"Yes, I have been prohibited to speak on it."
The prince frowned. "I am well aware. It's a deal then. I will have Colfe draw up the contract before we leave in the morning." The prince rose from his seat and I followed closely behind him.
"I am happy to have come to a fair bargain, Your Highness." Morvin answered from behind us and as we walked out I took notice of the books the lord had in his study. My eyes immediately caught the name of a particular book that stood out.Extraction of Blood and Power. The shadows inside me whispered, urging me to grab the book, but I was already out the door with the prince and Inanov who were now in a heated argument. The prince caught my eye and Inanov kept talking, but all the prince did was keep his gaze upon me. Inanov noticed this and then huffed, dragging a frustrated hand through his hair. I did not want to get in the middle of their argument which was no doubt going to be about me now. I began my walk to my room until a warm hand caught my arm. I knew who it was by scent and slowly turned to meet his eyes.
"I have matters to discuss with Inanov and Colfe. But at midnight, I want you in my room. Alone. To myself." His hand on my arm felt hotter by the second. I remembered our kiss, how it all felt. I wanted that again, selfish as it was. "Midnight," I confirmed.
***
To my surprise, everything from my horse had been unpacked into my room. Even the fire blades and weaponry that I had emptied out onto the table outside were neatly placed on the desk. The shadows inside me purred when I spotted the black box that held my violin. I rolled my eyes at the eagerness of the shadows inside me and stepped further into the room. I froze. Something was different. A scent lingered in the room. I immediately lifted up the mattress to where I had hidden the green gem.
It was gone.
Panic enveloped me. Someone had come into my room and stolen it. They had not touched anything else. But that stone... They had taken it. I breathed in that scent. My shadows did the work for me and flashed an image of the culprit in my head.
The she-demon.
I felt like screaming. It had made so much sense, how I had only seen her when they were departing. And I watched them leave like a fool with a powerful stone in hand. I needed to tell the prince. Especially if there was a chance they would use the stone against him or anyone else. I moved to open the door until my shadows froze me into place.
Take it.
They urged.
“Take what?”I nearly asked them back until I heard that alluring voice.
Sing me, play me, string me. Unleash havoc upon them.
It came from my violin. I ignored it as I strapped my fire blades onto me, it made me feel safer by a tenfold but my shadows weren't having it. From whispers they began screeching and snarling so loud I had to hold my head in my hands. I frowned deeply and grit my teeth as I went to the box that was laid on my bed and opened it. As soon as I had opened it, the noise stopped. I slowly closed the box again, to test if—
Immediate screeching and snarling came back even louder. I quickly opened up the box and took the violin out. These shadows were becoming more of a menace day by day. And I had no indication of an answer as to why. I knew that if Fala was here, I'd have been able to confide in her. My heart clenched at the thought of her as I stepped outside of my door into the dark corridors of the castle and began my journey to the prince's room. Everything was so... quiet. I turned around slowly to check my surroundings—spotting nothing out of the ordinary. I was being paranoid. I turned and continued to walk until a sudden hand and a black sheet came into view. Putting the sheet over my head and cutting me out from the world.
Chapter 36
Blood promise
"Darkness has and always will be what it is, destruction and evil. Light was our saviour and is the only counter force of darkness. Light has always, even by times of the olden fae age, been known as a symbol of good. It was by Apollo's grace that I was able to stop the darkness from further crossing all lands and we thank our gods that the late King of Duvessa no longer controls all the lands. For we would have all been condemned to Riaan."
The following text from the Great Death articles is a direct tribunal record of King Solaire Gideon's speech after saving Terran from imminent death.
Drip, drip, drip.
I was cold and that damned ache in my leg had resurfaced along with plenty new pains to accompany it. I opened my eyes but there was so much blackness, it almost felt like my eyes were still closed. I could hear my heart thudding in my ears. My wrists were bound behind me and slowly panic set in after the initial confusion passed. I struggled against the binds, moving my head side to side, trying to get the covering off my head. The usual weight of my fire blades was not there and it was no use trying to get them out when it had been evidently stripped off me.
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
The sound echoed. Abruptly, my eyes were free from the black cover that was roughly yanked off my head. The wisps of my dark hair flew onto my face as I glared up at my abductor. My vision focused almost immediately on Morvin who cruelly smiled down at me. He was surrounded by his men. There were so many in this spacious underground prison-like space, with no light except for the moon shining through a well-shaped opening in the ceiling. I couldn't take all of his men in a fight even if I had my blades, there seemed to be at least fifty of them here.
"The prince will have you killed for the treason of harming his royal bodyguard," I spoke aloud. I needed to buy time, the prince might look for me once he realises I am not there by midnight. He'd come... unless he thinks I had second thoughts.
"You're replaceable, impressive at killing cliftolights. But replaceable nonetheless." Morvin snorted and walked around me in a circle.
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
Since my vision was given back to me, I could now spot where the sound had been coming from. There was a large fountain that was placed under the well-shaped opening where the moonlight shone through. The fountain did not have sparklingwater sputtering out of it, it instead dripped something red and thick.
It looked like blood.
"I must apologise. You did save my life from that cliftolight when you had performed at my arena, but when I saw you tonight, with your onyx hair, the darkness of it? I felt like a fool for not having noticed before." Morvin knelt in front of me and smiled wider. He reached to touch my hair, and I snapped my mouth at him. He quickly held his hand away and then slowly chuckled. "Like a feral wild animal. All of you Darkness folk are the same." He frowned and his mention of the dark folk stunned me. The familiar ache of anxiety filled me and the voices in my head had awoken and were now whispering with each other.
