The Dark Kingdom

Chapter 5

Again, sorry for the shorter-but-long-wait. Questions get answered in this chapter, and it was very critical I get it right!

Now it is critical you vote, comment, fan me, and most of all ENJOY!

(First one to comment gets a dedication!)

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The queen sighed. She sat delicately on the couch, chocolate brown hair falling into her face. Her moss green eyes lifted and met mine defiantly, and she quirked a dark eyebrow dejectedly.

“This is not...this did not happen how I planned it.” I little bubble of mirth rose within me and I chuckled bleakly, rubbing a hand across my forehead.

“Oh, my queen, how might that be?” I asked, sighing. Ekaterina sat forward, clutching my hands in hers. I took a breath to steady myself and looked at her expectantly.

“I did not know that regaining your memories like that would be so disconcerting, so to start things off, I want to apologize.” Smiling grimly, she continued. “Next, I need to tell you something, and I do not want you to panic.”

“Ekaterina,” I said, forgetting her title through the haze of conflicting emotions, “I fought a bear, met you, had my memories erased, had a vision of my dead father, and was sold to you in a span of mere hours. I do believe I can handle it.” She patted my hand awkwardly.

“Well, I suppose when you put it that way....When I drank your blood, I turned you into a vamprye. What Gretta gave you this morning...that wonderfully delicious drink....was blood.” My jaw dropped. Vamprye? No, surely I would have noticed.

“I—I do not understand.” I managed to get out. Ekaterina's brows came together, her green eyes looking at me with sympathy, and just a touch of regret.

“It was not supposed to be like that, I was supposed to Change you after I brought you here. But as a newborn...I could not resist. The bloodlust is incredible. I compelled her to give you the blood, also commanding her to add a mixture of herbs that would prolong your true bloodlust. Tomorrow you will need to hunt. I am very aware that this is hard to take in, but you are a vamprye now. There is nothing you can do about it.” I stared down at my hands, lying limp in my lap. They did appear paler than usual, emitting a soft pearly radiance that I knew most vampryes had. Standing abruptly and crossing the floor to a door marked “Washroom” in elegant lettering, I pushed open the door and clutched the granite countertop earnestly.

Then at looked at my reflection in the gilded mirror hanging before me.

Turning my head to the left and then the right, I noticed reluctantly the small changes in myself. My cheekbones seemed sharper, more refined, my purple eyes seemed wider and more innocent. My lips were fuller, my hair had a bright sheen to them that only vampryes had.

“You are right,” I admitted to myself and Ekaterina, who picked herself up off the couch and joined me, running her eyes over my features.

“Very beautiful. Not that you were not before...but now, Dessie, you are radiant.” I met her eyes and put as much force behind my gaze as I could, then turned back to my reflection. Opening my mouth to speak, I watched the familiar stranger in the mirror open her mouth too, and was momentarily distracted. Yes, I was beautiful, but it was not a warm beauty. I was a vamprye.

“You must have had a reason to do this to me.” I said, keeping my voice calm, “So explain your motives.” The queen nodded reluctantly and opened her mouth to speak when another lighter voice interrupted her. I looked over my shoulder at the gorgeous girl waltzing into the room. She had a soft halo of golden blond hair and moss green eyes that matched her mother's. I would have guessed her to be fifteen, but she was after all a witch, and therefore her true age was almost impossible to tell. She was small and willowy, wearing a deep blue day gown that complimented her hair. Her eyes met mine and I saw a flash of something in them—something like awe, which must have been my imagination, for someone of her stature surely could not be awed by me.