by N. J. Cooper
“Don’t make my mistake, Son. Keep your Kalani and don’t give her up. Not every rule should be a tradition, some need to be broken.” He sighed, his eyes closing. Zarek leaned down, smothering his father with his sobbing body. Kyla silently cried, her hand not leaving the Kings. He squeezed it slightly and as the healers turned up, taking him and his barely beating heart away, Kyla looked down at her palm, where a crinkled note was sitting in it.
‘Wait until I’m gone.’ The top of it read.
Kyla cried, moving into Zarek who was told to wait behind until they had him stable, but they both knew that wouldn’t happen. Even if they managed to steady him for a short while, the King’s time was up. The Queen waltzed down then, her flawless white gown irking Kyla, but she did feel a pang of sympathy when her eyes fell on her pale husband on the stretcher, being wheeled away by the healers.
“Carrick!” She cried, chasing after the healers, tears springing to her eyes. The Queen disappeared with her husband as fast as she had appeared. Kyla bit her lip and turned to Zarek.
“We’ll hear from them, when they are finished trying to heal him.” Kyla whispered. He nodded, swallowing back his emotion to address the others. He did, reassuring them everything was fine, when a small hand clasped around her wrist and pulled her away silently. Kyla spun ready to attack, when she looked into the pale blue eyes of Holly.
“Everything okay?” Kyla asked of Holly’s frown. Holly nodded.
“Yeah, but Wyatt wanted me to tell you that him and Sky are fine. They stayed until Onyx was gone but Wyatt had to get Sky back inside the walls of the ward. She overdid it, Kyla.” Holly admitted, her voice sincere but detached. Kyla panicked.
“By how much?”
“She let too many of them touch her, they’ve warped her and now she doesn’t know who anyone is. Wyatt has her back at the ward and locked up, but he is trying to bring her back, make her remember him, he’ll come back when he’s made some progress.” Holly retold. Kyla cursed under her breath then looked back at Holly.
“Okay, thanks for letting me know. Can you tell him that I’ll be there, as soon as we hear about the King.” Kyla asked. Holly nodded once, then left the room as quietly as she had come in. Kyla sighed and turned back to Zarek who had dispersed everyone to start cleaning up. Kyla’s neck had pretty much healed, each wound sewing itself back together, so she gave herself permission to help as much as she could, using her power to materialize the mansion, one marble and gold feature at a time.
***
It took hours for her and the others to get the mansion back to its original state, as if nothing had happened. She trudged up the stairs, her body aching everywhere, her eyes begging for sleep but her mind very aware that they hadn’t had any information on how the King was doing. She had briefly checked on her mother, knowing she had to go and give her mother the option of what she wanted but she couldn’t handle anything more that night. Kyla sighed and moved into her room, about to close the door when Zarek appeared in her doorway, looking worn and weary. She let him in, then shut the door. He didn’t wait for her to talk, he pressed her back against the door, then his lips into hers. Her body responded instantly, heating under his touch where his fingertips dug into her waist. Kyla kissed him back with as much need and desperation that he gave her. She needed him to take away her thoughts, to take away everything that had happened, to make her feel something good instead of the pain that shrouded her. He obviously felt the same because in the next moment, he had her lifted on to his waist, his lips still on hers as he moved them from her bedroom. She pulled away to see where he was taking them. He smiled tiredly as he moved them through the bathroom and the connecting door to his suite, that showed no evidence of his previous destructive behaviour. Instead the room was dressed in candles, a beautiful vanilla aroma, the curtains open to the bright moon with rose petals littering the room.
“Human romantic?” She guessed with a smile. He nodded with a grin, pressing her into the bed, his body climbing over hers as he found her lips with his own again.
“I need you. After everything, I just need to know we are as together as we can be.” He whispered, nuzzling into her neck. She sighed and wrapped her legs around his waist. She ran a hand through his hair.
“I want that too.” She agreed before losing herself in his touch. He took away every bad feeling with every trace of his fingers on her bare skin. He made her forget every bad memory with every kiss of his lips on hers. She had always had an idea of how sex worked, and she had never imagined herself thinking of it as anything more than a physical connection but as she gave herself to Zarek, she knew it wasn’t like that with him. Her mind, body and soul reacted to him like nothing she had ever expected. He was careful, tender and kind as he enjoyed the temporary salve that she provided. Their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces and she never wanted to be apart from him, never wanted to give up what they had. Her hand clutched his as Zarek’s heavy breathing brushed across her neck, her own blowing stray pieces of his hair away. He rolled off her, the heat their bodies had created together shown in the slick sheen of sweat that moisturized their skin. Kyla smiled as she looked up at the ceiling, her mind still in the clouds, her body still humming with happiness. He rolled over to face her.
“You okay?” He checked. She nodded and leaned in to kiss him lightly on his swollen lips.
“Better than okay.” She grinned. He smirked, returning her kiss. She could have easily fallen back into his charms, but their moment was interrupted when Orion burst into the room. Kyla gasped, clutching the sheet to her chest as Zarek sat up and smirked.
“Orion…” Zarek started but the look on his face had them both dropping their expressions.
“The King…” Kyla whispered. Orion shook his head.
“You’re in bed with him. King Carrick is dead”
~ 30 ~
Kyla smoothed down the black dress she had slipped into, her eyes red-rimmed and her hands shaking. She wasn’t sure if she’d actually stopped crying since Orion had given them the news. She hadn’t seen Zarek either, he had been with his mother paying respects in the grand hall over his father’s body. Kyla had exchanged her converse for black pumps and moved out of her room, towards the hall. Everyone had been coming in a steady stream to say goodbye to their beloved King and to congratulate Zarek. She hadn’t been able to yet. It had been three days and she hadn’t been able to accept that he was really gone, but she had to. She needed to go thank him for everything he had done for her and say goodbye. Her heels clicked harshly against the marble, her hair hanging around her face so she could hide her blotchy complexion as she thought about the way things had turned out after Onyx breaking through. Sky had been unreachable so far, even to Kyla. She recognized nothing and was either completely blank or lashing out. Wyatt had been over to the mansion to pay his respects but other than that, had stayed with Sky to keep trying to bring her back. It was going to be a long road though. Kyla placed her hand over her mouth, her footsteps slowing as she entered the grand hall. The King’s small body lay on a silky gold covered table in a pristine white casket. The hall had a few loiterers, but her attention was on Zarek who was on the throne at the front of the room, his mother next to him in a smaller chair, whispering in his ear. His face was unmoving, his eyes completely removed from expression. But it wasn’t just the way he sat completely unreadable, watching others say goodbye to his father, it was the fact that Elanor was standing next to him in a black dress that glittered with sequins and a heavy gold belt, with gold shoes and matching accessories. Her hair was up underneath the black hat she wore, its netting over her face, bedazzled with golden jewels, a tissue clutched in her bony hand. No doubt the Queens doing but it hurt none-the-less. Kyla faltered, her gaze falling on him. He must have tensed because his mother frowned and turned to Kyla. The Queen wore a similar outfit to Elanor, the striking resemblance probably a deliberate show of unity, as Zarek wore all black with a gold tie. And Kyla didn’t fit into that. That was ob
vious by the way the Queen stood from her chair and waltzed her lithe body down the stairs.
“Oracle, you come at last. One might think you had forgotten who allows you to stand here today, as one of us.” The Queen jibed. Kyla clenched her fists at the implication that she could ever forget the King.
“The King was special to me. I would never forget him or everything he did for me.” Kyla bit back. Zarek came down to her then, his stride impossibly confident.
“Say your respects, Kyla.” He looked towards his father, his arm clutching his mothers and pulling her away. The Queen snatched her arm from his grasp and scowled.
“Yes, pay them and then I think it is time for you to go. The mansion is for the Royals, and as you are not, it’s best if you leave to Imperium Area as soon as possible.” The Queen said, head held high. Kyla gasped, looking over to Zarek who clenched his jaw and came forward.
“Mother, I told you I would handle it.” He bit. Kyla frowned.
“Handle what?” She demanded. Zarek kept all emotion from his face as he faced her again.
“I am to be crowned on the next full moon, Kyla. I need to stay here and prepare for what that entails. You belong with our kind in Imperium Area.” Zarek admitted. Kyla swallowed deeply. He hadn’t said they were ending things, just that she had to go back, which she had known would happen eventually. But even as she thought it through with logic, her heart splintered, he hadn’t said they were ending but his face sure looked like that’s what he meant.
“I finish the Academy at the end of this year, that’s only a few months away. Where do I go from there? I don’t have a home here, my life in Velatem has consisted of this place and the Academy.” Kyla replied shakily. Zarek smirked half-heartedly.
“I followed a hunch Kyla and it’s paid off. I was going to surprise you but that was before…everything happened. Now I won’t be coming back with you to show you, but I had Shay take some blood samples from your mom. She had the same visions as you and it had me thinking that maybe she is like you. No power but with our blood. The test was positive, she is a supernatural,” Zarek said softly. Kyla gasped.
“So, she can come here?” Kyla realised, her eyes widening, fresh tears springing. Zarek nodded.
“Yeah, she’s already here. She’s got a place close to the school, where you can be with her when you finish at the Academy and on holidays.” He said, his eyes glistening. He still cared for her, he had given her the one thing she needed and even though it made her irrefutably happy, the niggling sense that he was only telling her it now, was to soften the blow of him leaving her.
“Thank you Zarek.” Kyla smiled.
“That’s Prince Zarek, Oracle.” The Queen interjected harshly. Kyla rolled her eyes and turned away. She was done being treated like that from her. She had done nothing to deserve it, only fall in love with her son. Kyla turned away and walked over to the casket, her hand holding the Kings in hers. She looked back at them.
“I’d like to pay my respects now.” She said. Zarek nodded and moved back to the throne, his mother taking her seat next to him. Kyla leaned in by the King, his face peaceful and fresh. His hair white, his suit matching.
“Thank you, your Majesty. I won’t give up on him, I won’t let him make your mistake and I promise, I will figure out what you meant in your note.” Kyla whispered, placing a tear-wet kiss on his tissue-soft cheek. She gave his hand one last squeeze before walking over to the thrones on the elevated platform. She bowed before Zarek.
“Congratulations your Majesty,” Kyla offered formally. He nodded without a word as the Queen scoffed. Ignoring their reactions, Kyla looked straight at Zarek, the formalities done with, she was ready to have him hear what she needed to say.
“What happens now Zarek?” she asked boldly. He hid a smirk behind his fingers that held his chin.
“I become King. You go back to Imperium.” He stated. Kyla shook her head.
“I meant, what happens with us? You still want to get hitched or not?” Kyla asked outright, too weary from King Carrick dying and Sky’s behaviour to be sensitive around the issue. He chuckled and shook his head, then turned to his mother.
“Is there any point in me asking you for permission?” He glared. She scoffed again.
“Of course not. You will marry Elanor. It is settled and the ceremony will happen in three weeks.” His mother smiled. Kyla gasped, her step faltering back. She hadn’t expected that. Heat burned through her veins; anger ignited. Zarek just looked sad when he turned to her.
“Until I am crowned, my mother is in charge. That’s why she is rushing me and Elanor, so that it happens before I take the crown, so I have to obey,” Zarek sighed, and if he hadn’t looked so miserable about it, she would have taken her anger out on him, as it was though, she simply smiled.
“Great, so all I have to do, is make it impossible to marry before you’re King? Easy.” Kyla said stepping up onto the level with them. She ignored the protests from the Queen and leaned in to Zarek, her lips crushing against his, her hand going to the side of his face as he gripped her waist. She savoured every tingle in her lips that his mouth made before pulling back, stamping down the heat that erupted inside her. She winked down at his stunned face.
“Don’t worry babe, this Kalani isn’t letting you go without a fight.” She whispered before leaving back down the steps and out of the throne room with a grin. He had given her mother back to her, she wasn’t going to let him live a life that he hated without the one thing he wanted, which was her. And she wasn’t going to give up until she was the one standing next to Zarek, as she should be.
~ EPILOGUE ~
Three days later
“Onyx, my son is dead! Our son is dead!” A shrill voice cried in Kyla’s mind. She winced through the aching pressure, climbing from her bed and into the vision that had woken her. She crouched down behind the concrete bench that hid her presence, watching as the woman in the coat she had seen last time, spoke into a portal that shimmered with a figure that was assumedly Onyx.
Kyla frowned at the petulant voice. She knew it but couldn’t pinpoint from where. She inched closer, her back pressed against the concrete so she could listen as she tried to keep her heartbeat from drumming so loudly in her ear.
“I know my love. Byron’s loss hurts me as much as it does you, but we will get revenge on those responsible.” Onyx’s distorted voice reassured the hysteric woman who sounded as though she was crying. As usual, her face was hidden from Kyla.
“You can’t hurt him, Onyx. You promised, Zarek is not to be harmed. He is my son just as much as Byron was and I won’t have him punished. This is her fault, not his. She has bewitched him.” The voice said, and Kyla had to clamp her hand over her mouth to hold in the gasp. That voice, Zarek was her son…but so was Byron? Kyla tried to keep her racing heart steady, as the urge to scream overtook her. The Queen was working with Onyx and she had been all along.
“I will keep my promise, my love. But I will have my revenge. Everything is going according to plan,” He chuckled manically. The Queen screeched.
“How can you say that?! Byron is dead.” She wailed. Kyla winced at the pain she heard in Lena’s voice.
“Because my love, I have the Oracle’s pendant and with it, I will take her down.”
Kyla ripped herself from the vision, screaming upright in bed. She cried, clutching her arms around herself, her dorm room eerily silent. She had left the mansion, the day she had said goodbye to the King and hadn’t heard from Zarek since. The Queen was forbidding it, saying he had to concentrate on his duties before the crowning. Until then, she was in charge and there was nothing Kyla could do. She went to class, mulled over the Kings cryptic note which had said;
‘Dig deep Kyla, there are secrets that need to come out and when they do, you will have everything you need to beat him because he will be back and Zarek will need you more than ever when that happens. Stay strong and look closer to home.’ He had penned to her. She hadn’t understood what that ha
d meant until now. All she wanted to do was ring Zarek and tell him about the vision but how could she tell him, that his mother was the reason his father was dead? Or that he, himself had killed his half-brother? Kyla couldn’t do that and kept her vision to herself, snuggling back into bed, holding her hand over the empty spot where her pendant used to be and crying herself to sleep, as the hope that things were over, crumbled to dust with every tear that slipped down her cheek.
Book 3 in The Oracle Series
The Final Prophecy
Coming November 2019
Note from the author:
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you are enjoying Kyla and Zarek’s journey so far. They have a while to go but all will come together in the third and final instalment that comes out next month.
So, during this series there are a few names I have dropped that are actually important characters who have their own story to tell. The Velatem Realm that Kyla and Zarek are in, has so much more in it than Imperium Area and I’m going to introduce you to as much of it as I can. The Fae realm, the Hidden realm and even the Taylor’s from the first book have stories to be told and I plan on telling them.
If you want to check out when they are being released and who is coming next in this amazing world then make sure you check out my website and sign up to my monthly newsletter.
Otherwise follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @NicoleAWriter.
Again, thank you for reading, x
N.J Cooper
P.S. I am currently co-authoring a series called Survival Instincts. It’s an apocalyptic-thriller series, so if you’re into that kind of thing, then make sure you get your copy of the first book ‘SACRIFICE’ written under our joint penname: J.J Andersen.