Chapter 69: All Faith Is Lost

Arthur folded his arms over his chest, spreading his legs apart slightly as he looked at Lilly sternly. "Well?" he said.

He watched his wolf wife frown and she lowered her head, looking away from him. "...Two...and a half times."

Arthur gaped at her before wiping his mouth. "Jesus Christ...so the one, I already know about, correct?"

"...Yes."

"When were these...one and a half times?"

When Lilly didn't answer, Adair sighed. "Arthur, you must understand...at the time, she was...well...she was not in her right mind."

Arthur eyeballed Dubh, who looked particularly happy as he watched the three talk. He grunted and shut his eyes before walking in front of his wife, grasping her face and forcing her to look at him.

"When did it happen, Lilly?" he asked.

Lilly's eyes flickered with tears. "When I was pregnant with the twins."

Arthur's eyes widened as he let go of Lilly's face. "What?!" he snarled loudly.

Lilly flinched from his outburst. "I was gonna tell you about it, I was...I just..." she looked down at her paws.

Arthur sighed, knowing full well that if she was in human form, she'd be fiddling with her fingers right now. He gave Adair a mean look. "And you didn't try to stop her?"

Adair narrowed her eyes. "Of course I did. In fact, I had to take control for a few weeks."

Arthur cocked his head, his eyes narrowing further. "Take control?"

"Yes," Lilly said. "To ensure that I would not harm myself or the babies."

Arthur jiggled his head and blinked a few times to try and clear his head before clenching his fists and glaring at the red wolf. "Why the fuck would you do such a thing?!" he roared angrily. "Why would you want Aoífe and Junior dead?!"

Lilly huffed sadly, closing her eyes. "Arthur, I can explain, but you have to calm down fo-"

"NO!" Arthur belted out. "No, I ain't gonna calm down! You..." he grabbed his hat and threw it across the room before grasping his dirty blonde locks. "You...y-you..." Arthur stopped and took a moment to collect himself before pointing at her with anger is his eyes. "You are a real piece of work, Lillian."

Lilly cleared her throat and sat down, keeping her head bowed. "I know."

"Look at me when I'm talkin' to you, woman!"

Lilly reluctantly raised her head and stared into Arthur's eyes. "Alright. Go ahead. Lash out at me. Curse me. Hit me, even. Do what you gotta do."

A low chuckle popped up behind Arthur. "My, this is getting interesting..." Dubh cooed.

Arthur slowly turned on his heel and aimed a finger at the black wolf. "Shut up."

Dubh merely laughed and flicked his paw up at him. "My apologies, Mr. Morgan. Please continue."

Arthur growled softly before turning back to Lilly. "If there's one thing I hate about you, Lillian Rose Morgan, it's that you are such a..." he lifted his arms and shoulders, tensing his fingers to emphasis how angry he was, "...such a, such a secretive little shit!"

Arthur paused to make sure Lilly maintained eye contact. She didn't break it. "Go on," she said with a sigh.

"You have so many secrets! Where does it end?! I keep thinkin' that I actually know you and then you go and do some dumb bullshit like that!" Arthur snapped, throwing his hands up. "What else am I gonna find out?!" Arthur suddenly blinked, looking at Lilly with a menacing expression. "Is Cahira even mine?!"

Lilly's eyeball twitched before she stood up on all four legs, taking a few steps towards Arthur with a growl. "You take that back!" she snarled in his face.

Arthur glared up at her. "Don't even think you can intimidate me, Lilly."

Lilly's teeth bared. "Wanna bet?"

Lilly let out a loud bark, a sonic shockwave escaping her and sending Arthur flying backwards into the wall. He yelled out when he made contact, his body flumping to the floor.

"Lilly!" Adair gasped. "Don't you think that was a little much?"

Dubh broke into cackles and flopped onto his side. "No, that was perfect!" he laughed.

"I wasn't asking you, ya damn dog!" Adair yelled.

Arthur groaned before eventually getting up, shaking himself a little before narrowing his light blue eyes at his wife. "You...fuckin'...bitch!"

"Oh, ya deserved it, ya feckin' half-witted bastard!" Lilly shouted.

"God damn deranged psycho!"

"Stupid feckin' moron!"

"Fucking dumbass whorish cunt!"

Suddenly Lilly's fur went on edge and her eyes went dark, drool spilling from her mouth as she growled heavily at Arthur. It was then that Arthur felt...different, yet it was something familiar. Something he had felt once before, but instead of being able to place where and when, Arthur's eyes also went pitch black and he got into a fighting stance. All he could feel at that moment was an undying hatred for the one who was supposed to be the love of his life.

"Arthur? Lilly?" Adair spoke out, getting between the two of them. "Stop this now. You're being-"

Before Adair could finish, Lilly snapped her jaws onto Adair's shoulder tightly, drawing blood as Lilly flung the goddess across the room. Adair groaned as her body smacked into the wall before dropping like a sack of potatoes.

"STAY OUT OF IT, ADAIR!" Lilly shouted. "THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMIN'!"

Dubh cackled and howled in delight before standing up and walking towards the couple. "That's right, Lilly. This has been a long time coming."

Adair shook her head and growled as she watched Dubh start to circle around the enraged couple. Something was wrong here. And where was her mother? The Morrigan would put a stop to this like it was nothing.

No, this was all very, very wrong.

"Cernunnos!" Adair yelled. "We need some help!"

Just as Cernunnos charged in, a portal appeared with Corvin and Carman coming through. Before Cernunnos could attack them, however, Carman sent out three shrouds from her arsenal to enclose around Adair, Cernunnos and Arthur, encasing them to stick to the wall. All three struggled as Lilly narrowed her eyes at Carman, shaking her head to possibly clear the darkness from it. Adair shook her head back and forth to get the shroud out of her view but it did no good. It was hard to concentrate because she kept getting interference in her head, unable to identify who was trying to contact her.

"...Cahira!" was all the disembodied voice kept saying. "...must...protect...Cahira!"

Adair eyes went wide from the realization of what was about to happen and she struggled more.

Dubh chuckled and looked at Carman. "You took your time, Mother," he mentioned.

Carman giggled and pat his head. "I'm sure you had it handled, darling," she replied before looking at Lilly. "Lilly...time to shift back. You have something I need."

Lilly whined, still trying to shake the darkness from her mind, but her body obeyed Carman's command. It slowly shifted back into human form as Lilly continued to fight the pull of night.

"Lilly, stop!" Adair yelled. "They're going to take C-"

Carman reached her hand out and with her magic, tightened the strings from the shade around Adair's throat. "Shut up!" Carman barked.

Lilly looked over at Arthur who was fighting to be let out. "Lilly!" he shouted. "Wake up and get us out!"

Lilly grasped her head, trying to figure out what was going on but now she just felt completely confused. Nothing was clear, not even her own thoughts. Her eyes flickered between black and dark sapphire.

"Lillian! Fight! Fight for your child!" Cernunnos yelled.

Lilly's eyes narrowed suddenly at the mention of her child. Before she could do anything about that, however, Carman waved a hand and sent Lilly flying into the wall. She struggled to fight the push but to no avail. Carman chuckled, keeping her hand up to hold Lilly in place, while the other hand held up a type of urn.

"Corvin, if you would be so kind?" Carman asked sweetly.

Corvin gave a sickly smile as Dubh paced around the room, smirking at the captives. Carman's assassin pulled out a knife and walked up to Lilly's naked body, grinning up at her.

"I told you...you should've taken the parley," he said before gripping his knife and slicing open her belly in one swift move.

"No!" Arthur cried out as Lilly screamed in agony.

As the healing process began,dark, billowy smoke came from Carman's fingertips and drifted through the air to Lilly's opened and bleeding abdomen. It burned to the touch as it brushed against her skin, making Lilly scream out loudly. Blood and flesh sizzled while the wound opened more, making the redheaded warrior shake almost violently.

"Stop!" Adair screamed.

Carman laughed loudly as she made the smoke reach into Lilly's wound, grasping her hand into a fist. Lilly felt the smoke latch onto something and suddenly, with blood oozing to the floor, Carman pulled out Lilly's unborn child. Lilly stared in horror, blood dripping from Cahira's body as the baby floated through the dark mist to the urn that Carman was holding.

"Oh my god, no!" Arthur shouted. "No!"

As blood and the little one were placed into the urn, Carman sealed it shut. "Well, now that that's taken care of...Corvin? The sword."

Lilly's body started healing immediately once the smoke disappeared but she was still stuck to the wall. Corvin walked over to Arthur before reaching up and yanking the sword out of the scabbard. He waved it in front of Arthur's face and smiled evily.

"Thank you very much for this," Corvin grinned, turning and holding it out to Carman. "My lady..."

Carman grasped the hilt and smirked, holding it up to study it. "Boys, let's go home. I'm sure our guest is anxious for our return."

Dubh snarled. "But what about Brian and James?" he asked. "You promised, Mother!"

"Patience, my darkling," Carman sang. "We have other matters to attend to first and we have clearly overstayed our welcome."

A portal appeared behind the trio and Dubh growled before shaking his head and walking through. Corvin was next and Carman went to take a step in before pausing and smirking at Arthur.

"You both really should get a hold of those tempers of yours. They were your downfall," she remarked before snapping her fingers.

The shrouds disappeared and Lilly, Adair, Cernunnos and Arthur all collapsed to the floor with groans and moans of pain and suffering. Carman laughed and walked through the portal before it disappeared completely. Lilly stared at the empty space in shock before looking down at her flat belly, now truly realizing that her daughter was gone. Blood trickled heavily from her womanhood down to her thighs and the tears began to flow.

"A-Arthur..." she stammered out. "She...she took our baby!" she cried.

"And Dia a Mharú," Adair grumbled.

"Fuck the sword!" Lilly shouted, slowly standing up as the others did. "SHE TOOK CAHIRA!" Lilly slumped to her knees, crying out loudly as she grasped her stomach. "She took me baby!"

Arthur rushed to Lilly and wrapped his arms around her, holding her as tightly as he could. Lilly buried her face into his shoulder while sobbing uncontrollably and crying out in a rage of fury. Arthur stared up at Adair as tears brimmed his eyelids.

"What do we do?" Arthur asked, his voice breaking with grief.

Lilly lifted her sad eyes to Adair who looked utterly lost. "I don't...I don't know, she replied softly before walking to the bedroom door.

"Where are you goin'?" Arthur asked.

"To go find answers," Adair answered after pausing. "Starting with where the hell my mother is at. She wouldn't have allowed this to happen."

Adair exited the room and Cernunnos shook his head before walking to the grieving couple. "That was some serious magic that was just used on your wife, Arthur. She's going to need rest."

Arthur nodded and looked down at the still crying Lilly. She shook her head and wiped her eyes. "No! I dunna need rest! I need tah go get me baby back!" Lilly screamed.

Arthur cuddled Lilly up into his arms but she tried to fight him. "Lilly, no," he said as she squirmed in his arms. "Honey, listen to me."

"Shut up, ya stupid clout!" Lilly screeched, slowly losing her strength. "This is all yer bloody fault!"

Before Lilly could protest further, Arthur pressed his forehead to hers. "Mo stór, listen...you can yell at me all you want later, I promise, but right now, you need to rest."

Lilly continued screaming at him and even slapped him in the face before her consciousness faded to nothing.

The hours turned into days. A sad darkness had settled over the estate of Darach ar an gCnoc. Lilly spent most of her time in bed, refusing to eat or even speak to anyone. Adair had gone off to find her mother who was nowhere to be found, but the rest of the gods remained to keep an eye out for more attacks. The master bedroom had to be cleaned and worked on, which didn't take that long, but Lilly refused to go anywhere near the bedroom. She opted to stay in one of the guest rooms that were in abundance.

The rest of the Van der Linde gang and the staff of the household went back to business as usual, but not before John, Abigail and Jack decided to head back home. Arthur did his best to hold everything together, but between losing his child and Lilly not even speaking to him, things were hard, although Breena and Patrick did their utmost to help him, especially when the renters came to pay up.

When Lilly decided to grace others with her presence, all she did was fight with Arthur. They held screaming matches for the whole household to hear, arguing about whose fault Cahira's death...or kidnapping was. And of course, it turned into other subjects about who was to blame for whatever else they were fighting about.

One day, Lilly decided she'd had enough. Enough of the gods, enough of destiny...enough of everything. All the gods did was take away everything she held dear, so she decided to stop holding things so close to her heart.

Lilly was just done.

So...sometime during one night, she packed up a couple bags, kissed her sleeping children goodbye and headed out to the stables to saddle up Phoenix, her new Arabian horse. She could've taken Liath, but the Ardennes belonged there. Once that was done, Lilly exited the stables and started riding out, passing by her master bedroom window as she got to the front of the house. She looked up at it with a frown, seeing Arthur's face poking out from the curtains.

A part of her wished that Arthur would come out and convince her to stay, tell her that everything was going to work out, but Lilly knew it wouldn't change her mind.

Arthur never moved from where he was, though. He just stared down at his wife with a sadness in his eyes before she finally convinced herself that this had to be done.

As she turned to leave, Brian and James came running out with Dutch and Hosea. "Lilly!" Dutch shouted. "Where are you going?!"

Lilly sighed and stared blankly at Dutch. "I'm leaving, Da."

"Yeah but where?" Hosea asked with shock in his voice.

"Anywhere that isn't here," she replied, looking back up at Arthur.

He still hadn't moved.

"Lilly, you can't leave," Dutch said, walking up to her mount. "Your kids need you. Arthur needs you. We all need you."

Lilly shook her head. "None of you need me. You'll all be fine without me." Brian and James barked and whined at her but she shushed him. "No, my brothers. You're staying here."

Lilly clicked her tongue and started trotting away, the boys still following her. She stopped and glared at them. "STAY!" she shouted loudly.

Brian and James yelped and jumped back, staring at Lilly with puppy dog eyes. Hosea looked up at the master bedroom window and pointed at Arthur.

"Arthur! Get out here and tell Lilly to stay!" Hosea screamed.

Arthur didn't move an inch.

Dutch walked up to Phoenix and grabbed the reins. "Lilly, where will you go?" he asked sadly.

Lilly scoffed before yanking the leather straps from her adoptive father's grip. "Where the gods won't find me. From now on, my husband is in charge of things."

"Will you be back?" Dutch asked.

Lilly sighed and shook her head. "I very much doubt it."

Hosea came jogging to them both and put a hand on Lilly's arm. "Lilly, please think about what you're doing. The Morrigan-"

"The Morrigan is gone!" Lilly shouted. "We have no trace of Carman or her fuckin' minions or the supposed god who was helpin' her! These fuckin' bastards have been in me life from the god damn beginning! Cahira is dead! We lost, Hosea! Don't ya understand that?!"

Dutch shook his head. "Iníon," he said affectionately. "You have to keep faith that everythin' is going to work out. Now come back inside and let's talk about this." [Daughter.]

"There's nothin' tah talk about, Da! I'm goin', and none of ya feckers are gonna stop me!" Lilly took one last look up at Arthur and raised her chin before looking down at her fathers. "I'll write from time to time, let ya know that I ain't dead, but this place? I ain't never comin' back here."

Lilly hyahed and Phoenix bolted away from the small group.

Arthur watched with teary eyes as his wife faded off in the dark. He hated seeing her go and every part of him was screaming to go after her, make her see reason, but...he just couldn't do it. He didn't have it in him anymore to fight with her about how everything had gone to hell in one swift move.

Arthur was just too god damn tired.

So this is the ending of the second book. I know it got...really fucked up, but I already have plans for a third book and the prologue for that will be up really soon. Thanks for reading, guys!