The Demon King (Otherworld Series #4)

Chapter 38

The room was bright with sunlight. I yawned. Then groaned. My body ached. My stomach hurt. My sex was raw. My inner thighs bruised. I had many bruises. On my hips. On my wrists.

I looked at Nikolai. His neck looked very bad from what I could see. It looked like it was chewed by a tiger or something from one side, courtesy of me of course and otherwise there was the red raw skin that bled sluggishly,  courtesy of the collar.

"Nikolai." I nudged him. He groaned and pushed my hand away. "Let me..sleep."

"We need to get that neck of yours checked. And I have some important stuff I need to tell you."

"Hmm." He said. "Later."

I signed. I kissed his shoulder and got off the bed. My wardrobe was broken apart, the clothes strewn about. I picked up one of the gowns that wasnt torn to check whether it was okay or not.

Woah. 

It was cream coloured silk loose nightgown. Sleeveless and with an open back. It was the only thing that wasn't shredded. I shrugged and put it on.

It looked obscene and wasn't fit to go out of out room with. So I picked up a black shrug that looked marginally okay except for one shredded sleeve, and wore it on.

I left the room with a growling stomach and tousled hair. The castle was bustling with noise. As I reached the foot of the stairs I was greeted by a few maids that bowed to me and two soldiers that looked as bad as Nikolai, but without the raw neck.

They looked me up and down, making me blush and then nodded at me as they passed by.

I walked towards the kitchen, searching for Alexei. Or Dimitri...or one of my posse. But I didn't see anyone I recognised and whoever I saw, I was too shy to approach.

Suddenly, a black hulking figure darted out from the side of my eye, I turned to see it but,

"My Queen!" A vaguely familiar voice called out. I flinched and turned towards the voice.

It was 'The speaker of the people.' The dumb head Umaya. That mirage demon who gave me that secret word.

"It is I, Umaya."

"Yes, Umaya. I recognise you."

She looked like Runeria for a second and I was hit with the fact that they both appeared so similar. Runeria's face kept changing and Umaya's did the same. This fact hit me as weird and I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my mind. Like a spider sense.

She smiled at me and took my hands in hers. "What are you wearing, my ladyship. These are no grabs of the Queen."

"It's a long story. Surely, you heard of my abduction."

"Who did not?! We mourned your loss. The King searched relentlessly. He refused to give up. "

I was glad to hear that. A warm feeling hit my chest. I felt butterflies in my stomach. My face was no doubt red.

"Even the Vampires heard of your abduction. Your father was outraged. He demanded entrance into Dinhae but the King refused. He's camped at the border, the last I heard of him."

"Hanes is camped at the border?"

"Yes. Once the King comes to court again, then he'll permit to send a missive of your safe arrival. "

Once Nikolai came to court. It wasn't going to be soon. "About that, I need a healer. "

"For what." A different voice said. I turned towards Dimitri. Alexei stood grinning at me beside him.

"Nikolai's throat is bleeding, he can't talk properly. The collar burnt him raw and then there was....um..."

"I understand, you don't need to elaborate." He said, Alexei snickered.

"My Lords. I assume, the King won't be at court today then?" Umaya curtsied and asked. Why did she sound hopeful?

"No. He'll probably need rest. C'mon, Lunia. This way." Alexei said, Dimitri already turned away towards a long hallway.

We left Umaya behind and that tingling sensation disappeared. 

"She's weird."

"And very stupid." Alexei added.

"You noticed?" He nodded. "Nikolai made her the speaker of the people because he had an affair with her and she fell in love with him."

"What? " I asked, shocked at the news.

He nodded at my face. "He was just messing around with her but she took it seriously. So, as a compensation to her feelings, Nikolai made her a part of his court."

I bit my lip. Why didn't Lucelle or Stella say anything when I first met Umaya. They were there with me, they could have told me about her and Nikolai.

I felt that cold feeling prick my neck again.

"You go get Nikolai decent, we'll get the doctor. We'll be there in five." Dimitri says, breaking my chain of thoughts. I nodded and saw that they had reached me back to the flight of stairs in front of my room.

Then suddenly I remembered that black thing I saw at the side of my eye. My eyes widened in fear and suspicion and I nodded at Alexei and Dimitri, as calmly as I could and hurried up the stairs to our bedroom.

Images ran through my mind.

The vision I saw of the scar faced man poisoning Nikolai's pudding. The vision of Lady Yula's death. The black stuff.

Could it have been a cloak? Similar to the one the scar faced man wore? 

Puzzles fit into their places. All these acts were done against Nikolai.  The pudding could have killed him. If Lady Yula died then her clan of Centaurs would have killed us all.
Someone was purposely targeting Nikolai, aiming to kill him.

And that person must be in our room right now.

I panted as I reached up the stairs. And suddenly a female scream sounded.

I burst through the door and a black figure barrelled into me. The scar faced man turned towards me. He grinned and disappeared down the stairs.

I pulled myself up and shouted, "Guards!"

Inside the room, Nikolai lay on the ground, only in his boxers, bleeding from his head. His eyes were open, unseeing.