Chapter 19

Chapter 19
The words had barely come out of Elias's mouth when Lucien launched his attack. He rammed into him, leaving him crumbling on the floor. Lucien landed on him and delivered a flurry of blows, so rapidly that I could hardly see his hands. He pulled him up and hurled him into the wall, sending him crashing. He picked him up again, hurled him into another wall, and kept repeating it until he had thrown him into the four walls of the room. He stood over his limp body, glaring at him with such rancour.

"She's mine!" He yelled at him. "Do you not understand, little brother? She's mine. And only because I say so. You seem to have forgotten your place in this palace, Elias, and in the world at large. I am the sole ruler of the Crimson Palace, and everything inside of it belongs to me. I don't give a shit if it was you that brought her here. If I say she's mine, then she's mine!"

His voice, as he spoke, had an otherworldly effect to it, as if it was the voice of many. It was a roar and it made me shiver with each word that came out of its mouth. As he threw his brother around, I shifted on the bed and wrapped up myself in the bedcovers, embarrassed that I was naked. But the brothers didn't care, and didn't even look at me once.

Lucien had not finished with his brother. He bent over him and began to pummel him, so hard that from where I sat, I could see that Elias's face had been battered. His face had swollen being recognition and he could barely move. Lucien showed no mercy, still, punching him with otherworldly speed, trying to rid him of his life.

"You disrespect me, brother!" Lucien said to him, a deadly calmness in his voice. "You disrespect me, and that is equal to treason, and you deserve to die. I will kill you, Elias. I will have your blood on my hand, and I will have no remorse for my action!"

He butted him in the head and raised his hand. With his hand poised in the air, it began to glow, and it suddenly occurred to me that he was about to deliver the finishing blow. But I knew it would not turn out good. Sure, Elias was a menace and he made my life miserable. But if Lucien killed his own brother, because of me, anyone that would know of it would look at me as if I was the villain, the one who had caused a rift between two brothers who had seemingly being fine with each other before my arrival. I knew I had to stop him.

"No!" I cried out, right before Lucien delivered the blow. "Please, no. He has wronged you, but I'm sure by now he has learned his lessons by now. Master Lucien, please, forgive him. Please."

As I spoke, I climbed out of bed and walked even closer to them. Elias looked even worse on closer examination. Even as a vampire, be would need some time for his injuries to heal, if Lucien ever let him go.

"He violated you," Lucien said. "And by violating you, he violated me. That is equal to treason, and the penalty is death. I will kill him because he deserves it."

"No, please!" I begged, falling to my knees. "It's enough now, Master Lucien. Please. Let him go. He's your brother. Don't forget that."

Elias managed a chuckle and spoke, his voice only a whisper.

"Don't listen to her, brother," he said. "Kill me. Come on, deliver the deathblow, so that they can say you killed me over a dirty slave girl. Do it, Lucien!"

Lucien raised his hand even higher, and his hand glowed brighter. I realised he was about to strike and tried a last-ditch attempt to save the situation. I closed in on them and grabbed Lucien by the hand, tenderly.

"Please, no," I repeated. "For me, Master. For me."

I thought I was only pushing my luck by asking him to release Elias "for me," but then, Lucien turned to look at me, his face gentle, his eyes soft, a look he had never, up to that point, given me. It made me shy and I dropped my eyes to the floor to avert the gaze.

"For you, then," he said calmly. "Only for you."

He got on his feet and dragged Elias by the leg out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief, looking around at how disarrayed the room was. The walls had been smashed up in several places and the furniture in the room had been scattered, but most of all, the door had been knocked almost completely out of its hinges.

I collapsed on the bed, weak, exhausted, tears sliding down the side of my face. Someone walked into the room, but I did not bother to look up. They sat near me and I saw that it was Bianca, back with the glass of water. I sat up and took the water from her, sipping gently as she rubbed my back.

"You don't deserve this, Amara," she said to me. "I'm sorry about all of this. You deserve better. You such a precious person."

"I don't want any of this," I said to her, breaking down in tears. "I don't want to be a part of any of this."

"It's alright now, Amara," she said, rubbing shoulder, allowing me rest my head. "It's alright. You'll be fine. Okay?"

But that was all she had to say, and soon she left. I lay back on the bed, thinking about all that had happened. Some male servants came and fixed the doors, but the room remained dishevelled, and I was too tired to even think about cleaning up.

The last image I saw before I slept off that night was the look of affection I had seen on Lucien's face when I begged for him to release Elias.