Jasmine couldn't believe her eyes. Peter was a Fae as well. Continuous screams came from the castle, and Jasmine knew she had to leave immediately. She didn't need to go inside the castle to know how much commotion was going on; she could hear the sounds of things being scattered and broken. Suddenly, Peter stopped groaning and looked up at her. Jasmine couldn't see him clearly, but she knew he was looking into her eyes. Cold shivers ran down her spine, and she quickly turned on her feet, starting to limp away.
"Please, God, if you can hear me, help me out of this place," Jasmine had heard people pray to God, and they were answered. She wished she would too and escape this situation. Once she could get herself away out of-
Just a few steps away, she started to hear the flapping of wings approaching her. Not so soon, she cried to herself. She didn't turn but kept on limping away while clutching at her sides. She couldn't bear to see someone she believed had always been nice to her looking forward to killing her right now. Just as she heard him get closer, she breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, her steps stopping along with her breath as she accepted her fate, but then-
Bang!
"What is this? Didn't I mention no one is allowed to kill you except for me?" Hearing that calm indifferent voice alone after the gunshot seemed to only increase her fear. Instead of looking back, she started running away again, this time ignoring the pain in her sides. All she wanted was to run away from this evil, cruel man. He had killed Peter without a second thought; she had heard the shot. She wondered why he wasn't shooting her yet, but she wasn't waiting to find out. If she can, she'll escape from this place.
What was he even doing here? Didn't he say he was leaving for two days? To catch the Faes, but unfortunately, it turned out the Faes were inside the castle already. How was he informed about this so quickly?
Just ahead of her was the gate, and Jasmine felt much more motivated. 'Just a few more steps, Jas-' she was telling herself when her feet stopped at the person who flew to stand in front of her. It was Peter. Had he risen from death? He wants to kill her now? She can't escape now; he was standing in front of her. Turning to run towards the left, she felt something knock the breath out of her, and she fell to the rough ground, rolling a few turns. As she slipped into unconsciousness, gazing at the starless sky and listening to the screams echoing in the castle, she saw a glint of silver across her eyes and felt herself carried like she was no more than a light bag before everything finally turned dark.
"Master Nikolai," Peter quickly called as Nikolai started to walk away with Jasmine on his shoulders. He had seen the Prince use the hilt of his sword to hit the back of her neck, causing her to fall. He quickly fell to his knees, his wings curled back as Nikolai turned to look at him.
"You don't need to explain anything; I was already aware. Find a way to capture every one of the Faes tonight, and no one should find out what you are," Nikolai ordered and started to walk away. But that wasn't what Peter wanted to talk about. Though he was surprised the Prince always knew he was a Fae but still kept him. Except, unlike the Faes tonight, his skin had only shredded to reveal a much smoother and finer skin, and he had two-colored wings. He looked much younger, and his sight became good since he unlocked his powers.
"Master Nikolai, you're not going to punish her, right?" Right, he was going to ask about Jasmine. He knew the punishment given to maids who tried to run away; he had caught most of them and taken them to the King. His heart hurt now that he couldn't help the girl.
"Hm, who knows," Nikolai merely replied and continued walking inside the castle. Placing Jasmine to lie under the stairs, he unsheathed his sword and started walking inside the royal chambers where he heard screams from. The guards had taken care of the maids; they just turned today. They weren't skilled enough; it was the magic in them that was driving them to do everything. They weren't conscious enough to be aware of what they had done.
Cocking the gun in his hand, he aimed at the last Fae struggling with a guard, and he shot. Guns weren't popularly used as a weapon, as very few people knew how to wield it. Or they were not just really interested in this small weapon and what it can do. Now seeing the Prince use this weapon made all the guards wish to have one.
The echoes of the shot rang in the castle, finally silencing down to nothingness. There weren't many casualties as it was only four that had turned.
Nikolai was aware of this; the Faes were not somewhere in the kingdom; they were in the royal castle. But he just had to leave. As strange as he already was, the Faes won't be able to turn with his presence in the castle, and it could cause disaster.
Without bothering to check up on his family, he turned and walked away, going to pick up Jasmine. Walking up the stairs, he went to his room and dropped the unconscious girl on his bed. He stared at her for a while before walking into the bathroom. Peeling off his shirt, he turned his back towards the mirror to stare at the black inking of an incomplete diagram. Unlike the other days, this wasn't painful, neither was he on a killing spree. He looked at the door of the bathroom that closed behind the girl on his bed.
All this is because of her, what is she?