Page 28

Luc

In the early morning, we watched on screens as the missiles were launched from their newly-constructed launch pads. The mood in the War Room was grave, but there was an undercurrent of anticipation. We saw the missiles take off and disappear into the air, streaks of smoke and fire.

Then the screens switched to satellite footage of the swamps. Only water and trees were visible, it looked like there was no human or animal activity at all. One screen showed what we believed to be the compound of Sunny the Snake. A nuclear missile was heading there. We wanted to take no chances and take out the entire hub of activity there. We suspected underground tunnels and wanted to destroy those too.

Within minutes, we saw explosions bloom on the screen, smoke filling the air. I tensed as I waited for it all to clear, to get a sense of the damage. Reports started coming in of massive casualties as well as fire to buildings and structures. We could see people coming out of holes and collapsing on the ground. Where there had been houses and buildings before, there was now a huge crater and mounds of dirt.

“Zoom in on that,” Harris told one of the controllers and we all saw the camera blow up the scenes of destruction. There were bodies lying everywhere. Some were human and others looked reptilian, like crocodiles and massive lizards.

“Sir! Look!” We turned our attention to another screen where we could see what looked like thousands of creatures coming from the water, writhing in pain and falling to the ground.

“What are those? Frogs?” I asked. Nobody seemed to know but they kept coming, one wave after another.

I walked to my office, where Tick and Gagarin and the others were following the action on their screens too.

“Looks good, right?” Tick grinned at me.

A mood of elation was spreading through the Castle but for some reason, I didn’t want to be a part of it. I went up to King Vlas’s quarters and found them empty. There was no sign of the queen or any of the servants, not even of the guards.

This was strange.

I pushed open the door of the bedroom and saw the king lying in his bed. He was unattended, and quite alone.

“Vlas?” I asked, hearing muttering coming from the bed. “You need anything?”

As I came closer, I was shocked to see his deterioration. He had sunken cheeks and almost no hair left. I couldn’t imagine what had caused such a rapid wasting away. I looked around and found a container with what appeared to be blood product and offered it to him. He drank it greedily and sank into his pillows. After a while, he opened his eyes.

“Ah, Luc,” he said, recognizing me. Then he closed his eyes.

I thought of how I’d come into his service. Almost 200 years ago, I’d had a family and children of my own. I lived on my land in the North and when war broke out between the First and Second Families, I fought on the side of the Second Families. While I was away, fighting with Vlas, some from the enemy camp came to my land and murdered my wife and children. They were left for me to find, their bodies ripped apart and broken.

I was devastated. I burnt the house down and it took me decades to rebuild it but I could never quite bring myself to live there again. I saw images of Francesca and the girls everywhere. I decided to go away as far as possible and found a place in the West. I travelled a lot, had an apartment in the Capital and when Vlas asked me to help him rule, I agreed. For years, I’d been by his side, helping him advance our cause.

Matteo had been my closest friend and our trips on patrol or on assignment for the king were some of my happiest times. The war might be over, but until I had found his killer, I couldn’t move on.

“You were always loyal to me,” Vlas said. “Right to the end. Not Matteo.”

“Matteo?”

He shook his head. “Not loyal.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Matteo had always been devoted to the king.

“Matteo loved you.”

“Not me. Her.” I could see the effort it took him to say the words.

“Who?” I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“The queen.”

He looked at me. “You didn’t know about him and Taheera?”

His words struck me, I felt their force almost like a physical blow. Matteo and the queen? Surely not. Then I remembered how angry he got when I had criticized her. I remembered how he had reacted when he found out about me and Taheera, our one night stand. I knew he hadn’t approved but he had been angry then. Now I knew why. I wish I had known, though. Our friendship had been so important to me.

“You had him killed?” I asked. I almost couldn’t believe it.

“Not… me…,” Vlas said.

“Who did it then?” I asked.

His eyes moved from my face and I realized we were no longer alone in the room.

“It’s time to let Matteo go,” a woman said behind me. It was Taheera, her red hair flowing like flames around her. She was dressed to go out.

“He was useful, for a while,” she said. “Then he became… clingy. Needy. You know? Not like you…” she winked at me and came closer, trailing a hand across my cheek. I slapped her hand away. She laughed. “He knew I’d be a good ruler and make our empire strong again. Fearless, the way we used to be.”

“But why did Matteo have to die?”

She shrugged. “He wanted us to get married. Blah-blah-blah. Once Vlas had gone. As if he was a suitable match for me,” she laughed. “When I said no, he got angry and threatened to tell Vlas about us. I couldn’t allow that.”

“But the king knew about you!”

“I didn’t know that at the time,” she said, shrugging, like it was a small oversight. She was thoroughly evil. I thought of Matteo talking about a woman’s character. Taheera seemed entirely selfish and arrogant, without a shred of compassion or integrity. How could he not have seen it? She must have seen the look of horror on my face.

“Oh, please. He wasn’t that wonderful. He wasn’t even that great a fighter. It was so easy to kill him. I walked right up to him and put a dagger into his heart.”

I could almost feel the pain of betrayal on behalf of my friend. He’d remained true to her to the end and she had stabbed him in the heart.

“The king won’t last much longer, then I will take the throne.”

“No,” I said, my voice a growl. “You will not.”

Her hand flew out and I felt a force of energy propel me against the wall.

“Away,” she commanded me, with a power I had not known she had. She was holding me against the wall and was beginning to chant words of some magical origin. She was casting a spell on me. It took all of my power to break out of her power, to rip free of the magic that was holding me.

At that moment, a terrible cold descended over the room. It became instantly dark, darker than night, the way black magic transformed a space. From his bed, Vlas rose, a strange shape in the dark, filled with a fierce energy.

He lifted his hands and balls of fire shot from them, striking his wife and engulfing her in fire. Instantly, the darkness vanished. Vlas fell onto the bed and Taheera sank to her knees, trying to stamp out the flames on her clothing. Then her hair caught fire and her screams ripped through the room. It was terrifying.

When I looked at Vlas, I could see the king was no more. The effort of stopping his wife one last time, had been too much for him.

The door to the chamber opened and Harris came in. He looked at Vlas and Taheera, who was writhing on the floor.

“What the hell…?”

I shook my head, unable to explain. It was too much.

“I just had a call from the Human Council,” he said, a gleam in his eye. “The shifters have surrendered. They are ready to talk peace.”

I nodded. “Good.”

“Can you lead our delegation?”

I shook my head. “How about Vermont does that? Good way for him to start his training for the top job, don’t you think?”

“But…?”

I pointed at the bed. “The king has passed. The queen is gone. It is time for a new king to step up.” Besides, I had better things to do.

I didn’t feel like telling him that my work here was done. I wanted to go to Ruby and her mother, I wanted to tell them about my land and I wanted to show Ruby all about the birds and the bees.

I was tired of war and fighting. The betrayal and the murder, all the backstabbing. I had found out who had killed Matteo and suddenly, I had no energy for any politics anymore. I knew that I had been tired of it all for some time, but when Matteo was murdered, I felt responsible for finding out who had killed him and I wanted to avenge his death. Bring the perpetrator to justice or kill him. Whichever was easiest.

I had not expected to find out that his lover had killed him. This man who had given everything for the kingdom, who had never married but apparently, had fallen in love with a woman who got rid of him when he lost his use for her.

I was done with the Capital.

I wanted nothing more to do with it. I was finally ready to go back to my estate, to fill the house again with love and happiness. I could see Ruby there, wandering the halls, decorating the rooms to her taste, changing the wallpaper and the drapes. She could do whatever she wanted.

I wanted to be with her. Nothing else mattered.