Arranged (COMPLETED)

Chapter 9

Roman heard the lock click and quickly hid the book behind his back.

"Okay. That's Rosebane everywhere and- why do you look so suspicious, Roman?"

"Do I?" Roman thought.

"He's just trying to throw you off." The voice in Roman's head said. "Just walk past him."

Roman took a breath and walked past Virgil. He wasn't used to ignoring people but this felt surprisingly normal. Roman could feel Virgil's eyes following him down the corridor but the voice in his head told him not to turn around. Roman nearly ran into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

"Is this an okay room?" He asked, looking around for any sign of Rosebane. The voice in his head didn't answer but it didn't have to. Suddenly, there was a sharp, searing pain in his head he had connected with the effects of the herb Virgil spread around the castle. "Shit." He hissed, clutching his head and stumbling over to the window, which he opened, letting in cold air and rain that felt like needles against his skin.

"It's almost time." The voice mumbled, as if it was talking to itself.

"For what?" Roman asked.

"Nothing! Now, we need to find this Rosebane and get rid of it. It'll poison you while you sleep, otherwise."

Roman started looking around his room for any sign on the herb. There was some in his drawers, behind the mirror (which was still broken, Logan had insisted it was not to be taken away) and under his bed. Roman threw these sprigs out of the window and watched them disappear into the blackness below. The sharp pain in his head eased a little.

"Good." The voice purred, unsettling Roman slightly. "Now, please free me, Prince Roman. Time is short."

Roman looked out of the window again. The sky seemed even blacker than it had been before. Something was poisoning this land and Roman intended to kill whatever it was. Maybe freeing whatever was in his head was the first step.

Virgil stood in the doorway to the library, a little uneasy. Roman had never ignored him before. Shouted at him and ridiculed him, yes. But never ignored. Why did it even matter to Virgil that the other prince had ignored him? Was it just because they were arranged to be married? They had been betrothed since Virgil was a toddler. Why did being ignored bother to him now? Because Roman wasn't one to ignore people. He was loud and cocky and said everything that came to mind. He would always fight until he either won the argument or was completely and utterly defeated. Roman never did things by half. So why had he ignored Virgil now? Virgil was sure that Roman was going to yell at him, to rage about how he had been locked up in his own castle. But he hadn't. He'd brushed past Virgil as if he were nothing.

The black sky let out a boom of thunder and a crack of lightning. Virgil looked quickly along the shelves. A book was missing. Which book? Something about..... demon summonings.

"Oh shit, Roman. What have you done now?" Virgil asked himself as he ran towards Roman's room, a bolt of lightning illuminating the dark corridors.

***

Roman had made a mistake. He'd made a huge, huge mistake. He had tried to summon whatever spirit thing was in his head and now what stood before him was the stuff of nightmares. The stuff of his nightmares.

Wooden and greyish-brown in colour, it had no whites in its eyes, only black and red. Its teeth were needles, sharp and shiny. Its ears curled upwards in a sharp point and it was leering down at Roman with a triumphant spark in it's eye.

"Thank you very much, Prince Roman." It purred. "But now, your services are no longer needed. So I suggest you rest for a while."

Roman couldn't even process what was happening before he slipped into unconsciousness. The tall, twisted figure bent over the limp body of the former prince and snatched the crown from his head. As soon as the cold metal touched the demon's head. The jewels in it turned to colours like blood.

"Much better." The demon said, smiling to itself. "Now, I believe there was another nuisance roaming about the castle, wasn't there?"