[ a l i n a ]

"It makes sense. It all makes perfect sense." Damian murmurs, and I hate that he's right.

The sickness I've had for years; turned out to be my body trying to accept his blood in my system.

Yes, it takes that long. It takes more or less 23 years of pain until my body accepted his DNA.

That's why I never knew the limit of my powers.

"You let her do it." Damian glares at his grandfather, a murderous look etched on his face. "I'll end you."

He takes a few steps towards him. I reached out to him, but he ignores my hand. He's furious.

"And how many lives she planned to sell to him?" He asks again, his voice colder than before. This is a side of Damian I hope to never see the light of it again.

"Three." Ra's answers, looking at me.

"The contract tells that you should be in her custody when you are seventeen years old because she felt you needed training before taken under Darkseid's wing." He explained, brushing past Damian, sitting down.

I flinched as Damian suddenly drew his katana, aiming it at his grandfather's neck.

"I will only tell you this once. You leave her alone, you leave me alone, or you'll never see the light of day again."

"And what if I refuse?"

"Then you'll meet the same fate as your daughter did. Only, this time, it'll be in my hands. Which is far worse than you could ever imagine."

He throws his sword towards his mother's casket, the blade cutting through the thick wood.

"Have you no respect for your mother?" Ra's bellowed, standing up.

"She has lost my respect a long time ago." Damian easily sizes up to him, both being the same height, only Damian is a bit taller.

Both are furious, radiating the same anger.

Ra's steps away, remembering what kind of a power his Grandson yields, if he ever got angry.

"When he comes, you'll deal with him." Damian mutters, turning back to me. I don't say anything. At this point, anything stupid coming out of my mouth would only add fuel to the fire. I know better.

He takes my hand, leading me out of this hellhole.

~

Slipping out of my traditional gown and into one of Damian's large sweaters, I noticed the way he was staring at me.

"Live with me, Alina." He blurted out, closing his book. "You're serious?" I exclaimed, turning around.

"More than ever. You're unstable right now. I'll take care of you. Michael should live with us, too."

"Okay." I nod, and he does too. He stands up and takes me in his arms. His hand snaked around my sweater, his large palm connecting with my stomach.

"Haven't felt the baby yet." He smiles, and I couldn't help but smile too. It's the first time I've seen him happy this past week. "If it's a boy, we should name him Nathaniel."

I pull away, tears prickling in my eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah." His hands grasped my cheeks, pulling my lips towards his.

"I love you," I mumbled mid-kiss, as we pulled apart. "I love you too." He kisses me again, pulling me closer.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this all out later."

And that was all I needed to hear.

~

"You failed to protect your family," Grandmama mutters, her thick English accent laced to her voice.

I say nothing, my attention focused on the black lace of my post-funeral gown. Ariana sat awkwardly next to me, munching on a biscotti.

"You need to take the heavy burden of the crown, Adelina." My grandmother says, and I let out a sigh. I knew we'd be talking about this.

"Let her grieve first, Grandmama, then we can discuss this matter." Aria defends me, and I squeeze her hand in return.

"That's just the thing, girls." Grandma stands up, positioning the silver crown resting on her head.
"We don't have time to grieve. Let the world grieve my grandson's death, but not us. Because at this time, they will do anything to attack us." And with that, she left.

"Are you going to take the crown?" Aria asks nervously.

"I don't know yet. Since there will be a time of mourning, probably a year, I'll take that time to rest. And as you probably noticed, I'm pregnant." I tell her, and she smiles.

"I noticed, don't worry."

"Damian and I have decided that we'll keep the baby out of the spotlight. We won't reveal her or him to the world." I mumbled, drinking my tea.

"I agree. So, for this year, where will you live? With Damian, I suppose?"

"Yes. Michael too. Damian insisted."

"That's nice of him," Aria says, chugging her tea.

"Are you sure that's tea?" I ask her, considering the way she's drinking it.

"Yes. Tea mixed with vodka." She mumbles hazily, and I scoff. Some things never change. "I need to go somewhere." I lied, standing up. Aria nods as the guards open the door for me.

Stepping outside, I see Marcus standing by my door, awaiting for me.

"Your Royal Highness." He bows. "Hey, Marcus," I tell him, and he smiles, taking me in his arms.

"I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to talk to you about Nathan. I was busy preparing the funeral." He pulls away, and I pat his shoulder.

"It's fine, really. It's just that I don't want to talk about it. The more I do, the more it hurts."

"I understand." He smiles again. "Christian would like to speak to you." He tells me, pointing towards the other hallway, leading to Nathan's study.

"Huh." I blurted, walking past him, the guards opening the door to my brother's study. Or what used to be.

Christian stood by the window, a folder in his grasp. His face lit as he saw me. I sat down, waiting for whatever he had to say.

"First of all, I'm very sorry about Nathan." He starts, clasping his hands together. I only nod.

"Second, we need to talk about the crown." He sighs, giving me the folder. "It's a stack of letters from presidents and Kings who couldn't make it to the funeral, they sent their regards."

I open it, to find multiple letters inside. "That's nice," I tell him, flipping through them all. I'll read this later. A headache is starting to form.

"And lastly, you're going to be Queen." He states, looking at me seriously. I put the folder away. "Excuse me?" I cleared my throat, hoping I'd heard that wrong. Being Queen is the last thing I'd hope for.

"The Kingdom needs stability, Alina. If they see a teenager taking the Crown, it'll cause disruption across the world." He points to Michael's portrait, next to mine, hung on the wall.

"There was no way I wanted to make him King. He's too young." I straighten my posture. "I'm taking a year off. Then, I'll consider it."

"Why?"

"Pardon? Are you questioning my judgment?"

"Do you have anything to hide? Why a year?" He asks again slyly, leaning back in his chair. His hair is styled back neatly, and he's wearing a formal tuxedo.

"That's none of your business." I snap. I don't want him to know about the pregnancy.

He nods, standing up. I start opening the letters, one by one. I flinched as I heard the door closing abruptly, the locks sliding.

Did he just lock the door?

Christian walks towards the window, closing the curtains. "What are you doing?" I ask, standing up, but he shoves me back to the chair. I sense something bad about him but restrained to use my powers.

"I know about you. Your powers." He mumbles, sitting next to me. I move aside wearily. "I know that you're pregnant." He continues, his fingers brushing against my cheek.

"Get away from me." I push his arm away. His touch disgusts me, as if it was insects crawling under my skin.

"And I know about your relationship with Batman." He mumbled into my ear.

I stared at him in shock, standing up abruptly. "How?" It's all I ask him.

I try to use my powers against him, but nothing comes out. Did he poison me like Talia did?

"You can't hurt me with your powers, darling." He smiles, standing up to my side. "Why?"

"Because I was also Talia's test experiment, along with you and another."

~

Oh my god. Talia's other experiment. "I have the same powers as you, and physically, we can't hurt each other." He continues.

"How so?"

"Darkseid programmed it that way." Clearly, he knows more about this than me. "And by the way, we are betrothed."

"What the hell?!"

"Darkseid and Talia planned it. So our new bloodline would continue. But clearly, that Bat has swept you off your feet. He and I, we once worked together for a mission. He didn't tell you we were friends, did he?"

Damian and Christian, friends?

"You have nothing compared to Damian. This is never going to happen." My finger pointed towards him, then me. He suddenly yanks my arm roughly.

"Imagine how I felt, returning home, seeing that my betrothed had been in bed with a friend of mine. You both ripped my heart out."

"You're insane. You don't love me. You don't even know me." I spat, hearing the door rattle. Guards.

"Oh, I do. I've been watching you for years, princess, for years! I know everything about you. " He snarled, and I push him away. "You're fired," I told him, walking away.

"Because guess what." He called out.

I stop, wanting to hear whatever this idiot has in mind.

"All those nightmares you've had ever since you were a child, it was me. It was me invading your mind."

___________________________

Finally, the nightmares make sense, lol. Thank you for reading and voting, I love you guys very much!