Chapter 38 Past Revealed
I looked out the window where snow was still falling. Why is it that this time, I’m not waiting for his arrival? Is it because of what I saw and heard from Princess Tatiana’s power? Who is that woman? Why did she suddenly disappear from Wisteria?
I faced Princess Tatiana again and spoke to her bravely.
“Can you take me back to the past again? I want to know who Cosette is. Why did she leave Wisteria? Why have I never heard her name from the Lancasters? Do you know her?”
“Isn’t she—”
One of the triplets didn’t finish what they were going to say because Tatiana stopped them.
“We can go back but this time, we’ll only stay for half an hour.”
I didn’t hesitate when the passageway to the past opened again. I walked ahead of the princess and even the three vampires followed us.
“Where are we?” I asked in confusion.
This is completely different from the event we came from earlier.
We’re in the middle of a war where Wisteria’s soldiers are all on horseback, while their nobles are busy fighting a huge number of enemies.
“This is the war between Wisteria and Tethoris,” one of the men answered.
Why are Wisteria and Tethoris fighting? Aren’t they both under Igor?
“Why is there a war like this inside Igor? Were there already chosen women during this time?” I asked again.
“Not yet, only in Aetherio, but she never appeared,” another man answered.
“Look.”
Princess Tatiana pointed to a direction I immediately followed. I almost screamed at what I saw, two sharp silver stakes, which are vampires’ weakness, were flying toward Kaizer and Larkin’s backs as they fought two big vampires.
“They’ll get hit!”
I ran toward them like a fool even though I knew I couldn’t do anything.
But before I could reach them, a woman blocked Kaizer from behind. Instead of hitting Kaizer in the back, the stake struck the woman straight through her heart. Larkin stood frozen, holding his shoulder that was hit, as he watched the woman cough up blood in Kaizer’s arms.
Larkin knelt down while Kaizer’s eyes turned cold. Enemy vampires didn’t approach Kaizer and Larkin anymore because Chase, Randall, and Travis blocked them.
The two Lancasters froze when they saw the woman cough up blood again. They tried talking to her several times but her face was pale and weak, she wouldn’t last long.
Before the woman took her last breath, she gently caressed Kaizer’s face and whispered a few words I couldn’t hear. I bit my lip hard at what I saw, a mix of emotions inside me: intense jealousy, sadness, regret, anger, confusion, and guilt. I shouldn’t have asked my questions because instead of feeling lighter, my heart felt heavier and tighter as if being squeezed.
Larkin started to stand up and slowly walked away from the woman and his brother. Until Kaizer shouted Cosette’s name as all the enemy vampires around Wisteria froze solid.
Cosette left Igor Wisteria because she sacrificed herself for my prince. She saved the vampire destined for me.
I don’t know why my feet moved on their own toward Kaizer, who kept whispering the woman’s name over her lifeless body.
“I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry Cosette…”
“I didn’t want this…”
“I’m sorry… fuck! I’m sorry.. Forgive me. Forgive me…”
As Kaizer kept whispering, I couldn’t help but cry at what I saw. My prince was so broken. I wanted to hug and comfort him but here I am, just sitting beside him. I can’t touch him because my hand will just pass through his body.
When I looked at the woman’s lifeless body again, I couldn’t understand what I was feeling. Would I be happy that she’s dead? Because if this didn’t happen, Kaizer would probably not be mine. I’m jealous because he held another woman, but part of me wishes Cosette had lived, she didn’t have to die. What would happen to me now if she had stayed alive? I don’t want her to take Kaizer from me! Damn. I’m confused.
“That’s enough Saera. It looks like you’ve gotten the answers to your questions.”
I nodded gently when the princess touched my shoulder. I saw the three vampires with her heading back too.
As we walked back, I couldn’t help but ask the princess. The things I believed in are starting to fall apart.
“Does Kaizer love me? Or did he love me only because I’m one of the four important women in the prophecy?”
The princess turned to me slightly with a bitter smile on her lips.
“He’s not in love with you Saera. The second prince of Wisteria loves someone else. You’re just a tool, people like us are only treated as tools by them. Vampires will never love a human. Vampires are only for vampires, Saera.”
I cried with my head down as we walked back. What kind of world did I get into? There’s no one I can trust anymore. Am I too weak to just believe in that handsome prince of Wisteria? Because I was just too happy to get attention from a man I never had in the human world?
“Why did he have to make me believe he’d been waiting for me for so long? That I was the only woman he gave his full attention to?”
The princess slowly moved closer to me and gently hugged me while stroking my long hair.
“You should only trust me Saera. I’m the one who’ll save you from this cruel world. Don’t you understand yet? Kaizer will keep trying to complete you all because he’ll bring back the princess who died in his arms, he’ll just use you to bring Cosette back to life.”
I hugged her back as my tears flowed endlessly.
And for the first time, I couldn’t argue with her accusations against the second prince.