“You are relying on her so much,” Leonard pointed it out.
“Call her back.”
The royal beta had no other choice, but before he left, he informed Dacre about the crucial thing. “Queen Nycta has starved herself for almost two days now. She is going to risk herself and the baby.”
And after saying that, Leonard left the room.
***
“The winter is over…” Zuri stared at the window and saw the first leaf on a branch of a tree, while sprawling on top of Khaos’s chest. The alpha caressed her back lightly.
“Hm.” He traced finger up to the mark on her neck. The swollen had ceased and it took so long for it to completely heal.
Khaos believed, Zuri lost her healing ability, even a bruise on her knee took a week for it to heal.
“I like winter,” Zuri stated.
Zuri was no longer emaciated, she had gained some weight and stopped her habit of throwing up her food after she ate, which was a great progress to get her back on her healthy state, but her healing ability was the one that concerned Khaos.
The peak of being a shifter was; you could heal faster than any average human. Allowed you to fight in a long period of time, since a mere wound would heal almost immediately.
This must be the side affect of the curses. After all, Zuri had been inflicted by ninety nine black magic, it was a miracle to see her still standing and have a presence mind. It was an achievement.
“I like winter too,” Khaos replied to her statement.
“Really?” Zuri lifted her head slightly, she looked at him with her black eyes. “Since when?”
“Since a minute ago.”
Zuri laughed when she heard that. She was happier right now. “You copied me.”
“I like what you like.”
“Are you flirting with me?” Zuri squinted her eyes at him playfully. She liked this peaceful morning, resting on top of Khaos’s chest, having this random, meaningless conversation with him and simply laughing at his ridiculous statement.
“We should hold a ceremony for our union. I have marked you.” Khaos caressed her mark again absentmindedly. “Let’s have the union once Dacre paid the invoice I sent him.”
Zuri laughed even more. “You are so cheap!” She scrunched her nose, feigning disgusted look. “You are using his money for our ceremony?”
“Why not? It doesn’t matter the source of the money. Money is money.” Khaos shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and Zuri grinned. She liked it. Rubbing it to the king’s face where his money was going. “More so, it’s your idea to extort the king. I simply make an improvisation.”
Zuri wished she could be happy for a long time, she wished she would live after the completion of the beauty blood. Khaos was right. She didn’t want them to take away her memories, she wanted to remember every moment of it, especially the one that she shared with Khaos, just like this peaceful morning, resting on his chest lazily.
Unfortunately, the state of peace Zuri was in right now, was not felt by Nycta.
Dacre just visited her after ten days of his returned. Simply because she refused to eat anything before, he came to see her. She put herself and the baby at risk in this point and if it was the only way for her to get his attention, so be it.
“You are punishing me without even trying to understand my action.” Nycta stared at Dacre with hostility. She was sitting on her bed, leaning against the headrest, while Dacre stood next to her, his height was looming over her.
“There is nothing for me to understand. I heard enough to know what excuse you are going to give me.”
“Not excuse, a reason.”
“Do you think any explanation will be reasonable to explain what you have done?” And before Nycta could speak again, Dacre cut her off. “You think I slept with your sister?” He knew the answer immediately with the way Nycta pressed her lips. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have any desire to sleep with her.”
Nycta was so young, she would be eighteen years old when she gave birth to the baby, she was still childish and couldn’t think wisely, especially when all of her life, she was sheltered. Her status as a princess allowed her to make an impulsive decision, but right now she was a queen.
“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe that you never touched Rose. She is beautiful. She is intelligent, she is everything that men wanted and dreamed of.”
“But, I only want you,” Dacre replied and this shook Nycta. “If I wanted her, I would have chosen her. I could choose her from the beginning, but I chose you, because I only wanted you.”
“Liar. You are lying to me.”
“You really disappointed me through and through, Nycta.”
Nycta couldn’t accept that, the regret started seeping in and that was what Dacre wanted her to feel. He wanted her to feel regret, he wanted her to feel remorse for her action. He wanted to torture her slowly for her betrayal.
He couldn’t physically harm her, but pain had so many forms. You could kill someone without even touching them…
And that was what Dacre intended to do to Nycta. A slow, painful pain…
“Eat your food. You are going to put our child in danger.”
Nycta winched when she heard the way Dacre still called the baby in her womb as ‘our child’. She pressed her lips, showing her stubbornness.
“I will only eat if you promised me, you will call Rose back and have the union between her and alpha Logan. I want her to be mated to him as soon as possible. That will give me peace of mind.”
If she was going to go down, she would drag Rose through this misery with her. Speeding up the process of her union would put Rose’s life in misery, because she could see how reluctant she was to be the mate of a former beta.
But, to her surprised, Dacre nodded. “Your sister is on her way here. I have called her back. You can have a lovely discussion about what kind of union do you want,” he said casually with a snide remark. “Now, eat your food.”
“Where are you going?” Nycta asked when Dacre walked away, she wanted him to stay. She had not yet told him her reason. She had not yet made him understood why she did that.
However, Dacre didn’t listen to her and this broke her even more, she felt the pain for his ignorance.
Once Dacre left the queen palace, he went to the dungeon to visit Killian.
“I know, who you chose.” Killian lifted his head. “But, I want to tell you something about Khaos.”
Killian knew what decision Dacre made the moment he stepped into this cell. He could see it in his eyes that he gave up on him. The odd was not on his favor. The king needed his queen and she was currently pregnant. The baby was all he wanted, an heir to solidify his position.
It didn’t take a genius to know that. Killian knew it would end like this the moment he was exposed. It was stupid and reckless in his part and if he could turn back time, he was going to do it differently. His anger and jealousy were not good companion.
He made a reckless decision and he couldn’t salvage his predicament, but at least, he could save him. Him. He cared about him. Truly. Killian didn’t know when it started…
“What do you mean?” Dacre asked, he narrowed his eyes dangerously at Killian. The mention of Khaos’s name alerted him.
“Your life is in danger. Khaos wanted to raze this kingdom. It’s his plan all along,” Killian said, no matter what path he chose, he was going to end up dead. Therefore, he was going to do whatever he wanted and the only thing he wanted was to protect him, alert him of the danger that would come his way.
“I know it… I know it…” Dacre mumbled to himself. It didn’t go unnoticed that Killian called Khaos by his name only without his title, as if he had dropped all the formality. “He is too good to be my only advisor. I know that he aimed for the throne…”
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