by N. J. Cooper
“The realm won’t accept you. It might take years, but they will rise up against you. They’ll fight back.” Kyla wheezed. Both of their looming faces sneering. Kyla slowly tried to climb to her feet, leaning against a pillar to help her but Onyx pushed her back down.
“I will make them. They will have no choice. This realm is about to be what it used to be. What it was meant to stay.” he urged. Kyla shook her head, meaning to reply but her head pounded. A darkness frayed at the edges of her mind and she cringed. Not now, she couldn’t get a vision now. Kyla held it back, refusing to let it in but it took too much of her concentration. The Queen came over and pulled the hair back from her face, clutching it tightly making Kyla whimper in pain.
“My father made me marry Carrick, I did my duty and bore him a perfect son, and you turned him into someone else. He is strong and his powers are vast, but he does not have what it takes to rule this realm. Byron did, Onyx does, and we can finally put things back how they were meant to be before Carrick changed everything.” The Queen murmured with a quiet menacing voice, but Kyla was barely able to pay attention. The vision in her mind was demanding all her focus to keep from getting to her. It would make her pass out and she couldn’t afford that. She held off as long as she could, not risking a response to the Queen’s taunts while she couldn’t think properly. Kyla clutched her head, but the images were too strong. They were putting so much pressure on her that her head began to pound with more pain than what Onyx had inflicted. She thought back to her friends and Zarek and what she had lost because of Onyx. Orion and Tyrone, Sky and Kalani. And that’s when she remembered Shemar. The centaur’s reaction to her vision. Kyla’s plan formulated quickly and by the way her stomach swirled in excited anticipation, she knew she was on the right track. She narrowed her eyes on Onyx and pushed her powers out to meet his blocked mind. Wincing and surging forward, thrusting all of her powers into getting through his mental barrier. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to get that far in, but she only needed to reach him enough to share her vision. Something that in theory, should incapacitate him like it had Tyrone. He winced as he felt her prodding and came up to her, the Queen still holding her by her hair.
“What are you looking for, Oracle? Ask me.” Onyx demanded as he winced at her mental probing. She sighed as she couldn’t get in and tried not to just release the vision before she had.
“I can’t. I have to show you.” She breathed. Onyx glared as the Queen snarled.
“No, Onyx,” the Queen snapped as they both saw the excitement on Onyx’s face to see what she saw, “It is a trick, it will weaken you.” the Queen tried but Onyx was stubborn and egotistical. Something Kyla knew and was exploiting. Onyx came forward and grasped Kyla’s shaking hand in his own.
“I want to see,” he answered with a smirk, Kyla let out a breath, “Be careful in there, never know what you might find.” Onyx warned with a malicious grin right before Kyla cried out and released her vision on him. Her mind exploded into the same vision she had been having for the last few weeks. Onyx’s childhood and the afternoon that his father had killed his mother and sister. They stood in his tiny childhood home that reeked of stale tobacco and beer, the light streaking through the small window onto his father who held his mother by the neck, right before he snapped it. She felt Onyx’s fear as he watched with her, clutching her hand tightly on the outside as he stood next to her and watched the memory.
“Let me out. I don’t need to see this, I lived it.” he warned in a tone that made Kyla shiver, but she didn’t let him go. Instead she walked forward in the vision, trying so hard to figure out what she was meant to know. She focused, narrowing her eyes on the altercation when her gaze fell on Olivia. The vision zoomed in on her as Onyx looked away, but that’s when Kyla saw it. The clue that she needed that pieced everything, including why she was there, together. Kyla gasped and pointed to Olivia, Onyx’s sister. There was a distinct birthmark over her chest that Kyla recognized. One that brought tears to her eyes. She cringed and looked back at Onyx, pushing into his mind to show him images. Images of her mother, Lorraine and the birthmark on her chest that Kyla remembered vividly and matched Olivia’s who was meant to be dead.
“What happened to Olivia? This vision ends in her dying and yet my mother has the same birthmark. Byron warned me before he died that there was a reason you hadn’t killed my mother when you had her in your control, is this why? Because she is your sister?” Kyla demanded. Onyx’s eyes widened and swirled angrily.
“Olivia is dead.” he snapped harshly but Kyla shook her head and yanked them from the vision, her breaths pumping through her. The Queen was standing to the side, watching them both with glares but as they came to, she stepped forward. Onyx gasped, wincing as he succumbed to the weakness of her vision. Kyla refused to let his hand go and pulled herself up to lean over his hunched body.
“What happened after your father left that vision, Onyx? What happened to Olivia, because she didn’t die.” Kyla pushed despite his fluttering lids. He was barely coherent, exactly what she wanted him to be. The vision had worked, he was weak and struggling but before she killed him, she needed more answers. He growled and clenched his eyes shut before sighing and staring at her.
“Olivia had the resurrection power. It is non-transferrable so when I took her soul, instead of staying inside me, it was called back to her. The resurrection power is a one-time deal though. Once you’ve used it, it is gone. Her powers didn’t come back, her soul turned human, the other power she had, electricity was not strong enough on its own to sustain her supernatural blood. She disappeared before me. Sent back to the human realm. I had my associates track her down,” Onyx explained then tried to sit up and remove his hand but Kyla tightened her grip, summoning her blade and pressing it against the black dot on his chest, the Queen went to attack but Kyla glared at her, making her stop.
“Come closer and I’ll kill him.” Kyla warned then turned back to Onyx, “How long have you been following her? Following me?” Kyla demanded. He snickered, his eyes fluttering as he was attacked with a weakness that Shemar had passed out from.
“The day I found my sister, was the day that piece of human waste that she married, died. That was the day I found out who my niece was, the very one I had been told would be my end,” he growled, “But you were nothing. I had you followed and placed with my associate and I wasn’t worried. I had already started planning, and you didn’t even have your powers yet, things were going perfectly. Until your Oracle woke up and was summoned by the realm, then you disappeared. Literally. Your ‘Uncle’ was killed of course, no loose ends but when he told me that you had simply left, I knew I had to hurry everything along. Imagine my surprise when you played into every plan and trap that I had set out for you.” Onyx snickered and Kyla grabbed his cloak, yanking him into her, the blade pressuring the flesh of his torso.
“Your blood runs in my veins and I’m guessing that’s why I am able to get to you in a way that no one else can but you didn’t have to kill my father. He was innocent and loved your sister. We were happy! How could you take that?” Kyla demanded. Onyx rolled his eyes.
“Happiness is overrated,” he breathed then let a wavering smirk appear, “But if you want to know true power, which is far more exciting than happiness, then I have a proposition for you.”
“Nothing you can ever offer will make me agreeable to you.” Kyla bit. He chuckled with a throaty cough, his weakness still not bypassed but he was becoming clearer and her threat wouldn’t be able to hold much longer. Either the Queen or Onyx were going to attack back, and she had to have her blade through Onyx’s chest before that happened.
“Maybe. But here is my offer. Join me. Have the power to rule over this realm, every one of its subjects loyal to you. Feel that chorus through your veins and the fear they feel in your presence, because that is the kind of happiness that runs in your blood.” He taunted. Kyla glared at him, her heart clenching. He was sick and twisted if he ever thought that she woul
d accept him, but the Queen seemed to be just as enraged by his idea.
“Onyx, no! She will betray us.” The Queen hissed. Kyla shook her head.
“I won’t betray you because I will never join you. And this,” Kyla said shoving the immortal blade through the black mark on his chest with a grunt, “is for my mom, for my friends and for every life you have ever thought was yours for the taking.” Kyla bit as Onyx’s eyes went wide and he gasped, his mouth opening and shutting without a sound, like a fish out of water, gasping for air. Kyla’s body shuddered as Onyx’s soul screamed in her head. She winced and yanked the blade back out, black blood oozing from his chest as he coughed and sputtered.
“No!” The Queen cried as she raced forward and knelt down beside Onyx. Kyla stood and backed away, her blade in her hands and her chest heaving with the pain that ricocheted through her. Onyx was dying and she felt every inch of his life seep away with the blood that fell from him. He said nothing as his form stopped convulsing and his eyes slowly fluttered closed. Kyla’s shoulders sagged in relief and she looked on with disbelief. She had done it. She had killed him. Onyx was dead. And she might have found that comforting if the Queen wasn’t completely enraged by the fact, her head snapping up to glare at Kyla. Kyla stepped back as the Queen stood, her eyes narrowed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You have taken everything from me, Oracle. My husband, my lover, my son. Now I have nothing left to lose. The only comfort I have now, is knowing that the revenge I plan for you, is going to leave you with nothing just as I.” The Queen bit, stalking up to Kyla before thrusting her hands into Kyla’s chest and launching her across the room. Kyla’s head smacked against the wall with a thunderous boom before her body dropped to the ground and maybe if she had been more focused on the Queen than the fact that she had just killed Onyx, then she might have been ready for it but she hadn’t been and her body still ached from the last attack, her mind still throbbing with Onyx’s dying screams so all it could do when her skull shattered was shut down. Leaving the Queen to do whatever she wanted and spin things however she needed, Kyla passed out.
~ 12 ~
“Kyla, wake up.” A familiar voice said, rousing her from her slumber with the gentle shaking of her body. She winced and sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes to adjust them. She opened them to three faces staring at her; Wyatt, Sky and Kasyn but there was one missing. Zarek. Where was he? Where was the Queen? What had happened? Did they know Onyx was dead? Kyla’s heart rate sped up with the urgency of what she needed to find out, her mind working double time to figure out what question to ask first when Sky’s hand came to rest on her knee.
“It’s okay, Kyla. You did it, Onyx is dead, he’s in the shadow world now, completely powerless.” She grinned but Kyla shook her head.
“No. I didn’t finish it. Where is Zarek? And the Queen?” Kyla demanded and threw the blankets to the side, swaying as her mind did. Wyatt steadied her and grinned.
“They’re both safe. You saved them. And you saved Sky, who is now using the necklace to take creatures through the shadow world to banishment and can pull on the power in it to see Kasyn, which we didn’t think would be possible. You made it possible, Kyla.” Wyatt offered but they weren’t getting it and Kyla was so flustered she couldn’t explain everything.
“How long have I been out? What has happened?” She demanded.
“Like a week. But there’s something you need to know, Kyla. A lot has happened.” Wyatt offered sombrely. Kyla frowned and ran a hand through her hair.
“What?” She demanded, needing to get to the bottom of everything so she could go and find Zarek.
“The Queen kept you in a coma to stop you from interfering because she moved everything up. The realm was demanding Zarek be crowned but with him crowned, he can say no to Elanor, so she was keeping you under. I figured it out though and stopped giving you the drugs, but I think it’s too late, Kyla. They’re getting married, right now.” Sky explained. Kyla gasped; Zarek was King? And he was about to marry the wrong girl. She didn’t hesitate, she turned away from her friends and sprinted from the room. They went after her, but she didn’t stop.
“Kyla! Stop! You can’t just interrupt a royal wedding!” Wyatt called down the hall, slowing down as he couldn’t catch her.
“Watch me!” She called back.
“Kyla, the Queen will have you arrested!” Sky called but Kyla scowled and called back.
“The Queen can try.” She snapped then ran through the mansion, ignoring the fact that she was in more hospital scrubs and the fact that she was still groggy. She was not letting Zarek marry Elanor. Kyla saw the double doors that were guarded by two centaurs, but her grin widened when she saw who one of them was. Shemar. She got into his mind.
‘I’m getting in those doors, Shemar. Let me in or I’ll find my own way. He’s not marrying her.’ Kyla snapped. He smirked and turned his gaze on her.
“Welcome back, Kyla.” He grinned as she came up to him. He bowed then moved to the side, looking over at his colleague, “Let her through.” He ordered. The centaur looked like he wanted to argue but Shemar was the Alpha now and nobody disobeyed the Alpha. Kyla grinned and nodded in thank you then shoved through the double doors, bursting into the ceremony with as much class as she had always had. None.
Kyla narrowed her eyes on the front of the room. Guests lined the pews in formal attire and looked at her with wide eyes as she walked down the golden aisle that led to the platform where Zarek and Elanor stood, facing each other, holding hands. They both turned to her and Kyla had to hold in her gasp. Elanor was beautiful, her gown was sleek and elegant, her hair and tiara adding to her princess look and Zarek; he had her heart pumping louder. His white three-piece suit was fitted to every broad muscle, his hair slicked back in an immaculate way. She pursed her lips, ignoring the fact that the entire ceremony was bought to a halt and moved to the front of the hall, when the Queen stood and blocked her from getting to Zarek. Kyla narrowed her eyes on the perfection that was the Queen, warring silently with her. The Queen’s chin lifted as her smirk had Kyla’s fists clenching at her sides.
“Oracle. You are awake. How delightful.” The Queen bit. Kyla forced a smile.
“No thanks to you. You kept me in a coma to stop me from being here.” Kyla said knowing that bit of information, Zarek would be ignorant to. Zarek growled and dropped Elanor’s hands, coming down the couple of stairs.
“You kept her in a coma on purpose? You said she wasn’t going to wake up because of her injuries.” Zarek demanded of his mother who scowled at Kyla and turned to her son.
“Son, you have a duty to this realm. Now how about we get through this ceremony so we can discuss this in private.” The Queen urged but Kyla shook her head.
“Like hell. You are King now, Zarek. You have a choice.” Kyla reminded. Zarek smirked at her then looked between his mother, her and Elanor still up on the podium before sighing.
“You still need approval. You still have to marry the first approved name on the list. King or not, you must follow the laws until they are changed. They are not yet changed, and the realm has not accepted your choice.” The Queen interrupted before Zarek could say anything. Kyla clenched her jaw. It was so hard to stand there and face the Queen as she tried to stop her from having Zarek and had been working with Onyx. Something she couldn’t even reveal because Lena had gotten in there first. Kyla still hadn’t worked out how she was going to out the Queen when there was no proof but first off, she had to stop Zarek from making the biggest mistake of his life.
“I don’t know what to do.” Zarek pinched the bridge of his nose and Kyla was surprised that the rest of the Elders in the room said nothing to help. No standing ovations for either opinions, the laws or the choice. They sat and waited in silence through the entire tense confrontation with no more than murmurs. Kyla frowned and turned to them and then back. The stress written in the lines of Zarek’s face had Kyla’s heart shrinking back. He was so torn, and it was her fault. She
should have just let him get married and then he would have done what he was meant to and not be trying to fight everything he was raised with. Kyla sighed and shook her head. She just wanted him to be happy, whether it was with her to not.
“What do you want to do?” Kyla asked him softly. Zarek looked up at her with a shimmer in his eyes.
“I’ve always wanted you, but I know what being born the Prince means. It means that I haven’t had a choice in what I do for my entire life.” Zarek sighed wistfully. Kyla stepped forward and covered his hand in hers.
“Then do what you need to do, to be happy, Zarek. This realm will be all the better with a happy King. Of course I want to stand by your side and be the one to make you happy but you have to choose what is best for the realm and if you don’t think that is me then that’s how this goes. I will step back.” Kyla said trying to relieve some of the tension she could feel radiating from his rigid body. The Queen had her eyes still narrowed but Kyla was pretty sure she had no other expressions at this point. Zarek pulled Kyla into him, his breath harsh against her ear as she held him tighter. The murmurs got louder but still, nobody stood to voice their opinion. They were trained well, and Kyla was guessing that the Queen had a heavy hand in who was seeing the wedding from the throne room. Whoever had her side was most definitely watching from their own areas.
“Being happy and what is best for the realm is not co-existent in my situation, Kyla.” He whispered in her ear and she shut her eyes. She knew what he was going to choose. He was the King now and he couldn’t let his father down, which meant he couldn’t let the realm down. Kyla nodded against him, swallowing the tears that swelled in her throat and shimmered in her eyes.
