Fates Intertwined

40. | Ripper

The inside was just as Aurora had remembered it back when she broke into the banquet and first met Octavia and Esme. It was extravagant, rich, royal. There were a few modern touches; the lights, the floor, and the rugs.

The walls were made of smooth stone thrown together, the floor made of what seemed to be wood. Paintings hung from the walls.

The former King and Queen's self portraits. The former King and Queen holding a baby. Esme and a man she didn't recognize. A Queen with silver hair and a luscious blood red gown.

But as it kept going, Aurora realized these were family portraits. Family paintings from the different centuries and decades.

Aurora grunted as the man holding onto her forced her and the others into a room. Looking around, she realized it was a throne room.

"Stay here." The leader demanded into her ear. Then he turned to the others. "Watch them."

"We're not going to die, are we?" Nara asked, glancing around. "Because I've barely lived at all and this world would be boring without me in it."

Lina rolled her eyes. "Self-centered much?" But then she was tsking. "Stop touching me." She snapped, turning to the man whose hand kept traveling to her ass. "Or you won't have anything to touch with."

"Shut it." He snapped.

"Learn to brush your teeth regularly and I'll consider it." She glared. Then she faced forward.

Nara's gaze was trained on the man beside Lina. Lina glanced at her, turned away, only to snap back at the sight of her eyes.

"Nara, don't." She demanded. The others turned back to Nara.

"Nara, we can't start a fight here. We can't risk getting kicked out of the one place that can offer us sanctuary." Aurora added. Nara's eye twitched before her eyes were turning back to normal and she was staring ahead. Aurora blew out a breath.

They fell back into silence.

"What if she's old?" Eric suddenly asked, breaking the silence. "Do you think she's still pretty?"

"I don't know." Zyran sighed. "I don't know what she looks like."

"Don't know what who looks like?" A female voice spoke, echoing through the open room. Heels clicked and clopped against the tile flooring, a woman in a long, blood red gown walking up the stairs of the throne. Her dress had thin straps but also fell off the shoulder, the front dipping and revealing her cleavage. Her hair was silver, pinned back out of her face with strands framing her face. Around her neck was a silver jeweled necklace and atop her head sat a crown made of thorns.

Aurora had only seen it once before, and that was on the head of King Frederick.

At the sight of the crown on her head, Aurora immediately recognized her.

"Evelyn."

"That is my name, after all." She smiled. Then she turned to the leading guard who had returned to Aurora's side at Evelyn's entrance. "I thought I had told you I wasn't accepting any visitors on my daughter's birthday."

"Oh, Happy Birthday to your daughter." Nara grinned at her.

"Thank you." She answered, then turned back to her leading soldier. "Sanders?"

"Apologies, your Majesty, but they've come to tell you of a danger. I could not take a risk." He bowed.

"Danger?" She began stepping down from the throne.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"What danger?"

"Me and my friends are running from a man named Van Helsing. But he's not just after me; he wants you, too. He's wanted you since you were eighteen." Aurora explained.