After Zade’s death, Father decided to put in training. He sent the best ntors to train . I worked really hard because I wanted to beco the strongest warrior; perhaps then my mother would be proud and would want to see again.
What I didn’t know was that my father expected sothing different from . He didn’t need to beco a warrior. He needed to be a killer.
When I was ten years old, King Sebastian started a program where he would allow prisoners a chance to gain their freedom.
These were the worse sort of criminals—murderers, rapists, those that had robbed others violently. He made it seem so simple for them.
“Defeat my son, a little boy, and you will walk free.”
Of course, these hardened criminals had jumped at the chance. What would a ten-year-old do to stop them? Those monsters didn’t mind tearing a child apart in exchange for their freedom.
But it never happened that way.
As much as I could use my battle skills to protect myself, I was too young and was no match against full-grown n. As a result, almost always, at the end of each fight, I’d end up draining them of their lives, along with their dreadful emotions before their deaths.
Watching the lifeless bodies collapse in front of my eyes beca the worst of my childhood nightmares. I wasn’t able to have a single night of peaceful sleep. Whether I was awake or asleep during the night, I always felt as if nurous eyes were watching , condemning for taking their lives.
I was tornted. I hated my power—because of it, not only did I absorb the terror of those who were killed by , but I also got all of their horrible traits—the parts that made them criminals to begin with. I was no longer capable of smiling, of showing kindness. Their emotions beca mine, and I couldn’t escape them.
“Father, I can’t do this anymore...” I begged him. “I’ll work hard to be a good warrior and you can put into any training but this. Please!”
“Nonsense!” he said. Then he softened his expression and encouraged . “They’re murderers, son,” he told . “They deserve to die. You’re doing the entire kingdom a service in getting rid of them.”
I’d nod and try to believe that was true so that I could feel just slightly better for what I did. I was desperate, and I went to my mother again, because I didn’t even rember how many trials I’d been through without actually being able to see her.
I wanted to tell her that I was doing the kingdom a service, and that maybe she shouldn’t be locking out of her life.
When I told her the situation through her closed door, unlike usual where she was just silent, this ti, I heard her say, “Whether they deserve to die or not should not be your decision, Theo.”
Tears had stung my eyes at her words. “Mother!” I shouted. “I had no choice! If I didn’t kill them, they would kill !”
After a long while, I heard her say, “I know.” It seed that she sighed, but then, her tone was sharp again. “But keep in mind that you have no right to take lives, and neither does anyone else!”
From that point on, I trained hard in battling with a knife. I was unable to shift into my wolf because I was still too young, so I had to rely on being a keen fighter in my human form.
Eventually, I beca so skilled in the art of fighting that I started to win battles without having to suck the life out of anyone. In so cases, I was even able to disable them without having physical contact, thus sparing their lives.
But my choice of fighting angered my father. He saw my skills as so sort of a parlor trick, sothing he could show off to his friends and brag about. He shad for winning the fights any other way.
One day, when I openly refused to go back to the old way, he threw in a jail cell.
“Theodore, you must learn to respect your father and your king!” he said. “This is for your own good! You are blessed with the power, and you must respect it, honor it, and make full use of it! Your kingdom needs it, and you shouldn’t be ashad. Your useless rcy will only make you weak!”
“Father, I’m not weak!” I protested. “None of your warriors are able to take down easily one on one and—”
“Enough! You’ll listen to . Look around you. Without your divine power, you’re just as pathetic as any of them!”
I saw a group of twenty or so prisoners, but this ti, they were different from the criminals I usually fought. They didn’t look fierce or evil. There were elderly n, won, and... even children.
“Who are they?” I asked my father.
He didn’t answer . Instead, he asked , “Do you want to save them?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” I nodded.
“Very well. I’ll give you a choice. Use your abilities to kill two of them,” he said cruelly. “Show that you’re a strong soul, and I’ll consider releasing the rest.”
The cell gate closed behind . My eyes widened and I couldn’t believe what he’d said.
His voice traveled away with him. “When you’re ready and done, let the guards know. They’ll let you out. Otherwise, you will stay here until you get your mind straightened out.”
The rest of the prisoners looked at in terror. They were probably right to be terrified by , a monster. But I’d made up my mind. I didn’t want to kill for no reason anymore, especially not those people in front of .
“You have no right to take lives, and neither does anyone else!” My mother’s words echoed in my mind.
I warned all of them, “I will kill you. I’m sure all of you have heard the stories about . They are all true. If you co at , I will have no choice but to make sure that you die. So... if you leave alone, I will leave you alone.”
And so I tucked myself in a corner and no one bothered . For days, I stared outside, doing nothing. I didn’t talk, didn’t eat, and didn’t even drink much. I felt my body getting weaker and weaker, yet for the first ti in a long ti, I felt peaceful.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad even if I just died like that. At least I wasn’t forced to kill.
My father checked on a couple of tis, and each ti, he was furious. He urged to kill them and tried to get them to attack . But instead, I just existed there in the cell, not eating or drinking, protesting my father’s actions.
“You can’t force , father,” I told him.
After a long ti–how long, I couldn’t even rember–my small body gave out, and I passed out in the cell. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my bedroom. My father was standing at the foot of my bed, a big smile on his face.
“I knew I could count on you,” he said. “That’s exactly what you needed to do! Killing two of those bastards.”
“Killing them?” I didn’t understand. I hadn’t attacked anyone this ti....
“Because you’ve done a great job, as a prize, I’ll let you do whatever you want for the rest of those prisoners. It’s ti for them to learn to respect their regal Prince Theo!”
I didn’t know exactly what had happened. I could only assu that after I had passed out, in my unconscious state, my body had done what it needed to in order to save —I might have sucked out their lives without even knowing it!
As my father turned to walk away, a single tear rolled down my cheek.
Like he’d said years ago, I was indeed a monster.
When I recovered, I went to my mother again.
She still refused to open the door. Banging on it with both fists, I asked her, “Mother, what do I do? I did everything I could to stay away from them, but they still died! What else can I do...”
“Theo,” through the door, she told , “then rember them. Rember that those n died in your place.”
***
*Ciana*
My head was pounding. I sat up, leaning on an elbow for a second as I tried to rember exactly what had happened. I looked at my hand and saw it was no longer bleeding.
I was lying on the floor in Theo’s room, and Jake and Theo were near , as they should have been. Across the room, near the doorway that led to my chamber, Brook and Warren lay on their sides, and in my room, Sophia was spread out, her arms and legs split like a star. She looked a little silly, but I wasn’t in a laughing mood.
Sitting up, I rubbed my head. I could rember everything that had happened. I wondered how long we had been gone. It must not have been long in this world or else soone would’ve co looking for us.
The crystal was lying by Theo’s leg. I rembered then that the mission had failed. He wouldn’t be able to use the crystal to replant the dreamberry sooner than the next blood moon. I swore under my breath. Now what would we do?
I heard a deep grunt and looked around, trying to figure out who was waking up. Jake sat up abruptly, looking around the room. “What the hell?” he asked.
“Beta Jake,” I said. “How are you?”
“Not good. What happened?” He pressed on his head for a mont but didn’t deny who he was. At least that was a good sign—we were indeed back to reality.
“I’m not sure,” I told him. “What do you rember?”
He hadn’t been able to recall this world in the other realm, so maybe he wouldn’t rember what had happened in the world the crystal created either.
“I have no idea. I just know we were looking at the crystal.”
“Right.” I nodded. As expected, he didn’t recall. “I’m not sure what happened, but I think that we should move Brook, Prince Warren, and Sophia to their rooms before they wake up. They might panic to find themselves lying on the floor, and they don’t know anything about the crystal.”
Jake still looked a little disoriented, but he nodded. “All right. I’ll see to it. What about Alpha?”
Theo wasn’t moving either. “I’m his personal attendant,” I reminded Jake. “I’ll stay with him.”
“Very well,” he said, accepting my proposal.
He helped move Theo to his bed, then went to carefully pick Brook up, carrying her out of the room. I wondered if anything that had happened in the illusional world would impact his feelings toward Brook in real life.
Luckily, Jake was able to get everyone else situated in their rooms before they woke up. He had to take care of a few other urgent matters, so I was left alone with the prince again.
I was surprised that Theo was still out of it. We were the first ones to get pulled into the crystal’s world, so I’d assud he would return to this reality right after . I wished we could talk soon because he probably would be the only other one to rember what had happened there.
Hopefully, he rembered the important parts, like the fact that the crystal hadn’t been activated, but had forgotten other parts–like the fact that we had made love.
With a sigh, I laid a blanket over him and scooted a little closer to him, thinking I should give him a little nudge. But before I even touched him, he began to moan, turning back and forth slightly. “Mama!” he muttered. “Please! Co back! Don’t you love ?”
“Mama?” I repeated. Was he dreaming? Whatever was going on, he was clearly in distress. I’d never seen him like that before. Prince Theo was always calm and in control.
His brow furrowed, and a painful look appeared on his face.
What was he dreaming about? What would make such a strong, cold and collected prince look so... vulnerable?
“Mama, what do I do?” he shouted.
I couldn’t stand watching him suffer anymore, so I patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Theo,” I whispered. “It’s okay.”
I tried shaking him a little, but that didn’t do anything. He didn’t open his eyes, nor did he settle down.
Unsure what else to do, I acted on instinct. When I was little and had a bad dream, my mother would sing a lullaby to comfort and help go back to sleep.
With my hand on Theo’s chest, I began to sing, hoping it would help to wake him up, or at the very least, provide him so peace in his sleep.
#
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