Five

Grogginess flowed over him. Images came in and out of focus as his eyelids fluttered open and close. Excruciating pain seared through his left arm causing it even harder to open his eyes. A groan of sorrow barely escaped his lips, and as his eyes pulled farther and farther open and a woman's face appeared in his vision.

"Alleria," he moaned.

The woman started to come into focus, and the blonde hair he thought he saw washed away to a gleaming silver. He noted the look of concern on her face, but also the smile she greeted him with. The man's heart fell into the pit of his stomach as he realized everything he was beginning to remember was actually true. His wife wasn't before him, and she never was going to be again.

"Not exactly. How are you feeling?" Vereesa asked him.

A pounding in his head made it almost hard to hear his sister-in-law. He tried to sit up, and the pain in his arm caused him to slam back down to the bed. His eyes peered over at his arm and saw there were bandages wrapped tightly around the tricep and wrist. They had already been soaked in blood, and clearly needed to be changed again.

"I-I hurt all over," Turalyon responded.

She laughed, "You fought nearly twenty different aborms all by yourself. You're lucky those two gashes on your arm are the only thing that happened to you. You did develop quite the fever right after, but that broke almost immediately. It was an odd breakout. Seems your connection to the Light helps you quite a bit when you've been wounded."

The paladin stared up at the ceiling lost in his own thoughts. The Light can only heal so much. It can heal scrapes and scratches and other surface wounds, but it won't ever be able to fully help me to recover. She's gone. She's gone. She's gone. The words kept replaying in his thoughts as if he couldn't fully understand it. It simply didn't make sense to him. Why was he here anyway? He had hoped the aborms would take him.

"How did I get here?" he complained.

Vereesa pulled a chair up next to his bed and seated herself in it. "You don't remember anything from outside?"

He closed his eyes and the scene replayed in his head:

He felt the warmth of the light fade from him as he fell face first into the dirt. The aborm launched itself into the air and was quickly descending down upon him. He smiled to himself. It was over. He wouldn't have to hurt anymore.

Two more sets of hands burst from the ground and tore into his arm. He felt the flesh being peeled away from it, but didn't even wince. Blood poured down his arm like a stream, blending into the already stained ground. Just as the aborm was about to land, a teal arrow shot through the air and pierced through the head of the falling monster causing it to crumble and roll behind him.

From the dust storm a scream echoed and out jumped Vereesa. She tore her sword from her belt and brought it plunging into the back of the nearest aborm. As the other noticed what was happening it started to lunge towards her. She quickly used the heel of her boot to kick the sword up out of the dead monster and grabbed ahold of it and sliced neatly through the neck of the diving one.

Four more appeared above her, but in a flash she pulled her bow from her shoulder and nocked four arrows into it. In a blaze of blue flame, the arrows ignited, and the elf released them. They flew straight into the chests of the aborms, and they burned to a pile of blue ash that showered the two of them.

Turalyon felt nothing, and gradually slipped into darkness.

"You," he breathed. "You saved me."

Vereesa nodded, "I couldn't have you killing yourself out there."

He shoved himself up in an instant, the pain almost mind-numbing. The man's eyes glared into the back of her skull. "Why? I think that's my choice to make! I have nothing else here! She left me! You have no idea what it's like to lose the love-"

In an instant, the high elf stood up and had kicked her chair backwards sending it flying across the room. "The love of my life? Is that what you were going to say? Oh no, you're right you're the only one that has happened to. Allow everyone to break down for you and tell you how terrible your life is. Blah, blah, blah," she seethed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean-," Turalyon started.

"No," she cut him off. "No, you did mean to say that. It's fine. Just know that I know what you're going through right now, Turalyon. I did it. Rhonin died. The worst part was is that he died to save someone else. Do you know how long I resented Jaina? Now look at us. It may seem like everything is lost when you lose a loved one, but there are others around that care for you. And you have those people. I didn't have anyone."

She threw her hands in the air as she paced back and forth and laughed out loud. "Hell, I was going to kill myself so that I could be with my dead sister. How insane does that sound? It's terrible, and I get it. I do. But you have two nephews that need you, and I'm still here for you. You don't get to just give up because she left you. That's not the way it works."

He thought about Galadin and Giramar. While not actual blood nephews, he had spent so much time around them that Turalyon looked at them as if they were his own. Even Arator had come and spent time with them. They were all family. He dearly loved those boys and the thought of disappointing them hurt him more than his arm possibly could.

"I'm sorry. In the moment I simply forgot about everything. You know I love your boys so much. Plus Arator couldn't take losing both his mother and father again. By the Light, what am I going to tell him?" Turalyon explained.

"I believe my sister already took care of it before she left."

"Of course she did. She wouldn't leave town without leaving a wake of hurt in her path would she? I loved her so much, Vereesa. I don't understand how this could have happened," he sighed.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, a look of reassurance plastered to her face. "I'm gonna help you get through this. I know how much I wish someone had been there when Rhonin died. I'm here. You're gonna make it out of this funk. Plus you missed so much while you were outside."

He laughed as he knew she was trying to take his mind off of Alleria. Perhaps that's what he needed. "Like what?"

The high elf sat down next to him on his bed. "Have you heard about that new girl in town? Corette Milton I think her name is."

"Yeah. She's my neighbor at the Legerdemain Lounge. I met her this morning. Very nice girl," the paladin disclosed.

Vereesa scoffed, "Oh no the woman I met. She literally attacked Jaina in the middle of the city today. Jaina believes this woman came to town simply to ruin her life. I told her that seems incredibly silly, but it's weird. She seems out for blood. And during it all, Arza went missing-"

"Arza's missing?" Turalyon gasped.

"No we found him," she reassured. "He was in the Underbelly, but Corette found him and told him that she knew who he was. It's all very weird."

Turalyon shook his head, "That all happened in just the small time that I went outside and searched for Alleria? That's insane. Perhaps we should keep an eye on Corette then."

"I was thinking the same thing," Vereesa nodded.

The paladin scratched his head. Talking about the new girl and the drama in town made him almost forget how bad he hurt that his wife had abandoned him, but maybe this is what he needed. He had Vereesa to talk to, and maybe that was just enough.

"Find out about what?" Yrel asked.

"Find out that-," Wrathion began.

Anduin interrupted, "Find out that the movie was horrendous! My goodness I've never seen anything with bigger plot holes since I saw that numbered shades movie. It was terrible, and I'm glad you didn't have to see it. How are you doing?"

As he said the last words he leaned forward and kissed the draenei on the cheek, and she beamed at him. "Other than being sick these last couple of mornings, I just got done with my shift at the hospital and was headed home. Would you like to head that way with me?"

The king began to respond and Wrathion stepped forward. "Actually, he and I were just having a serious discussion."

"A discussion that was over," Anduin snapped glaring at his friend.

Wrathion's eyes widened, and he placed his hands on his hips. "As far as I'm concerned it's not over."

"Then I suppose we'll just have to finish it some other day then, won't we?" Anduin retorted. "We really have to get going. It's almost dark."

Quickly he clutched Yrel's hand and yanked her towards their home. They passed throngs of people that looked like they were frantically looking for something, but he didn't stop to ask them what was going on. He wanted, no, he needed to get home. The day had been too much for him, and his mind was racing.

Once they reached A Hero's Welcome, Yrel stopped them and she ripped her hand from Anduin. "Anduin, what's going on? You've never spoken to your best friend like that, and now you're hauling me across town like it's life or death."

A fake smile tried to creep onto his face. "It's nothing. We just got into a little argument. He doesn't see an issue like I do. Got a little heated. I simply wanted to get home."

"I really don't believe you."

A cold drop of sweat raced down his forehead. He couldn't tell her he had just kissed Wrathion. There was no way she would understand what was going on. He didn't even fully understand. If he told her, only pain would ensue, and he'd be left alone trying to think about who he was and how he really felt.

"Yrel, I love you. Trust me when I say there's nothing going on. It's a fight between friends. I'll even text him when we get home. Everything is okay. Let's go inside, and we can talk about you. Like why haven't you been feeling good?" he redirected.

Carefully she started to stroll into the inn and headed upstairs with Anduin at her side. "Actually I don't know. I was going to ask Velen while I was at the hospital today what he thought, but I'm almost certain it's something I ate. We did have that basilisk liverdog that I told you tasted kind of funny."

He laughed as they neared their room and slowly entered it. The boy flipped on the light switch illuminating their place. "I do remember that. Hopefully it was just some couple day bug. I'm tired, though, shall we head to bed?"

The draenei had already started to peel off her clothes and was headed to the bed that was a straight shot from the door. "Yeah I'm beat, and I have to be to work early in the morning anyway."

Anduin watched as she crawled into bed and made herself comfortable under the covers. He flipped off the light and stripped down as he made his way to the bed. Once he was under the covers he turned away from his girlfriend and reached for his cell phone he had set on the table next to him. Notifications flashed on the screen. A soft snore from behind him let him know that Yrel had fallen asleep exceedingly fast. He decided to check his messages:

from Wrathion,

Listen I don't know what's up with you, but you know what there is between us. I know it's hard, but you need to understand what you are and embrace it. Once you do we can be together and you'll be much happier than you are right now pretending with Yrel. I promise you that.

He sighed and shook his head and opened the other message:

from Wrathion,

Think about it. Think about what you want and who you are. Once you figure it out, talk to me. Until then, I don't want to hear from you.

A stabbing sensation pierced through his heart at the thought of not speaking to his best friend. What could he do, though? There was no way he was gay. Was there? If he was, what was so wrong with it? He knew plenty of people in Azeroth who were gay and not one of them were as closed off as he was. He also clearly remembered the first night that he and Yrel had sex. He had envisioned that he was doing it with Wrathion.

Anduin snorted under his breath, careful not to disturb Yrel. If that didn't answer his question, not many things would. But he couldn't do that to her. He loved her. Whatever that really meant in the circumstance.

What do I do?

Corette strolled into her room that she shared with the bartender and was welcomed by a terrified woman. She tilted her head and asked, "Maiev, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Jaina was just here. She says she was here to inspect the place to make sure it was 'up to code', but the lights were off, and she seemed to be going through our dresser," Maiev responded.

Panic struck Corette. The woman had the audacity to go through her things. That could spell doom for her if she found the right things. Swiftly she ran to the dresser and started to search every drawer. Each one was in the same exact order she had left it in when she departed that morning. Her eyes slowly drifted to her jewelry box and noticed a gold chain hanging out the side of it. She knew exactly what bracelet it was, and clearly Jaina had seen it.

There was no doubt in her mind that the mage knew who she was now, and what she was doing in town. The only thing she had going for her, was that she had no tangible proof so she could lay low for a bit longer she hoped.

"I'm headed to bed, though. I'll see you in the morning sometime?" Maiev announced as she crawled into her oversized mattress.

Corette snapped herself out of her thoughts to respond, "Yeah. I think I'll turn in for the night too." All at once she sauntered to the door, flipped off the light switch, and crawled into her newly made bed. She knew that she wouldn't sleep, though. Her head was spinning with too many questions.

How would she get her revenge now? How could she sneak around Jaina and the rest of the city if their leader knew who she was? How had everything come to this? All at once the memories blinded her:

They carried her limp body across the fortress until they came to a portal. In a demonic tongue, they spoke to each other about what to do with it. They had been given instructions, but they didn't want to follow them. Instead they decided to send the dead woman through the portal back to her homeworld. Even the Burning Legion had somewhat of a conscience, and they were going to abide by it.

As they tossed her body, she felt it zip through what felt like a vacuum before she landed on the cold hard ground. Blood poured from the wound in her chest, but she weakly tried to hold her hand up to it and looked around. She was in a tiny area she knew well from growing up in Lordaeron. The little offset area was just a minuscule slab of concrete enclosed by a lattice fence. She laughed to herself, how fitting it was that she would die outside of her dying kingdom.

"What in the world?" a voice breathed.

She couldn't see where the sound had come from, but she did feel herself being lifted from the ground. Ever so quickly everything went by in a blur, until they descended down into a chamber. It appeared to be some sort of mausoleum, and she was laid down on a slab of concrete that she knew was supposed to be a table.

"I'm going to make this better. Don't you worry," the voice said.

Finally the person came into view. He wore dark blue and white robes that appeared to have wings perched off the back of them. He seemed to be decaying, but still mostly human, and his golden eyes blazed in their sockets. She had heard of this man before. He was none other than the Bishop of Secrets himself, Alonsus Faol.

She wanted to speak out. She wanted to say words, but the pain was too much. With each passing minute, she could feel her life essence draining from her. Soon, Jaina will have won. The dreadlord she had become had succeeded in ruining everything around her. The woman knew that killer her had gotten rid of the last bit of humanity in the mage, and it tore her apart. She had loved Jaina just like a sister, and in an instant, for power, Jaina had shoved an icicle through her heart.

Maybe she had tried to fight the evil side, though. Maybe that's why she missed the heart. No, she knew what she was doing, she thought to herself.

While she thought to herself, Alonsus was busy at work with a metal breastplate, that appeared to be missing a plate. His hands glowed an auburn hue, and magical words escaped his lips as he waved them over the plate. Ever so gently he lifted it off and brought it towards her.

"This is going to hurt. A lot," Alonsus warned.

She was too far gone to respond in anyway, but as he shoved the plate down upon her left breast a new life formed inside of her. The woman's screams could have been heard in both the Undercity and all the way to Silvermoon. He pressed down on the burning metal, and it began to fuse through her body. As soon as it had started, it was over. The plate had taken the place of her chest before. All at once it was easier to breathe, and she began to regain consciousness.

"I imbued that plate with holy light. It should heal everything that went wrong inside of you, but you'll have to wear it for the rest of your life. I hope that's okay...I didn't catch your name," Alonsus informed.

As the pain subsided, the woman sat herself up and looked into the eyes of her savior. "Calia."

He pried, "Calia...?"

"It's just Calia now," she responded.

She came back to the present and peered around at the darkroom. She had spent years after that, training as a priest under Alonsus and even fought back against the Burning Legion from the Netherlight Temple. Everything, though, had been leading up to her coming back and facing her sister. The woman had betrayed everything she ever loved, and eventually had tried killing her. There was no way Calia would stand for it.

On one hand she thought maybe she should lay low. If she did, maybe Jaina would give up the search on her. Maybe the bracelet hadn't given too much away. She shook her head at the thought knowing that Jaina had seen it numerous times when her brother had given it to her. There was no way that she didn't know, so what good did lying low do?

Another thought began to run rampant through her mind. Perhaps she should just be done with her. Instead of an all out war, why not simply take care of her from the shadows? It's how she would have done it had she not required the power of the dreadlords. The thought soothed her. That was exactly what she was going to do. A new wave of sleep seemed to come over her as she realized that she would finally be rid of Jaina Proudmoore.

"No. It's fine, Maiev. I understand. I'll find somewhere else to stay," he replied hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" a voice asked. Turalyon looked up and saw Vereesa strolling into the kitchen carrying two ceramic mustard colored mugs that appeared to be steaming. She came closer and sat the cup down in front of him and he examined the burning liquid. The only thing he could see was a mound of whipped cream that appeared to be a dash of cinnamon.

He answered still cross-examining his drink, "That was just Maiev. She said Jaina shut down her inn, so it seems that I'm looking for a new place to stay."

She caught his staring as she pulled out a chair across the wooden table from him. "It's hot chocolate. I thought about making up some starfire espresso, but I figured it's too late for coffee. I put both boys to bed, and figured you might just want a drink to help wind down after the day," the high elf stated.

"Thank you, Vereesa. I love that you remembered I liked whipped cream and cinnamon,"the paladin smiled.

A laugh escaped her lips as she took a sip. "It's something my sister hated dearly. Whipped cream might as well have been made by Sargeras himself."

"She didn't much care for hot drinks at all."

"I always thought that was crazy," the high elf snickered. "This is one of my favorite drinks there is."

Turalyon took another sip of the dark liquid. It warmed his entire soul, and he started to feel the weight of the entire day starting to push down on him. After losing the love of his life and battling aborms, the last thing he thought he would be doing was sitting at a kitchen table drinking hot chocolate with his sister-in-law. Somehow, though, it made it all bearable.

"There were a lot of things her and I disagreed on, but somehow we still managed to love each other all these years. I still don't understand why she just stopped loving me," Turalyon sighed.

A creak from the chair made the man look up to see the high elf shift uneasily in her chair. A nervous look briefly crossed her face, but was gone as fast as it showed up. She quickly lifted her mug to her face and took a giant swig from it. His eyebrow raised as he peered at her. "Do you know something, Vereesa?"

Coughing erupted from behind her mug, and hot chocolate spilled all over the table and all over the elf. She instantly sprung up and flicked liquid from her hands and raised towards her sink. As the water poured from the sink and she started washing them she responded, "Sorry. No. She didn't tell me anything, just that she was leaving."

A sense of dread poured over him as she responded. He softly sat his mug down on the table and pushed himself up and sauntered towards Vereesa. His hand outstretched and placed it upon her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I almost accused you of something incredibly terrible. Of course you wouldn't anything. She practically abandoned us both. I've spent much of the day worrying about how it affected me, but I haven't checked on you. How are you?"

Silence filled the kitchen and all at once Vereesa's shoulders began to heave. She turned around, and he saw the tears falling from her eyes. She sobbed, "I just don't understand. I'm trying to process it all, but I-I can't. Why, Turalyon? It just doesn't make sense."

As he moved forward to embrace her, little footsteps could be heard making their way towards the kitchen. Suddenly two twin boys came sprinting around the corner. They both appeared to have been crying and were breathing heavily. "Mom, we had that nightmare about dad again," Giramar cried.

Vereesa had turned away from their entry as they came in, hoping to hide her own tears. Before she could respond, Turalyon whispered, "I'll take care of it." He stood forward and bent down eye level with the two boys. "It's okay. How about I take you guys back to bed, and I tell you guys a story about one of my campaigns to help you get back to sleep."

Giramar and Galadin both seemed to perk up at the sound of hearing their uncles stories be told. They both spun around and headed off down the hall, and he took off after them. As the boys crawled into bed, he laid in between the two of them and both children sat their heads down on his chest, and he began his story.

After a couple minutes, he could hear tiny snores and peered down to see the twins passed out. He wanted to move, but knew he couldn't. At the same time a buzz erupted from his pocket, and he somehow maneuvered to grab it and read the message:

from Vereesa,

I know you need a place to stay, and I have an extra room. Why don't you stay here?

Gingerly he sat his phone down on the bed, a smile crossing his face. All at once the weight he had been carrying around all day seemed to dissipate and sleep started to overtake him until only blackness surrounded him.

By the time Corette woke up in the morning, Maiev had already left for the day. That bode well for her. She could put her plans into motion without someone looking over her shoulder the entire time. This was something she needed to in secret, because if it came out, everything about her would be revealed. I can't have that, she thought.

Speedily she dressed herself and headed downstairs and joined the lines of people that were already gathered in the city. It amazed her everyday how people were up and ready to go so early in the morning. She supposed with a giant voice screaming over the city, people would have no problem awakening early to go about their lives. Lucky for her, she had purchased ear plugs the second day she had been here.

As she followed the many people, eventually she spurred off and entered a grate in the wall. She descended a couple flights of stairs and found herself in the depths of the Underbelly. This place was considered the slum of Dalaran, and most of the shady deals that went down in the town ended up happening here. Most of the time guards stood watch over it, but if any patron of the sewers had the pockets, they could pay the guards off for an alloted amount of time.

She continued forward, passing numerous goblins, and other shady dealers. The sewer water ran next to her, but she stepped over it via bridge and headed in her destination. Corette ended up in a tiny rounded room that was filled with numerous rogues. They ranged from gnomes all the way to trolls. Each one clad in dark leather, most of their faces hidden by hoods.

"How ya doin' mon?" the closest rogue spoke.

"I'm fine. I seek the man known as Alchemist Cinesra," she directed.

Not a soul moved and no one responded to her. Finally the troll from before took a step towards her and asked, "What ya be needin' wit' da human?"

"Well," she started, "that's really none of your concern. Is he here?"

The troll responded, "I think ya best be leavin' now mon."

"I'm not leaving until I speak to Cinesra," she stood firm.

The moment the words left her mouth, a dagger appeared in the trolls hand, and he attempted to plunge it into her. With ease, she sidestepped and as her cloak trailed behind her, she grasped the end of it and quickly wrapped it around his wrist. In one fluid movement, she then ripped him forward and slammed her knee directly into his face and unwrapped his arm and watched him roll to the ground.

In response to their comrade being taken down, what appeared to be an orc and an undead lunged towards her. Immediately she rolled forwards between the two of them and spun around on her heels, pulling out the two miniature daggers she kept in her boots and tossed them. They both implanted themselves into the attackers achilles tendons, and both stayed grounded, howling in pain.

As she stood up and brushed herself off from the dirt she had contracted, there were two remaining rogues. One appeared to be the gnome and was quivering before her. The other she realized must be the human she was looking for. She shuffled forward and greeted, "You must be Cinesra. I assume I've won your favor?"

The man replied, "Quite so. What can I do for you?"

Corette handed him a list, and he handed her a vial that she had been looking for. "It was a pleasure doing business with you and your associates," she bowed. Not waiting for a response, she started to leave, making sure to step on the downed troll as she passed him.

Leaving the Underbelly and heading home was the easy part of her plan. Once she arrived the hard part began. Finding the flour, cactus apples, pans, and everything to make her dish was harder than getting the one item she needed for it. As she mixed everything in the bowl and placed the pie crust, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial she had received from the alchemist. The label was bold and read: Deadly Poison.

The scent of apple pie wafted through the apartment and she hoped that Maiev wouldn't come home anytime soon and ask to try it. After what seemed like forever, the timer dinged, and she pulled the steaming pie from the oven. She grabbed a knife and was careful to slice it into generous pieces.

Once she covered it with saran wrap, Corette left the Legerdemain Lounge and headed towards the Violet Citadel. Upon entering she saw no one, and wondered just where Jaina lived. As she looked around the room, she noticed an odd archway at the top of the stairs and remembered stories about the Purple Parlor who's entrance was behind the citadel. Slowly she headed up the stairs and hit a button she hoped was a doorbell.

Almost instantly the doorway melted away into purple light and the silver-haired mage stepped out of it. Anger flushed her face, and she thought Jaina might shove her backwards down the steps right there. "What could you possibly want?"

She presented the pie to Jaina and smiled, "I made a Cactus Apple Surprise and decided to bring it to you as a sort of peace offering. Our fight that has no actual reasoning behind it put an innocent boy at risk. I don't want to see that."

Jaina took ahold of the pie and turned around disappearing back into the parlor. After a few minutes, she reappeared. "Tell me who you are. I have a pretty good idea, but I want to hear it from your mouth."

"I don't know what you're talking about. My name is Corette Milton. I'm simply here to live out my life. I just want to live without anymore drama," she responded.

"Why? Why do you continue to play dumb with me? I saw the bracelet Arthas gave you. I know it's you, Calia. I don't know how you survived, but there's no way you're here for a little meet and greet. And now the pie? No. This isn't right," Jaina growled.

Corette shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I don't know this 'Calia' girl. I don't know how to help you anymore, Jaina. I brought that pie as a symbol of good faith, and clearly you don't want that. You must think everyone is out to get you. I'm going to go, though, and I pray you leave me alone." Instantly she started to head out of the citadel. Each step she took an evil grin spread farther and farther across her face. Finally.

Anduin rolled around in bed. Tossing and turning over and over, he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do. The feelings he had for Yrel were real, but he knew they weren't as real as what he felt for his friend. It was wrong though, wasn't it? He couldn't possibly choose Wrathion.

What would father say? 'Anduin, this isn't what us Wrynns are about! How can you even think about this? Think of the disgrace you'll bring to the crown and your people! Stop this immediately!'

He shook his head silently. Of course his father would go to how much it would affect the throne. Never before did he truly care about how he personally felt; it was all about the throne. Nothing Anduin ever did was going to be good enough.

What did it matter what his father would think now, though? His father was dead. He had been brutally murdered on the Broken Shore by the warlock Gul'dan. No more did he need his approval. If he wanted to love a black dragon he could, even if that black dragon was a male.

Is that me, though?

Images of Wrathion's naked body soared through his head. Excitement rushed through his body as he remembered the night he had made love to Yrel, the entire time thinking she was someone else. It had been one of the best nights of his life. A close second had been the movie his best friend had taken him to. Anduin remembered distinctly their hands intertwining and how he had felt when the dragon leaned towards him and embraced the kiss he had received.

Hesitantly he reached for his phone on the nightstand and opened it up. He replied to his own message:

to Wrathion,

I'm sorry. This is a whole lot to take in. I thought what I felt for Yrel was real. It is. I do love her, but I think that I love her like a great friend. What I feel when we're together is something entirely different, and as scared as I was to admit that, I can't keep hiding who I really am. It's tiring. It weighs down on me like a sadness that I can't even begin to describe. I apologize for how I acted.

He hit send and watched as the message was sent. Minutes went by, and the dots to show that he was replying never appeared. He gritted his teeth and sighed. The king had thought something like this would happen if he did reply or perhaps it was just that late at night. He replied:

to Wrathion,

I'm going to tell Yrel in the morning. I will text you once I do it. If you don't hear from me, assume I chickened out, and we don't have to speak ever again.

The message sent and a weight lifted off his chest, and he was able to drift effortlessly into sleep.

Before he knew it, Jaina's voice was booming above the city awakening every living thing that dwelled there. Anduin snapped awake and lifted himself out of bed. Yrel wasn't around, and he assumed that she was out grabbing them coffee. His hand snapped towards his phone hoping that Wrathion had responded, but the only thing he saw was the time of the day.

Nerves started to jitter within his body as he waited for Yrel to come back. Today was the day he was going to reevaluate his entire life. Everything was going to change. He smiled to himself and brushed his hair out of his face. As he did a ding signified that he had received a message:

from Wrathion,

I hope everything I read was true. I'll be waiting by the Antonidas Memorial tonight after you've hopefully told her. Meet me there 3

A burst of positive energy surrounded him, and he beamed as he began to type a response. As he did the door the room opened, and Yrel strolled in. His happiness turned somber as he saw her, and that she wasn't holding any coffee, but instead was hiding something behind her back. "Yrel, I have something to talk to you about."

The somber look on her face mirrored his own, and she responded, "I have something to tell you too."

Any sense of happiness fled him as she told him she also needed to speak to him. What could she possibly have to say that was so dire that she looked the way she did? "Um, why don't you go first? Yours seems super important," Anduin nodded.

The draenei hesitantly brought her arms around facing Anduin, and he noticed the white stick in her hands. As he peered closer he saw the tiny monitor on it had an addition sign on it. Oh no, is that...that's not a calculator, he gasped to himself. "Anduin...I'm pregnant."