(New and edited)
CHAPTER 23: The Bloodiest Of Them All
Martin gestures to Elias, telling him to move me from what I was seeing, that I was unstable, unreliable in a crowd searching for a new leader, a harsh, vindictive leader and Martin had it all. Standing there, he overthrew the council in one sweep, one order, one slice of poison. I stare at Kade's body, my own growing weaker and weaker, before Elias picks me up, staring straight-forward as he ushers me from the room under instruction. My skin was electrified, gripping Elias for dear life, "What has he done? Elias, what the fuck has he done?!" I cry out, the doors snap closed and his associates, the remaining elders face us both while Elias rests me on the staircase, leaning down, he grips my shoulders.
My eyes were filled with the salty substance that reddens them raw, "Why did you agree to this?" I question him, shoving his hands off of me, he doesn't allow it, making me stare into his eyes.
"Listen to me, there are things you just don't understand—"
I cut him off, "Then fucking explain to me why the hell he just killed all those loyal to the council. Charles, Kade—oh god, Kade. He...he..." He stepped away, he left that balcony. Why would he go back? After what he said...I still in my form, Kade knew something was going onto go down here and he...he let Martin do that to him anyway? Why? Oh, goddess, why.
Elias—I stare into his eyes, his beard gone and his hair looks natural, "Have you aged? Transformed—younger?" I whisper at the sudden shock of its he use to have a white beard, the robes use to stand out more, his brown eyes now had a caramel touch to them. I stand abruptly, tilting away from him when he grabs my wrist and pulls me closer. I stare into his eyes, I had more questions than answers.
He studies me, "You're only now noticing?" He questions.
"Even your voice has changed." I state, wanting to focus on anything else other than what I saw in there. I twist my wrist out of his grip, pulling away, my professor wasn't him anymore. That professor was much older, at least in his seventies, whereas shockingly, the man in front of me looked like he was in his forties, if that. His hair a deep reddish brown colour. Skin looked tanner.
I stare at all of him, he purses his lips, "Not even I can explain this change. It was not meant to happen on this soil." He mutters, folding his hands back under the robe, before I had seen him clench a fist, using the same hand he grabbed me with.
"Tell me the truth. Why did he just kill the council and no one, not even the cameras are stopping this? You're not even doing anything and you said you were loyal to the bloody Council." I spit, staring him down.
He only stares, "It has never been the council in which we are loyal to, Celeste." He tells me.
I clench my jaw as I stare at him, "He's been gathering allies since he got here, hasn't he?"
He sighs, "It's far more complicated than that. He's a King, Celeste. This is an order no one can rally against and if you must get technical, we are not here for his protection, we are here for yours." He points at me.
I scoff and wipe my eyes, "You truly think you're some fucking sentinel for me? Are you bloody kidding me? Where the gigantic fuck have you been the past few weeks telling me to embrace the abuser like some sort of moronic know-it-all?" I ask him, pointing at the doors past the other elders who stand there and say, and do nothing.
I stare at the lot of them, so useless, "Don't fucking follow me." I snap over my shoulder.
He appears in front of me, one ice cold breath and I feel the change of atmosphere, but it does nothing, it doesn't touch me and I know that's his doing, "You leave and he could retaliate." He says to me, staring me down.
"I'll take my chances." I mutter, flipping him off.
He stops and steps in my way again, "This is for your safety too. Do you understand that? I can teach you techniques in ensuring he does not treat you the way other Alpha's have treated their Luna's before the woman is with child. We are here to help you, Celestine, and you are not only going to accept that help, but you will embrace it, every step in this journey, you will accept it." He situates, standing in front of me.
I stare at his medallion, "Everyone has told me what I should do," I whisper.
He hitches a breath.
I feel my forces darken, the candles in the room dimming, flickering. Elias stares at me, he purses his lips, "I am not trying to anger you." He states, reaching for me. I whack his hands away an a sharp, maybe even impulsive move. He grabs my hand again, softly closing his eyes and taking a breath. A grey strand of his hair changes colour. I still and stare at it in horror.
"Am I making you younger?" I whisper at the fiercely scary realisation that the two may be linked.
"No." He lies through the skin of his teeth. I rip my hand from his, it tingles with electrical sparks that make me dizzy, and pissed. I shoulder past him, roughly shoving him aside before he can do so much as get me to look at him. I move to the elevators, taking the floor up to the room, I lower close to the couch, hand against my forehead as I feel it, I feel the pain and agony that comes with losing the joy person I really believed in.
Kade.
I squeeze my eyes shut, too much. Too much has happened in such a short amount of time.
"New management has taken charge of the central headquarters...the return of a Rebel King...Nicolai Darkling. The stories the world knows, the stories the world fears is about to become the world's greatest ally. Martin Julius was a cover under his Royal duties to serve for the good of the people, to bring about peace in a world full of chaos. To open up and expose the risks, the dangers, and the destruction the council and councils of all, brought to our world. Making humans fear us, making mates lose their own because of rules, because of regulations that has caused people to hide when we, as a collective, should work together, should accept each other. King Nicolai Darkling is the symbol of peace, of a future where fear is eradicated. He is the victor against the council who obstructed freedom and enforced laws upon our people which were wrong!" I heard his voice, Robert's roars to everyone watching on the news, I saw it. Nicolai standing there with power beneath his fingers.
The door to my room opens.
I stare at the screen, it wasn't live, this was during the time, the moment Elias moved me under Martin's orders.
"You chose the right side, my darling." His husky voice echoes.
I stare at the screen, "You killed them." My lips tremble.
"They have killed many others. Saving you just to use you is not worth loyalty or even love. You are still a child if you believe that." Martin mutters, removing his suit, his bare back and bulging muscles in my view as he takes a bottle of whiskey and pours some, taking a slow sip, his silver eyes move to penetrate mine. His gaze softens from where I had only seen no remorse before. Strength and power on television too.
He eyes me, "I had to be compliant for those filthy games, for the plan to fall straight into place and I'm sorry that there were things I needed to do, things I would never, ever agree to if it all weren't necessary." He speaks cryptically.
I stare at him, feeling deadly and numb all at once, if that even makes sense, if it's even possible, "What the hell have you done?" I breathe out, I couldn't believe what I saw, in the moments it happened, in the moments leading up to it too. People I grew up with, people I knew who were loyal, and devoted to the council because they were trained from birth. It is all they knew.
It is all I knew.
"They didn't have to die."
He stares at me, "Living would cause more problems than not. You may hate me for these houses, you may despise me for my behaviour before that but the council never left you alone, they had eyes and ears in every crevice of this fucked up world and to eradicate that, I needed to treat you in ways I'd never treat a woman." He stands, pointing to me.
He moves forward and I use that advantage, kicking out his glass, it slams against the wall and shatters. I grab the nearest object and rip it towards him, he ducks and grabs me by the waist, "Enough." He says slowly, softly.
"I understand you're angry, more than you will ever know, but I am not your enemy, nor are you mine, Celestine. We are bound by the gods, I will protect you, I will not hurt you, not as I have done in the past for the good of this world, for the survival of our people. I will make up for it." He brushes my hair behind my ear. I lift my elbow up and knock him harshly in the jaw, grabbing the nape of his neck, I throw him over my shoulder, he rolls forward, fast enough to land on his feet.
I bring up my fists, "If I'm such a fucking ally, then you won't go searching for punishment when I beat your arse to a pulp, arsehole!" I sharpen, punching him in the abs, harshly kicking his side. He doesn't bat an eyelash, flicking my moves off with swift moves that were outside of the range I've seen him use in battle. I growl, he grabs my wrist, spins me, flips me onto the bed and I tense with his fingers barely even resting against my exposed neck.
I breathe heavily as he kneels down, my head bent over the edge of the bed while he strokes my jaw bone, he looks at me gently. But it's not gentle, it's cunning, sly, so very manipulative and I don't even know if he realises it or not.
Leaning forward, he brushes a feather-like kiss against my jawline, "Sweetheart." He whispers, brushing his fingers through my hair. Releasing me, he stands and let's me sit up, I grip my throat, searching for any tough grip that could bruise later, but he barely touched me. I spin to stare at him, he stares at me like I'm a feral creature he finds cute.
Resting his hands on the corners of the bed, bulging biceps shaping his brooding form, he crawls up on the bed, moving his fingers in a strange curve through the air. I gasp when I'm flown straight into his arms. Kneeling between his legs, I stare at him in horror, "What the fuck are you?" He moved me with not a single touch, but a command of the mind.
"A King, we've established that." He murmurs against the skin of my shoulder, staring down my arm, he moves it up, fingers on my wrist, he presses a deep kiss against my inner elbow. I tense and pull away, he lets me move my arm aside, but cages me on the bed. I look at the door, my eyes drawn to it, seeking out whoever was standing behind it. I needed space, time to regroup and time away from—
"Elias is outside. The elders are your personal guards." He says to me, interrupting my thoughts, his hands move up my legs, and slide up the back of my thighs, squeezing the rump of me. I gasp and was about to shove him off, but he takes advantage and slides his tongue past the seams of my lips. I rip my arm out between us, against his neck, I hook his leg and shove him on his back, but he chuckles lightly, before pulling my hips down onto his in a seductive move.
My eyes darken, but not the way nor reason behind why his does the same, he locks his lips back against mine, the taste of whiskey and something akin to chocolate mixes like a screwed up bittersweet combination.
He groans, "Can't you feel that? What you do to me?" He breathes out. I shove him back against the bed and slap his hands off me.
"If you say you aren't the abusive bitch from before, then you'll let me sleep on my own tonight and for every other night I wish to." I snap, shoving off him, he lies there for a second as I grab my bag, I kick the door open.
"We're only here for three more nights anyway, dear." He says playfully behind me, before adding, "Elias, find her a room, no one goes in or out without my approval." He says to the man standing tense in his robe before me. He nods to Martin, grabbing my bag from my fingers as the doors close with silver eyes penetrating my form.
I stare at Martin, "Say, professor, do you understand the term of 'slave'?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.
He stares at me, "That is not the case here."
"The same idiot said something similar, he wasn't shackled, but locked in a pretty room with pretty doors. Given the chance to move his body freely, yet is attacked and hurt when a mistake is made, and still...a fucking cage it was." I point out.
He points down the stairs, "He wants you on the same floor, I'm certain you're tired and will need to recuperate from the events of this evening, Celeste. Follow me and I will explain to you why this is important, I will even tell you more about the elemental world when it was beautiful. If you wish." He murmurs.
I stare at him, "I doubt anything you've touched is beautiful."
He taps my hand, "Zap...there, I touched something beautiful."
I wanted to rip his head off now too.