They reached the palace two hours later when the moon was about to descend in the horizon for its bright sibling to wake up.
Emma was still dizzy from all the mental exhaustion when she stepped out of the carriage. She was terrified, as her eyes darted blindly in the dark. The Wilyra palace was lit with torches that were burning on the walls. Snow fell around her in soft flurries and she walked towards the stairs that led inside with shaky steps. Suddenly, her waist was grabbed, she was yanked off her feet and black shadows and mist burst around her.
When she was set on her feet again on the ground, she stumbled forward and sank on her knees, coughing and wheezing.
"Emma," his deep timbre voice came from somewhere. It was a voice she would never forget. She felt her bile rising in her throat. When the room around her came into focus, she realized that she was in some kind of a very luxurious room. A four-poster bed was in the middle of it with a crimson canopy overhead and white gauzy curtains tied to the posters. A very soft plush carpet was spread all over. A fire hearth was right in front of the bed where some logs were still burning.
She was taking it all in when the vampire appeared in front of her eyes. He stood in front of her. Curling his fingers below her chin and lifting her face up, he growled, "I am warning you again, mortal, if you try to even think of running, no one will be able to save you from me. I am the only person you should be afraid of."
Emma glared in his red eyes but couldn't help noticing that his muscles had bulged. He looked menacing and even lethal. His neck tendons were strained and he had clenched his jaw. And now in the buttery glow of the fire, she saw that there was blood splattered all over his face and some of his pale blond strands over his forehead were also stained with it.
"I promise you that if you run away, I will punish you. Severely. I had made a deal with your father that if I take you as my wife, he will stop the rising rebellion of the vassals. Apart from giving his son the much-needed vampire blood to heal him. So, don't— and I repeat, DON'T even think of stepping out of here. Is that clear?"
Emma nodded her head lightly, feeling like a trapped dove in a lion's den. Wait. Wife? "Wife…" she murmured. She thought that she was going to be taken as his concubine. But wife? That was something entirely different. Her whole world tilted on its axis and started spinning too fast. "But you are betrothed already?" her words tumbled out, trepidation cascading down her body.
She had heard a rumor that the eldest prince was betrothed and that was why she was loathing the idea that she was going to be his concubine or his blood bag. But he brought her here to be his wife?
Lazarus stepped back and his lips lifted into a sinister smile that spoke of mystery. She heard soft footsteps in the room and she looked back. A beautiful woman with straight black hair walked in. She was having the glow of a goddess. She was fearsome in her perfect features, and was utterly calm and radiating grace. She was wearing a lavender gown. Her long white fingers folded in front of her as she came to stand with Lazarus.
"Meet the fae goddess, Maeve," he said as he looked fondly at the woman beside him. "In the mortal body of Ileana."
When he reverted his gaze back to her, Emma shuddered at an unknown notion. This was the woman she had seen kneeling in front of him in the black woods. She recalled when she saw her first.
"I will do anything for you, Lord Lazarus. This mortal is dying and in order to rule Wilyra, you need me—a goddess. But I am trapped in this mortal's body. You have to find another human body for me."
A ragged breath left her and she felt rage rising inside of her instead of fear. The vampire prince had played with her life. He had hit two birds with one stone. No. He had hit many birds with his one master stroke. He was not only going to force her father into suppressing the rebellion because she was now bound to him, but he was going to get Queen Maeve to enter her body and who knew what else?
"You are going to cast my soul to get the fae queen inside me," Emma muttered, her mind going numb. "And take me as your wife with her soul in my body."
"That's right," Lazarus chuckled. "Only Maeve can help me get my kingdom."
Lazarus was a vampire but his bloodline descended from the fae bloodline of Vilinski, which meant that although they had lost the ability to fly, they could easily parthon or in simple words, they could move from one place to another in a matter of seconds, howsoever long was the distance.
He knew that the only person who could help him rule the kingdom of Wilyra was the fae goddess, Maeve. He had gone to retrieve her from Vilinski, and the goddess was willing to come with him, but at a cost.
She didn't have a body. She was just a spirit. With the help of a soul reaper, she had possessed herself in the body of a young girl without her permission.
Little did Lazarus know that Maeve was killed by none other than her fae sister Mab and her body was tossed into a different realm which was sealed forever. And now Maeve was seeking the body of an immortal and live peacefully and return to her fae lover, Ailill.
Maeve looked down at the girl in front of her with loathe. Her lips lifted into a soft smile. "I have been waiting for you for a long time, Emma."
"Why?..."