The Last Petrova

Niklaus

 "It's alright to admit it, Nik. We'll just have our men share these three amongst themselves," Rebekah said, gesturing to my remaining ladies. "Take her for yourself, why don't you? I can have the bastard prince, Kol can have the young noble girl he met as we entered the castle, and you can have this one," Rebekah said.

My ears fixated on the words, 'the young noble girl he met as we entered the castle'. I recalled one of my other ladies, Eleanor, having left during the middle of dinner to change after having spilled wine on herself. She hadn't returned for half an hour, which I had found odd... Was it that this 'Kol' had taken Eleanor hostage?

With one last look at me, Niklaus turned his attention back to 'the Queen'.

"You are younger than I had expected you to be," he said to Hazel. I could feel her trembling uncontrollably.

"We'd better wait a few years, Nik, just to be safe. Infants usually die when their mothers give birth at a young age, and we don't want that, now do we?" Rebekah said, staring greedily at the crown on Hazel's head.

"Take it, if you must," Niklaus said, noticing this. Rebekah grinned and lifted my crown off Hazel's head and down onto hers.

"It's beautiful," she said, staring at her reflection in the window.

"Enough talk, Rebekah. Oscar, Beatrice, take the Queen back to her room. Make sure she doesn't escape, and make sure she doesn't get hurt," Niklaus said. "A single scratch on her body and I will rip out your heart," he added pleasantly.

I watched as the man who had killed the guard from before stepped out of the group of warriors clad in black leather. A woman with dark hair and fierce black eyes followed him. Hazel gave me one fleeting look of panic right before Oscar and Beatrice took her away.

Why did I let her be taken away instead of myself? This was what I wondered as the doors to the dining hall closed behind Hazel. My first thought had been to protect her- For some reason, Niklaus seemed to be bent on keeping 'Queen Helena' alive, and if he believed her to be me, she would be safe.

But the second Hazel disappeared behind those doors, the logical part of my mind returned, and with it, a worried thought- what about me?

"Have you pick, ladies, and feast to your hearts' content!" Rebekah shouted to the women warriors. They headed towards the French nobles and the King's advisors, their sharp claws a shade of red under the reflection of the blood on the floor. Rebekah herself headed for the King's bastard, a young and quite handsome man I had seldom spoke with before. I knew the bastard son had was a brave man who been trained quite well in sword fighting, which was why I wasn't surprised when he suddenly started forward with a fallen guard's sword in hand.

This sudden action seemed to take Rebekah by surprise, which was why she couldn't stop the edge of the bastard son's sword from impaling her stomach. She let out a small gasp, right before she collapsed onto the ground.

"Rebekah!" Niklaus said, rushing forward. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as Rebekah slowly stood up, trying to keep her breath steady. How was she not dead? But this unexplainable miracle wasn't what scared me. It was the deadly expression on her face that did.

"I'm fine, Nik," she breathed, pulling the sword out of her gut. "But he won't be once I'm through with him," she said. Within the blink of an eye, she had appeared right in front of the bastard son's face. She grabbed him by the throat, and threw him to the floor with immense strength.

This seemed to be a sort of signal for Niklaus's men. With a hungry glint in their eyes, they headed towards my ladies and me, and that was when I began to thoroughly regret having let Hazel leave.

I screamed as one of the men grabbed me by my shoulders. I then stared as Niklaus pulled him off of me- "This one is coming with me," he said.

And before that man or I could let out a word of protest, Niklaus grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the dining hall.

A million thoughts rushed through my head, each one worse than the last. I blinked. I had been so wrapped up in my own mind that I hadn't even realized Niklaus had stopped. We were in the King's chambers- how this man even knew of its location, I didn't know. But that was the least of my problems.

With a sinking feeling in my chest, I realized now more than ever that I regretted having let Hazel leave with my title. Yes, it was selfish of me, but so what? My mother's words echoed throughout my head- the words she had repeated so many times to me, the words I had never listened to. 'To be a great ruler, you must allow others to sacrifice for you.'

I had always thought these were the words of a coward- what Queen would let others be harmed for her own safety? But now...

I stifled a yell as I felt myself being slammed onto the wall. Why had I been so foolish as to think of my friend's safety before mine? Hazel wasn't royalty, no one cared what happened to her. But I had entire kingdoms that looked at me as their superior. What would they think of me once this man- this monster- was through with me?

I forced myself to look at Niklaus's blood tainted face. What exactly was he planning on doing, anyway? I had heard stories of horrible battlefields, how bloodthirsty men would take away young girls' virtues in a fit of rage. But this wasn't what Niklaus was planning on doing... No, it was something much worse.

A sickening pain tore throughout my body as his teeth punctured my throat. I had no idea what manner of dark creature this man was, only that I had to get away- but I couldn't. The world was fading, it was all a blur... I began screaming, and soon, my thoughts mixed in with my words- I shouted out that I was the Queen, not Hazel... But before I could tell whether or not Niklaus had heard what I had said, the world turned black.