“You don’t have a choice,” his eyes trail down to her collar and cuffs. “Cirvka was my invention. It has always been my plan to rise up against Syro and the Shevka bastards. He was never my king, Dakra are the ones who belong in charge.”
“Shevka took a lot from low bloods, I agree, but you are creating a vicious cycle of hate. You will rule in favor of Dakra only for another uprising to happen. You can still be in charge and make a difference. Can’t you rule peacefully?”
Her response makes him laugh. “I have spent years living at Cirvka—a dump where Shevka come to pay to watch us perform like trained animals for their enjoyment. They laugh at us like they are better. Superior,” he mocks, “It is time they are finally put in their place. I have no intention for peace. I loathe the Shevka. My intention is to destroy all those who took my life away from me the day they raided the castle and killed King Bren!”
Rowan shakes her head. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“But it does,” he lets go of her to stand at Arlo’s side. “I’ve worked too hard and waited too long to let some silly female change my mind. Your power is too valuable and I have waited years to harness and shape it to my own purpose. Dakra will rule once again and if I have to force you to be on my side I will,” he growls before turning his attention to the young king. “Arlo, you have helped tremendously, but now your part of the plan is over.”
“What?” Arlo turns around just in time to meet The Overseer’s blade. It cuts so deep that Arlo drops dead in an instant. Blood pools everywhere staining his pristine white royal robes. The Overseer kicks Arlo’s body down the steps. The corpse resting next to his father’s.
He bends down to pick up the bloody crown and places it on his head.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an announcement to make to the kingdom,” he smooths out his black jacket, “Their new king is here.”
* * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Knoton is silent before he screams.
His love is dead. That was not the plan. That was not part of the plan. His head is spinning, everyone sounds muffled. He can’t see anything but the red blood still leaking out from his dead lover’s neck. Faintly in the distance he can hear The Overseer order half of the Cirvka army to plague the nearby villages and kill all Shevka who reject their new Dakra ruler.
Knot doesn’t care. How can he care when the male he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, is dead. Tears spill down his cheek and onto Arlo’s face. The world is chaos around him and he has lost his will to carry on. All of this, years of training, years of missions, deception, performing...it was supposed to end with his happy ending. He was supposed to be on the winning side.
The Overseer promised if they did what he was told, they would be rewarded. How can this be his reward? He looks around the room that has cleared out, a few guards stand at attention in the doorway while Rowan has somehow been rendered unconscious on the ground and Shadow is kneeling still under manipulation.
He plants a final kiss on his lovers pale lips, “I will always love you,” he says his goodbye before parting from him forever.
Through his blurry tear-filled vision, he makes his way over to Roe. He slaps her in hopes of waking her back into consciousness. She moans shaking her head back and forth like she doesn’t want to wake up. He doesn’t blame her. He slaps her again and shakes her slightly.
“Roe, wake up! We need to get out of here.”
“Knot?” She whispers.
“Wake up!” He shakes her more violently.
“What’s going on?” She opens her eyes more widely before sitting up in a hurry and analyzing the room for any threats. “Shadow!”
He grabs her by the waist as she pounces for him. “We have to leave him.”
“What? No! I can’t leave him.”
“He’s in a manipulation. There’s no way out of it. If he comes with us, he’ll kill us.”
She doesn’t argue with that. She steps back out of his grip. She gives him a wary look, raising an eyebrow before saying, “How do I know I can trust you? You were part of his plan all along.”
“I was a part of his plan where Arlo was king. Not this plan,” he shakes his head. The thought of Arlo gone feels as though someone reached into his chest and squeezed all the life out of his heart.
“Where are Lola and Melani?” She looks around the room again.
“Most likely under his manipulation.”
“Why aren’t we?” She touches his collar.
“Because of these,” He grabs her wrists. “These cuffs are a blessing and a curse. They inhibit your power but they also inhibit any other power that tries to get into your system.”
“Like manipulation.”
“Precisely. Now we have to move!” The stark urgency in his voice causes her to make the quick decision to trust him and leave Shadow behind. He extends his hand out for her to grab, she takes hold as they silently swear to each other that it’s now them against everyone else. They sneak out of the throne room through the curtain behind the thrones.
They start heading towards the unknown.
* * *
Rowan is scared of uncertainty and right now her life and her future is uncertain.
As she and Knot run for their lives she reflects on what happened. Cirvka, which was supposed to be a haven for low bloods is the opposite. Friends she’s come to think of as family and love unconditionally are now under the spell of a powerful and ruthless male who is now ruler of the kingdom. Shadow, her love, under that same spell. They promised to be by her side, she never thought she’d have to go through this alone. She’s scared and unsure.
Knot notices her anxiety as he squeezes her hand. He gives her a small smile of reassurance but it only makes her want to cry. But now is not the time for crying. Later. Now, they run for their lives. They run until they can get to someplace safe to talk and come up with a reasonable plan to save their friends and stop The Overseer.
Her legs give out. Panic starts to take over and the thought of losing her friends forever paralyze her.
“Come on, we have to go,” Knot pleads tugging her wrists to get her to move.
She’s frozen with her voice caught in her throat. Knot groans. He faces her, gently grabbing her shoulders trying to make eye contact. “I know it’s hard to keep going. I know it seems like the odds are stacked up against us but we have to go.”
“I can’t,” she shakes her head.
“You can. I know I’m not Shadow or Lola or any of your other friends and I know our whole friendship has been based off of lies, but I’m here. I swear my allegiance to you, the rightful queen of this kingdom,” he places his fist over his heart. “We’re in this together now. Okay?” He asks and she stands still. “Okay?” He asks again and this time she nods.
She follows him through the maze of corridors trying to find some sort of escape. They have no specific destination in mind, the only place they want to be is somewhere safe and away from The Overseer. Guilt fills her stomach with thoughts of leaving her friends behind. She could’ve done more to save them. She starts to think of ways to snap them out of their manipulation amd ways to get the collar off from around their necks.
“Maybe we can go back to Cirvka,” she pitches.
Knot shakes his head, “The place is completely abandoned. My guess is villages will be raided tonight and Shevka will most likely take shelter there.”
“Where else can we go?”
“I know,” a soft feminine voice rings out from behind them.
“Mom?” Despite the female not being her birth mother, she still feels a maternal pull to her. She was never the warmest mother, but it didn’t stop Rowan from loving her and wanting her love in return.
“Quickly, there is a place you can hide.”
With no time to lose, they follow the former Queen Harlow down three corridors before they reach a dead end. Knot taps his foot impatiently as he glances behind them every few seconds. Paranoia is starting t
o get to the both of them. Harlow walks over to a painting and touches three different spots, the full moon shining through the window, the left eye of the female in the portrait and the fire lit in the fireplace.
The dead end becomes a secret passageway. A small square door opens in the middle of the white wall. Harlow crawls through looking over her shoulder waving for them to join her. Rowan and Knot look at each other with their mouths open. She tries not to think of her claustrophobia as the tiny door shuts behind them. They are completely encompassed in the darkness. She is not able to see Harlow in front of her or Knot behind her. She snaps her finger to light her flame only to be frustrated by the cuffs suppressing her magic.
“Where are we going?” She asks in a shaky voice.
“Don’t worry, my love, we will be there soon.”
Her stomach flutters with delight at hearing the female who raised her call her ‘my love.’ She has never said anything so sweet to her. A pet name she has always longed to hear from her parents. In the books she read they say; sweetheart, darling, dearest, honey, doll, my love.
That voice in the back of Rowan’s head says not to trust her, but she has nowhere else to go. No one else to turn to. She’s trapped in the castle once more just as she was for her entire life.
They continue crawling through the small vent like passage. She can start to see a light at the end of the tunnel, trepidation as well as curiosity replaces the apprehension that comes with her claustrophobia. When they reach the end Harlow holds out her arms to help her out of the passageway. Harlow is standing on a table to reach the tiny square door. The drop is maybe seven or eight feet below. She jumps on the table and soaks in the sight of the room as Harlow helps Knoton down who seems to be a bit stuck due to his large build.
She jumps down from the table and recognizes the place immediately from the painting that Harlow touched to open the passage. The wood flooring, the fireplace—unlit right now—and the window. There is no moon, but instead clouds and the sun. The green chair the mysterious female was sitting in is near the fireplace and the knitted quilt blanket on her lap is hanging over the back of the chair.
She starts to wonder what this place is. Is it some sort of panic room used for royals when the castle is under attack?
Harlow closes the secret passageway after Knoton jumps down from the table looking at the place in awe as well. She notices the door they entered from is a portrait. It is a painting of a female, the same female that was painted on the portrait from the corridor they entered from, only the background is different.
“Rowan,” Harlow’s soft voice snaps her out of her thoughts. “This is going to be hard for you to understand and may be shocking, but I want you to know, it was never meant to be kept from you. It was never safe, but now it is a better time than any.”
“What are you talking about?”
She sighs. “You’ll see.” Walking over to a door she opens it slowly and steps inside. Speaking to someone she says, “She’s here.”
Rowan can hear her heart beating in her ears. Her body shakes with every step waiting to see her shocking surprise. Knot follows close by and she resists the urge to reach out to him for comfort. She inhales sharply as she passes the threshold to see a male. He is sitting on a bench by the windowsill reading a book, his finger marking a word on the page he’s left off on.
The male has a bushy auburn colored beard with auburn colored shoulder length hair. His eyes are hers, a deep red like the color of wine. Scattered across his nose are freckles, he is every bit her father and she doesn’t need an introduction to tell her who this male is. She wraps her arms around him, he hugs her back not caring if he loses what page he was on. They embrace each other for a long time, but time seems to stop as they continue to hold each other, sobbing. She inhales the spicy scent of him, her nose planted firmly against the crook of his neck. His hair is so soft and his hugs are warmer than any blanket could ever be. It’s almost as if she can forget the chaos around her. His arms are like a protective force, nothing can harm her while she is in them.
When they finally pull back, the first thing that comes out of her mouth is, “How?”
“It is a long story,” he exhales. “I thought I was dead. I was prepared to die, but Syro had other plans for me. He told the kingdom I was dead while he locked me in here. He used a sorceress to harness my magic draining me until there was nothing left. Until I was forgotten up here and left to die. That is until Harlow discovered me.”
“No,” she whispers. “Your magic is gone?”
“I’m afraid so,” he frowns.
“Maybe it was stored somewhere, we can find it! I have a friend who—”
“I already know where the magic went,” he cups her cheek, “with you.”
“Me?” She blinks.
“The sorceress was feeding it to his new daughter. The sorceress prophesied her to be the most powerful in the realm.”
“When you were brought to us by the sorceress she fated that you were going to one day rule and rule with more power than any royal has ever had,” Queen Harlow begins, “My husband became obsessed with protecting you, keeping you away from anything that could harm you. He was going to use the power for himself, he was saving it until every last ounce was drained. By that time we discovered you had no powers,” or so they thought, “Syro gave the potion to you discreetly during meal times hoping you would harness Bren’s fire power. But nothing ever happened.”
“So, I have your power, too?” she looks down at the palms of her hands then over to her father. She wishes she could light a flame, her fingers itching to do magic but the cuffs restrain her.
“Not yet,” her father shakes her head.
She recalls the words Madame Tallulah had once told her. “She said on my eighteenth birthday my powers will gain its full capability.”
He nods his head. “You will be the most powerful fire bringer the kingdom has ever seen. With our combined powers, you can take the throne and rule better than I ever did. You can make things right, Rowan.”
“But I don’t know how,” she says hopelessly. “I’m scared and I don’t know how to save my friends or rule a kingdom.”
“I know,” he opens his arms to hug her. “But you can do it, I know you can. I’m so glad I got to see you before…” he trails off.
“Before what?”
“I’m dying. Without my magic, I’m slowly deteriorating. There isn’t enough magic in my soul to keep me alive. I’m an old male and I have lived many long years. It is my time to go where your mother is waiting for me.”
“But I need you!” She cries out at the unfairness. She just got him back and now he’s going to leave her again. “You can’t go.”
“My only regret is that I wasn’t there for you and that I won’t be there for you in the future. But I will look over you and guide you in any way that I can. You were born to rule and you have your mother’s good heart. My daughter,” he kisses her forehead, “you have always been destined to do great things.”
“I don’t understand,” her throat tightens. “I don’t understand why he didn’t kill you?” She turns to face Harlow, “Why did you bring me here? Why didn’t you kill him?”
“I am not a killer and neither was Syro. He wanted to rule so bad he was willing to have an uprising, but—”
“Once he saw that I had a family of my own, much like him, he spared me for a fate much worse than death. He locked me away while I had no idea where your mother was. I told her to run and that was that. I always hoped you two had survived. Your mother was my soulmate and it wasn’t until the day she died, and I felt it in my heart, that she had passed. I could feel deep inside of me that you were alive. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I could feel your soul alive and well. Only recently I received rumors of you being alive.”
They talk about everything and nothing. Their conversations range from something as simple as their favorite color, to something more meaningful like the day Bren knew Etna was the one.
She laughs at all of his jokes and cries when he talks about her mother. They hug a few more times and all feels right in the world.
“We won’t be able to stay here for long,” Harlow interrupts. “Normally I can sneak in and out and bring back food, but now that Robin is king, he’ll have his guards all over the place.”
“She’s right,” he sighs. “We have maybe two days worth of food until we run out. This room won’t be safe after that. They’ll be looking for you, Rowan, and they won’t stop until they have you. You need to find another place that is safe and far away. Just until things calm down and until you have a way to fight back.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Her heart skips a beat. Now that she has her father she doesn’t want to go anywhere without him.
“I’m too weak to travel. I don’t know how much time I have left but…” he shakes his head, “I’ll only slow you down.”
“But—”
“We don’t have to figure anything out until then. For now, let’s enjoy each other’s company,” he grabs her hand.
“He has my friends under his manipulation,” she whispers. “I don’t know how to save them and I’m afraid I’ll never get them back. It was you who told me in a letter that friendship is important. That I would never rule alone as long as I have them by my side. They aren’t by my side and I have no clue how to snap them out of their trance.”
“They are still there,” he reassures me. “They may seem like a shell but their memories are still there. All you have to do is be the key to unlock them.”
“I had to leave Shadow down there and I never got the chance to tell him that I love him,” she whispers.
She can see Knot in the corner of her eyes, he is clutching his heart. Tears brim his eyes and she knows he is thinking of Arlo. Her eldest brother may have been despicable and before his death Knot was her enemy, but she feels bad for him. No one deserves to feel the pain of losing a lover or mate.
“Tell me about Shadow.”
She smiles. “You’d love him. He’s always been reserved and you think he isn’t paying attention, but he sees everything. He cares and he’s compassionate and he puts others before himself. He’s willing to do anything to protect those he loves.”
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