Chapter 129

"The King is back."

That had been about over thirty minutes ago, when Gwen had brought the news to her with absolute excitement.

Now, Zezi stood in front of a hefty guard who wouldn't let her go into the room to see him.

A gun would have been good right now, just so she could shoot a bullet right through his head.

"Get out of my way." She snarled. "That is an order!"

But the guard stood rigidly at the door, looking straight ahead like he couldn't see her.

Like she wasn't even there.

Zezi gritted her teeth, as the running around of physicians in the room, slipped into her ears, their chaotic mutterings and Valerick's groans of pain tugging at the strings of her heart.

From his side of the bond, she could feel nothing.

Guilt dug a grave in her mind, and regret laid in it.

Buried, deep, deep down.

Her breathing was ragged with the conflict that tussled her around without mercy.

Wasn't this what she wanted? Why was she not content with it? She should be happy. She was saving her people, which held more priority to her than her feelings for him.

She shouldn't be so torn!

Wait.

Oh By the moon, the doctors were attending to him! They would find out about the poison, they might link it to her, but that was alright.

There would be no reason to live once this was over.

"Milady?" Gwen held her arm, and it was only then she realized how loudly she was breathing, how deafening her heart was thundering in her ears.

"I want to see him," She whispered in a helpless voice as her gaze fell to Gwen.

Gwen looked back at her Mistress with glassy eyes of understanding. It must be killing her Mistress that her mate was going through pain and she couldn't be there for him. She would be going through the same panic too if something were to happen to her husband or any of her bats.

"I think we should come back---"

"No!" She yanked her hand away from Gwen's grip and turned to the brick of a guard in front of her.

Fuck, a gun would be so good right now!

"Let. Me. Pass!" She yelled, drawing her extended claws over the guard's armour, the scratching sound unpleasant to her ears, as the silver burnt her flesh.

"Lady Zezi, the physicians' hands are full at the moment, how about you be reasonable and postpone your tantrums." It was a physician who had stepped out of the door. He was wearing blue scrubs, and his tired brown eyes had no spark in them, just like his pale copper skin.

"And who are you?" She remembered him, Valerick had called him Nicholas the day she had gone into his tidy to steal her medical reports.

He had some nerves. Really.

"Nichol---"

"Oh wait, I don't care. I just want you out of my way."

"Milady..." Gwen whispered in a hushed tone.

When Nicholas didn't move away, she gritted, "You will let me see my mate, this instant."

"The King doesn't want to see you."

Zezi was taken aback by that.

Gwen had said something reassuring to comfort her, but Zezi really didn't hear it.

Her heart was racing, in her mind, worlds were colliding.

Maybe they had found out about the poison, maybe they already suspected her?

"He doesn't want to see anyone," Nicholas concluded, running his hand over his blue scrub cap.

Lady Delice had appeared along the hallway just at that moment, and soon enough, she had ushered Zezi into a room where the Princess was waiting for them.

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"Isn't it lovely to see you, Princess?"

Laura scoffed, moving away from the wall she was leaning against some seconds ago.

"The White Circle is happy with you, fur creature." She clicked her claws together, and moved them over her golden bangles.

She was excessively dressed. An ankle-length red leather jacket, coupled with a white shirt and fitting pair of black trousers, with gold chains everywhere they could possibly be.

For someone whose brother seemed to be in an unstable condition, she was really celebrating.

Zezi should be celebrating too, but---

Laura clicked her claws over her bangles again and Zezi gnashed her teeth at the sound, but she wasn't in the mood to say anything about it. This fight in her was already occupying enough.

"You have done really well, Lady Zezi," Lady Delice said.

Ah, they brought her here to praise her for a job well done.

Zezi wasn't feeling proud of herself though. Also, it wasn't their praises she needed. She needed to talk to one of her own. She needed to sort out this conflict in her head and figure out how she truly felt about what she was doing.

She was doing this for her kind.

She reminded herself for the umpteenth time, while taking a deep breath, noticing for the first time that the room smelt dusty and looked like a small store.

It was also a little dark, since the only window it had, was closed and covered with a curtain.

"This is good," Zezi could hear Lady Delice pacing. "This way he will be gone before becoming that monster that he hates so much. It is good this way."

She sounded like she was trying to convince herself that she was still doing what was right.

"The revolution will happen faster than we planned."

Zezi's head rang bells.

"Is he going to die today?" She managed to sound calm and collected, but daggers twisted in her stomach and bitterness filled her heart and soured her tongue.

What was she doing?

This was too late. Too late!

Laura smiled. "The potion seemed to be effective. So maybe, soon. With that pesky mark on your neck, I advise you start making plans for your funeral." She folded her arms across her chest, accessing the werewolf before she shrugged. "You were useful."

"But Nico is back," Lady Delice chipped in. "Maybe he won't die today."

All this talking about Valerick's death was starting to feel very real to Zezi. Her heart weighed heavily and it was becoming a herculean task to keep her own part of the bond down. She didn't want him to feel this bitterness that coursing through her veins.

"Ah, yes, Nicholas. The medical expert. That vampire has always been a pain in my pretty neck." She shrugged. "Then we'll give him a few more days. As long as you keep feeding it to him, everything will go on perfectly. Good job!" She said the last one in mockery, patting Zezi on the back, she laughed but paused when she realized Delice hadn't joined in. "That was funny."

Delice muttered something back to her but Zezi stayed uninterested in their conversation. She needed to confirm something and she wouldn't let her feelings muddle things up for her.

"Is it true that the Volakys were spotted?"

Gwen had said she had nothing to worry about, but the way she had said it wasn't convincing enough.

If it was true that the Volakys were back, then something wasn't going according to Zezi's plan.

Instead, everything was going wrong.

Awfully Wrong.