Her Devilish Alpha - Chapter 171

But this was reality, and reality could be a double-edged sword at times.

Cornelia sighed, knowing that this was enough for now.

“I suppose it’s best if we return to the others now,” Cornelia decided.

Sure, it may have seemed like they had been gone for a quick moment, but it only felt fast. They had already left for about an hour or so.

Madeline wondered if Cornelia would create another portal, or simply teleport back with her.

She warned, “Darling, I think it’d be best if you closed your eyes for a moment.”

Doing as she said, Madeline closed her eyes.

After what felt like a minute or two, Cornelia whispered, now sitting beside her, “You can open your eyes now.”

They were back at the dinner table, and Adrian was laughing nervously about something, and Briar’s face looked like it had been lit aflame. Xavier had an amused look plastered on his face and Madeline couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something.

“What happened?” She asked Xavier, her voice devoid of any emotion.

Xavier answered, “Something Cornelia said, is all.”

He whispered, “I’m sorry, we can talk all about it later if you want.”

Folding her arms across her chest, she looked away from him.

Xavier’s hand hovered behind her back, unable to touch her.

She paused. Didn’t they just return? Cornelia had been with her the entire time, so how…

“Hold on a moment. How could Cornelia be with you all when she brought me to–”

‘Oh. Ohhh. I suppose that makes sense,’ Madeline thought to herself.

So Cornelia also had the ability to duplicate herself. Shocking.

She had to admit, with everything she was being told and discovering, she felt overwhelmed. Like she had no choice or no power to do anything.

She had been brought there against her will, Cornelia had also brought her to a completely different place where she had demonstrated her powers to her.

Madeline felt all kinds of emotions. Confusion, anger, awe, amazement, wonder and last but not least… resentment.

Why now?

Why was Cornelia hiding everything from her?

Where was the explanation which was what she had wanted all this time?

That was all she wanted. A glimmer of hope still lay in her, hoping that Cornelia would just pull her aside and tell her why she did what she did. Why?

Madeline could think of a long list of reasons as to why Cornelia would tell her. And yet, Cornelia told her she couldn’t, and she also managed to hide the reason why as well.

The fact that Xavier helped her – and that he kept this from her. She could have not gone at all. That way, she would have saved herself from knowing about Cornelia. From meeting her in person, and from having to deal with the aftermath of all of this.

At the same time, she felt left out.

At that table were powerful individuals. Xavier, the almighty alpha of Eudora. Briar, a delta of Eudora. Emilio, Eudora’s ex-alpha. Cornelia, supreme sorceress. Rosalynn, a powerful shapeshifter. Adrian, Eudora’s very own beta.

And her? She was just Madeline.

If not for her blood ties and her being Xavier’s mate, she wouldn’t be sitting here. She had no place here amongst everyone else.

Speaking of being Xavier’s mate… did Cornelia have something to do with that?

She glared at the woman, wondering if Cornelia was really powerful enough to be capable of such a thing. Sure, she was powerful as is, but was she that powerful?

Powerful enough to decide what was her biological daughter’s fate?

Sighing, Madeline knew she wouldn’t be getting any answers from Cornelia soon.

Wrapping things up, Cornelia said to everyone, “Would you look at the time? It seems that our dinner has to come to an end, sadly.”

Briar shot Madeline a curious look, ‘Where did you go?’

Madeline mouthed, ‘I’ll tell you all about it later.’

She took pity on Briar, who was left in the dark as well. Had Madeline known something, she would have made it a point to tell Briar in advance. But, it seemed like Briar enjoyed the dinner regardless, so that was some sort of a relief.

The tension was still high, but it had diffused a bit. It wasn’t as tense and awkward as before. Sure, Emilio looked like he was fed up with Cornelia’s antics, but he looked like he didn’t want to leave.

“I’ll have Pierce bring you back to Eudora,” Cornelia announced, well aware Xavier wouldn’t allow her to set foot anywhere near Eudora.

Correction, he wouldn’t prefer for her to set foot anywhere near Eudora.

If the others caught sight of Cornelia wandering around Eudora, they’d wonder what she was doing, and if this had anything to do with Emilio.

Rosalynn volunteered to stay, and shockingly…

Cornelia blinked.

Coughing violently, the others saw a side to her they hadn’t seen the entire time there. It was just as they were leaving too.

She stuttered, “Y-you want to stay?”

“Pierre, quit standing there,” Cornelia barked.

The man was about to correct her, since his name wasn’t Pierre, but Pierce. But, he decided against it and only told the rest to follow him.

Madeline still refused to bid the woman goodbye. Xavier bid her goodbye out of courtesy. Briar and Adrian followed suit. Cornelia acknowledged them.

Once Pierce and the four were out of sight, Rosalynn leaned in and asked Cornelia, “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

Cornelia sighed, “I can’t.”

“If not Madeline, then would you care to explain to me what in the hell is going on?” Emilio grumbled, cutting Cornelia and Rose’s conversation short.

He had only stayed for an explanation.

Maybe Cornelia wouldn’t tell him when Madeline was around. Now that they were alone, maybe she’d have the heart to tell him. He figured it was the least he deserved.

“It’s a long story,” Cornelia said, shooting Emilio a sympathetic smile.

“And I have all the time in the world. That’s why I chose to stay here. To get an explanation.”

The woman’s eyes twinkled.

Rosalynn wondered why Cornelia still didn’t tell Emilio.

Heck, she knew nothing about it, not until she told her. Cornelia played her cards right, knowing the only way to reach Rosalynn and lure her was to tell her the truth and explain why she gave Madeline away, etc etc.

Of course, Rosalynn still wasn’t alright with what Cornelia had done, but Cornelia was still her dear friend. And whilst Cornelia wasn’t always right, she wasn’t wrong in that situation either.

“You know I can’t tell you.” Cornelia mumbled, beginning to rethink inviting Emilio.

It was bound to happen – him prying the truth out of her. If this were to have happened mere decades ago, she would have relented. Told him everything there was to know without further hesitation. That was how much she loved him. So much so that she would tell him everything he wanted to know.

And if she was being truly honest with herself… Seeing Emilio again was nice.

Nice was an understatement. It was more than just nice. It was refreshing, seeing his face. He hadn’t changed at all, even after decades of not seeing each other. She still found him attractive, and missed seeing him.

But when duty called, Cornelia placed work over her family. So even if it meant keeping things from him now to protect him… so be it.

She wasn’t allowed to tell him because her superiors wouldn’t allow her to. Also because, fate wouldn’t allow her to.

The truth was that she was never supposed to have Madeline in the first place. So when she did, it came as a surprise to her. It was an accident of sorts, and it rippled, causing other things to be set in motion.

Being supreme sorceress and having a family was a dangerous combination. All those before her had to give that up to have a family. It was only right she did the same. That was why the bloodline of supreme sorcerers and or sorceresses died with them. They had no one to carry on their legacy because they chose to commit to the position. Also because having a child with such a powerful position would only bring harm to the poor, unsuspecting child.

But, Cornelia managed. No one knew about Madeline.

Yes, Cornelia knew what was in store when it came to Madeline’s future, and that her efforts would only temporarily protect her, but… That was where a line was drawn, and where she was unable to do anything about it.

If she did, it would only result in her getting even more hurt, and Cornelia refused to allow that to happen.

All she could do was try to guide Madeline on the right path. Having dinner with her was already touching that line and nearly crossing that boundary. Who knew if she tried doing anything else?

“It’d harm Madeline,” Cornelia explained quietly, her throat dry and her cheeks burning up.