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Gwyn Pov
Gwyn watched with mild interest as the human wait staff shuffled about the large dining area decorating and setting the table with food only fit for a king. Tonight was the feast before the execution and it was sure to be a grand one…
"What is that?!" Gwyn demanded when a male waiter tried to pa.s.s her quickly. The man froze in place; fear clouding his features. He was dressed the way all the servants were this evening, black b.u.t.ton down and slacks with a bright red bow tie.
"Uh its-its uh bbal" The man was so afraid that he could barely speak. Gwyn hardened her already cold features and pinned him with a death glare.
"Are those balloons?" she sneered already knowing the response. The poor human looked down at the multicolored unfilled bands in his hands shakily. Gwyn didn"t give him the chance to respond and instead smacked the lot of them from his quivering palms. "This isn"t a f.u.c.king birthday party! It"s an execution feast!" by the end of her rant the man was as pale as the moon that glinted in through the large floor to ceiling windows. Gwyn"s fangs were exposed which probably only added to his fear. He tried to pick the balloons up quickly if only to get away from her.
"Someone"s in a bad mood tonight" A very distinctively pitched and equally annoying voice spoke from behind. Gathering her cold calmness she turned gracefully around to face Lord Henry.
He looked as he always did; creepy. The long dark beard and eyebrows stuck out tremendously against his fair skin. For this evening he choose to wear a royal blue suite and matching tie. Henry was also a council member with a status almost as high as her own. Although now that Maximus had returned that maybe changing soon.
Lord Henry eyed her up and down with big l.u.s.tful eyes like he always did. He happened to be one of her many male suitors who believed that they still had a chance with the icy vamp. If they only knew how untrue that was. Gwyn forced more cold distance into her gaze to ward him off.
"It has been a tiring day, even for a vampire" she replied with a detached politeness.
"Well you look extravagant. Green is a great color for you my dear" Henry complimented taking her hand and kissing it ever so gently. Gwyn had to fight not to s.n.a.t.c.h her wrist and backhand him. Maybe one day she can convince Catalina, her love, to give him a nice firm handshake, gloves off.
"Was there something else I could do for you?" She asked through clenched teeth. The servants continued to hustle past them in preparations for the dinner due to start shortly.
"The queen has been awoken." Lord Henry stated pleasantly "She has been fed but not enough to give her real strength per the king"s orders. But she hasn"t spoken a word" he ended confused by Acacia, the queens, behavior.
Gwyn fought back a smile. Things were going in the right direction. Once Marcos was killed, Gwyn was willing to bet money that the queen would lose it and create a perfect distraction for little Miss a.n.a.lise to escape. The combination of events would make Ca.s.sius furious and uncontrollable therefore leading the king to make Catalina the next heir. Exactly where the princess belonged with Gwyn at her side of course.
"Excuse me Lord Henry" Gwyn said respectfully. She needed to find her lover and share the exciting news. However knowing Cata she probably already knew. Also it was time to clue in a.n.a.lise on exactly how she was to escape the blood castle…
Ana Pov
The words Ca.s.sius spoke to his father chilled me. History repeating itself. What did he mean? I had an idea but I wanted to know for sure what was going on. Ca.s.sius continued to carry me through the threshold of his father"s office but before he reached the stairs I stopped him.
"I can walk now" I said quietly. Ca.s.sius red eyes snapped down to me. Searching. After an intense moment of examining he nodded and placed me on my feet. The way he did it with so much care, had me rethinking my earlier thoughts of the prince. Maybe there was a good guy underneath all that bad boy charm.
My legs tingled unpleasantly but I ignored it and stood tall.
"What was that about? With your father and the history repeating thing?" I asked curiously. Ca.s.sius studied me for a moment as if thinking how much he should tell me. Finally his shoulders slumped and he gave in.
"My grandfather was rejected by his mate. The same thing happened with my mother. My father believes that it"ll only happen with me too" Ca.s.sius explained looking almost sad. The expression made my chest tighten.
"Your mother rejected your father after she already had his child?" That was unusual to me but I did just find out my mother married her mate before officially rejecting him.
"Children. And yes she did. No one knows exactly what happened or why but three hundred years ago my mother supposedly fell in love with a guard member by the name of Marcos. They decided to run away together and received help from my father"s a.s.sistant Ca.s.sandra. The plan was foiled when Marcos brother Maximus blew the lid off the whole thing. The two were punished and exiled." Ca.s.sius told the story with a blank face.
He was saying the words but he didn"t feel them. My guess was he didn"t believe them either. I would have asked more questions if I hadn"t been so stunned by Marcos involvement in all that. Marcos! Marcos. In love with the queen? It was hard to imagine my former captor capable of love but maybe that explained why he wanted to kill the king. More importantly why he needed me to do it.
"h.e.l.lo brother" A feminine sly voice said snapping me from my thoughts of Marcos. I turned my attention to a girl who"d suddenly appeared in front of us, blocking the stairs. I don"t know when she got there but she must have been fast because I didn"t even hear her approach.
At first glance she was beautiful, but then it changed. Her face was milky perfection, hard and angular. Slick brown hair was pulled away from her face into a tight ponytail that danced down her back. She wore what looked like a shiny black cat suit that clung to her perfect body like a second skin.
Yes this girl was attractive, but the calculating look in her red eyes and the slight snarl of her lip turned that beauty into something sinister. Something I instantly didn"t trust. I glanced at Ca.s.sius who had tensed since she popped up. His fist were balled and his eyes burned into her.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I"m Princess Catalina, Ca.s.sius younger sister" The princess spoke sugary sweetly to me while sticking out her gloved hand. I raised my brow at it. Why would she be wearing gloves indoors? Besides, as far as I knew vamps didn"t get cold unless platinum was pumping through threating to kill them.
"I"m a.n.a.lise or Ana for short" I replied back reaching for her hand. Ca.s.sius smacked it away before we made contact. What the heck?
"What do you want Cat?" He sneered with an anger I didn"t see coming. Clearly some brother sister issues going on here. Cat only smiled arrogantly at her brother.
"Only to tell you that our mother is awake and the execution is tonight at midnight. In case you weren"t aware of the schedule change" She taunted. Ca.s.sius surprised me by lurching forward at her. Catalina must have seen this coming because she used her vampire speed to get out of dodge somehow ending up in the place Ca.s.sius was previously occupying next to me. Yeah these two seriously have issues, but why?
"Now, now brother you wouldn"t want to upset me while I"m standing so close to your little mate" Catalina hinted slowly pulling the tip of the glove on her right hand as if she were going to take them off. It dawned on me that her words were threats and because of it I took a few steps away, more defensive now. I don"t know what is going on but if she involved me I would make her regret it.
So we all stood there in an awkward semi-circle watching each other. Except Ca.s.sius never took his red eyes off his sister. I noticed how his expression was anger, but hers was eager. It was as if this was giving her some kind of thrill. Weird. Warning bells went off in my head about the princess. I will definitely be keeping my eye on her.
Heels clicking on the tile floor diverted all our attention to a new arrival. Gwyn strolled gracefully into sight carrying her usual cold distance beauty.
"Hope I"m not intruding" she said smoothly stopping just outside of our impromptu circle. "Good evening Prince and Princess" She spoke formally with a stiff nod to each of them, but her eyes lingered on Catalina a second longer than they should have.
Interesting .
"I have just come to take a.n.a.lise to get changed into more suitable attire for this evening"s dinner and events" Gwyn stated. Ca.s.sius waved her off dismissally still in an intense eye lock with his sister.
Before I could say anything otherwise Gwyn yanked my hand and practically dragged me up the spiral stairs.
I looked back once more to see what was going to happen between them, but they still only shot hateful glares at each other. Geez his relationship with his sister is almost as bad as mine. Except if I were standing that close to Kim I"m sure she wouldn"t be staring at me but rather trying to kill me.
Gwyn was walking at quick pace, almost excitedly. I easily fell in step beside her. I had a theory about her but I wasn"t sure I wanted to call her out on it. Yet. So I chose a different approach as we reached the top.
"Why do they hate each other" I asked. No need to explain who "they" are, she knew exactly who I was talking about.
"Mainly because of their mother"s betrayal. Ca.s.sius didn"t agree with her punishment and Cata pushed for it. The princess won of course" she explained trying to maintain a blank face. Too bad I could see the ice cracking. We turned into one of the many long corridors, heading to what I a.s.sumed was the guest room she previously taken me.
"What kind of daughter would want her own mother punished? No wonder Ca.s.sius hates her, she"s evil" I remarked. Before I barely finished Gwyn attacked me. With lightning speed she had me pressed against the wall baring her fangs and hissing fiercely in my face.
"Ca.s.sius is a wh.o.r.e and spoiled mama"s boy! Cata does what needs to be done so shut your mouth!" Gwyn snarled. Bingo! I knew I had to get a reaction out her to prove my theory. I just didn"t know it would be so easy.
"You"re in love with the Princess" I accused. Her face paled and she instantly backed off of me. Gwyn tried to mold her icy demeanor back into place but it was too late. The ice was cracked and her reaction to my insult only thawed it more. Instead of replying to my accusation she turned on her heel and headed down the hall once more. If she thought she was getting off that easy she was wrong.
"So how does you love for the princess fit into your plan for becoming queen? Please do tell." I laughed. I wasn"t teasing her, well not much but it was a sticky situation. Trying to marry the brother while being secretly in love with the sister? Yeah I"ll stick to my three mate issue any day.
Gwyn halted and spun to face me.
"I"m the one trying to help you right now, so I suggest you shut your mouth about my personal affairs and do what I say" She snapped before entering the room with the red door.
Well she didn"t disagree with me which meant I was right. Of course it wasn"t hard to put together because in that second she looked at Catalina I saw in her eyes what I seen in my own; the look of a girl helplessly in love.
Deciding to drop the matter I grudgingly followed her into the ma.s.sive guest room. Everything was in perfect order like I was never in the room at all. The house keepers around here are really on their job. The cleaners did change the sheets on the bed to ones of a light shade of pink.
Gwyn disappeared into the walk in closet and I flopped on the bed listening to her rummaging and soft curses. Ignoring her cursing my name for figuring out her secret, I rest on the comfy bed.
My body was on the brink of exhaustion. The king had some serious power and so did his witch Raven. If I were to face them I definitely needed to prepare more. Right now I"m seriously in need of a blood boost. Hopefully this dinner included more than just normal food.
Before my thoughts could run even further away Gwyn was peering over me.
"Do you want to sleep or know my plan for you escape?" she asked sarcastically. I grunted and sat up.
"I want blood. But go ahead with your plan" I gestured with my hand for her to carry on.
"You"ll get blood at dinner after I get you out of that ridiculous outfit. As for my plan it"s simple. After tonight"s events the queen will go insane, cause a scene and during that time you will slip away. Once you"re out of sight, run back up to Ca.s.sius room and jump out his window" She summed up. I only stared at her. "Ca.s.sius window is the only weak part of the spell. If you break through it you will land in the ocean outside of Ravens cloak without alerting her. Ca.s.sius uses it when he wants to leave unannounced." She ended waiting on my response.
A thrill shot through me. I could very well be getting out of here in just a few hours. Finally getting back to my friends and my love. The moment I see him, my true mate, I"m declaring my love for him. No holding back. I"m ready.
As I thought about my escape a question came to mind…
"Why is the queen going to go insane? And what event is happening tonight anyway?" I asked. Should have asked these things early but I had enough going on in my head.
Gwyn had already walked off back into the large s.p.a.cious closet. It didn"t matter, even if I whispered she would have heard me. A second later she came back to the bed this time with a dress in hand.
"Tonight is the execution of the queen"s lover, Marcos. He will die and she will be forced to watch…"
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#Tobecontinued...