As we merge onto the underground highway, my mind is running a mile a minute attempting to formulate a way to face Mephistor.
I knew that tonight was his coronation, and that meant that he would be the center of attention so avoiding him would be difficult, however, just because I saw him, didn't necessarily mean that he had to see me.
If I viewed the coronation and left swiftly afterwards after all were allowed, I could flee the castle before dealing with any unwanted interactions.
"I do think you should tell Klaus, Alliana." Mr. Burke begins."If Mephistor has marked you, there may not be much more time for you to speak with him before the bond that has been created causes him to shield you from more potential threats."
"Shield me? Is he that barbaric that he feels the need to keep me away from other men?"
"It's the bond Alliana. He can't help it."
"I can tell, in the dream, or, whatever it was, he could keep his hands off of me. It was almost as if he'd been planning-"
"Not planning Ms. Nixon, more like waiting. He, like myself, was made aware of your credentials before you first stepped a foot into the castle, and was impressed as the rest of us were. He must have got it in his mind that you were also gifted, and waited until he could get you alone to see for himself."
"What if I hadn't been gifted then? If he had still marked me, what would have happened?" I ask.
"Alliana, you would have died. A non gifted being can not handle a mark from a gifted one."
"H-he was willing to kill me to discover if I had a gift?" I say quietly. An uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.
"I believe so."Mr. Burke's voice is quiet as well."He must have been desperate at that point. Feeling like he had no one who understood. The mere sight of you must have been hope enough for him that you were more than met the eye."
I sink back into my seat as my mind desperately tried to process all of the information going into it.
"Is the mark permanent?" My voice is barely above a whisper.
"Thankfully, no." My eyes widen at this unexpected response and I exhale."In the past the mark was given to the female before the coronation, afterwards, the male and female would need to feed from one another to complete the process."
"So he's planning on having us feed on each other tonight?" I say. Mr. Burke nods. "How lovely."
"Such an extreme gesture I know. Fortunately, however, we are aware of his plan, and, therefore we can stop it before it is able to take root."
I turn my head towards him, waiting for him to continue.
"As soon as you get to the palace I want you to go to Klaus's office and make him aware of the current situation. Mephistor will undoubtably have guards waiting inside of the ceremony to monitor you and prevent potential escape before he can complete his plan." I nod."You have to attend the ceremony otherwise suspicion will rise, so I want you to enter with Klaus, and after the ceremony, you two need to leave as quickly as you can together."
"I don't understand. Where will we go? This entire kingdom will be under Mephistor's surveillance."
"You will take my car north. I will program the directions to your destination on my phone and relay them to you through the cars autopilot."
"You want me to just leave? I have a family-"
"Your family belongs to the prince now, and I doubt that you are that fond of your father now after he's attempted to erase your memories of your sister."
My body stills.
"How did you-"
"I monitor the amounts of disappearing memory elixirs from time to time. He attempted to cover his tracks by having them checked out in the name of his physician, however, after having tracked down the whereabouts of the medication myself I discovered the truth."
I raise an eyebrow. Impressed by the abilities of the man before me.
"I had an interest in you, Ms. Nixon, before you came to the castle. Not only had I worked with your father on occasion, but, although he tried to hide her, I met your sister once as well. She was an outcast, I noticed that before anything else, but the was only caused by the strong force that she had to be free from the confinement of her home, from society."
I lean in more, intrigued by the story. He had known my sister?
"After she was taken away, I checked up on her from time to time in the royal institution. She was constantly drugged as the nurses tried to break her of her free spirit, but she never cracked. I admired that about her. It was one of the reasons that aided in her escape from that god forsaken place."
"You helped her escape?"
"It wasn't easy. It took months of preparation and becoming well acquainted with the staff. However I did receive some help from a group of individuals that wanted to see her freed as much as I did."
"No." The Resistance?
"What a peculiar group of rebels they were, so weak, yet so powerful. They came to my home one night and said that they wished to help me. We organized a break in, and the next week, we had managed to disguise some of their personal as guards, and take your sister out for a "transfer".
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Mr. Burke had helped my sister escape? He had helped the resistance?
"Where is she now?"
He shook his head."I'm not sure. The resistance has many different based around the world. They've got individuals in the government, as well as a surplus of supernaturals on their side. She could be anywhere."
My hope flickered. So she was alive, but there was a chance that I would never see her again?
It was at that point that I realized Mr. Burke definitely knew more than he let on.
"Thank you." Was all that I could manage to choke out. "For everything."
"Oh Ms. Nixon don't thank me yet. We still have to have you survive the night first." He chuckled. "Mephistor must not complete the process. As soon as the clock strikes twelve the mark will become invalid. The bond should wear away, but none of that will matter if you don't leave the castle immediately after he coronation."
I nod.
"We're almost at the front gate Alliana, remember what I said, find Klaus. If he's going to be able to protect you, he needs to know what he's up against."
"I don't want to force him into my problems Mr. Burke, he has no role in this."
"Oh Alliana, that's where you're wrong." Mr. Burke laughs."Can't you see that he has everything to do with this? He's the one who triggered your power, the one who you feel strangely connected to because of that, and he's the one who is going to teach you how to control it. I can tell you to close your eyes and sit back all you want, but if you want to be able to utilize this power to save yourself and those that you care about, you're going to need Klaus." He presses a button on the dashboard."And he's going to need you as well."
Our car comes to a halt in front of the gate, and guards walk over to open the doors for us on either side.
"Good evening gentlemen." Mr. Burke greats as he exists the car. They each give a curt nod and unlock the gate got our entrance. Mr. Burke interlocks our arms and leads me to the elevator shaft. Once inside be pressed floor number ninety five and floor number one. The dreaded ding sounds throughout the space, and he glances in my direction. His lavender eyes meeting mine. He gives me a quick nod and slight smile before exiting the elevator.
As I continue my ascent, my hands begin to get clammy. I realize that all that has happened in the past hour has left me quite frazzled, and the after affects were just beginning to show. I'm left alone in the elevator with the projection of the king who's eyes were glaring into the back of my head for a few more seconds before the glass box stops on the ninety fifth floor. With one last glance at the starry night sky behind me, I exit the elevator and head into Klaus's wing of the castle.
When I reach the door I look at the gold engraved plate next to the grand door.
Klaus Killian
Royal Advisor
Shaking my head I raise my hand to knock on the door, but before my knuckles meet the fine wood it's ripped open and I'm looking into the catlike eyes of the man who would supposedly save my life.
"Alliana." He whispers. Relief washing over his face as he takes a step closer to me. The space between us now gone.
"Klaus." Relief finds me as well.
"I have something I need to tell you." He says. Eyes now glowing a vibrant green as I'm sure mine are gold. A heated feeling sweeps over us as we gaze into each other's eyes like we've been separated for a life time.
"I do too." I shake my head, momentarily breaking the trance to formulate words."And we don't have much time."
"Is something wrong?" He asks. Eyes now filling with concern.
He backs up into his office, encouraging me to follow. He locks the door behind us.
"Tell me what's wrong, Alliana. My words can wait."
"It's Mephistor," I shake my head."He's like us."
"He's what?" His eyes widen and he begins to pace around the room. "That's not possible, I would have sensed him by now."
"He can't sense you either. I'm not sure why."
"How do you know that?" He suddenly stops pacing and looks at me. I take a moment to notice his perfectly tailored navy suit, complete with a gold pocket square that matches my dress. His golden hair is styled nicely and his shoes are a mahogany that match the wood of the room around us. I snap out of my trance only to realize that he's looking at me as well. "You look beautiful." He says with glowing eyes.
"So do you." He chuckles and I realize that I just called him beautiful. Suddenly remembering the extremely of the situation I was in, I again have to look away from his gaze that continues to trap me as the temperature in the room continues to rise."M-Mephistor, he appeared to me in a dream. He told me we were alike and then he..." Did I really want to tell him what he had done? I had the mark on my shoulder to prove it that was concealed by my dress.
"Then he what?" Klaus says walking over to me slowly. I back up until I hit his fireplace. A strange sense of deja vu rushes over me.
I don't speak.
"You don't want to talk?" He says with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "I can make you talk."He closes the distance between us and presses our hips together. I can feel my eyes ablaze as they burn into his own. His arms are on either side of my head as he leans down into me ear. "Tell me what he did to you Alliana." His emphasis on my name makes my knees week, and if it weren't for his body against mine, I would have undoubtedly slouched to he floor."Alliana." He grinds his hips into me and I peep out a moan at the action. "Tell me." His lips find my neck and he nips at the base. He suddenly freezes."What the fûck is this?" His warm fingers carefully pull my dress off of my shoulder.
"That's-"
"That's what!" He growls pushing our bodies impossibly closer.
"Mephistor." I choke out. My body is running wild with our close proximity.
"I'm going to kill him!" He nearly yells.
~~~
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