Ephemeral

8: Winter

"I'm headed straight for the castle
They wanna make me their queen." -Castle by Halsey
---

Ira

The war against Coulton's taking place right right at this moment, I am provoked to attack him all by myself by killing one of my most powerful subordinate.

Andreas Francois, the Duke who can wield the element of earth that we can use as an advantage is now found dead and decapitated.

Anger boils within me that caused my entire land looking a barren place filled with white color.

Winter.

My temper got the best of me that resulted my power to be out of control and now I turned the whole place like a winter wonderland.

Cruelty.

Vampires can live in cold places, hell we can even walk buttnaked in Antartica if we want to. But just like any coldblooded animals, we prefer the warm.

I curled my fist in fury thinking of what Coulton's generals did to one of my most trusted Duke.

Coulton is attacking my subordinates and I should stop him.

Kill him.

A wicked smile graced my lips as I think of a plan on how I could bring his kingdom down.

Not that I care that his power is contradicted to mine. I take risks if I want to.

'But you don't take risk of falling in love.' a snarky voice whispered in my mind that I choose to ignore because of it's nonsense blabber.

"My Queen, there's a letter for you from King Coulton." I take the scroll from Claudius and opened it.

Ah, this is perfect. I crumpled the scroll and throw it into the woods.

"Find his family and all relatives, I want them all alive, got me? I'll be going alone to meet him." Claudius gave me a worried look but he obeyed my orders and leave me to prepare myself.

If Coulton thinks that he can outsmart me, that's the most stupidest thing I've ever seen.
---

I went to the stable to fetch my stallion Cloud, and prepare him for our trip.

While I was fixing the reins, I feel a presence behind me. I stopped and turned around to see Raphael staring at me with his dark eyes.

I think he is mad? Or am I just the only one who see that?

The way he is frowning darkly at my direction makes me think of all the things I did today and I wonder what could possibly go wrong that make him angry at me.

Wait a second, why do I even care?

"You are going to an ambush, and that letter is a trap." he said the words slowly as he took huge steps towards me.

I cannot help but to look up to him because he is so tall and I am just in the height of a grade 6 student. Damn.

I secretly swallowed the bile on my throat "Why do you even care?" I asked. Goodness, I am glad that I didn't stammer.

What did you do to me?

His handsome face crumpled into a disappointed look "I care because I like to. Is there any reason left why I shouldn't do that?"

"Yes because I am just a nobody to an angel like you. I am only doing the favor, that's all." I stated.

His face softened and he reached for my face to touch it.