“Meet the men responsible for my father-in-law death, the death of my sister-in-law, the murder of hundreds of people, the rape of my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, attempted murder of my husband, and my exile from my home for years?” Saina maintained eye contact unwaveringly. “Is that what you’re asking, Marisol?”
“I’m asking you to meet the father of my children and Sharma’s children, our husbands,” Marisol growled impatiently.
“Sorry, sis, I’m not the forgiving kind,” Saina muttered. Another labor pain gripped her again, and it was getting harder and harder to hide what was happening to her. She started to leave the room, but Marisol grabbed her arm. Saina grimaced.
The two guards standing in the room made as if they were about to descend on them.
Saina raised her hand to stop that action.
“You are so damn sanctimonious!” Marisol trembled with outrage.
“You might want to let her go,” Tarik said coolly. His sudden appearance in the doorway startled both women.
Saina was more than relieved to see him and pulled her arm out of Marisol’s grip. “Hello, brother dear. You’re just in time to stop me from bitch-slapping my dear sister.”
“Well, don’t let me ruin your fun.” Tarik walked farther into the room. He sat and crossed his legs. “I’m just the poor sap who got stuck with babysitting duties.” Tarik grinned.
“Now, Marisol, what can I do for you?” Saina smirked.
“You can start by getting the fuck out of Calison,” Henric, Marisol’s husband, came into the room, accompanied by Sharma and her husband. He pointed what looked like a pen at her.
Saina had no idea what was in his hand, but from Tarik’s reaction, she knew that things had just turned dangerously unpleasant.
Tarik ran to stand in front of her, blocking Henric’s direct access to her. “How do these bastards just walk in as they please?” Tarik muttered, the concern in his voice palatable.
The guards also moved forward but were immediately cut down by a swarm of men who entered the room.
“They have more right to be in here than you do,” Marisol spat bitterly.
Saina was alarmed by how swiftly they were outnumbered. She grabbed Tarik’s forearm and stood as close to him as she could. “I’m not going to debate that. Clearly we all underestimated your love for your brother and for Calison and its people.”
“We have no intention of debating anything,” Henric sneered.
Everything in Saina went on alert. Her stomach tightened, and she almost bowed over to the pain. Easy, baby. Mommy’s got you. She placed her hand on her stomach, trying to soothe the baby and perhaps slow down the contractions. A slight movement of Henric’s finger made her act immediately. She heard Tarik gasp in pain, and water gushed from between her legs right before she transported.
Thorne finally entered the basement of the house. It was a dark, airless room that was massive and empty but for a single cot in the middle of the room. The clogging scent of fecal matter and urine perfumed the air. He covered his nose with his palm, but still the scent was unrelenting.
His mother stood next to the bed, calmly staring down at Anders, King of Lokede. The sound of her contented hums filled the air. She was happy.
Thorne moved farther into the room. The closer he came to the bed, the more alarmed he became. His mother seemed oblivious to his presence. Even as he stood right next to her, she didn’t remove her gaze from the man strapped to the bed.
Anders was completely naked and covered with bruises all over his body. He looked as though he had a few broken limbs as well, but Thorne wasn’t certain without examining him. The floor around the bed was sleek with blood and other bodily fluids.
“It wasn’t difficult capturing him,” Lenora said calmly.
Anders stared at Thorne with a stark desperation. He seemed confused about whether Thorne was his savior or executioner.
“Oh?” Thorne spoke softly, almost afraid that he could provoke his mother into another extreme act.
“Wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, he thought I wanted him. That’s why he’s here. He thinks I want his smelly, nasty body next to mine,” Lenora spat. “Can you imagine that? Damn old fool.”
“Why did you capture him, Mother?”
“He deserves to die for what he did to your father. Die for what he did to my baby, and for damn sure, he deserves to die for what he did to me.” She lifted the whip in her hand and hit him with a vicious force in his stomach.
Anders screamed. The tight band over his mouth muffled the sound.
“It’s sad really.” Lenora spoke softly, ignoring Anders’ whimpers. “I’ve had him here for a month, and still I can’t bring myself to kill him.”
“Mother, let me take you home. Andre can return Anders to Lokede.”
“Do you think he’s suffered enough, Thorne?” she asked thoughtfully and whacked him again, this time on the genitals.
Anders howled.
“He doesn’t like that one.” Lenora cupped her palm over her mouth as though she was telling him a secret.
Thorne blamed himself for his mother’s break from reality. He’d been so focused on his life and taking care of Saina and the baby that he’d neglected his mother’s needs. Clearly, she was in tremendous pain. “Mother, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what, dear?”
Thorne sighed. “I should’ve come for you sooner. I should’ve protected you better.”
“You’re a man, dear. And like all men, you’re selfish and stupid. Only a woman would’ve come up with the ingenuity to get us out of there without anyone being hurt. That’s why we’re the stronger sex.” Lenora brought the whip down hard over Anders’ chest.
Thorne wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her.
“Put me down, dear,” she demanded in a dead voice.
It chilled him how calm she seemed. She didn’t struggle or raise her voice.
“I’m taking you home, Mother.”
“Are you going to kill him?” She kept her gaze trained on Anders and hadn’t looked at Thorne once since he’d come into the room.
“Is that what you want?” He was anguished by her obvious pain.
“Would you please?”
Anders sputtered with indignity behind his gag.
Thorne wished more than anything that Saina was here. She would better be able to interrupt the situation and his mother’s state of mind. He simply wanted to give his mother peace. “Will that make you happy, Mama?” His voice cracked with emotion.
She finally turned and looked at him, holding his gaze with unexpected strength. He thought he would look into her eyes and see someone lost. However, her gaze glistened with emotion, and she seemed completely in control.
“You’ve made me happy, darling.” She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry that I’ve frightened you, but this aberration needed to be punished.”
“I will take care of him, Mama. Can I take you out of here now? I don’t like that you’re breathing in this air.”
She looked around the room as though she’d never seen it before. “For the first few years, this is how he made me live,” she said softly. “That’s when he wasn’t forcing himself on me. I fought so hard, darling, but he was so much stronger. He forced me to betray your father, something I would’ve never done.” She closed her eyes in despair.
“Come.” Thorne wrapped his arm around her slender frame and transported.
Chapter Eighteen
“You’re a good son, sweetheart,” his mother was saying to him as they reappeared in the middle of her bedroom back at the palace. However, the screams, loud sounds of fighting, and the unmistakable chaos in the entirety of the castle made Thorne’s blood curdle. He grabbed his mother’s hand, ran to the far wall, and pressed a few buttons on the panel there. The wall immediately shifted to reveal a hidden room behind it. He quickly pushed her into it. “Stay here until I come for you. Don’t come out unless you kn
ow it’s me.”
“But—”
“Not now, Mom, I have to get Saina.” Thorne closed the wall behind him and teleported to his own bedroom. Fear unlike anything he’d experienced before consumed him. Saina was not in the hidden room off the master bedroom. It had been Saina’s idea to have the rooms secretly built in case another attack happened again. There were four secret rooms constructed, with only he and Saina having the access codes. After calling Andre to get back to the castle as soon as possible, he quickly pulled on the body armor made from a thin chemically enhanced fabric that was built to shield him from the laser that had so mortally wounded him in the past. The armor fitted like a body suit, covering his arms and legs as well. Instead of his usual attire of white tunic and pants, he wore all black: pants, shirt, and boots. The only part of him exposed was his head.
Thorne quietly exited his room with his laser and sword strapped to his body. He was immediately drawn into a laser fight. So far, no flesh-eating laser had been directed at him, and now he was aware of who had invaded his castle. Henric and his men! If that bastard hurt so much as a strand of hair on Saina’s head he’d ensure that fucker never breathed again. He palmed his sword, a lightweight, slender and razor-sharp weapon, and started cutting through the men attacking his soldiers in the upper rooms. In a few short minutes, Thorne and his men had regained control of the upper part of the castle and started making their way downstairs.
They fought from room to room, dispatching Henric’s men with deadly precision. Finally, they were able to push the attackers into retreat and were on the front lawn fighting before Thorne caught sight of Henric and his brother, Hans.
His sisters and their children, like many of the household staff, stood to the edge of the lawn, shielded by nearby large trees. There were no signs of Saina or Tarik being among them.
Thorne didn’t waste any more time in confronting the men. He wanted them out of Calison and out of his life permanently. The advantage of being able to transport allowed him to arrive next to them without delay or obstruction, and he had his sword buried in Hans’ throat and his fist around Henric’s neck before either man could defend himself.
Hans was dead before his body even made it to the ground. And Henric was no match for Thorne’s brute strength.
Every man around them stopped fighting in shock at the swiftness of his action. Henric’s men retreated. After having already lost their king, now a prince, and possibly the current king, stark fear filled their eyes.
“Where’s my wife, Henric?” Thorne asked, knowing that with his fingers crushing the other man’s larynx, it would be impossible for him to answer.
“Let him go, you bastard!”
Thorne wasn’t surprised by Marisol’s defense of her husband. He was surprised, however, by the laser she had pointed at him. It wasn’t difficult to identify the laser that had come so close to killing him.
“You would kill me over the man who killed your father?” Thorne asked her mildly, although sadly, he already knew the answer to that.
“Kill you?” she asked bitterly. “I’ve been trying to kill you for the past nineteen years! But you won’t fucking die!” she screamed.
The crowd around them gasped.
“It was you who betrayed our family and let them in through our defenses?” He looked to Andre who’d just arrived on the lawn.
Andre started edging toward them.
Her eyes gleamed with triumph, as though hearing it out loud was a matter of such pride. “Back then and now,” she confirmed. “Why should you automatically inherit Calison? You don’t deserve it! You never bothered to learn what Father taught, but I did. You were never here to defend Calison, as I proved then and now! It wasn’t hard to convince Father of your lack of devotion. In fact, the old fool thought that his amendment to the inheritance law would force you to care. You didn’t even notice the law change despite it being in your briefings every morning for an entire month!” Marisol laughed hysterically.
“Why did you have to kill him?” Thorne’s mind raced with fear for Saina. He’d stupidly left Saina in the same room as this lunatic.
“Stupid man arranged your marriage to Saina. I had to eliminate all of you!”
“Saina was a toddler!”
“I did all of it to avoid exactly what you did anyway!” she screamed through clenched teeth. “Look at her! Already she’s so fucking fertile! Don’t worry though. I’ll eventually find her and eliminate her too.”
Thorne breathed a little easier on the confirmation that Saina hadn’t been harmed as yet.
“Get on with it, my queen.”
Raoul’s sudden appearance shocked all of them. There had been wanted signs out for Raoul for months, and no one had sighted him.
“You’re right, Raoul. I just wanted him to understand how—”
Thorne moved swiftly, dragging his blade across Henric’s thick neck. He threw the man’s lifeless body away from him.
Marisol screamed in outrage and fired her laser.
“No!” Saina cried out as she ran toward Thorne with a speed belied by her incredible girth.
Everything seemed to happen at once. Marisol fired her laser at Thorne, and then Saina threw herself at Thorne to block the path of the laser.
Saina crashed to the ground with a fast-gaping hole in her chest.
Thorne roared in fury. He threw his sword to bury it in Marisol’s chest, pulled his laser, and shot both Raoul and Marisol in the heads. He ignored the chaos that ensued and dropped to his knees beside Saina, who was now covered with blood. On seeing the hole in her chest, his gaze blared with tears.
“Why the fuck did you do that?” he whispered in horror.
“You…are… my…heart,” she wheezed out. Her breathing was shallow, and she seemed to be choking on her own blood. She started gurgling as though she were trying to scream. She clutched her stomach with her palms in pain.
Despite knowing that he had to keep a cool head and be a doctor now, he couldn’t stop his violent shudders and the tears pouring down his face. “Is it the baby?”
She shook her head no as she, too, started crying.
“I have to get you two out of here.” He gathered her close to him and stood. With swift strides, he quickly entered the castle. For the first time in his life, he felt lost. With his vision obscured, it was almost impossible for him to see where he was going.
The dress was soaked with her blood, and he was terrified the laser had penetrated a major artery.
He was frantic.
“Come this way.”
The soft sound of his mother’s voice almost brought him to his knees. He followed obediently in her wake. His mother led him to the medical room he’d had installed for exactly this reason. He gently placed Saina on the bed and wiped the tears from his eyes with swift determined motions.
“How is she?” Tarik ran into the room.
Thorne glared at him. “Where the fuck were you? You were supposed to be watching her!”
“I was watching her.” Tarik came closer to the bed and watched Thorne’s hurried actions before diving in to help.
They quickly cut the dress from her body. Tarik examined her chest, and Thorne tried to clear the blood from her throat. Once he ensured that she could breathe properly again, he examined her labor progress.
“The laser penetrated her lung, a rib, and narrowly missed her pulmonary artery,” Tarik reported. “Already you’re healing.”
Thorne quickly looked up and examined her chest for himself. He lifted his head and smiled tenderly. “I forget sometimes how strong you are.” He brushed her lips with his.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Thorne kissed her again. “That word is inadequate to say how I feel about you.” His gaze blared again with emotion. “I couldn’t live without you, baby. Please don’t do something like this again. The thought of being separated from you is unbearable.”
“I feel the same. That
’s why I couldn’t let her shoot you.”
“You have more to think about than just me. What about our baby?”
“How’s the baby?” Saina looked at Tarik for answers.
“Definitely better than you,” Tarik joked.
Thorne went back to examining her again. He frowned. “I don’t hear a heartbeat,” he whispered in concern.
“Well, I hope not,” Tarik smirked.
Thorne glared at him.
Saina slapped Tarik in his stomach weakly. “Stop teasing him,” she murmured.
“I need to get a scan in here, see what’s happening to the baby.” Thorne was anxious. “Can you heal yourself and the baby?”
“No, darling, there’s no need,” Saina whispered.
“What’re you saying?” Thorne held his breath, and a numbing fear gripped him.
Saina smiled gently. “Tarik?”
“Can’t we wait just a little while longer? He’s so deliciously worried.”
“Tarik!” she admonished.
“Okay, okay, I’ll get the damn scan.” He stood and left the room.
Saina raised her hand and started to smooth the worry frown from Thorne’s forehead. “I will be fine. It’s taking longer to heal because I had to help heal Tarik.”
“What happened to Tarik?”
“Henric shot him with a laser. I teleported us back to Tarik’s apartment and tried to heal him. As you know, I get weak after each healing. It’s a good thing Tarik also has the ability to heal.”
“What?”
“Yeah, shocked me too. But I’m grateful for it now because I’m pretty sure I felt his handiwork just now.”
Thorne nodded. Now that he could think clearly, the attack from Marisol flashed before him again. Marisol could’ve so easily have attacked Saina and his baby, and he’d left her free to harm. If they had shot her in the head, Saina’s ability to heal herself would be irrelevant. He shuddered with remorse at his carelessness in protecting his family. “How are you not angry with me? I left you with that lunatic and exposed you and our baby to mortal danger.”
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