry's mothers personally, it wasn't the first time they met an important figure.

They all greeted Bea kindly and introduced themselves; however, her mind was too chaotic to remember any of it. She could barely recall the children's names.

The pair of brothers were called Jamie and Dan. Their mother and father worked normal jobs. A small office employed her as manager; meanwhile, he worked as an engineer at a subterranean hydroponic farm.

The child named Glenn, whose facial features were like Kim's, had two fathers. They were both Evolved working as officers in London's military. Among the initial reinforcements, they were the first to arrive.

Max, the dark-skinned child, only had his father here. He was a stay-at-home father, while his wife worked as a CEO of some company. They possessed the greatest wealth out of every parent here. She would stay in a meeting during the night, so they still couldn't reach her.

Upon looking over the parents, Bea quickly realized Lydia had none there. When asked, all of them turned awfully quiet, and in whispers, they informed Bea about Lydia's parental status.

"Both her parents died in an accident a few years after her birth. Luckily, London's orphan care system works with great efficiency. They placed her in foster care almost immediately."

Said Max's father, leaving Bea just as confused. "Then why are the foster parents here?"

Parental expressions mirrored sorrow, which made Bea anticipate their following words. One of Glenn's father spoke with remorse.

"They perished as well. It happened less than a year ago. Later, Lydia rejected further family connections, including staying with us. Instead, she somehow got affiliated with the Angelic Order. She had been staying at their church for the past months."

Bea was unsure of her reaction to the news. All the parents took passing glances at Sera's peacefully sleeping body. Only now did Bea notice how much reverence was in Lydia's gaze when she looked at her religion's god.

A tense, awkward, and sad silence followed; then, as Bea prepared another question, a fierce gust rocked their tent. Outside, a loud bang marked the landing of something huge.

Bea rushed out, the others followed close by. They saw two people rushing towards their tent.

One was a tall, muscular man with black hair and dreamy gray eyes. The other was a tall, pale, lithe bodied woman. Her long blonde hair reached to her waist and a pair of dark golden eyes stared at everything with fierce anger.

The Queen of London and The Second Prince of Castleburg finally arrived more than an hour too late.

Elizabeth quickly hurried to Henry and embraced her son in a teary hug. She quickly left without catching a glimpse of Bea, eager to learn about the night's events.

All the parents joined her too, and Bea cringed when she heard all of them berating her. They all accused their queen of not caring for her son and her people.

Bea didn't care for her. Those bright green eyes only had one person in their sight. She rushed towards Otto, and he ran towards her with open arms. They both embraced each other, and Otto gave a long kiss on her lips.

Tears of worry glimpsed in the small light of the moon and stars. Bea hadn't given Otto much thought during the events. Everything was simply too hectic, and they didn't exactly leave things on a pleasant note.

He was against her meeting up with Sera, and they had a small fight. Following an angry exit, Otto messaged Bea about catching up with Elizabeth and two other leaders away from the castle.

While hugging, Bea made a quick recount of the events, and Otto listened silently, in shame. After finishing, he stepped back, eyes brimming, gazing down at Bea.

"I'm so sorry I left… If I would've stayed, none of this could've happened… I know I am a horrible person for leaving like a child, but I hope you can forgive me. I even promise to never leave you again, unless you want me to, of course…"

Otto was truly apologetic, which made Bea feel at least a little bit better. She reached up with one hand, cradling Otto's face.

"I have nothing to forgive… You were right about staying away from Sera. It's clear I wasn't ready to discuss our future, but please understand that at some point, me and her will need to have a calm, cordial conversation… We need to find a way to co-parent Vicky."

He briefly frowned, then inhaled deeply, shook his head, and smiled with radiance at Bea.

"Of course, I understand. I just really don't like her after what she had done. I know you want a relationship with your daughter. Prioritize getting over everything first, so you won't make the same mistake twice..."

A brief silence preceded a deeper, more threatening tone. "Did she apologize, at least?"

Bea dismissed the change in tone and just rolled her eyes. "Yes, she did, but I dismissed it because I felt it wasn't sincere enough."

Otto snorted and looked towards the moon before replying, "Well, that makes sense. After all, she's quite damaged!…"

She raised an eyebrow when she heard his words, but before she could've said anything, Otto continued.

"Oh, don't give me that look. You know what I mean! She is simply incapable of feel empathy, so expecting honesty and kindness is insanity!"

Bea didn't want to argue, so she decided to change the subject. "Why haven't you answered any of my messages? Also, why didn't either you or Elizabeth saw or heard the explosions?"

Embarrassment took hold of Otto, making him avoid Bea's gaze. He sighed sadly before replying to her veiled accusation.

"I'm sorry… I should've kept my watch on, but Jonas convinced us to turn them off. We also went to an underground club at the farthest side of the city. We couldn't feel, hear or see the explosions… Again, I'm so sorry! I won't ever do something so stupid!"

For a few seconds, Bea said nothing. Her mind occupied by what Otto said about Jonas. He was a Transcended and also a Council Member in Wien.

It seemed Otto would start to panic because of her silence, so she eventually replied. "I'm still not mad at you. This was just some unfortunate accident… Hopefully…"

Otto's ears perked up and a bright smile spread across his face, but soon it turned into a frown. Bea's words had a singular obvious meaning, and he was really curious about her thoughts.

"What do you mean, hopefully? Do you think someone deliberately made us leave?" He searched his mind, eyebrows creased, for a culprit. But it took Bea to explain further for him to finally understand.

"You said Jonas asked all of you to disable your watches, which means because of him, none of you got any messages! Who suggested the underground club? Was that Jonas too?"

His expression slowly worsened as he became angrier. "That fucking son of a bitch!… He told us to keep our watches off for privacy reasons. He wasn't the one to suggest the club, though. That was Antal's idea."

This brought doubt to Bea's theory. Antal was the Prime Minister of Buda-Pest, and a Stellar. Few leaders demonstrated such dedication to their people and democracy. Every year he held elections, but the people loved him, and always voted for him.

He had his flaws, of course. For example, he harbored underlying prejudice against any leader who didn't lead a democracy. He respected Elizabeth, but disliked her royalty status. He also hated Sera's theocratic leadership, so he dismissed Sera's ideas.

Bea could've never imagined him as a traitor. She, Otto, and Antal spent a good while talking before the day's events. Antal wasn't a fan of Otto's leading either, but they were old friends, just like with Elizabeth.

Jonas wasn't in their initial group, and by Otto's account, he just kind of tagged along. Elizabeth wanted to discuss something with Jonas, so she brought him along.

This seemed suspicious, yet Bea believed Elizabeth's innocence. She would've never endangered Henry, and without Vicky's help, his chances for survival were close to zero.

Otto looked angry, fuming with rage, and before Bea could've asked anything else, he stopped dead in his tracks. He took a deep breath, then rushed inside the tent without even looking at Bea.