AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Their formation illustrated how the princes knew how to work with each other.
“Have you all forgotten what happened to Princess Medea and how this creature burned one of royal blood with her unholy fire?” the druid asked. “Do you think the five kingdoms would just let it slide and there’d be no reckoning for this foul creature?”
So, the kings of the five kingdoms or the Council had plotted to push up the timetable of the first trial and use the druid to do their dirty work to clean house when Killian wasn’t around. They’d lured him away, hadn’t they?
A dark thought churned in my mind. Maybe I wasn’t the Council’s target, since I was nobody, but they were showing Killian who really called the shots in the realm by punishing me as collateral damage.
The power struggle in this realm was as real as it was in the human world.
Politics were dirty in every corner of every world.
“Stop calling her creature!” Silas snarled. “She’s Barbie, one of the candidates, so treat her as such.”
“And Medea was a traitor!” Rowan chimed in coldly. “In case you choose not to remember, she used a forbidden, dark artifact to try to murder Barbie.”
“You’re infatuated with her,” the druid said. “Barbie bewitched you all, including Prince Killian. All the more reason I need to put her away so everyone will be safe.”
“Careful, druid,” Cade growled. “No one can bewitch us. No one is more powerful than us heirs.”
“Barbie isn’t just anyone,” the druid said. “We all underestimated her. Ever since she came to the realm, chaos, darkness, and death have followed in her wake. The potion was designed not only to weed out the weak but also to keep evil out of the Brides Selection. The crystal ball has never been wrong. You all saw it turn black, showing Barbie’s true colors, so she destroyed it. We must remove her while she’s incapacitated. It’s my duty as one of the Council members to protect the realm.”
Despite the druid calling me evil, Cami and Bea had dashed toward me. Cami propped me up against her, and Bea waved her wand in front of my chest, trying to ease my breathing. While feverish—fire burned in my veins and ice clogged my airway—I gazed at them in gratitude.
“Right before Barbie took the drink,” Cade drawled, “she said there was a pill at the bottom of her teacup. What did you give her, druid?”
“There was never a pill,” the druid said. “That evil girl loves to make a scene.”
“Then why did you deny her a new cup of potion?” Cade asked.
“As I said, there’s limited potion,” the druid said.
“One more cup would be too much?” Silas snorted.
Cade stalked to crouch by me.
“Your Highness.” Bea bowed at Cade. “I can tell the potion Barbie took is different than ours. There’s something in it! I can still feel the residue of the spells, unlike anything I’ve encountered or read about in the Book of Shadows.”
Cade wielded his wand above my face, chanting in an ancient tongue. Before he even finished it, he stood up abruptly and leveled his wand at the druid. “What the fuck did you give her?”
“He poisoned Barbie?” Louis asked, his eyes on fire. “He dared?”
“What’s all this?” Headmistress Ethel had come closer but was careful not to place herself in the potential crossfire between the druid and the princes.
“This is a bad case of trusting everything in one corrupted man’s hand!” Silas barked. “We, as heirs of the five houses, should’ve been informed of this trial ahead of time, and we should’ve monitored the process to prevent any illegal operations!”
Pucker popped out beside me. I’d sent him to patrol the Veil, for fear of any Shriekers sneaking in while we were stuck in the middle of the ritual.
Barbie! Barbie! he screamed in my ear. I came as soon as I felt your distress. If you can hear me, blink!
Instead of blinking, I started to convulse on the cold marble, like a seizure. The poison was coursing in my every vein, burning too fiercely even after Sy had taken most of it into her and passed out. It spread faster than my dark flame could purge it.
Genetic knowledge sparked in the depths of my memory. The druid had slipped me the Seed of Heaven, and I related the information to my familiar.
Pucker materialized by my side. The crowd stirred and cried out in alarm.
“That’s evil Barbie’s companion!” the druid shouted. “She summoned him!”
“He’s the ghost guardian of the House of Chaos,” Cade said, raising his wand to stop the sentinels from charging Pucker. “We’ve all met him. He’s harmless.”
