Kiedi woke with a pounding in her head and the chill of the moist ground on her cheek. She moved her hand to rub her cheek but it wouldn't budge. She tugged again but it still wouldn't move. With more effort that she cared to admit to she forced her eyes open and was confronted with trees and shadows moving amongst the fog.
She looked down at her hands and saw that they were bound by rope around the trunk of a tree, the bark pressing against her back. She tried to sight the knot and then used her telekinesis to untie it. She had to admit in the past three days she's used her powers more than she had in weeks.
She rubbed her sore wrists and rolled unto her knees. She could hear vulgar sounds through the fog around her. The last thing she remembered was facing off with a bunch of parasite demons before she pushed Jazz away and got knocked upside her head.
Jazz! What if they still had Jazz?!
She kept low as she crawled through the fog keeping an eye out for the shadows as she searched for Jasmine. She had a feeling that she was in the midst of a parasite demon camp and so kept her gaurd up but It took too much energy to keep her shield up constantly so she just kept her eyes and ears sharp for any movement.
"Where's the girl?!" She heard a yell from the direction she was coming from.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" She mumbled to herself as she started to crawl faster. Her knees felt sore from crawling over rocks and twigs and hard clumps of dirt.
She saw a slender figure slumped on the ground in front of her and she slowly crawled over to it.
"Jazz?" she whispered. She stopped a few inches away from the form but it wasn't Jazz but it was a female. She touched the woman's shoulder and was met with the chill of dead flesh.
"Ahh!" she gasped as she fell back on the floor.
"What have we here?" A voice said behind her as the shadow turned into the form of a man and gripped her hair before she had a chance to put up her shield.
"Oh boys!" he whistled as he dragged her along behind him.
"Let go of me you freak cannibal demon!" she yelled at him.
The shadows gathered around her and slowly they turned into faces of men with greedy grins on their faces.
"If any of you so much as touch me I'll kill you like I did your friends in the-" she was cut short when one of them backhanded her.
"Shut up wench!"
Kiedi felt anger surge through her as she stared down the one who hit her. Her eyes started glowing and she mentally threw off the one who held her hair and levitated into the air.
"I warned you," she said through gritted teeth and stared down at the one who hit her. She tilted her head to the side as she commanded his blood to boil. The flesh he stole turned to a fierce red before it combusted in front of her eyes.
"Now for the rest of you creepy parasites!"
Kiedi followed the guards into the palace's viewing room. They had showed up just as she killed the last monster in the camp and caught her just before she passed out. Now here she was covered in parasite blood being escorted to go meet her grandfather and mother.
The King, a dark haired man who looked no older than fifty, sat on his regal throne with an amused look on his face as she walked in the room.
"Send for the others," the King commanded the guard beside her. "How are you my dear?"
"I'm fine. How did you know to come find me?"
"Someone told me my granddaughter was in trouble so ofcourse I offered my help."
A door to the left of the room opened and Luke and and a woman that had a striking resemblance to her came walking in followed by two guards.
Kiedi ran over to Luke and threw herself in his arms and he was quick to catch her and hold her tightly against his chest. He planted numerous kisses on her hair and face.
"I'm so happy that you're safe."
"I told you I could handle myself, plus I always know your going to save me if I ever need it," she smiled up at him. He didn't smile back and a strange feeling crept up the back of her neck. "What's wrong Luke?"
"You keep getting in danger and what happens when I can't save you or you meet something that you can't defeat?" he asked quietly.
"You have no control over those incidents Luke. You can't blame yourself for them and we'll just have to find a way to get through it if the time ever comes."
"I don't have any control over those incidents but as long as your around me you'll always be in danger."
Kiedi could feel his pain mixing with hers in her heart and she knew something terrible was coming and she didn't know how to stop it because she also felt that his mind was made up.
She grabbed his hand and pressed it over her rapidly beating heart. "Luke I'm telling you, we can get through anything that comes our way as long as we're together. Please don't say or do what I can feel you're about to!" the tears were pooling in her eyes and they poured over as she saw resignation in his eyes.
"It's too late," Luke framed her face, "this situation has taught me a lot and it has forced my hand. I'm doing what I must to keep you safe, I'm sorry Kie."
"Young Lukas here has asked, practically begged me even, to take you into my home and look after you," The king spoke for the first time since Luke and the woman had stepped into the room.
"You did what?!" Kie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "After all you said about him you're leaving me with him!?"
"Now young Lukas, I have agreed to take care of my granddaughter. You may leave with a clear conscience that you have done the right thing tonight," the king said with a slight bitterness to his fake calm tone.
"Lukas! NO! You can't really leave me here!" Kiedi cried as she gripped his hand in hers.
" Goodbye Kie," Luke kissed her forehead and pried her hands off his before turning and walking swiftly out the room.
Shortly after Kiedi was led up a staircase and down a royally decorated hallway. The guards that walked with her escorted her into a grand bedroom; there they left her and closed the door locking her in.
She sat on the velvet spread of the bed and waited for that twinge on the brink of her mind that would come when Luke shifted into his wolf and she could speak to him through their mind link. She waited patiently and finally it came and as soon as she felt it she barged into his mind.
"How could you!"
"Kiedi you wouldn't understand-"
"Then make me understand Luke. How could you just leave me here after all we've been through?! I thought we were mates!"
"WE are mates and that's why I will always do whatever I have to to keep you safe from harm."
"But I thought you said this man was the devil!"
"But he's the lesser of two evils."
"Luke pleaase!"
"Kiedi I love you will all my being but you will never accept this if we keep in contact so please don't call me through the link again." and with that he was gone and Kiedi felt a wall go up between her and Luke mentally.
She was shocked speechless and sat there with tears running down her face. A deep shudder ran through her and it shook her back to her senses. She curled into a ball on the bed and suffered body racking sobs of loss until she passed out from exhaustion.
When she next stirred it felt like a dream. She was floating in the air and then she was lying on a soft mattress and the covers were pulled up to her chin and she was tucked in. A warm hand brushed against her hair and she heard the hum of an unfamiliar song.
Kiedi opened her eyes but she didn't see anyone only the figure of someone in the dark of the room.
"Luke?" she asked hopefully but she knew it could never be him. He had left her here by herself. After all his proclamations of love and not being able to live without her he had just up and left her. With that thought the tears started all over again.
The warm hand continued to stroke her hair and hum that unfamiliar but calming song until she fell back asleep still completely unsure of who it was.
The next morning she woke to a knocking on her assigned room's door. She didn't want to see anyone so she didn't answer in a hope that they would take the hint and leave her alone.
No such luck.
She groaned and pulled the covers over her head when the door opened and someone stepped in. Said person lifted the covers from her head and Kiedi was confronted with eyes the same green as her own. They were on a woman with a heart shaped face and her ebony hair was pinned on top of her head with not a stray strand to be found.
Her father was right, she did look just like her mother because as soon as she had seen this woman the night before she knew it was her mother.
"Good morning," the woman said; her voice was soft yet had an authority about it.
"What's good about it?" her voice in comparison felt like her throat was coming off a grater with how hoarse it sounded.
"I'm Arora," she stepped back as Kiedi swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"I know," Kiedi said meeting her gaze, "I'm Kiedi."
"I know, I did name you after all," she said with a little smile and with that one smile her entire features changed and she didn't seem so threatening anymore.
"True..." Kiedi couldn't help smiling back.
"The king has requested that you join him for breakfast."
"The king can kiss my-"
"I'm afraid not," Arora cut her with a little chuckle. "The king must not be denied his requests." She had a beautiful laugh Kiedi mused as she watched her mother walk around her room with grace and poise. She had an air of beauty and grace about her, no wonder her father fell prey to her charms.
"Really now?" Kiedi responded sarcastically
"The bathroom is that way, and until we have a dressmaker come in to get your measurements I'll lend you a few suits to wear."
"Thanks a million," Kiedi mumbled as she headed for the bathroom.
When she was finished Kiedi went downstairs in the most comfortable thing she could find: a suit pants and a dark blue satin blouse. A maid led her to the dining room with two guards walking abreast behind her. Arora and the king were already seated but neither had started eating.
"Good morning dear one," the king said in a sickeningly sweet tone as she sat down.
"Good morning sir," she replied not meeting his eyes.
"Eye contact is everything and you must speak louder than that, I will not strain my ears to hear you. And you must call me grandfather, I insist."
"As you wish... Grandfather."
"Good, now lets start breakfast."