*Theo*
Her warm lips captivated , moving so slowly and enticingly against mine. Her arms around my neck held close and her breasts moved against my chest with each breath. I lifted my hands to pull her closer and stopped, clenching them into fists.
How easily I could forget myself and stay in her embrace with her warm, comforting lips. As Tallis, I had been able to lie to myself that as long as I was careful, I wouldn’t hurt her.
But Maggie and Warren had reminded of just how unpredictable and dangerous I was with their own lives!
I used all of my strength to leave those two soft, alluring lips, but the mont our kiss broke, I regretted it.
Her back was against the wall, her cheeks were pink and her sweet breath was rapid.
My eyes locked on her watery blue orbs and couldn’t move away. Under her gentle gaze, the cold and rigid shells that had been sealing around my heart for years started to break down, revealing my extravagant desire to seek warmth and...love.
But how could I?
I took a step away, but I couldn’t peel my eyes off her.
She had a light blush on her cheeks and I tried so hard to not pull her back.
I took a deep, trembling breath and steadied myself. Inside, I felt like I could explode at any mont, but after seeing Warren lying there, I couldn’t let myself lose control like that again.
‘Alpha, Dottie is here.’ Jake’s mindlink dragged back to reality. A few monts later, he reappeared, and behind him was Dottie.
“Your Highness.” Dottie lowered her head as a brief greeting and I gestured to her to check on Warren.
“Oh Goddess...” She put down her dicine case and started her routine imdiately.
I caught Ciana’s eye for a mont and she gave an encouraging look before she followed Dottie to Warren’s side.
My brother was still pale and pasty. Unlike before, now he was shivering a little even though Dottie had covered him in thick, down comforters. His eyes were closed, and every now and then, he winced and gasped.
Otherwise, his breathing was even.
Dottie put a wet cloth on his forehead and then put her fingers at his wrist, taking his pulse.
I swallowed into a tight, constricted throat as I stared at his unconscious form. The frown on Dottie’s face told he wasn’t doing well.
Ciana went to the edge of the bed and took Warren’s hand. Under any other circumstances, the worry in her eyes might have sparked jealousy in , but now, I wished I could provide so type of comfort to him as well.
My gaze fell on my hands, which were inside a pair of gloves again. They were only capable of killing and destroying. They would never provide comfort.
What a pair of fucking hideous hands! I hid them in my pockets so that I didn’t need to see them.
“How is he?” Ciana asked Dottie, her voice pulling from my thoughts.
“He’s in bad shape,” Dottie said somberly.
“How bad?”
“He won’t wake up on his own. He will stay like this and get worse,” Dottie explained, her eyes darkened as she went back to tending to Warren.
“Is there... What can we do for him?” Ciana’s voice was trembling, taking the bad news in with great difficulty.
Dottie shook her head. “Nothing to my knowledge. This is not a normal coma, Miss, and therefore normal healing won’t have much effect on him.”
Ciana frowned slightly. “Normal healing won’t have much effect... Do you an there are abnormal ways that might help?”
Dottie signed, “Maybe. A very slight maybe.”
No matter how little hope there was, it was better than none.
“Dottie, explain,” I demanded.
“Your... power has drained Prince Warren’s core life essence. In order for him to recover and awaken, he needs new essence poured back into him. His body isn’t able to restore what was taken on its own. It must be replaced by an outside source.” She turned from Warren and raised an eyebrow at .
“You an, I can return the life back to him?! How?”
If that was the case, if I could, then wouldn’t all of my problems go away?
However, to my grave disappointnt, she shook her head and sighed, “That wasn’t what I ant. I wish it was that simple. Prince Theo, has His Majesty never told you about the royal bloodline?”
I shook my head. Everything I knew. I learned from tears and blood. Why would that heartless beast ever want to share anything with ? To him, I was only a fucking killing weapon nothing more.
Dottie gave an understanding nod. “I suppose it is up to then. What do you know about your ancestor, King Lycaon?”
“He was the beloved son of the Moon Goddess,” I said, but the look on Dottie’s face implied she expected to know more. To be honest, I wasn’t that interested in my family lineage.
Ciana jumped in. “...and the sole ruler of Egoren. We were all taught in nursery school.”
“But that’s only a very small part of the legend,” Dottie explained, “King Lycaon wasn’t the only child of the Moon Goddess!”
The rest of us were shocked. Nowhere had we ever heard that part of the story. We waited for Dottie to continue.
“Legend says that she gave birth to her Sacred Twins, Morrighan and Lycaon. However, unlike normal twins who shared lots of similarities, Morrighan and Lycaon were totally opposite. Well, at least their powers were. Their powers represented two sides of a coin. Brightness and darkness, light and shadow...” She turned her head and glanced at to finish her sentence, “...life and death.”
Warren twitched slightly, and Dottie leaned over, dabbing his lips with a moist cloth, wetting them so that they wouldn’t crack open due to dehydration.
“The Moon Goddess divided this world in two. The realm of light was given to Morrighan, the White Queen, and all of her descendants. The realm of shadow was given to Lycaon, the Dark King, and his offspring.”
I clamped my lips together and motioned for Dottie to continue.
“The White Queen’s power is to give. Give life, rejuvenate, and create. The Dark King’s power, on the other hand, is to take. Take life, destroy, and terminate.”
My heart sank more. I didn’t need another reminder of what a freaking monster I was!
“You think a descendent of White Queen Morrighan could return Warren’s life essence then?” Ciana asked quickly, as if she wasn’t worried about the horrible ability I was cursed with.
“Maybe,” Dottie let out another sigh. “But young lady, ever since you were born, have you ever heard about the White Queen? Even if she exists, she rules in another world.”
“Another world, like the Heavens?”
“Whatever that ans.”
“Then... there is no way to save Warren,” Ciana muttered, despair filling her voice.
That sa despair filled my chest and I looked away from Warren.
“I didn’t say that either. Please don’t jump to conclusions so fast. What I wanted to tell you was perhaps King Sebastian knows of a way to restore a stolen essence,” Dottie suggested.
I could read the look on Jake’s face. We both knew my bastard of a father would never lift a finger for Warren!
“Dottie, I want to know more about what my father might be able to do,” I said. I wasn’t done with her story. If it was sothing the Dark King’s descendants could do, maybe there was a way for to do it too.
She was the one that brought it up like it was so great, important history lesson. Nothing she’d said had been actionable, with the exception of my father might know sothing.
Dottie sighed and rubbed her hands on her thighs. I got the sense that she was about to tell sothing my father didn’t want to know. Sothing that she could get in trouble for sharing with .
She’d been around the palace a long ti. While tending to the sick and injured, she probably heard a lot of things, just as an unseen bystander.
“How could my father help Warren?” I repeated the question more firmly.
“I said there might be a way, but I don’t know that for sure. There is a legend that says one of the dark kings, hundreds of years ago, was able to save his wife by sharing his life with her. It returned her longevity. The story does not say how it was done, only that it might have occurred. King Sebastian might know more.”
“What made you think that he has that kind of knowledge?” I stared at her, pressing her, “Dottie, what else are you not telling ?”
She looked a little anxious, as if she was weighing whether she should tell the truth.
I crouched down so that I was at the sa eye level as hers. True that she worked for the crown, but she was one of the very few that had shown genuine care to us when we were young.
All my siblings and myself were treated by her at so point.
“Dottie, you watched us grow up. Warren... is a kind soul. Help us, please.”
She sighed, “I’d get myself in trouble if this gets into another pair of ears.”
“You have my word to ensure your safety.”
She fell into silence and I gave her ti to consider. Ciana and Jake were also waiting quietly and patiently.
Finally, she took a deep breath and looked in the eye.
“Every pack has a sacred artifact. Do you know what the Royal artifact is?”
“The heirloom. It’s a necklace that gets passed down from the king to his successor, but that was more like a symbol of power. To my knowledge, it doesn’t have any function.”
Dottie shook her head. “That’s because it’s not the real artifact. It’s a secret because the king didn’t want anyone to know.”
“What’s the real artifact?”
“It’s a scroll.”
“What?”
“It is a scroll that is said to have been written by the Moon Goddess herself and given to her son, Dark King Lycaon. Except for the king, no one knows what was written in it. However, to get to it, you will need the necklace, as it is the key to the Sacred Scroll storage.”
After saying it aloud, there was relief on Dottie’s face. Her motherly deanor returned, and she seed to be happy to help.
“That scroll may have information about Lycaon’s power and different ways to use it,” Dottie said.
“And one of those ways is to reverse what was done?” Ciana asked.
“Perhaps. If it doesn’t have exact answers, it could, at least, provide a roadmap. Again, only the king knows exactly what’s on the scroll.”
No one spoke for a long ti. Dottie finished cleaning up and left a few healing salves and teas for Warren. Nothing that would fix him, but they’d help with the bruising and help keep his strength up until we could figure out how to help him.
“We have to ask King Sebastian for help,” Ciana said, breaking the silence finally.
“It’s going to be a hard sell though,” Jake pondered as he spoke.
“He may be ruthless usually, but once he knows how seriously injured Warren is, he may have a change of heart. This is his son we are talking about after all.”
I caught her hesitation when she said “his son,” while Jake played the devil’s advocate, “Well, he had one of his own sons executed for treason.”
Ciana got off the bed and ca to stand right in front of . “Warren has never broken any laws or been disloyal. Besides, we don’t really have a choice, do we?”
“I’m not saying we won’t give it a try, but don’t be too hopeful.”
Ciana frowned, “Even if the king doesn’t agree to help, we can’t just give up on Warren!”
“No, we won’t. I promise,” I assured her.
Ciana let out a breath of relief and glanced back at my comatose brother.
I turned to Jake, “Prepare the transportation, and we’ll leave in two hours at sunrise to go back to the palace.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Jake replied and walked out of the door.
I softened my voice and said to Ciana, “It has been a long night. Ciana, would you do a favor and get so rest?”
Her beautiful doe eyes focused on , and it was almost impossible to peel my gaze away.
“Theo, I want to stay with you.”
Those were such simple words, yet, just like a warm spring breeze, they gently swept through my chest and imdiately ward my stone-cold heart inside.
When she kissed , I could feel her rapid heartbeat and her affection. She believed in , for so unknown reason. She’d seen everything I was capable of and she still wanted to get closer...
How I wished I could be next to her at all tis, indulging in her warm deanor and sweet scent, so that I could forget about those lonely, dark days of my life.
But I couldn’t. Dottie had made it clear that I was born to take and destroy.
“Ciana, I need so ti alone to think about how to persuade my father. Listen to , get so rest.”
Her lips parted and closed. In the end, she gave a nod and left in the room.
Heavens knew how much effort it took for to not run after her and pull her back into my arms. I wanted to tell her that I’d trade everything I had in exchange for the privilege to be with her.
However, I had long lost the right to choose my fate.
I sat on the edge of my bed and turned my hands over.
Regardless of what I wanted, there was no future for us.
Or for .
#
Reviews
All reviews (0)