The south was terribly hot. So hot that your very breath dried on impact. And yet every inch of the floor was wet and sticky. Raphael scowled, "This is what I get for volunteering for the south." He muttered darkly. He led his house carefully through the swampy marsh making his way to the dark looking forest that lined the far side of the swamp. His mind wasn't on the swamp however. He hadn't had the time to talk Laurena before he left. When he had gotten upstairs after the meeting with Dorian and his father, Laurena had already fallen asleep. He'd sat up in the bed watching her sleep, looking at the bandage on her neck, that partly covered the Mark he had put on her, the first night they had met. The part of the mark he could see, was inflamed. It must have hurt so much, when Zafira had first ripped into it. For the first time Raphael could remember, he had wanted to hold her tight to his chest and never let her go. But he wasn't that kind of man.
When the swamp gave way to murky forest Raphael sensed a change in the air. There was old magic here, the darkest magic of all. He warily looked around, watching for unexpected dangers. He heard what sounded like a shriek deeper in the forest before his horse reared, making him topple off the horse. He shook his head, leaning on his elbow as he looked around the forest and realized he was suddenly surrounded by people in cloaks. "Hello young prince." One of the robed ladies said, her voice echoing and reedy. Raphael tried to stand but was immediately shoved down by an unseen force. He grunted as he fell again. "What do you witches want?" Raphael sneered. "What we have always wanted. A proper King on the throne." The witch said, dropping her hood, Raphael's skin crawled as he saw a face from his darkest nightmares. He would've never forgotten that pale skin, those dark serpentine silver eyes, or the sapphire curls that framed her face, and went down her back in a plait. "Eliza. I don't know what you're planning but it won't work." Raphael said. Eliza smiled, her lips coated violet. She walked carefully towards Raphael before stomping hard on his shoulder. "AAAAH! You witch!" Raphael shouted, his eyes screwing up in pain. Eliza grinned widely. "I knew Zafira, took the Princess someone would come sniffing over here, but never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagined that they would send Victor's own son. And without backup. I couldn't have asked for a better hostage, now can I?" Eliza sneered, bending down to Raphael's height. She caressed his cheek softly, an evil smile crossing her face. "You and I are going to have so much fun together."
The Castle
"Take a deep breath." Darius said. Lauri peeped at him with one eye. Darius was wearing a tunic like her, his usual black garbs exchanged for white, making his dark hair stand out, and the tattoo's that curled around his chest peeking out of his tunic. He was extremely beautiful, and a complete mystery to Lauri. She'd been listening to his stories, stories full of colorful marketplaces, and day of the dead ceremonies that honored the long gone, and the demons that humans believed in. It had been weeks since Dorian, Raphael and Terry had left looking for sympathizers to Nathaniel's throne. Lauri sat in front of Darius as he went through breathing exercises to help focus her magic. The lessons had changed from the usual incantations, and potion making, that Lauri had previously been learning with Simeon. Instead now, her lessons consisted of things like sword fighting, exercises in finding inner peace within herself, breathing exercises with Darius to further develop her inner peace. Lauri would've rather the potion-making and incantations with Simeon, than the brutal sword fighting, and combat lessons. Lauri closed her eyes, and inhaled once more, as she exhaled she heard clear shouting from one of the other rooms. "What the hell?" Darius said. Lauri opened her eyes and watched as Darius looked towards the doors his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. Lauri turned to look as well and they both jumped when the doors slammed open. Revealing a short leather clad girl with violet hair, whose dark eyes narrowed on Darius whose eyes had widened. "Helena!" He said his voice coming out in a shriek. "YOU SON OF A BITCH." She said raising her hand, Lauri's eyes widening as Darius flew across the room. The girl, Helena stormed after him, barely casting an eye at Lauri. Lauri watched her storm past her, hardly feeling someone yanking her to her feet. Lauri looked away from Helena and Darius who were now attacking each other with their fists. She was surprised to see that the person who had yanked her was not Simeon as she had assumed but Dorian himself. "Dorian, your back." She said in surprise. "Are you alright?" He said his voice quiet and steady. "Who is she?" Lauri said skirting Dorian's question. He narrowed his eyes at her, clearly knowing that she was avoiding his question. She ignored him and looked back at Darius and Helena. "And why is she beating up Darius? He's only been helpful since he got here."
"So helpful that he has you standing up for him." Dorian said narrowing his eyes. "Jealously doesn't become you, Dori." A new voice from the doorway said, Lauri turned to the red haired green-eyed girl. She turned to Dorian her eyes raised, "Never knew you were such a lady's man." Lauri said shrewdly. Dorian scowled, "Don't listen to a thing she says. She's a former convict."
"Don't listen to him, he's just annoyed that Darius has been here this whole time, they have been enemies since Nathaniel's time," The red head said, sauntering towards the both of them. "Of course, that could be because they were always fighting for the affection of one girl." She said nodding her head towards the violet haired girl. "I'm Cassie, by the way."
"You've already met Darius, the girl who is currently beating the snot out of him is Helena, his sister." She continued. "Darius has a sister?" Lauri said her eyebrows wide.
"Helena, was best friends with Dori's sister. After she died, Helena sort of just gravitated towards Dorian." Cassie said, Lauri's eyes widened. "Dorian had a sister?!" Lauri said shock lacing her face. Dorian scowled, "Could you not give away all of my secrets." Dorian said darkly.
"To answer your original question, Helena is beating Darius up, because the last time he was here he framed her for murder. She's been banished to a village in the North away from court because of it." Dorian explained. "Not to mention that she was given one of the marks of a convict." Cassie said gesturing to the side of her face, where she had a plethora of marks running down her face.
"Do I want to know what you possibly could've done to have gained so much marks?" Lauri asked, glancing uneasily at all the dots. Cassie smiled bearing teeth. "Nathaniel's rein, was dark, brutal and hard. Half of these marks on my face is because I was vocal on his treatment of other nationalities that were not part of the royal family."
"Dorian very nearly gained some of those marks himself, if Victor hadn't stayed his hand." Simeon said as he walked in. "I think half the reason that Dorian was given to Terry, was because he is a little bit more moral than most of the people who have spent all the years in Vemos as Dorian has." Darius cut in, as he walked over with an exaggerated limp. His sister, Helena walked by huffing as she went her eyes dark. "Of all the psychopaths you could've possibly found, did it have to be Helena the man-killer?" Simeon said, watching Helena leave in the corner of his eye. "Ah, yes. I forgot that you also have history with Helena." Cassie said shrewdly.
"Speaking of Psychotic siblings, where is my brother?" Lauri asked, as she watched Cassie poke Darius's bruises, making him flinch.
"He crashed. I think we overloaded him with information on the way here." Cassie said grinning widely at Dorian, who shook his head at her, clearly not amused. "I think this is the most emotion I've ever seen from you." Lauri said pointedly at Dorian. Dorian smiled softly, "It's only going to get worse." Dorian said tugging softly at Lauri's tunic beckoning her to walk with him. Lauri followed him into the hallway, Simeon following behind them. "What happened exactly in the North? Helena seemed more overly angry than she usually is." Simeon asked, as he joined Dorian. "I think she might still be mad, about what went down in the uprising," Dorian said simply. Lauri eyebrows rose, "Uprising?"
"After Lady Gianna ran off, apparently with you," Simeon said nodding at Lauri, "There was a bit of fallout between the two brothers."
"All in the name of one woman." Dorian said sighing. "Gianna had been captured as Nathaniel's prisoner, you already know that you were born out of rape, but the truth you don't know is that Victor was in love with her even then. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had a hand in her escape."
"He clearly did find her, later in life." Lauri said pointedly. "Yes, but that was later in life. And not in Vemos. She wasn't free, but she was no longer a prisoner." Dorian said.
"What do you mean?" Lauri asked, her eyes showing clear confusion. "She wasn't a prisoner of Vemos, but she couldn't return home either." Simeon answered when Dorian didn't elaborate. "Because she was an angel." Lauri asked. Simeon and Dorian froze no longer walking, turning to look at Lauri in horror. "How can you possibly know that?" Simeon said in a hushed voice. Dorian grabbed hold of both Lauri, and Simeon, and flashed then both to the foyer of the castle in front of the elaborate spiral staircase that led to the bedrooms. "You cannot just say things like that, where anyone could possibly hear you. Especially with so much of Nathaniel's court in the castle."
"Dori's right. It's dangerous. Gianna is barely mentioned, for a reason. Not a lot of people actually knew that she was in fact an angel. Terry doesn't even know, and he actually lived with her for sixteen years." Simeon said.
Lauri opened her mouth, no doubt to ask why when the doors they stood in front of suddenly slammed open. A trio of cloaked blondes stood in front of the doors, their blood red lips in widened cold smiles as they stared hungrily at the three mages that stood in front of them. Dorian shoved Lauri behind him, as Simeon opened his fists, two multi-colored balls of fire erupting in his palms. "Security breach." He said calmly. The witches all smiled their eyes violet at first turned a pale opal as they opened their mouths as one. "The King. The False King. He has three days to give us the true Kings whereabouts. Or his son. His Son. He shall never see whole again. The only true mage the Lady Eliza beckons Your King Victor, Nathaniel's rise and his fall in return for his son. Or in three days hence he shall be given to the fire. Given to the altar. His power will be Lady Eliza's. His fall will make him strong enough to take the Kingdom her own. THREE DAYS. THREE DAYS. AND THEN RAPHAEL SHALL DIE. IN FIRE. IN FIRE. BURN. BURN. BURN." They said getting louder and louder as their message, came to an end. The three witches cackled, as they left disappearing from sight into shadows that came out of nowhere.
Simeon and Dorian looked at each other their faces white. "Did she just say, what I think she said?" Lauri asked. "We have to tell the King."