Eternal Conflict - Book 7 (The Ruby Ring Saga)

by Chrissy Peebles

  “Please don’t hurt them,” I pleaded.

  His eyes were cold and full of hate. “Then surrender to my men, Sarah.”

  “I’ll do it!” I shouted across the chasm.

  Victor looked at me in horror.

  “Just to buy more time,” I said in his head. I then walked closer to the edge and yelled, “Tell me where to meet you.”

  He held his sword high. “I will give you that information after the executions take place.”

  “That’s not the deal!”

  Ethano then focused on Victor. “What a weak queen you have,” he said. “She’s willing to sacrifice herself for the lives of two people. It’s pathetic.” He then gazed at Victor’s men. “Is that the kind of queen you want, a weakling and a fool?”

  “Just state your terms,” I said.

  “You really are a pitiable creature,” he said. “Della is your husband’s ex-lover, and William tried to kill you and fought your beloved Victor for years. Why would you even attempt to help them?”

  “Ethano, please,” Liz cried. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “I’m at your mercy as well,” Charles shouted. “Just please don’t hurt my parents.”

  Ethano paced like a caged zoo lion. “Now you’ll know how I felt when Victor and Della took both my parents away from me!”

  “No!” Liz shouted.

  “When my parents died, I swore revenge. Della must pay, and Victor will pay as well.”

  “Do whatever you wish to me,” Victor said, “but Della had no hand in slaying your father. I killed him, and because of their bond, your mother died as well.”

  “She helped you, dear brother. Therefore, I hold her partially responsible.”

  “We’ll give you whatever you want,” Charles said.

  Liz stepped closer. “Let’s put a deal on the table, Ethano.”

  Ethano laughed. “A deal will not provide me with the vengeance I seek, silly girl.” Then, with one quick swipe of the sword, he sliced off Della’s head. I looked on in horror as her headless body fell to the grass, spurting blood all over the place, and William crashed down next to her in a trembling heap. When Della was killed, so was he. In a blur, Ethano swung his sword again and cut off William’s head anyway. He then held his bloody blade over another familiar figure.

  “Jules!” I shouted, noticing that Mia was next to him as well.

  “I have your pets,” Ethano said. “I’ve no idea why you hold these lowly servants in such high regard.”

  I was numb and in shock, but I knew I had to stay calm. Ethano was off his rocker and clearly wanted to murder everyone I loved and held dear. “Ethano,” I said, “please let Jules and Mia go.”

  He glared at me. “If I was not willing to spare a king or queen, why would I spare the lives of mere peasants?”

  “I’ll give you anything,” I shouted. “Just take me instead.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he shouted back. “Show me how sincere you are.” Then, before I could say another word, he decapitated Jules, and his body fell. When Mia screamed in horror, he killed her in the same manner as the others.

  “No!” I shouted.

  Liz screamed, Charles fell to his knees. Knights cried out, and I fell into Victor’s arms as grief ripped through me.

  “My king!” one of William’s knights cried.

  Ethano held the bloody head of William high in the air. “Dear Charles, I’ve just made you a king, and Elizabeth, you are no longer just a princess, my love.”

  “You are a dead man!” Victor roared.

  “I will leave the bodies here so you can have a proper burial. Consider it a gift. We shall meet again soon.” With that, Ethano turned and traced away.

  Elizabeth sobbed into Charles’s chest. I’d never seen Charles so lost, heartbroken, and upset. We had been so sure that it couldn’t get any worse, but it had. Ethano’s men placed our friends’ heads on poles, along with the others, and that only made the whole thing more vile.

  Victor and Charles stormed off in a fit of anger, swearing every type of revenge there was.

  I’d never seen Liz cry so hard, and my heart went out to her. I held her in my arms, and she just wept. “He was there for me,” she said between sobs. “When I had nobody, he took me in. When I married Charles, William helped me escape from the immortals who wanted to kill me. He devised a plan to save my life, and now he’s…he’s…”

  “Shh.” I stroked her back, and she let out a few more sobs.

  “And Della wasn’t just my mother-in-law. She was also my best friend,” she said, her face streaked with tears.

  I shook my head sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too. I know how much Jules and Mia meant to you,” she said, sniffling.

  I wiped my tears, and a deep frown crossed my face. “They died because of me. Being loyal to me made them a target. None of them deserved that kind of fate.”

  “Della and William were the kindest souls I ever met.”

  We both burst out in more tears.

  * * *

  Knights from the rebellion swept in and informed us that Ethano’s offer to let us bury the bodies was only a trap, so he could capture us. We tricked our enemy into leaving so we could bring our fallen ones back for a proper burial. When they were sure the coast was clear, they brought William, Della, Jules, and Mia back and buried them in a peaceful meadow, by a waterfall. We had a funeral for them, and all the others we lost. It was one of the saddest days of my life. Liz and Charles were devastated, absolutely crushed, and so were the rest of us.

  We stood in silence, united in grief. A priest talked about their lives, and I listened intently as tears dripped down my face. Mourners lined up to say goodbye to the king and queen.

  After the ceremony, I placed a white rose on each grave. “I’m so sorry,” I said, my lower lip trembling.

  I broke into more tears of disbelief and heartache as Victor held me in his arms. I thought about Mia’s great heart and big smile. I recalled how Jules had helped us when I first arrived, after I escaped from Victor’s wedding reception. After Jules and Mia got married, they were inseparable, and I’d never seen two people more in love. We became good friends over the course of the next year. He was sweet, kind, and compassionate. Every time I saw him, he had a smile on his face. Jules and Mia were truly happy, but now they were dead, all because of me.

  Charles closed his eyes and swallowed hard, then wept. “I’ll always love you, Mother and Father.”

  “I’m not ready to say goodbye,” Liz said, her voice wavering.

  “They’ll be forever in our hearts, my love,” Charles said, choking back tears, “and they will never be forgotten, not for all eternity.” When Liz let out an anguished cry and broke down again, he comforted her, in spite of his own pain. He was an amazing man of remarkable strength.

  “It’s as if the sun has disappeared completely,” Liz whispered as she laid down her white rose. “This world will be so, so dark without you.”

  Victor was torn by grief. “Ethano will pay for his crimes. Della, William, Jules, Mia, and those soldiers did not deserve to die, and I will not allow their spilled blood to go unavenged.”

  Chapter 18

  Back at the small cottage, we got ready for bed.

  Victor looked blankly at me but said nothing.

  “Victor?” I said. I took his hand, but he still remained silent. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

  He peered at me, then looked away.

  “We’re all upset. All our hearts have been ripped out.”

  “I want to kill him,” Victor said. “I destroyed the army he left to defend the cliffs, fought them with every ounce of anger I had and didn’t leave one of them alive. But even that didn’t appease my anger. I thought I could now control the rage and anger that flows through my veins. I do not wish to be like my father, but I have never wanted to kill anyone more than I want to kill my brother. I feel the dark parts of me are returning. Maybe I am a monster, jus
t like Ethano, like my father and his father before him.”

  “You’re nothing like Ethano! That’s only your bitter grief talking.”

  “Just as I can’t run from my own shadow, I can’t run from the rage that threatens to consume me. I feel like a beast is taking my place.”

  “You are not your father. You are enraged, mad at Ethano, and why wouldn’t you be? He has murdered so many people, in a violent way. Those angry feelings are normal.”

  “This monster lies inside, lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to make its appearance. I try to keep it caged, hoping it’ll never come out and hurt anyone, but it threatens to consume my soul.”

  “I know you better than anyone. You are nothing like your father. You are the man I love, the man I married and chose to spend the rest of eternity with. I’m proud that you are the father of my son, and I couldn’t ask for a better husband.”

  “Then I must slay the raging monster inside me once and for all, for if it returns, I am afraid it might stay.”

  I held out my hand. “Let help. You don’t have to go it alone. I’m here to support you, because I love you.”

  “I want to let you in, but I just… I can’t. Not yet, my love.”

  “You can’t let go of the anger? That’s what feeds that monster inside of you. You try to hide your feelings of fear, betrayal, sadness, guilt, and hurt, but all those emotions have to go somewhere. Your anger is just a substitute for all the feelings you’re trying so hard to hide.”

  “I can’t control it. I am trying, but nothing I do seems to work. Even if I do manage to stifle this anger, this fury, I fear it will only return again, with disastrous results.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Most of all, I certainly don’t want to pass this monster down to future generations. I carry my father’s blood just like my brother who is pure evil.”

  “But you have your mother’s heart.”

  “You know what Ethano is capable of! He killed Charles’s parents right before our eyes. It was horrible, and I wanted to rip his heart out right then and there. How can the devil I hate come from my very own bloodline? I fear I am doomed, for I am spawned from the same genetic pool.”

  “You’re nothing like that devil,” I said.

  “I was the devil.” He pondered long and hard before he said horrible words I did not want to hear: “We should have no more children, Sarah.”

  The words cut deep, and my heart bled at the thought. I wanted many children with Victor, and I didn’t want our Alexander to be an only child. I wanted nothing more than the pitter-patter of many little feet to wander our castle halls. Victor came from a dark past, but he had worked hard to redeem himself, and he had proven, time and time again, that he wasn’t the monster his father was.

  I gripped his hands. “It takes a courageous man to learn, to choose to be different from his father. We can break the chain of anger and aggression that’s been passed down through the generations. It’s more about nurture than nature. Your father did awful things to you, yet here you are, trying to do good, to save lives.”

  He touched my face, and tears welled in his eyes. “Please do not be angry, but I simply cannot abide the idea of populating the world with more from my bloodline.”

  “You are Alexander’s role model. If you control your anger, you’ll break the chain of anger.”

  “My great-grandfather was a tyrant, and so were my grandfather and father. Every day, it is a great struggle for me not to be like them. I watched my father slice a servant girl’s neck because his food wasn’t hot enough. That was the man who would be Alexander’s grandfather. I’m glad he’s dead, so our son will never have to meet him.”

  My stomach clenched. “I can’t believe you don’t want to have any more kids.”

  “We have a beautiful child already, my love,” he said. “He’s all we need for a perfect life.

  Anger is such a destructive emotion. I don’t want you spending your whole life trying to defuse me.”

  “If I’m not worried about that, you shouldn’t be either,” I said.

  He let out a long breath. “You believe I am the perfect man for you, but I fear I am not. I’m so…broken. You had no idea who I was when we got married.”

  “I knew.”

  “Only a little. You had no idea how deeply flawed I am. You don’t really know the man I was before you met me. Della saw the monster up close and personal. We loved each other deeply, but love wasn’t enough to keep us together.”

  “We will not end up that way. I will never leave you. Don’t you know by now that I’ll stand by you until the very end? I’ve already given up everything to be with you. You’re my life, and I love you.”

  He cupped my face ever so softly. “I love you too.”

  “Whatever demons you have to face, we’ll face them together.”

  He wiped my tear away with his thumb, then shook his head, as if to remove it all from his thoughts. “We are grieving. This is no time to talk about such issues.”

  I reached for his hand. “You’re right. We’re in far too much pain to be discussing our future children. For now, I’m happy to be Alexander’s mother. The two of you are all I need.”

  He squeezed my hand, as if to reassure me.

  “I just hope this war ends soon,” I said.

  “It needs to end now. Ethano must pay for his crimes, once and for all.”

  Victor was fueled by revenge, just as he had been when he’d battled William. He was angry at William for marrying Della, and that war of jealousy and vengeance carried on for centuries. Will this happen again? I wondered in horror. Will we have to fight Ethano for decades? Centuries? Eons? Till the end of time?

  “I sense your thoughts,” he said. “No, it won’t take centuries. We will leave tomorrow, and we will find Ethano and face him head-on. We will fight him hard, and we will conquer him this time.”

  “We don’t have enough manpower,” I said. “We need to take him by surprise.”

  “He thinks he has the upper hand. That will be our triumph, my Queen.”

  “It’s too dangerous, Victor.”

  “We have 50,000 knights ready to fight, even more so after some witnessed that needless slaughter on that cliff,” he said. “I already planned a military strategy that I know will work.”

  “But Victor, I think we should—”

  “You’ve never seen me win a war, but know that I have won many. I plan to win this one as well. I really have no choice. Ethano’s reign of terror must end. Della and so many others had to live in fear of him for far too long. I should have destroyed him years ago.”

  “I’m sorry about Della,” I said. “I can feel how sad you are about losing her. It is odd that he did not go after her till recently.”

  “He did not start pursuing us so relentlessly till two years ago. Nevertheless, I should’ve protected her better.”

  “You were at war with William. That made things…awkward, and the things Ethano has done are not your fault.”

  He swallowed hard. “When my battle with William ended, I should’ve kept her safe. I loved Della once, spent centuries with her.”

  “I know. I made peace with her over that.”

  “She was a beautiful friend.”

  “Yes, she was. I know it can’t be easy for you,” I said, my voice trembling. “We lost four wonderful people today and lots of good men, but they’ll never be forgotten.”

  We were both still dazed by the day’s grim events, and an array of emotions overwhelmed us. I considered if it might have been better to just stay in my world. If I had, William, Della, Jules, and Mia would all still be alive. The guilt weighed heavily on us, and a deep sadness filled our hearts and souls.

  Chapter 19

  Victor gave his troops a heartfelt speech about victory. It melted my heart to see him fighting so hard for a good cause, for something he believed in.

  When he was finished with his pep talk, he pulled me over to the side. “We must be very careful with th
at book Jackson wanted.”

  “I know, but Ethano has no idea about it.”

  “We cannot allow it to fall into his hands.”

  I bit my lip hard. “It has to contain some pretty big spells besides teleportation. Otherwise, Jackson wouldn’t have risked his life to come into our world to get it. It must be a huge find.”

  “Perhaps some of the spells will help us destroy our enemies.”

  “I’m all about protecting our kingdom,” I said.

  We chatted a little more, then said goodbye. Victor wanted to go over battle plans and I wanted to talk to Liz.

  When I went to the cottage where she was temporarily staying, a woman told me she had gone to the well in the back to get water for the knights.

  “Thank you,” I said, then made my way outdoors.

  A twig snapped, and I glanced into the vegetation to see a dozen knights, armed with sharp, shiny swords. They were wearing Ethano’s crest.

  “Queen Fesque?” one asked.

  “No. I’m just a maiden, getting her men a cool drink from the well,” I lied. “Would you like me to fetch her?”

  “It’s her,” the knight said.

  The lead knight stepped toward me. “He is correct. You are who I seek.” He held up his sword. “If I slice your head off, will it kill Victor?”

  With a mighty wind, I threw them back across the yard.

  “Throw the device!” the knight screamed.

  A silver ball landed in front of me with blue smoke pouring out of it, like a prankster’s smoke bomb. Dizziness washed over me, and I fell down. A blade touched my throat, and my heart began to race. I tried to use my powers but was suddenly devoid of them.

  “Victor!” I screamed in my head, then quickly told him of my predicament.

  “I’m coming!” he answered.

  The group hovered over me like they were getting ready to slaughter an animal. I panicked, and my entire body trembled. I gasped for breath, and I could feel the deep fear in my gut.

  “Victory!” a knight declared. “She’s powerless…and so is every immortal in the area.”