Blue Flames

Chapter 36

Natalia was dressed in a flowing white dress that fell in folds to her ankles, with a modest neckline and capped sleeves, her golden hair twisted elegantly in the nape of her neck. She would be an angelic vision if not for the look in her eyes. It screamed murder. Two vampires trailed her inconspicuously. Her guards.

Her eyes landed on me first. She took a step forward, glanced at my father, then turned with a sneer towards Arthur.

Arthur watched her stride over with an expression of resignation and wariness. A stab of pain travelled thrugh the bond between us.

She reminded him of his son.

I would've been jealous, except that it wasn't the fond memories he had of his son that came to the forefront of the bond, but the pain and the suffering he'd endured after his death. That, I wasn't jealous of.

I moved towards them. Charles followed closely behind.

"Don't do anything unnecessary." he whispered behind me.

"When did I ever do anything unnecessary?"

He snorted.

Arthur felt guilty for taking his son's life. He also felt guilty for depriving a mother of her child. Natalia was that mother. In his mind, he had wronged her and no amount of suffering would atone for that sin.

So, burdened by that guilt, he allowed her to get away with borderline insulting behaviour.

I was not burdened by such emotions. I did feel sorry for Natalia, she lost her son and I would not be able to imagine that pain. But the fact that she blamed Arthur for it instantly made my feelings of sympathy take a backseat to fury. Anger stirred my magic. My blue flames roared to life in my heart, and I felt the presence of the phoenixes even more strongly, hovering high above us in the sky.

She had no right. He was suffering more than he should, already.

The surrounding guests took interest in Arthur and Natalia's encounter. I guess their history was no secret. By the time I was within hearing range, Natalia had reached Arthur and was on a tirade of some sort.

"...have no right! Not after you destroyed my life and killed my son!" she was saying, standing in front of Arthur with her eyes glowing a deep sapphire and her face contorted in anger. Arthur's face was blank. "you have no right to take a mate and live your life as if you didn't destroy mine! You have no right to live your life as if you never had a son! You may have forgotten all about him, but I didn't! I won't-"

"Enough!"

Everyone looked at me. I moved to stand between her and Arthur. Her lips curled in disgust.

"Stay out of this, fae. It doesn't concern you." she spat out.

"You're making a scene," I told her quietly, maybe if I dealt with her calmly she would be more reasonable.

"I don't give a damn!"

Yeah...there's no reasoning with this one. Oh, well. I was never good at peaceful solutions, anyway.

"You should if you want to keep your pretty face intact," I told her, gripping the hilt of my sword, "now turn around and go put on makeup or something."

'Go put on makeup'? Ugh, I couldn't have come up with a better one?

Her face turned a lovely shade of red. "You insolent b-"

"Enough." Arthur said calmly, yet every sound ceased existing around us. He stepped forward until he stood next to me.

"Natalia. We shall talk later if you wish," he said, "not here."