Page 144

“Yeah, those ones over there,” he nods to his side where there is a group of them huddled together and rambling nonsense.

“They have been like that since they changed back, talking about the curse needs to be broken and wrongs righted, or they will change back or some shit,” Aldrin says, shaking his head.

“Did you say Pluto?”

I hear a soft voice come from behind me, I jump when I see the naked man. He is skinny and frail, and covered in dirt.

“Please miss, my brother, Pluto, do you know him?” he asks in a voice that sounds like gravel.

“He is my friend,” I tell him. The man nods, darting off, and I see Jed walking back up towards me.

Jed rips me to my feet to repeat the blood letting process. I cry out when he presses the blade deeper this time, my blood running out faster, filling the two bowls. I feel on the verge of passing out when I am force fed Malika’s blood again. Aldrin grabs me and pulls me against him as I sway.

“We just need to hang on my Queen, your Kings will come for us,” he whispers as I pass out again.

I woke in a castle, in our castle, I know I am dreaming, stuck in a state of between what is going on in the real world and this one that my mind has conjured up. I look around and I can see a man and a woman arguing, the woman is beautiful with hair so long it reached the back of her knees, as she fights with a man that has a striking resemblance to Silas.

Looking around the room, everything is different, the furniture is outdated, but I have no doubt this is our bedroom. Sitting up, I watch the man and woman fight, their voices slowly coming into focus.

“I warned you this was a bad idea, I warned you and you still did it anyway. I can’t believe you Darshan, why couldn’t you listen for once in your life?”

“They were planning to go to war with us, I never expected this to happen, you can’t blame me, I had to take action,” the man snaps at her tossing his crown on the bed.

“You didn’t just kill her, you wiped out the entire bloodline, you have doomed us all, you need to fix it, beg the fates for forgiveness. Blaire will retaliate and when she does it will destroy him, it will fucking destroy everything we have built!” she screams at him.

“You dare to talk to me like that, talk to your King this way, I did what I had to do, for this kingdom, for us.”

“I am not talking down to you, you are my husband, not my King. No, you did this, you did it because you were scared, I knew that Helcate was up to no good the moment he walked in here.”

“It’s done, it cannot be undone, I can’t bring the woman back from the dead, Laine. It will work out, we stopped a war, this is a good thing, why can’t you see that?”

“Because she fucking cursed us, you think you ended a war Darshan? You didn’t. You just started a new one,” she screams at him.

“The curse won’t withstand, my love. She is dead, all curses die out when the one that bestowed it dies you know this.”

“You fool, Blaire won’t stand for this, the Oracle won’t stand for this, forty years we have lived in peace with them, forty years and you ruined everything. Silas won’t forgive you for this, you took his only chance at happiness. Blaire will reject him for sure now and then what happens? When there are no heirs to take over, the kingdom will fall.”

“He can take another woman; he will understand in time my love.”

“No, we can only procreate with our mates!” she argues.

“And he has two already, surely one of them would be able to knock up some whore.”

She slaps him, the sound echoes off the wall, and I hold my breath.

His chest rises and falls heavily as he growls at her.

“You dare speak of a woman in such a way, I won’t stand for it. You cursed us, doomed us all,” she spat at him, turning away and walking toward the window and looking out. The man stands there watching his wife, a troubled expression on his face.

“The Oracle said all we need to do is rewrite the wrongs of the past, I will speak to Blaire’s father, tell him what happened, admit my guilt, it will work out my love.”

“How can you say that? The Oracle warned you, I warned you and now she has left us. Our son will hate you for this, he will hate you for taking her from him, for forcing her hand.”

“She will accept the mating; she has to, it’s in the treaty,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. The woman laughs, and his head snaps up to look at her.

“You old fool, you broke the treaty the moment you killed her, now Blaire will make us pay, make us pay for killing her, no one meant more to Blaire than that woman and you know it Darshan. She loved her long before she married that Helcate idiot, they have always loved each other, Silas was willing to share her with them, they have been sorting things for weeks and you do this, do this a week before they are supposed to wed.”

“She won’t go back on her word; won’t go back on the treaty!” he argues.