Chapter 20

“And they aren’t already?” I laugh. Humankind has been enslaved long before I existed.

“Since there are no lycan females anymore, they need humans to procreate.”

“But even with humans, the lycan blood will eventually be so watered down that they won’t exist anymore. Not really,” I tell her .

“But the lycans and werewolves are the only thing keeping the vampires at bay. Without them, humans will fall into the Bloodtaric Kingdom’s rule, and they don’t need us to procreate, they need us for food! That is why so many try to flee the Bloodtaric Kingdom and come here. Humans here donate blood to the Vampire Kingdom monthly, but under King Slavic’s rule, he’ll turn us into incubators and blood bags, enslave us, make feeders out of us and use us for slave labor.”

My brows furrow. That sounds horrendous. “I know because I’ve seen the Vampire Kingdom myself. The humans are kept on leashes, half-starved and tortured. And the men?” She shakes her head. “Trust me, you think the maze is harsh, in the Bloodtaric Kingdom, everyday you’re in the maze fighting for your life. I would take my chances in King Theon’s maze any day than end up there,” she tells me, and a violent shiver runs up my spine.

“So you said the king is leaving?”

“Yes, for treatment. And that will be your chance.”

“Chance?” I ask her, and she nods while I put on my slippers.

“Yes, to escape. You’ll have a week.”

“But you just said that the Vampire Kingdom . . .” she cuts me off with a wave of her hand.

“I know what I said.”

“But—”

“The king has a plan if they fail to marry, and quite frankly, I’d rather his sons not be on the throne. None of them deserve it,” she tells me.

“A plan? What plan?”

“No one knows. I’m not even supposed to know, but the king left his journal open one night. He swore me to secrecy, but if one of his sons doesn’t marry or prove they are worthy, he is stripping them of their thrones, uniting the four kingdoms, and giving all of it to Malachi.”

“Why Malachi?” Shelley smiles, her cheeks turning pink with her blush.

“He is the king’s illegitimate brother.”

“And you and him are—”

She quickly shakes her head. “What? No! It’s not like that . . . I’m human and a wit—”

“But you like him.”

“He’s sweet.” She shrugs. Maybe because she never witnessed his bad side like I have.

“What will happen to you when the king dies?” She shrugs, “I’ll die without lycan blood, and that’s okay. I’ll finally be able to go home. I’ll be set free.” She smiles sadly.

“You’re not scared?” She smiles.

“No witch fears death. We know it’s not the end. So I embrace what will come next.” I smile because that is precisely why I don’t fear my demise, any true witch doesn’t fear death because life and death go hand in hand. For something to be reborn it first must die, and energy never dies, not permanently. It forms into something else, and that is what we all are, energy. Expansion. Metamorphosis. Limitless.

“Come on, we can’t leave King Theron waiting. He can be quite impatient, and I know he wants to send you into town today.”

“Why?” I ask, moving to put on one of the skirts and tops Shelley gave me.

“For clothes for one. It’s getting chilly at night, even though the days are stiflingly hot.” She sighs.

“Can you come with me?” I ask her, and she nods and chews her lip. “Yes, but whoever’s care you’re under today will also be coming.”

“Whoever’s care I’m under? Can’t I just go with you?”

“It’s part of the king’s rules. Each day while he’s gone, one of his sons will be assigned to you until he returns. Once he does, you’ll choose whose kingdom you go to first.”

“What?”

Shelley scratches her neck nervously. “I’m sorry, but for two weeks, the king wants you to remain here with his sons, just to ensure he can trust them not to kill you. Then when we return, you’ll be told to choose which kingdom to go to first.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “This isn’t happening !”

“That is exactly why you need to run the moment you get a chance. I know the kings will kill you the moment you’re not under their father’s rule. They can’t kill you here, but in one of their kingdoms, it wouldn’t be hard to make it seem like you ran away or killed yourself.” I swallow, knowing she is right. I didn’t know I would have to travel between kingdoms.

“So come on, let’s see who you’ve been assigned to first and figure out your next move,” Shelley tells me, and I sigh.

“Hunter, come!” I call, following her out of the room .

The king has a schedule set up on a board when I enter the dining hall, a calendar of sorts, and I gulp back the dread when I see that today I will be with Regan. He does not look happy about it at all as he sits glaring at the board like he could set it on fire if he just glared hard enough.

“Zirah, finally you’re here!”

“Unfortunately! I was hoping she choked in her sleep!” Zeke sneers, glaring at me.

“Maybe if I’m lucky, you’ll choke on that damn ego of yours!” I spit back at him as I take my seat beside King Theron.

“Moon Goddess, why didn’t I make his mother swallow him?” King Theron mutters to the roof as he rubs his temples. I snort a laugh and Zeke mutters something, turning his gaze away, while Lyon looks appalled at his father’s words.

“As I was saying to my sons before you entered, I have assigned each day for the next two weeks between the three of them. Upon my return, and as long as none of them have forfeited the throne, you’ll choose whose kingdom you shall go to next. Think of this as a trial run, a try before you buy to help you pick which pig of a son you end up with,” King Theron snaps, glaring at Zeke. “You’ll be with King Regan today. He’ll take you into town to buy some clothes, and you’ll spend the rest of the day and night with him. Each morning at nine, you’ll be passed to the next.”

“When you say spend the rest of the day and night, does that mean every second of it?” I question not wanting to spend the night with any of these assholes.

“Precisely. You’ll live like a married couple.”

My eyes dart between the three kings, who all stare at me like this is my fault. “Nope!” I snap, sitting back and folding my arms across my chest.

“Zirah, must I remind you of what you agreed upon? These are the rules of this arranged marriage. At the end, you’ll pick which son you find worthy.”

“I’m not sleeping in the same room as any of them. I’d rather sleep in the stables!”

“Fine, that’s settled then, Father. I will drop her at the stables at bedtime, or the pigpen, wherever she feels more at home,” King Regan snaps, getting to his feet.

“Sit down!” King Theron booms, and his fist comes down on the table.

“A pig would be more worthy of the throne than any of you!” I spit back at King Regan. His jaw clenches, and his hand on the table fists. Turning my attention to King Theron, I plead my case. “Can I marry your fattest pig?” I ask. “At least if your kingdom falls, we’ll have bacon.”

King Theron smiles. “You marry one of my sons, dear. You’ll have all the bacon you want, but no. I need a successor, and these three Muppets are unfortunately the only options.” He motions toward his sons.

“Why can’t I stay in the room I am in? As much as I am looking forward to spending time with the parasites you call sons, I fear they’ll kill me in my sleep the first chance they get,” I tell him.

“Goddess, give me strength. She is trying my last damn nerve,” the king mutters and sighs. He sits back, glaring at his sons. “You will not kill her, and the same rule applies. If she dies in your care or suddenly goes missing, you instantly forfeit your throne and kingdom. Am I understood?”

Lyon nods his head once. Regan growls in answer when Zeke smiles wickedly. I watch him, not liking the evil glint in his eyes.

“Fine by me, but Father, if we must live like a married couple and share a bed and all that, isn’t it only fair that she has to perform like a wife?”

“What do you mean?” King Theron questions. Zeke shrugs. “Well, if she gets to try before she buys, shouldn’t we be granted the same privilege?”

My heart skips a beat.

“I’m not following, son, what is it you are asking?”

“He wants to know if she will be obligated to fuck him!” Regan sneers, yet his eyes don’t leave me when I look at him.

“Well, if she wants to, sure. But if you brutalize her—”

“We’ll lose our kingdoms!” Zeke finishes for him with a roll of his eyes, yet his lips tug into a cruel sneer.

“So wait, how is any of this fair? We have been given every rule, yet she has none?” Lyon asks, yet my eyes are still locked on Regan. The moment Zeke spoke, his aura flared like a raging storm, crackling around us, and darkening to the most violent hue I’ve ever seen.

“She needs rules, Father. We can’t have her walk all over us. Why is it that she can pick and order us around, yet she isn’t to even attempt to meet our standards?” Lyon argues. Regan breaks our stare off, and I let out a breath as he turns his attention to his brother and father. Turning my gaze to King Theron, his brows are creased, and he appears to be deep in thought.

“Very well, I suppose I’m willing to compromise, but you’ll obey every rule I set out.” He looks at his sons before he turns his attention to me. “And so will you! No if’s, no but’s, you’ll actually try to obey the rules.” My mouth suddenly loses all moisture, wondering what rules he’ll give me. My eyes move to Shelley, who stares at me, silently pleading for me to agree, reminding me it won’t matter once I escape.

So I nod in agreement. “What are the rules?” I ask and the king’s tense posture relaxes, and he pushes up from his seat and grabs another board to write on. He chews on the end of his marker for a second while he thinks before writing Grooms on one side and slashing a line down the middle and writing Bride on the other. I pull a face, not liking either of those titles.

He moves back to the grooms’ side, marker scribbling.

“First rule: No killing the bride!”

“The same rule should apply to her if she is expected to share our bed!” Lyon points out. Zeke scoffs, and Lyon growls at him.

“Idiot, you have to sleep sometime. Unless you learned how to sleep with one eye open,” Lyon retorts.

“Good point, son!” King Theron states, writing the same rule for me that I can’t kill them.

“Bummer, I was really hoping he would leave that one off, I had your deaths all planned out,” I say sarcastically.

The three kings glare at me while King Theron moves back to their rules. And the outrage caused by it is instantaneous by Zeke and Lyon.

“You’ll remain faithful to your bride!”

“What? That’s some fucking bullshit if she doesn’t have to put out!” Zeke snarls. “I’m not agreeing with that one. Either she gets on her knees or her fucking back, or we’ll get it somewhere else,” Zeke snaps.

The king ignores Zeke and Lyon’s words of outrage and writes the same on my side, yet that rule is fine with me. I have no plans to deflower myself anytime soon.

Instead of reading each one out loud, he continues writing while we all wait, anticipating these rules. When he is done, he turns to face us.

“Each side will have ten rules. You three boys can write two rules each, and Zirah, you can write one rule for them since they have more rules than you already. So choose wisely,” The king states.

He turns the board so we can’t see it on the easel and steps away, tossing the pen to Lyon. He walks over to the board, writing his two rules, then smirks, passing the pen to Zeke. His eyes flicker dangerously at me as he gets up from the chair and looks at his father.

“I can make any rule?”

“As long as it doesn’t go against my rules,” King Theron tells him, and Zeke moves to the board. He reads the rules set out by the king and growls angrily, pressing his lips into a line. Before he can write anything, King Regan gets up and snatches the pen off him. Zeke growls and squares up to his brother, who is a good foot taller than him.

I glance to King Theron nervously to see if he’ll interfere, but he only watches on eagerly.

“You said we can pick two rules, right? No matter what those rules are, as long as they don’t go against yours?” King Regan questions. His aura oozes out of him angrily, and Zeke snarls, baring his teeth at his brother.