He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Please tell me she heard wrong or is confused.”
Deryn shook his head. “The Elders informed us that she has the curse.”
“Fuck,” Martin replied.
“Anyone going to fill me in?” I asked, but received no response. Pulling out my phone, I searched the internet for the curse and got a ton of results.
Curse of Antalia
Performed by a witch. High level curse.
Curses the victim with a propensity to self-sacrifice, increases likelihood of Others finding them, increases the odds of attacks by Others, decreases moral…
Blah, Blah, Blah. Ah! Here it was.
Removal can be done, but the magical backlash has been known to cause paralysis, coma induction, and even death.
Well, fuck.
My door opened and I jumped, barely holding in a scream. I hadn’t noticed the car had stopped.
Rhys unbuckled me and tugged me out of the SUV by my hand.
“Bye,” I said to Martin, but he wasn’t even looking at me.
We took an awkward elevator ride up to Deryn’s, reminding me of the day that I had found out they knew each other and lived with me.
Deryn ordered pizza and they all stood stiffly around the living room. I could barely sense their feelings, but anger and fear prevailed.
“That went better than I thought it would,” I said cheerfully with a wide smile.
“You were going to break the bond,” Fox whispered. He felt sadness and fear. “Why?”
“I didn’t break it,” I reminded them.
“It took you quite a while to decide not to,” Nico pointed out.
“You’re all mad at me,” I realized.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Deryn snapped.
I shook my head. “No. I would know that you were thinking of me and what would be best for me. That you were trying not to be selfish.”
“Selfish?” Rhys asked.
“It’s selfish of me to keep the bond. I know that. Especially, now that I know what the curse is.”
“You know?” Fox asked. “How?”
I held up my phone. “Internet.”
“You were going to break the bond, even though we told you that we love you,” Nico argued.
“Yes, I contemplated it.”
“Don’t you love us?” Fox asked.
“Of course I do!” I yelled. “That’s why I was trying to save you. To free you. But, ultimately, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give you up. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
They relaxed, but now I was frustrated, so I stormed off to the spare room, and shut and locked the door. Head in my hands, I sat on the bed.
How could they not understand what I meant? It had nothing to do with my love for them.
“Trouble in paradise?” Burton, my father’s right-hand man asked.
I opened my mouth to scream, but he hit me on the back of the head, knocking me out.
Chapter 11
Killing her would weaken them,” Burton said angrily.
“We need her as bait and as a bargaining chip. If she is dead, they won’t bargain with us,” Dad told him.
“They’re going to kill you,” I mumbled from the chair they had tied me to. At least he had not thrown me in the closet.
“They won’t risk your life,” Dad replied smugly.
“They’re here,” Justina said as she entered the room.
“Justina! Help me!” I yelled at her.
“Don’t worry, Jolie. You’ll be let go once the princes do as our king asks,” she told me with a soft smile.
“Our king? What are you talking about? I don’t have a king.”
She looked at my dad and then at me. “You may think you don’t, but he is our king. It would be smart of you to accept that and join us.”
She was working for my father? Why? How? She had never said anything about having a king when we worked together. How had he gotten to her? Dhampirs usually hated vampires.
Dad brushed his hand down her cheek and her eyelids fluttered.
“Oh, fucking gross,” I gagged.
“Let’s go greet our guests,” Dad said with a smile.
Burton untied me from the chair and retied my arms before I could get away. He pulled the ropes extra tight and pushed me forward.
I stumbled, almost falling on my face, but caught myself at the last second and followed Dad and Justina out of the room we had been in, down the hallway, and out onto the porch.
My four guards stood in a line on the front lawn, fists clenched and fury etched into their faces. They saw me and took a step forward, but Burton put a knife to my throat.
“No closer,” Burton ordered them.
“Are you hurt?” Rhys asked me.
“No,” I replied.
“I wasn’t sure you would come,” Dad told them, spreading his arms in a welcoming gesture. Then he shook his head and gave them a look of pity. “I’m sure you’re likely tired of rescuing Jolie by now.”
“What do you want?” Deryn demanded, his eyes boring into Justina who was standing slightly behind Dad, letting him shield her.
“You four are the most powerful, next to your fathers. I need your power,” Dad told them. “If you want my daughter back in one piece, you will go to the dedication ceremony tonight and kill the President.”
“No!” I yelled. If they did that, their clans would be forced to kill them.
Burton dug the knife into my neck, cutting me enough to make a small line of blood trickle down my neck.
“Quiet,” he ordered me.
“We would all be dead before we made it back to get her,” Nico told Dad.
“I’m sure you will figure something out. Though, time is running out. You only have two hours before the ceremony starts.”
“Are we coming back here afterwards to retrieve her?” Rhys asked.
No! They couldn’t seriously be thinking about doing it. It was suicide!
“No, call Jolie’s phone after you’ve done it, and I will give you the location,” Dad said, a wide, evil grin on his face.
“How do we know that you won’t kill her while we are gone. Or run off?” Deryn asked, bearing his teeth.
“You don’t, but you can track her with your bond,” Dad said with a smirk.
How did he know about that?
“Not if she’s dead,” Nico pointed out.
“You’ll have to take that risk. Or, Burton kills her right now,” Dad said.
Burton dug the blade in deeper, making the blood flow faster.
“Fine!” Rhys snarled. “We’ll do it. Stop hurting her.”
“I knew you boys would see things my way,” Dad said smugly. “Off you go.”
My four guards turned to face me and as one, they bowed to me and then spun around and left.
I was crying and didn’t care if my dad saw or not. Those idiots were marching off to die. They hadn’t even taken a moment to debate it or not. They just agreed and left. They were going to lose their statuses and lose their clans, because of me. It was stupid and asinine.
“Let’s move,” Dad ordered us. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”
Burton withdrew his blade from my neck, allowing me to take a deep, stuttering breath. Dad licked his finger and then brushed it along my cut, healing it. If only other pains could be fixed so easily.
The four of us climbed into a truck, and Burton drove towards the city. We parked at an old, abandoned factory, much to my surprise. Dad hated places like this. He avoided them if possible and would rather kill everyone in a hotel to use that as a base of operation. So, why were we here? Was it because it was so unlike him?
Inside the factory was nothing except two couches and a television set.
Burton shoved me down on the couch. “Get comfy. The show will start soon.”
They couldn’t do it. They had to be smarter than that.
Dad turned on the television and settled on the couch beside me. “Think they’l
l do it?”
“I hope not,” I muttered.
“You better hope they do. For your sake.”
“How’d you know about the bond?” I asked him angrily. Only the alphas and Elders knew.
“I have my ways,” he said cryptically.
I rolled my eyes in response and looked at the TV where a crowd was gathering in front of a stage which had a podium on it. There had to be thousands of people there. There really was no hope for them.
The President took the stage and started his opening speech.
No sign of the guys. Maybe they were just going to abandon me. That hurt to think about, but it would be better than them dying. I would much rather they left me to my father than to put themselves in such a dangerous situation. I wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t worth this. The price was too high. I should have let the Elders remove the bond, so that they wouldn’t feel compelled to protect me. To ruin everything.
No, it was my dad who was ruining everything. Once again, he was ruining my life.
The crowd began to scream and soon we saw why. The four princes walked down the center of the crowd, bodies glowing with power. Deryn was in warrior form, half wolf and half man. Rhys was also in warrior form, though I had no idea Dragons could do it as well. Nico had a staff with a glowing crystal on the top in one hand and I realized, he wasn’t walking, but floating. Fox had his hair pulled back and in his hands, he carried two swords. They looked scary as shit and hot as hell.
Fuck.
The President held his ground, and stood facing them boldly. His guards had run off. What cowards.
“We’re sorry,” Rhys said. “We must protect what is ours.”
Nico raised his staff, freezing the President in place.
“They’re really doing it!” Burton exclaimed in shock, standing up from the couch.
Rhys shifted into his full Dragon form and in one swoop, swallowed the President.
“Fuck!” I screamed. How could they do this? What was wrong with them?
“I knew you’d come in handy, eventually,” Dad told me, smiling victoriously.
The camera turned off and a screen announcing technical difficulties appeared. Dad turned off the television.
It was over. They were going to be killed. The life I had finally started to love, was just swallowed up with the President. If there was any hope of the guys getting away, I prayed they would survive. Even if I never saw them again, I wanted them to survive.
My phone rang and Dad answered it. “Hello?”
“Let me talk to her,” I heard Deryn say.
Dad put the phone to my ear.
“What have you done?” I asked, tears making my throat constrict and making the words difficult to say.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Fuck. No!
“This is not goodbye,” I growled.
“Is the TV off?” he whispered so softly that I barely heard him.
“Yes.”
What did that have to do with anything?
“Good, put your dad on.”
“They want to talk to you,” I told him.
Dad took the phone back. “Yes, you can come get her.” He gave them an address and then hung up, putting the phone back in my jacket pocket.
Burton tied me to one of the beams in the center of the building.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, trying to get free of his hold.
“We can’t be here when they show up, or they’ll kill us,” he explained. He taped C4 above my head on the beam and hit a button, starting a countdown.
“Dad!” I screamed.
“You said she wouldn’t be hurt!” Justina reminded him.
“If they get here in time, she won’t be hurt. Or, they’ll all die together,” Dad said and waved as he walked away. “Bye, Jolie.”
“Don’t do this!” I screamed at him.
There was no way the guys would make it in time. They were probably in a battle right now, trying not to be killed by their fathers. They had done what he had asked and it didn’t matter. I was going to die anyways.
Closing my eyes, I reached down the bond to each of them, only able to brush them with my essence, but I knew that they had all felt it. At least I was human, so I wouldn’t hurt them like losing a true queen would when I died.
I let myself sob, a truly ugly cry, since no one would see me. I wailed my despair, knowing they would die for no reason. I was the cause of their deaths.
“I’m sorry,” I cried. “I’m so sorry.”
No one answered.
I glanced up, checking the timer. One minute and forty seconds. Pulling on my restraints, I tried to break free, but they were too tight and I was too weak.
“Fuck me!” I screamed and closed my eyes.
“Now doesn’t seem like the appropriate time for that,” Rhys said.
I opened my eyes and gasped. All four were standing in front of me.
“I’m hallucinating, right? You’re all most likely dead now. I will be in less than a minute too. This has to be a hallucination. My mind, trying to give me one last goodbye?”
I was rambling, but I couldn’t help myself or stop the words from tumbling out.
Nico removed the tape from the C4, took the C4, and ran outside with it. Rhys unbound my hands and then the bomb exploded.
“Nico!” I screamed.
“What?” he asked, coming back into the warehouse.
I dropped to my knees on the dirty floor and asked, “Is this real?”
They huddled around me and there was no mistaking their body heat and touch.
“You ate him,” I whispered.
They all laughed and Rhys said, “I didn’t. We just made it look like I did.”
“You didn’t kill him?”
“Nope.”
I turned to him and punched his arm as hard as I could.
“You scared the shit out of me! I thought you were all going to die!”
The tears returned and Rhys pulled me into a tight hug. “We are all alive and well, my queen.”
I kissed him and then hugged and kissed each of the other three as well.
Dan barged into the warehouse with the other three Alphas. We all stood up off the floor and I waited to find out why they were here.
Dan shoved Rhys aside, so he could get to me. Deryn moved forward, but before they could react, he grabbed me in a huge hug.
“You’re alive,” he breathed.
I hugged him back as much as I could with his size, my arms barely making it around him.
“I am,” I agreed.
He set me on my feet and set his hand on my cheek. “When they told us what was going on, I feared the worst.”
“Thirty seconds later and I wouldn’t be here,” I admitted to him.
“You can come live with my pack, in my house, if you wish to,” he offered.
“What?” mage king asked.
“She’s an outsider,” dragon king reminded him.
“She’s human,” elf king added.
“She’s my son’s queen, which makes her basically, my daughter-in-law.”
“I appreciate the offer,” I whispered. “I’m honored to receive such an offer. However, I can’t leave my guards.”
“Are we sure she isn’t a witch?” dragon king asked.
“It would explain everyone’s infatuation with her,” elf king said.
“I’m not a witch,” I snapped at them and then remembered who I was talking to. “Sirs.”
They all laughed at me.
“Why are you all here?” I asked the kings.
“The princes weren’t sure who would get here faster, since we didn’t know where you were going to be. So, we all came,” Dan explained.
I bowed. “Thank you.”
After standing up straight again, I asked, “Is anyone going to tell me what the fuck went on? I saw you swallow the President, Rhys.”
“We called in some favors,” Dan said. “You save the city, and country, enough times and t
hey’ll do almost anything you ask.”
“Everyone, except those watching through their televisions, were warned ahead of time what was going to happen,” Fox said.
“You guys shouldn’t have done it,” I chastised my guards. “You could have died.”
“Our lives are yours,” Deryn whispered. “Nothing else matters.”
“We should go,” Dan said. “You sure you won’t come live with me?”
“I’m sure.”
Dan’s phone rang and he answered it quickly. “Yes?”
“We’re under attack!” Martin yelled so loudly that even I heard him.
“Martin!” I gasped.
“We’re on our way,” Dan said immediately and took off.
The other three kings’ phones rang, all with similar news.
“This must have been his plan,” I realized. “He got the kings and princes away to attack the clans at their bases.”
“Let’s go!” Rhys growled.
“We can’t go to four places at once!” I reminded him. “I’ll go with Deryn and you three go with your fathers.”
“I don’t-” Nico started, but I took his hand.
“Protect your people. Deryn will protect me,” I said.
He kissed me deeply and whispered, “Stay safe.”
Fox kissed my cheek before darting by with his father.
Rhys’s jaw was clenched, as were his fists. “I don’t like this.”
“I love you,” I whispered to him. “And I won’t be the reason your people die. They need you, much more than I do right now.”
“She’s right,” dragon king said. “Obey your queen, Son.”
Rhys pulled me to him and kissed me passionately. “I will come for you,” he whispered as he pulled away.
“I can’t wait,” I replied with a smirk.
He let out a bark of laughter, kissed my forehead, and rushed out.
“Let’s go,” Deryn said and picked me up in his arms. “Put your face against my chest, so the bugs don’t get in your mouth.”
I obeyed, having had that exact thing happen once when Martin ran with me. He took off at a sprint and I gripped him tighter. He made a few turns and I realized that we were very close to the werewolf pack.
Deryn flew, making it within a few minutes. Utter chaos greeted us. Werewolves were fighting ogres, trolls, vampires, and goblins.
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