Blood Royals Book #4: Long Live The King!

Chapter Thirteen: Hanging Horrors

King Relian's POV
I haven't seen anything so brutal.

The stench of death is heavy in the air. The darkness that looms with the crushing on enemy that leaves nothing but destruction in it's wake has made a loud statement. Once again, we will be dragg r back to darkness and uncertainty. I feel it in the air. My grandmother would say she feels it in her bones.

"Cut them down." I demanded. "Cut them down and bury them."

"What of their families?" Bowie asked me.

I feel disoriented. I rubbed my temples. "Carry out DNA tests. We will have a mass burial right here. We cannot release the bodies to the family in this state."

Each one if them has been beheaded. Whether it was done when they were alive or postmortem, we don't know. What I know is that they are hanging upside down and headless. The camps remain untouched. There's no struggle.

"Talk to me about surveillance."

"They were not physically attacked."

I stared at Bowie. "What killed them then? What beheaded them? Ninjas in the dark? Should I be more paranoid and think ghosts?"

"It started with red smoke, which was bizzarre. It came down like a mist. Then they started falling down like they had no control of their bodies. After that we lost footage."

"Red smoke?"

"Yes your majesty. Red smoke."

"I want a postmortem on all of them. I want answers. This time we do not play catch up Bowie. This time they play catch up to us."

"Understood your majesty."

Can it get more bizzarre than this?

Queen Renee's POV
"QM, how come you never had any other children?"

I set Rehan down on the floor. He's learning to walk. He holds on to things but we hope that he will go at it on his own. QM gazes at him with nothing but love in her eyes.

"I think you have asked me this question before."

"Have I?"

She chuckled softly. "If it's not you, then someone else and I probably lied."

"What's the truth?"

Her smile faded. "Rehan." She called. My son made his way back into his grandmother's arms. She picked him up and flooded his little face with kisses. My son is deeply loved and adored by his family and servants alike. There's something about him that puts a smile on everyone's faces.

"Did you speak to him about being part of the committee?"

"I did."

"What did he say?"

"He said I have developed a bad habit of questioning and undermining him."

"Okay."

"Then I accused him of bullying me into submission. He gripped my jaw. He said he is yet to bully me into submission.  He forbid me from leaving the palace."

She smiled. "Classic."

"It's not funny QM."

"No it's not but honestly, Reli is not going to do anything to hurt you. He adores you to the moon and back. He's terrified be of anything ever befalling you. Don't be mad at him. You have a good husband."

"But he's suffocating me. I have a right to choose what I want to do."

"Within reason. I'm also not against you facing Adair. But is it worth the silence in this home? At the end if the day Renée, he needs to be confident that he will always have you as you will always have him. Remember that."