THE BLOOD ROYALS Book 2: Long Live The Queen!

Epilogue

Barlowe's POV
"Renée stop it! Stop it!" I can hear the Queen Mother's heavy voice ordering the hemorrhaging girl to steady herself. She is coughing violently spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Some of it is coming from her ears.

I have been at war fronts and I know what bad looks like. We were always taught never to get attached. Not getting attached is what helps a soldier to move on even when fellow soldiers are dying next to him. Well, that's not what happened today.

Reli was winning. He had overpowered Nilsa. Things looked promising. He was going to win. He was supposed to win. But things took a wrong turn after Nilsa sliced his thigh with one of her knives. Reli started behaving strangely. He was suddenly unstable and slow.

That is when it dawned on me that Nilsa had cheated. Marlina nodded when I looked at her. It's as though she was confirming my suspicion. It came to an abrupt end when she drove both knives into his sides. She held him like that and she spoke to him in a hushed tone. Not even the wind carried what she said to him. He looked at me once, blood coming out of his mouth. It was a horrible scene to see. I couldn't believe it when she removed the knives and she kicked him in the torso sending him clear off the peak of Dargan.

Reli was winning until the last few minutes of the vicious duel that sent him over.

"I have it!" I fell on my knees. "Did she seize?"

"Not yet!" The nurses answered as they tried their best to control the blood leaving Renée.

"One dose! If he t doesn't work..." I looked at the desperate faces.

The nurse took the vile and injected Renée. She did not stop hemorrhaging.

"Maybe it will take time." One if the nurses spoke hopefully.

I left the room to stand outside. Queen Mother came out too. Her hands and clothes are full of blood. She turned her attention to the lonely hallway. She watched expectantly. I kept my eyes at the top of the wall facing me but I can see her from the corner of my eye. I can see realization dawning on her, the same one I had to deal with when I saw Reli going off the peak.

"Where is my grandson?" She asked me with a firm steady voice.

I faced the woman with tears in her eyes. "He lost."

Her head dropped. She nodded and went back to the room. She knows how these things work. She doesn't need an explanation. In fact, she doesn't need details. She will only remember how he died and not who he was. Unless she asks, I will not say it.

After he fell off, Nilsa stood at that edge for a while just staring into the nothingness of rough terrain below. She came to me first and she told me I have three choices. To kill her where she stands, to serve her or to take the antidote and die later for being a treasonous person. Reli only asked one thing if me, to save Renée.

Nilsa was right in front of me, exhausted and hurt from her brother's ruthless onslaughts. Reli was swift, skilled and each punch, each jab of his knife was lined with precision. Nilsa was fast, aggressive and strong. Reli wore her out. If I had attacked her, it would have been easy to kill her.

I told her I only want the antidote. She removed the vile from in between her breasts. The damn woman was playing games. If Reli kicked her off the edge, he would have signed Renée's death certificate.

She put it in my hand along with a key to unlock the padlock holding the chains. She freed Marlins and just on cue as I struggled to free myself, a helicopter picked them up.

I ran to the edge to see anything, even his body so that I can retrieve it later but it's impossible to see all the way down. There was just nothing.

I watched the rightful heir to the throne fight skillfully but he lost because Reli was just too honest. Nilsa won because if her sly deceitful scheming nature. She couldn't have beat Reli in a fair fight. Especially not when he was fighting for Renée.

I went back into the room.

She's not hemorrhaging anymore. She's awake.

"It's almost sunset. You should be in the Chrystal Isles by dark." I reminded her.

"Did he suffer?" She whispered.

"He fought bravely. He fought honorably."

"Barlowe, did my grandson suffer?" She tilted her head.

I think he did. He was drowning in his own lungs after Nilsa drove the two knives into his sides. He was in pain at his last moments. "I hope he was dead before he hit the ground."

We had a moment of silence.

I watched. I couldn't do anything.

"What do we tell her?" Queen Mother asked me. "What do we tell Renée?"

"The truth. He's gone."

"Can she travel?"

"Yes." A nurse answered.

"Get her ready. I'm leaving right now."

"Not now." The nurse responded. "She is very unstable. She can't. In a day or two, maybe but now."

"Queen Mother, go to the Chrystal Isles. I'll take care of Renée. I'll find a way to get her to you once she is better."

"I can't leave her."

I held the side of her arms. "If you don't leave today, you will die too. You need to go. It is easier for Renée and I to disappear. It's not easy for you. Go home. I'll take care of Renée. I promise. I promised Reli. I won't let him down."

She cupped my face. "Carter Barlowe, you have served this family faithfully. I relieve you from your duty. You're free. Please, watch over her in Reli's name. Someday we will see each other again."

She gazed at Renée who seems to be conscious one second and unconscious the next before she left.

When I heard the whirring of the helicopter outside, I felt her regal presence leave.

I'm no longer the head of the royal guard. I'm just a man tasked with keeping a girl alive. I cannot fail.

Author's POV
The loud chants across Carperia can be heard as far as the outskirts of the city. Thousands have gathered beneath the grand balcony where all coronated kings have stood after their coronation to be seen by the subjects.

It's the first time in Chea Nivan history for a Queen to rule the kingdom. She has worked hard, suppressed frustration and sacrificed lives to get here including the daughter of the Duchess of Daa Haan, her own father and her brother.

The blood stained hands of the Queen are clean. Her white clothing crisp with perfection. The rose Gold crown encrusted with sapphires and rubies sits steadily on her head.

"Do you hear that Queen Mother," she smiled at her mother. "Those are sounds of adulation meant for me."

"Congratulations my queen." Takara curtsied for her daughter while burying disdain for her deep inside.

"To think all this would have been unnecessary if they only supported my ambitions to be queen."

Nilsa's smile grew when the chants grew louder. The subjects of Carperia and Ebrium showed up in numbers to support her ascension to the throne. This is just the tip of what she wanted.

"Long Live The Queen! Long Live The Queen! Long Live The Queen!" They chanted endlessly.

"Long Live The Queen!" She smiled with victory on her face.