"Where's Blasius?"
"You shouldn't go back in there," my dad said, removing his arms from my body as he dropped me on the grass.
"I need to!" I yelled, my voice hoarse and cracking from the lump of sobs blocking my throat.
Before he can even think about grabbing me again, I push myself off of the ground, grabbing the pike and racing into the castle. If I was to die from my own carelessness during my rage-fueled fury then so be it, as long as I got to see him and make sure he was okay.
I weaved around, running faster than I ever have. At this rate, the king's men would be lucky to catch me in the first place, much less injure me.
When I make me way up the staircase, I avoid looking down. If I can't see her, maybe I can ignore her fate. The man I recognized as my best friend's murder stood at the top of the stairs now. My body moved before I could tell it to, lunging at him with my weapon. He blocked my hit and swung upwards in an attempt to make me lose my grip, but I planted the pads of my fingers on the wooden grip with an iron fist. I aimed lower this time, an advantage I had because of my smaller stature compared to him. My body practically vibrated in satisfaction as I felt the blade clip bone.
The man screamed, but I barely heard it beyond the swishing of blood behind my ears. When he fell forward, I knew that would never be enough to payback what he did to Silva.
I wanted so badly to thrust the pike into the back of his chest. But I knew if it made its way through his torso, there was no way I was getting that thing out of him. And I needed a weapon if I was going to find Blasius. So I kicked the man down the stairs and ran like hell.
♕♕♕
When I reached the doorway, I glanced in the room before entering. There were two guards fighting with our men, and in the middle, the King sat on the throne. My Blasius stood behind him, knife in hand, right up to his throat, ready to gut the King like a fish. When he looked at me, his eyes visibly softened. His actions betrayed his appearance, though, and his grip only tightened around the King.
I closed my eyes, relishing in the wheezing that was coming from the King himself.
A loud thud brought me back to reality, and I looked to see one of the King's guards on the floor. The King noticed too, eyeing his right hand man as his face grew red and his eyes became bloodshot from the lack of air he was receiving. If Blasius didn't stop, he was going to kill him.
"Are you going to kill him?" I moved closer to the throne, meeting Blasius's eyes once again.
"I should," he replied, voice sounding gruff. His stare help pure hatred for the man and I could only imagine how badly he wanted to kill the King. I was even surprised at his restraint, the fact that he hadn't already killed him.
"I," I hesitated, worried about what he would think about what I was going to say, "I don't want you to."
The hand that was holding the knife tremored in response as he processed my words.
It's not that I didn't want the King to suffer for all that he had done, but killing him wasn't the right way to go about this. Blasius could end up in jail for treason and murder, among other things. Our relationship was in a perfect place and I didn't want Blasius to jepordize our future because of his need for revenge. As much as I supported him, I couldn't let it happen.
"I won't. Only because you don't want me to." His grasp loosened, but he kept the knife to the King's throat. "He can rot in a cell instead."
'He's xenophobic,' she whispered, 'he wants them all dead. Some King, he is.'
♕♕♕
'We need to get rid of them,' he shouted for the audience, 'they're poison to the human bloodline. Leeches, if you will. They don't deserve what we have.'
♕♕♕
'When the king was elected so many people rioted.' Silva's melodic voice sounded, plagued with sadness and disgust. 'They finally had a reason to get rid of everyone that wasn't human—and he encouraged it.'
♕♕♕
'They were taking people, they were s-st-sterilizing them,' the fear in Menas's voice made me shiver.
♕♕♕
'The field we were in was close to where our pack resided. The King's guards wiped out over half of our pack—my parents included in that,' Blasius explained.
♕♕♕
The blade punctured Silva's abdomen in a fell swoop.
As all of these memories swirled through my head, shouting at me for making such terrible judgement call, knowing I had my mate wound so tightly around my finger. Blasius was right, he should. Who was I to stop him from killing the King after he single handedly ruined the childhoods of my friends, ridding them of their families forever, being the cause of all of their trauma. And Silva's death.
Another thud sounds; the other guard. If he was going to do this, he needed to do it now.
"Wait," I called out, "I ... changed my mind."
Blasius eyes bored into mine, searching for any sign of hesitancy, but the amethyst they usually shone must've been red now with the amount of anger I felt.
"Then turn around," he rasped, voice low huskier than I had ever heard it before.
I did as he said, dropping my weapon and turning around, waiting. The indescribable sound of the blade puncturing flesh made me shudder, as did the muffled scream that followed. I swear I could tell when his skin finally gave way to the knife, only noticeable by the tiny 'pop' before I heard the squelching of blood squirting from the wound.
My heart hammered beneath my chest, knowing my lover had just taken a man's life so easily.
When I heard movement and then something slumping to the ground, I didn't turn around, suddenly unable to move. Not that I would have wanted to see the King's lifeless body anyway.
An arm snaked around my abdomen, and another followed, wrapping around my shoulders. The weight of Blasius's forehead weighed down my shoulder, but I didn't mind. I snuck my hands up, circling my hands around his arms, holding them against me as if not wanting him to detach himself from me.
I was glad I wasn't wearing white, as the coppery smell returned when he attached himself to me. His hands were covered in it, and now so was I. I should've been disgusted, but I couldn't feel anything. I didn't even feel eager knowing our plan had worked out just as we had laid it out.
My heart dropped. I had to tell him about Silva.
But now wasn't the time.
I put on a smile, turning my head slightly to look at the shaggy hair that was tickling my neck. I whispered to him, "you did it."
"We did it."