AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PART TWO
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
? Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
17
Erik paced the court witch’s chambers growing more anxious by the second. Mina wanted to dine with him. She wanted totalkto him. What could she want to talk about? He’d given her space, and she’d spent most of that time in her room. Could she finally be ready to open up to him? Could she finally have accepted there would be no returning home for her? If she had, would that adjustment work in his favor?
“My King, are you alright?” Andrea asked, stepping out from her back room, the beads rattling to signify her presence in the main room.
He stopped his progress and exhaled. “My people are dying, Andrea. How do you think I’m doing?”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. You just seem a bit distracted today.”
Erik nodded and turned to face her. “You could say that. I suppose I have been distracted, but I’m here now. I need you to show me what is happening to my people. I need you to explain why you…the witch I chose for my court cannot seem to heal the afflicted swarming in from our borders.”
Andrea gave a minuscule wince behind her pale white-on-white features. For once her long white hair was swept up in a pale blue scarf, and her dress was replaced with a dark blue tunic, over a black skirt. She looked so out of character, that he’d almost questioned if she really was Andrea when he entered the room.
“Come, we can see what visions the water holds for you today,” she said, extending a hand to the stone pedestal that sat on the far-right side of the room, opposite the fire.
Erik’s nostrils flared. He always hated this part of their meetings, but it was necessary if he wanted to see anything of note. He’d brought the witch to his palace for a reason, hadn’t he?
Crossing the room, he stepped up to the pedestal she had standing before a ring of smoke smudged mirrors. Her skirt swept over the floor, and she placed a hand on either side of the pedestal. The air warmed, and the surface of the stone dipped down revealing the silver basin that sat hidden at the center. Erik stared down at it and the center slowly filled with water. He stared at it closely. He watched it swirl and rise until finally the witch lifted a hand and produced a needle.
“Blood will out,” she said, passing it into his waiting fingers. “To see what will be seen, my king, you must bleed.”
“Blood is always the price,” he grumbled, jabbing the needle into the index finger of his opposite hand. A dot of crimson welled, and he let it fall into the basin, just one. Once the crimson hit the water, he licked the wound, letting the magic in his saliva seal the wound.
“Now, go, the three wait for you,” she said gesturing to the glass beside them. Erik frowned and watched the doors they hid click open, and swing inward, revealing a glowing space, deeper in the room.
He stepped away from the pedestal into the warm red glow, and blinked, taking in the sight of the pillows on the low-slung mattress. He’d been in the space many times, and yet he still tensed as the three figures that called the space their home crawled from the corners of the room, their eyes glowing bright red. Their hair a mismatched set of colors. Blonde, red, brunette.
“Husband, husband, husband,” they crooned in unison.
“I am not your husband,” he hissed, as they pawed at his arms and legs, drawing him down onto the mattress with them. “You chose the witch’s gifts instead of mine.”
The oldest of them crawled up his body and kissed his neck, her teeth grazing his skin. Shoving her away, he snarled. “Bite me, and I will be sure you burn.”
The woman whimpered, and another laughed. “We are at your service, Vladislav. Our king.”
“Then come,” he snapped, extending a hand to the one who’d laughed. A brunette who looked so much like Mina it both turned his stomach and excited him. Grabbing her by the hair, he bent her head back at what he knew was a painful angle and sank his teeth into her neck. Blood flowed over his tongue, and he groaned. Such a sweet but acidic taste on his tongue. Like the fruits from the southern kingdoms.
Like each person he’d bitten before, her memories began to flood through his senses. He saw the countless nights they’d shared together. Nights he’d fed from her, nights he’d fucked her and the other two. All to find answers, all to search for…
Throwing the girl away from him, he spun, grabbing the blonde’s outstretched arm, and buried his teeth in her bicep. His body shivered, and he saw her in his mind’s eye. The blonde had seen Mina through a window high in the chamber. She’d watched them ride through the gates. She’d been jealous and aroused.
Mina.His body stirred thinking of her. How he wanted her. Needed her.
When the blood began to sour on his tongue, he let the blonde fall to the pillows mewling in a fit of pleasure. The brunette descended on her, lapping up what crimson he’d spilled, sucking on her breasts, leaving fresh bites in her wake.
“Your Majesty,” the redhead hummed, draping her arms around his neck. “Take me. Sate your desires.”
“All I want is your blood and the visions it provides,” he snarled, throwing her down on the cushions to bite her neck like he had with the first of them. He drained her faster than the others, full of anger and frustration. The magic that came from sating his thirst in the chamber washed over him, and as the last drop of blood slipped across his lips, he collapsed to the cushions, his mind drifting away from him.
Yet, this was no vision. Not as he knew them. Now his mind lifted from his body. He felt himself flying out of the castle, over the city to the training grounds. To her, where she hid within the quarry.
He felt his lips lift in a soft smile. Her name on his lips.“Mina.”
