The Lethal Air (Royals of the Realm Series #2)

Chapter 8

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." - Marianne Williamson

Air Kingdom
White Castle
The Dungeons

Heaven's POV

I watched her sleeping form with the eyes of an eagle, berating myself for the stunt I pulled: locking her in the torture cell and forsaking her safety. I wanted to punish all of my guards for letting that rogue soul slip inside and hurt her, it damaged our bond. However, another part of me tells me she deserves it. I shouldn't care about what happens to this cunning witch and leave her to die.

But I can't.

Colson stood beside me as Cady examines her frail body; her hair a dull gray, missing its vibrance and her pale skin, blue lines visible underneath like the vision from her fears in the torture cell. We transferred her to a normal cell and laid her down a cot but her ankles were still shackled and chained to the floor. Cady, the healer, worked with nonchalance - hiding any hints about her condition. He worked in and out of a person's system, being part witch and part elf, in other words both physical and magical plane.

"Why?" Colson's question drew my attention away from Artemis. He seemed to be asking no one but I know it's directed at me.

"She's his daughter." I got no response from him and his serious expression made it hard to find out how he feels and what he's thinking. So I continued, "She's Artemis Wiccan, last of the northern witches apparently. About five centuries old, daughter of Arkas of the North and Thana Valentine."

Arkas, he created the dragon that killed my father.

"Must she pay for the crimes she never did?" He asked again.

I asked myself that a hundred times already as I journeyed back here from the air state. "She'll pay for the crimes she could have prevented."

It seemed like a fitting answer, yet the damaged bond complained. What surprised me was that the air stone reacted violently too, not letting go of the fact that she'll possibly be my queen. The truth is I am fucking conflicted. I can't just accept her, and I most certainly can't just kill her. I need answers, then I'll decide.

Cady cleared his throat, walking towards us with his clipboard. "There's a good news and a bad news. Good news: she'll live. But It will take years to restore her health back given that she only have half of her soul-"

"Half of her soul??" I growled lowly. The Aguila wanted to come out all of a sudden, "Are you telling me that the feeder took half of her soul??" My voice was deadly, yet he still seemed calm.

"The feeder didn't do much damage. Regarding her soul, that's the bad news. She's powerful for a person only having half of a soul, but a broken bond is too much to take. It will wear her off, she might die earlier than half a soul can give her. Either you completely sever the bond or find the other half."

"Wait," Colson seemed to realize something, "You're saying that right from the start she only have half of her soul?"

To my horror Cady agreed, "Exactly."

It felt like a hard blow in the gut, the truth breaking all reasons I have to punish her for the mistake that his father did. For the first time I felt lost, undecided and scared.

Fear, so foreign to me.

All my life I never feared anything. I have the kingdom, I have the stone, I can protect my territory and rule justly. I've brought fear to my enemies, all I have inside was anger and emptiness. The cold strengthened me, made me endure and rise above all. I never feared being on my own when my father died, instead I was seething with rage to kill Arkas' descendants. Now, why do I fear that his last descendant might die??