Prophecies and Lies

chapter 27

Nathanial's POV:

The sound of faraway whispers land on my ears, forcing me to open my eyes, the cold room making my skin line with goosebumps as I notice a glowing light in my chambers coming from the gap between my door and the floor, making me leave my bed.

Something must be happening. Why else would anyone be up at this late hour of the night?

I push the door open, making my way to the exit of our apartment, where I meet a frazzled-looking guard who I give a questioning look to, not understanding the distress printed on his face.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" I ask, my body half alert and half asleep as I try to push my tiredness aside.

"Young master, the King and Alpha Alec have requested to see you." The guard says as he points towards the opposite direction, causing me to nod at him as I tell him to take me to them.

The walk to where father and the king are is silent, tension clouding the air as my mind scrambles to find the possible reasons why they needed me. We make our way outside into the cold night rain, making me more confused. What could they possibly be doing here?

A few steps into the courtyard has the hair on my arms lifting as the smell of blood and dirt makes its way to my nose. My blood runs cold as the realization hits me.

It's not just any blood. It's the blood of my sisters.

Before I knew it my feet had sped up, the guard long forgotten somewhere behind me as I used my senses to find the source of the blood. The pungent smell gets stronger as I reach the opposite side of the courtyard, my legs straining and my eyes almost bulging out of their sockets at the sight in front of me.

My heart squeezes in my chest as I heave for breath, struggling to believe the sight in front of me. My eyes almost hurting as I watch my two sisters lay cold and emotionless on the rubble in a pool of their blood.

I am lost, not understanding who I should take care of first. Their slow breathing makes me feel dizzy as I try to make my mind up.

From the distance I spot the King, father, and mother hurrying towards Andria, all of them seeing to her needs while little Ariana is left whimpering in the cold, her heart slow and unsteady, making me rush towards her.

It's not that I don't love Andria. It is that she has always had an army of people who have loved and held her close, while little Ari has only ever had me.

I near Ariana, my heart breaking at the dark bruises that shadow her left eye and her cheekbones, her lips are torn, and from what I can tell her nose is also broken as blood dribbles out of it.

Her eyes were half-mast, meaning that she was somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. I wave my hand in front of her eyes to see if I could get any reaction from her.

There is none. Her eyes look dead more than alive, causing me to swallow hard as I push my arms underneath her legs, lifting her so that I can take her to her chambers and get a healer to take a look at her.

I am about to get up from the ground when my hands are pushed away from Ariana forcing me to put her down. I turn to look at two guards wearing armour. My annoyance spikes at seeing them as I turn back towards Ariana. Do they not understand that she needs help?

I try lifting Ariana again, but I'm stopped again, the guards drawing up their draggers and standing in my way as the taller one of two seethes out "I wouldn't do that if I were you, the prisoner is to be left to us."

"Prisoner?" I ask confused as I get up from the muddy ground.

"Yes prisoner, she has committed treason against our Queen, " The shorter one says, "Hurry on now before we have to take you with her."

I am left baffled, my mind scrambling for answers, the realization, making my eyes wide when I only find one answer. She went for revenge. Ariana went for revenge.

Earlier today when the king had announced that Andria was his mate, I had held my breath even though rage had swam in my veins when I saw the broken look in Ariana's eyes. I wanted to see the king's demise, but I knew better than to fulfil my desire with actions. He may have broken one sister, but he had fixed the other.

I still don't understand why he had lied to Ariana, was she a joke to him? Or why did Andria not tell anyone about being the King's mate before the coronation? It didn't make sense to me, none of it did.

That's not even the worst part, the worst part is that I believed him, I believed him when he said that he would protect her and take care of her. I should've known better than to believe that lying fucker who likes to call himself King.

After the announcement, I had tried to reach out to Ariana, to ease her pain, but she didn't let me. She had locked herself away in her chambers, I had begged for what seemed like countless hours for her to let me in, but she never did.

I always knew that leaving her to herself would lead to something terrible. I just never knew that it would lead to Andria and her hurting each other.

I furrow my brows when I hear Ariana whimper and shiver from the cold, my heart bleeding out at hearing her pain, forcing me to push past the guards to comfort her.

I am about to lift her, when I feel a dagger slicing through the skin of my wrist, splitting it so that blood begins to pour out.

I look up at the guard, my anger growing at the look of victory on his face. How dare he?

Does he not understand that she's in pain and needs help? Is he blind?

My anger gets the best of me as I grab the guard by his collar and land a punch on his face, my wrist pulsing with pain at the harsh movement, causing me to land another punch on his face for slitting it open in the first place.

"Prisoner?" I say, my voice low and strangely calm, my eyes wide with anger, "How dare you call her that?"

I smash his head repeatedly against the wall, his screams of pain meaning nothing to my ears as I take the back of his head in my hands, his blood coating my fingers as I grind out " My sister has done nothing wrong. She did what she was entitled to do after what he did to her!"

I am about to smash his head against the wall when I feel two guards pinning me down, I try fighting against them, but I am unable to do so when one of them forces a strange concoction
down my throat, which has my throat burning, my stomach turning for the worst and my vision blurs.

Everything around me starts to fade away, the only thing I see is the King looking down at me, before he says to one of the guards, " Take him to the cellar as well. Make sure to lock them both up in different cellars."

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