I heard him right.
“But why?” I question. I’m a princess, as much as the role is almost non-existent at this point, he knows I can’t just leave.
At least not yet.
I need more time to gain control of my powers.
“We’re in danger here. It’s not safe for us,” his words are low and he quickly returns to packing the bags.
When I look out the window and see that the sun is still quite low, I realize that it's early morning. “Kofu, I need you to explain to me what’s going on.” I try again. “What’s going on with you and my brother?” I know whatever is going on, it has to go back to Agnus and his words yesterday.
He finally stops moving. “I found out some things about your brother and it has put us in danger.”
No. My brother may be cold and he isn’t a saint, but he wouldn’t actually-
My thoughts break off as Kofu turns around and I let out a gasp. His right eye is black and swollen shut, there are lacerations across his beautiful dark skin that I recognize as wounds left from a whip, and his lip has a cut across it.
“My brother did that?” I ask softly as my heart rate kicks up.
There’s no way-
“Yes.”
Chapter Seven
Why would I think my brother isn’t capable of beating my husband?
I’ve seen him do much worse.
And yet-
My brother’s threat rings through my head to tell Kofu to mind his business.
I blow out a breath of air and move away from Kofu, sinking down on the bed and placing my head in my hands.
He’s telling the truth and you know he is.
I look up and find Kofu watching me.
“Tell me what happened,” I say lowly.
After a moment’s hesitation, he drops the bag he was in the process of filling and moves over to me. He takes a deep breath as I finally notice the smudges of blood on the collar of his shirt.
“I went with you brother on his meeting with the king of Rhauft,” he starts as he pushes his hands in his pocket. “It was supposed to be just a routine meeting, one of the ones where they just bullshit and ensure that the peace between the two kingdoms is still good, it's why the guards are still allowed in the room, because the matter isn’t supposed to be too private.”
I can sense the but coming and sure enough it does.
“But the prince and king began to discuss some sort of trade, I wasn’t sure what exactly until the king gestured for his adversary to bring something out. That’s when they came out.” His body shudders.
“Who are they?” I ask as I look up at him with worried eyes.
He presses his lips into a thin line. “The women. I thought they were just your run of the mill prostitutes, it's not uncommon for the prince to… indulge.” His eyes leave mine for a moment before he looks back at me and it appears as if he’s going to be sick. “But then they started to get younger and younger until I found myself looking at a young woman who can’t have even hit puberty yet. She was scantily dressed and I was almost sick on the spot, especially as the king leered at her.” He sways on his feet for a moment before getting ahold of himself. “And that’s when they started talking about the king trading the women to your brother as a token of his support and to show he’ll have his help when he needs it in the future. He never mentioned quite what he would help your brother with, but I suspect…”
He trails off as my stomach drops and I feel ill. “What do you suspect?” I manage to get out.
“I suspect that it will be helping your brother overthrow some of the other kingdoms and take their lands and people. They never directly said it, but it was implied multiple times.” My heart rate picks up at his words. “There was the mention of the deadkrest.”
My heart stops at that because if there was talk of the deadkrest then Kofu has to be right. The deadkrest were the last to try to change the way the Six Kingdoms of Wysata were ran. From my understanding, they’d tried to change it for the better but their plan was thwarted and they were exiled to Ezowel.
That was over a century ago and no one has tried such a thing again.
My mind thinks of my brother and the cold eyes he tries to hide behind charming smiles.
If what Kofu says is true, he will start a war.
“What else happened?” I ask as I stand and pace, trying to push back the nerves that are overtaking me.
Kofu pauses before he lets out a sigh. “The king wanted to have… interactions with the young girl.”
Bile rises in my throat.
“He demanded that she be taken to wash up first, so I volunteered to be a part of the guards who took her back.”
My head whips around at that and Kofu holds his hands up in surrender. “Just listen, my love.” The words that usually bring a flutter to my heart don’t in this moment. “We took her back and I knocked out the other guard on duty and let the girl go.” He shakes his head. “I knew it wasn’t smart, that there’d be no way to hide what I’d done, but… I couldn’t-” His voice cracks as his body shudders.
“Of course you couldn’t.” It's the reason I fell in love with him, a man with a heart bigger than the moon.
“I tried to lie and say the girl possessed some sort of power and I lost control, I’ve heard of body jumpers before and it's a skill they have, to control others. The king was irate, and I knew the prince didn’t believe it but he calmed the king down. When we returned to the kingdom, the prince requested to speak with me and in my gut I knew I was in trouble. The next thing I knew, I was bound and chained and someone was beating the living daylights out of me. That was when your brother knelt in front of me and demanded that I stay out of his affairs. He told me that if I stepped one more foot out of line, it wouldn’t only be the end of me, but you too, Aphaedra.” Kofu shakes his head aggressively. “I can’t- I can’t let anything happen to you, so we must go.” He turns away and moves back over to the closet. Even from across the room, the tremors going through his body are visible and it pulls at my heart.
My mind goes to my brother, the one person who while not an absolute angel has always been nice in comparison to how many of the other royals treat me.
There has to be a misunderstanding.
Yet I know that Kofu’s words are not a lie, because I’ve seen the darkness that hangs in those eyes.
Still… “I will speak with him.”
Kofu’s head snaps around, “No, Aphaedra-”
“He can’t expect to just beat you like that and get away with it,” I snap and I feel the tingles under my skin that were rising as Kofu was speaking, spark fully to life. Because while I may not be the highest in power, I am certainly not weak.
“Aphaedra-” Kofu’s voice is only a whisper in the wind as I bound out of our room in search of my brother.
No, I’m not weak, not even close and my brother will not get away with what he has done.
Chapter Eight
I can feel Magnus and Gerald at my heels as I storm through the castle but I don’t care. I’m looking for my brother and I’ll be damned if anyone gets between me and him.
I can feel the familiar tingle under my skin and the crack of my powers begging to be freed. With every step, my anger starts to build.
I head straight for the throne room and when I come up empty, I head for my brother’s chambers instead.
When I see the group of guards standing outside his door, I know I’ve found him.
“Your highness, the prince does not want any visitor-” the guard speaking is cut off as I flick a hand at him and a burst of wind knocks him out of the way. The other guards pull their swords and I turn toward them as the storm beneath my skin begs to be released.
For the first time in a long time without being in the dome, I let it free.
Thunder sounds through the castle as lightning strikes the remaining guards. I kick in the door to my brother’s chamber and hear a yelp as Lainey’s eyes widen at the sight of me. She’s sitting
in the bed- no, on my brother I realize, as she pulls a sheet up over her naked body and reveals my brother. He looks at me in shock but he doesn’t have as much fear in his gaze as I expect.
He pushes his wife off of him as he stands, not giving a damn about his naked body.
“What did you do to my husband?” I bark at him.
He only tilts his head to the side as he picks up a pair of pants off the floor and pulls them on.
“What did you do?” I repeat as lightning strikes next to him. It doesn’t hit him directly but it's enough for a slight bit of concern to appear in his gaze.
“I’ve done nothing but send him a warning,” he says, his words cold and harsh as he takes a step toward me. He’s not going to even try to deny what he has done. He raises his own hand and I feel a gust of wind, but it does nothing but piss me off.
My powers are stronger than his, always have been.
“What is going on here?” Lainey questions as she stomps over toward me, apparently done whimpering in the corner.
When her red lips turn down in a sneer at me, I do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
I punch her.
She falls to the ground and I step over her as I make my way to my brother who holds his ground though I don’t miss the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“You hurt Kofu and that’s where you made your mistake,” I say lowly as we stand toe to toe.
His cold eyes look down at me and I wonder if the small bits of affection he’s shown me were all fake. “Your husband was in my business and he paid the price, but apparently it wasn’t enough of a warning. It looks like I should have been firmer.”
His words only make me angrier and without thought, I raise my hand prepared to bring hell down on him. Only something hard is clamped around my wrist and I feel the energy crackling under my skin fizzle out.
My brother only smirks at me as I look at the steel cuff that a retreating guard has slapped on my wrist. “It seems you also need to be taught a lesson, sister.” It's the last words I remember before there’s a sharp prick in my neck and I’m knocked unconscious.
Chapter Nine
When I come to, my heart is pounding fast and there’s a sinking feeling in my gut. A part of me knows that something bad has happened.
I sit up and realize that I’m not in my room. No, I’m in one of the beds in the infirmary and my hand is cuffed to the bed. I yank at it, but the chain is connected to the steel cuff on my wrist and it refuses to budge.
“Let me go!” I shout but there’s no one else in the room. “Let me out of here!” I yell as my heart rate picks up.
I need to see Kofu.
The feeling is overwhelming and I curse as I search for the storm that usually lies right under the surface.
There’s nothing.
Tears of frustration stream down my face as I continue to try to break free.
I need to see my husband.
The sound of the door creaking meets my ears and I look up to find Diana walking into the room. Her crown sits perfectly upon her red waves and there’s not a wrinkle in her elegant dress, but the lines in her face confirm that something is wrong. Her eyes look down at the cuff on my wrists before snapping to mine.
“Help me,” I plead with her as I continue to yank at the cuff, “Diana, please!”
She presses her lips into a line as she moves over to the bed and sits down on it. Her posture is stiff and there’s something heavy in the air as she just sits there. “I’m sorry, I tried to warn you,” is the only thing she says to me before the shine of a key in her hand is the only thing I can focus on as she slides it into the lock on the chains. “Be strong.” The words are followed by the click of the lock.
I don’t ask what she means as I jump out of the bed and sprint down the halls. I need to get to Kofu. I rush to our chambers, fortunate that I don’t run into many people on the way and those that I do don’t try to stop me. When the doors of our bedroom come in to view, I don’t miss the sight of the droplets of blood outside the door.
My heart kicks into overdrive and I push the doors open.
A sob leaves my lips.
Lying on the floor of our chambers is the only man I’ve ever loved with my whole heart and it takes me only one second to realize that he’s dead.
My legs give out.
I crawl over to Kofu, letting out a cry when one of my knees slip in the pool of blood. I fall over on top of his lifeless body and weep.
“I will love you until the ends of time, Aphaedra Tempest. When the winds carry my ashes and the seas wash away my blood, my love for you will stay strong. I’ll live for you and I’ll die for you.”
I’ll die for you.
Die for me, he did, and now I’ll avenge him if it’s the last thing I do, because I know exactly who did this and I am going to make him pay.
Chapter Ten
After my brother killed Kofu, though everyone else in the castle says an enemy of the court broke in and did it, they started keeping a cuff on me twenty-four hours a day unless I was in the dome training.
And for years now, I’ve played by their rules, let them think that the fight I put up the day I let the storm out is over.
It’s not. I’ve just been biding my time.
“Alright, your highness, that’s it for today,” Margret’s voice comes through the dome and I offer her a fake smile like I do every day.
But there’s something a bit more sinister behind it today.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
I keep my head low as the lock on the door clicks, letting me out. It's another change that’s happened in the past couple of years.
The dome is just another part of my prison now.
I hold out my wrist, just waiting. Soft steps get closer and the silver cuff comes in view a moment before I let my powers out.
There’s a yell as Margret goes flying into the wall, the cuff clattering to the floor. I can’t make myself feel any semblance of guilt as I glance over at the woman before moving forward. When Lacey approaches, I flick a hand and she goes down in a crumble.
I’ve waited for years to get better control of my powers and now that I have, it's time for part one of my plan to go into place.
I take out the guards at the door, including my own, the two who replaced Magnus and Gerald after the “incident”. Father says Magnus and Gerald were too close and wouldn’t likely put me down if I had another outburst and tried to kill my brother.
With one last glance at the fallen guards, I continue through the castle at a leisurely pace, my boots feel firm on my feet, hidden beneath the gold of my dress. I made sure they weren’t visible when I put them on this morning, not wanting to tip anyone off to my plans.
As I approached my brother’s chambers, my mind tries to go back to the worst day of my life, but I refuse to let it.
No, today is about vengeance, not grief.
I zap the guards on the door with lightning and as they fall to the floor, I catch glimpses of their still moving chests.
I push the door open and find just the person I’m looking for sitting in front of a mirror.
“What are you doing here?” Lainey asks and it’s the last words she ever utters as I pull the dagger hidden in my boot and throw it clean across the room. It embeds itself in her throat, the skills I’ve honed in on the last couple of years being put to use.
Lainey gurgles as her hands try to stop the blood pouring out of her throat. I move across the room and pull out the bloody knife. I look her in those cold eyes as I further jab the dagger into her throat, not caring about the blood that coats my dress.
“This is for Kofu, you bitch,” I whisper lowly as I pull the dagger out. She falls to the ground and while I could put her out of her misery, I don’t. I want her to be fully aware of the pain in her body in her last moments.
I thought taking a life for the first time would be harder, but I feel nothing as I watch Lainey take her last breaths.
Foot
steps pound outside of the door and I know that before the night is over a dozen more lives will be lost.
I’ll make it look like I put up a good fight before they exile me to Ezowel, let them think they had the upper hand in banishing me.
The footsteps get closer and there’s a bam as the first of the guards burst into the room. There’s a moment’s pause as they see me standing next to the lifeless body of the queen that was crowned not even a month ago when my brother took my father’s position.
And then there’s the glint of silver as they draw their swords.
Energy crackles under my skin as I prepare myself for the act of my life.
Yes, I’ll kill half of them before I allow myself to be captured, before I allow them to transport me to Ezowel, to the place where part two of my vengeance will begin.
The End
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About the Author
Quirah is a young author who works full time as a graphic designer. Writing has been her passion for as long as she can remember and she’s excited to be able to say it’s one of her professions. Working in the genres of urban fantasy, epic fantasy, paranormal, reverse harem, and contemporary romance, her stories include characters of all races, sexualities, and disabilities. She is hard at work on her chöąts world and also the six kingdoms world.
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