CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Thirty-Three: No

*Kindle's PoV*

I entered Seraphim's room feeling pretty darn good. Lydia's reaction to Blondie and I kissing may have been the best thing that happened to me all week-- besides actually kissing Blondie, of course.

And from the irate sound of Lydia's high-heels clicking behind me I could tell she still wasn't over it. Well, she could eat her heart out. If she had one, that is.

"Where is Magdalyn?" Seraphim asked as soon as I walked into the room. He was leaned up against the piano with his arms crossed.

"Back at the room," I answered. "She told me what she learned during the carriage ride, so I'm here in her place."

Seraphim smirked, his expression reminding me of his cousin. "Too scared to see me again?" He surmised.

"And with good reason." I shot back, my eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't be all that eager to see someone who held me at knife-point either."

Seraphim shrugged, "Don't be so overdramatic. I wasn't going to kill her. She just needs to learn to hold her tongue, lest someone cuts it from her mouth." He straightened up and added, "Magdalyn must learn to respect authority."

"Authority," I laughed, flicking over one of Seraphim's glass chess pieces. "What authority do you have? You're the king of what, thirty-seven people and a crumbling orphanage?" I glanced over at Lydia as she draped herself over Seraphim's arm and shrugged, "thirty-six people."

Seraphim's jaw tightened. "That will change soon. I'll be the king of Lumina and all the other kingdoms in the Shadow Realm."

"And then you'll wish you showed him more respect, Kindle, when you're polishing his boots." Lydia added, her eyes hard.

Seraphim grinned down at her adoringly before turning his attention back to me. "There will be another ball soon, I trust?" He asked eagerly.

I nodded, "three days from now," I said as I toppled another chess piece with a yawn. "Can I just give you the information and go? I'm tired." And I'd really like to spend more time with Blondie before she falls asleep.

Seraphim chuckled, shaking his head. "You really are thick, aren't you, Kindle?"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the ice started seeping in, but still I asked. "Meaning?"

"Do you honestly think the plan I spent the past five years creating could possibly rest so heavily on a dim witted little girl collecting information I could easily get from a tabloid?" Seraphim questioned, speaking slowly.

No, of course not. Seraphim was smarter than that. And thinking about it, the information Blondie had collected would be useless when trying to take over a kingdom. Why would it matter what Casimir planned to do as king if Seraphim wasn't even going to give him a chance to rule? "Then why did you need her? Why did you keep her away from her realm for a month? For nothing?" I could feel the rage start to flare and bubble inside me.

"No, not for nothing," Seraphim chuckled, "Your Blondie will serve a very important part in my plan."

"Cut the dramatics and get to the point, Seraphim," I hissed, my fists clenched at my side.

Seraphim sighed in exasperation. "The point, my dear dear friend, is that I needed someone unrecognizable to take the fall. Someone I knew I could manipulate, and who wouldn't know their way around the realm if they tried to escape. Someone who wouldn't have family or friends busting down the door to find them."

"Someone no one would miss?" Lydia suggested cheerfully. She wore a smirk that I wanted to burn from her face.

My heart pounded frantically in my chest as I took in their words. He needed someone who wouldn't be missed, someone to take the fall. "She's a decoy," I said, my voice hollow.