68. Fury and Threats

“What?” Reya glanced up in confusion, not quite understanding what the note meant.

Certainly, the Princes did not inherit any of their mother’s magic to have dark sides to their gifts.

Princess Milena rolled her eyes impatiently before inching towards Reya.

“Come with us and we’ll explain,”

And with that, Reya was sandwiched in between both women.

The walk to the dungeons was silent and awkward but Reya pressed on, determined not to feel bothered by the towering and intimidating Princesses.

She heard Princess Milena was upset that Reya had won the game of chess back at the Queen’s gambit and she was not particularly interested in being chatty with the cold Princess.

She had been an ally to Lady Danielle and her most favored sister Princess Natalija was allied to Danielle’s younger sister. Certainly, they were not the best of friends at the moment.

When they were out of ear reach from the guards at the entrance, Milena cleared her throat.

“Every Royal with a gift has a bad side to his or her special ability,” Milena started to explain.

“The First Prince’s gift is earth manipulation but when furious, he can split the earth and send buildings tumbling down. Technically, he can destroy the entire Castle if he goes out of control,”

“The Second Prince’s gift gives him power over not just water but any fluid that contains water. Therefore, he can manipulate blood. It’s a technique called blood bending,”

Reya cringed inwardly, imagining what that could mean. As a doctor, Reya could imagine the thousands of ways he could cause harm to someone by manipulating their blood. He could make them bleed through their pores, choke them on their blood, separate their blood from their veins...

Reya suddenly felt like throwing up and it was not just because of her gory thoughts but because the dungeons was truly, a disgusting place to be.

The dungeons were built from grey bricks and comprised of a long dark hallway, bars of iron barring off prisoners from the mossy hallway.

Although there was no smell of faeces or urine, the dungeons was dark and dingy, an irritating pungent smell hanging in the air that caused Reya to wrinkle her nose.

Reya took her handkerchief and pressed it to her nose.

They disappeared through another narrow stairs and while Reya kept her gaze on the floor, she soon noticed the small drops of blood smeared across the cement. And those tiny white things..... The poor doctor went pale as ash when she realized they were bones.

It was surprising that despite all the mayhem that was going on down there, there was not a single sound from the captured vampires.

Reya went pale when she sighted them. The vampires were bloodied to the point she did not even know their skin color and could hardly tell the color of their hair. If Reya had sighted them from a distance, perhaps she would have even believed that they were hung pigs getting ready to be turned into bacon.

“Big brother,” Princess Natalija stepped forward.

And even though he sat on a chair, his hair downcast and ears open to listen, he remained silent.

“He’s furious,” Reya suddenly realized, taking a step towards him.

*Solas.*

“You had so much fun going past the borders, killing my people for sport,” The Lord of The Sea lifted his head, barely brushing back his curls from his eyes.

“Which one of you killed Solas? Which one of you planted the mines?”

One of the vampires finally started rasping, crying out.

“I told you already, we had no idea who did it. We were unaware there was a mine field of any sorts. We also told you all about the mission,” The vampire was crying out in a strange accent, pissing in his pants.

What the Lord of The Sea had done....

“What was the mission?” Reya asked boldly, stepping forward.

Prince Armani dare not deny her the knowledge of this. The vampires had ruined what was once her hospital and she had a right to know.

“We only got an order from the higher ups, so we are not aware of what the entire matter was about,” another vampire responded, voice raspy.

“They asked us to take the cure and bring it to the vampire lords of our island. That way, another wave of your disease might spread provided the cure is not in circulation,”

*Then the vampires will attack while the Kingdom is plagued...*

“And a white dragon is rare enough. But the scales, most especially one so pretty.. it... it could fetch a pretty penny in the black market. It’s been centuries since those scales were being traded off. The clients would have cut their tongues out for a chance to hold one scale in their finger. It’s even more expensive than the diamonds you dragons produce,”

Reya stumbled back with shock.

Black Market?

And what exactly would her scales benefit? Certainly, they were pretty silvery white things that shimmered like the moon but what was so important about them?

“Why is Solas dead?” Prince Armani asked, head still lowered, nesting in between his arms as he hunched over on his knees.

Reya blinked at him, now noticing that he had not even paid attention to her presence.

“We told you-“

Screams rallied into the air, each one louder than the other. The drying blood was fresh again, gushing everywhere until it was pooling into a small river under each vampire.

Suddenly, the screams were gurgled, water- *no* blood, choking them.

They bled through their mouths, through their eyes, through their nose.

Reya changed her mind. His power was even worse than she had imagined.

“Do something!” Milena chided, her gray eyes shining with worry as she glanced at the hunched over Prince.

Gulping, Reya inched towards him, hiding the tremble in her hands by fisting her dress.

“Hey,” she called softly to him.

*’Call his dragon’s name. He’s the one lashing out,’*

“Surien,” she added, standing before him.

And yet, he would not stop. The vampires started to twist and writhe their bodies in odd angles, each finger dislocating with the bend of their blood.

Inhaling deeply, she reached out and pressed her fingers to his shoulders.

Immediately, sparks spread through the bond, twitching against her fingers. Clearly, the bond was reacting for being neglected for a while.

But why was she suddenly dizzy? Why were her legs trembling?

Muscles and skin rippled under the touch of her hands, indicating that the Prince was coming back to her.

Inhaling and shaking off the nervous jitters exploding all over her skin, she called his name again.

“Surien,” she called softly.

She was pressed against the wall in an instant, air whooshing out of her mouth in surprise at the sudden attack.

Her eyes flew towards the Princesses in a frenzy of wild panic, hoping they would assist her. Yet like the non allies they were, they just stood there and did nothing. Milena’s face was expressionless but Natalija, despite her hardened exterior was blushing and looking away.

“S-Surien-“

“Mate,” his extended canines were already pressing against her marking spot, hand snaking into her dress.

Her cheeks grew warm with blush, embarrassment gnawing at her coiling belly.

“Please stop,” she squeaked, wiggling her head away and pulling back his head.

His one brown eye was a blazing red, the color of blood. How was she supposed to calm him down?

“You are probably going to fall into a ball soon, plagued with heat. Your scent is all over the place and it’s frustrating his dragon. If we help, he’ll slice our necks without blinking,” Milena shrugged.

The Prince was moving in between her legs again, dragging her skirts up and licking her marking spot to soften the skin for his Mark.

Reya was at a loss for what to do when suddenly, a bright idea shone in her head.

“You’re hurting me. I can’t breathe. Please let go,” she whimpered, wobbling her lips for extra drama.

It was a lie of course but perhaps, the fear of hurting his mate would bring him back to his senses.

And how easily it worked, because he was jumping back and blinking repeatedly until his red eye was brown again.

“R-Reya, I’m sorry,” he stuttered, his eyes dancing with confusion as he glanced between his cousins, allies and mate.

“So she is your mate,” Milena rose a brow, glancing between them.

Reya blinked.

“What do you mean by that?”

Natalija scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“I could have dealt him a sharp blow on the head and brought him back. If you can be soft and bring him back, then we have no doubt,”

Once again, these meddling Royals had played her.

Reya narrowed her eyes at them, anger brewing just on the surface of her skin.

“So what? What have you gained by playing me into this?” Reya snapped, glaring at all of them.

Milena’s cold eyes flared with silent flames.

“You need to learn to cull your temper, Lady,”

“You will also need to realize I am not your pawn. Not for either of you. Why are you so impatient to find out if we are true mates or not?” Reya narrowed her eyes at Milena.

“You are reckless when you need to be careful, angry when you need to have a cool head. You act as if you know you will die sooner or later. You act as if you already know the outcome for the mate bond test tomorrow,” Milena said, stepping forward.

“Threatening the nobles with your foreseen power, shining their torches at the prospect of you being a tyrant. You painted a clear picture today. You flaunted your rise in our kingdom in their faces, drawing the rug from underneath their feet before they even realize it. You made them so certain that you will truly be their mates,”

Reya shrugged nonchalantly, irritating an already impatient Milena.

“Was that not the point?”

Milena let out a scoff and put a hand to her glimmering diadem.

“Are you not listening to me? You acted with the reckless abandon of a fool! You put a target on your back. Do you think the nobles of this kingdom foolish enough not to see this opportunity?” She added.

Natalija cleared her throat and folded her arms, her gray eyes wandering between her sister and Reya.

“The Castle is at its most vulnerable because we have guests from the Blue dragon clan. You set off mercenaries on your back. Be glad if you survive the night without having a dagger pressed to your throat,” she scoffed.

Reya glanced between them, finally understanding what they were going about.

“You thought I was bluffing at the House of Commons. That is why you decided to test the bond to see if it were fake or not. If I was bluffing, then that makes me smart because in death, I would not be humiliated by the truth of the authenticity of the bond. If I was not bluffing, then I am foolish and putting targets on my back. Is that it? Is that what you tried to deduce?”

A dagger wheezed past Milena but she obviously saw it coming, swaying her head to the side just in time.

Her pink pouty lips drew back in a cruel smile.

“Why are you so angry brother?” She said, folding her arms and beaming at the seething Lord of The Sea.

“You had no permission, no order to pull off this feat. Stop acting out on your own,” he glowered at her.

“This is your mate, your highness. She holds the key to so many unfolding events in the castle, a possible Lady of our court. I might as well as piece myself in this puzzle,”

Reya frowned, depreciating the way she had been excluded from the conversation.

The Prince glared at her reproachfully before turning towards Reya.

“If what she says is true, then you need our protection before the bond test,”

All Reya could be reminded of when the word protection slipped out of his mouth was being holed up in his wing of the castle.

“No,” she refused, tilting her chin proudly.

“Reya you-“

“No!” She repeated again, more firmer.

“I am not going to choose your protection or choose your allies. I will not be dragged into your court’s business,” Reya openly glared at Milena, the elder Princess.

“Give her protection and she shoves it in your face. Where exactly are you going with your arrogance, Lady Reya?” She asked.

“Watch it,” The Prince’s voice was quiet but the menace was not invisible.

“I will not choose your court for protection, neither will I choose the court of your brother. I see what this is, a power play to try to drag me into the bosom of one of your courts. I will choose fairly, I will choose none of you,”

For Reya already knew that choosing one of the Princes would aid in their ascension to the Throne.

If she rejected one of them, it would take only but a breeze to push the other to the top.

The doctor was not entirely lost on their games.

“And you, Princess Milena,” Reya glared at her.

“Stop acting like you care about me. You were only just celebrating in Lady Danielle’s room few weeks ago, excited that I would be ousted from the selection and stand no chance with the Prince you pledge your allegiance to. If you think you can draw me close after being such a hateful person, then you are the biggest hypocrite there ever was,”

And with that Reya stormed off, ignoring the bloodied stairs and those brittle bones laying on the floor.

Once on the surface and away from the dungeon, Reya inhaled heavily, appreciative of the fresh air.

And before she could exhale, she was pulled into a salon, a cloth stuffed in her mouth to muffle her screams.

“Not a single word,” A masculine voice hissed, wrapping his muscular arms around her and pressing a dagger to her jugular.

Reya froze, struggling to calm the pacing of her heart.

And suddenly, she was let go.

Mist emerged from the walls, materializing into hands that held back her arms to immobilize her.

Clearly, they were not one of her mate’s shadows.

Considering that shadows were a top secret weapon by the Royal family, Reya was also certain that the person that had captured her was a Royal.

*’Who?’* Reya panicked, glancing about.

A figure moved through the shadows until the lights from the flame torches kissed his muscular frame.

He was huge, just a an inch or two shorter than her mates.

Dressed in blazers of blue and expensive coats, Reya was certain he was part of the Royal family.

His head was a mop of full, lustrous red hair, a shade more Orange than the reddish tint of her own hair.

However, his face was covered in a fancy fox mask, the material clinging to his features and giving him the advantage of anonymity.

He took a step close to her and took her chin in his hand, smiling at the rebellion that shone in her eyes.

“Aren’t you the prettiest little thing?” He mused, toying with her lower lip.

Reya chomped down on his hand but luckily for him, he caught on and withdrew his hand.

“You understand that I could kill you, do you not?” That smirk was still on his lips.

“If you wanted to, you would have by now,” Reya tried to act aloof and uncaring for the hands that held her back when she was a ball of rage waiting to be unleashed.

“Smart,” he said it in a condescending manner, tossing his tanned hands into his pocket.

For a man so ostentatious, it was surprising he had only but one shiny ring on his hand.

“It’s no wonder those twins are so taken with you. However, I have a head and I think with it,” he stepped closer and his gaze raked over her dress.

“Potent as your heat may be. You should have just stayed hidden in your prison with the lord of the sea,”

Reya’s cheeks flamed with fury and it took all of her not to rear back her head and spit in his face.

“What do you want?” She asked instead.

“Oh nothing, nothing at all,” he shook his head with a small smile.

“I have everything I want, all the peace I need. However, your existence and the rebellion you bring is threatening that,” the smile fell from his face.

“Act in line and this will never happen again. I will never have to put a dagger to your throat and we’ll all be one big happy family,”

And with that, he turned around and walked away, men misting into shadows and trailing him on the walls as shadows.

Even though the job was lousy, The Royal must have been certain she would never realize who it was. However, it would take only one glance at someone for Reya to remember the face.

The ring on his finger was further confirmation.

The Royal who had threatened her was a member of the Beta Royal family, judging from the signet ring on his finger.

The man that had just threatened her was Lady Bethanie’s mate, Prince Reagan.

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*We are about to find out if the mate bond is true or not! I am back at updating consistently :). Don't forget to leave a comment!*