Chapter 33

Chapter 33
I was still more confused. With every word he said, more questions arose, and no answers put an end to them.
Nikolai gave a slow smile, his thin lips parting for a fraction of a second, revealing a row of impeccably white, aligned teeth.
“If I wanted to slip into her bed, steal something precious, and fill her belly with a monster, I assure you I would’ve done it already.” My blood froze, and a cold shiver ran up my spine. I don’t know what scared me more—his dark voice or his words. “All I’ve ever wanted was to protect her! From everyone in this world!”
Protect me from everyone? Did that include him? Who else? Once again, my questions were being sidelined by this macho bickering over who was in charge.
“Protect me?” I shouted. “When all you’ve done since you arrived was try to kill me or take me away from Salem.”
“Questions, you have many questions, princess. But you’re asking the wrong person.” Nikolai walked, ignoring Quanah beside me, his arm outstretched to keep him from getting closer, even knowing he couldn’t touch me. “See, what brought me to this damned earth was a bastard, acting high and mighty, deciding to take my fiancée to bed!”
“I never…”
“Calm down, we’ll get there.” He gave me a look and kept walking. “Why does your son have to die? We have no idea what this child will be. You already possess unprecedented power in history. Combine that with a lycan’s child, and we don’t know what it’ll be. But he needs to die mainly because my priority is saving you, protecting you from whoever wants your power and your child.” He stopped right in front of me, less than five steps away. I heard Quanah growl, but I couldn’t look away from him. “Which brings me to your other question. Do I kill witches to feed on their power? No! That’s your father, and he’s hunting you because you ended the curse.”
I was frozen, listening to everything he said. When I thought to summon him, I didn’t expect to believe his words, but the more he spoke, the more I did, and the crazier I realized this world was.
“My father? My own father is trying to kill me?”
“He never believed you’d be the one to break the curse. The stories haunted him even before he met your mother. Prophecies and visions that he’d be defeated by his daughter, the girl who’d end the curse and bring him down.” Quanah beside me seemed even more focused than I was; not a sound was heard, only Nikolai’s voice. “He always knew he couldn’t control the future, but he could influence things. That’s why he offered you to me in marriage.”
“And now he wants to kill me? And he wants my son? Who is he?”
“Your son carries great power. Your father never had the chance to raise you or try to control you; he only wanted to eliminate the threat to his reign.” Nikolai gave me a hard look, his brown irises seeming to see my soul. “That’s why he promised you to me. He was certain I’d take you as mine and kill you when I tired of you, like I did with the others. But instead, I sent someone I trusted to watch over you.”
I swallowed hard. His words filled me with disgust. So the legends Quanah mentioned were true—he kidnapped women, used them, and then murdered them.
What kind of being would do that?
But then my thoughts flew to his last words, “I sent someone I trusted to watch over you.”
That could only mean…
“William. You were controlling Will? Was he the one you sent to protect me?” He smiled, his eyes gleaming with recognition. “But why did he poison me the last time we saw each other? And why were you in my room that night?”
“I wasn’t in your room, just a specter, like here. And William didn’t poison you. He gave you a pill. That child should’ve died instantly, but it only caused you unbearable pain, which only confirms what I said—we don’t know the extent of the power it will have.” I brought my hands to my belly, covering it protectively. How could he talk like that about a baby? He was a monster! “William was protecting you, taking you to me when the witches stopped him.”
“You’re a monster!” I growled, my voice barely a thread, but I took a deep breath and reaffirmed my words. “You and William are monsters, and that’s all you are! Stay away from me! Stay away from my baby! I won’t warn you again!”
Nikolai frowned and raised his hand, as if asking for calm, but I’d heard enough.
Now more than ever, I wanted him gone. He opened his mouth to argue, and I silenced him.
“Don’t ever come near me again! The next time you try, it’ll be the last. I’ll make sure to end your monstrous immortality!”
I could only remember the moment the pain ripped through me, and I collapsed on the bed. It hadn’t even been a day; it was nothing more than a fertilized egg, and they were already trying to take it from me.
Tears streamed down my cheeks at the thought of this little being I didn’t even know being taken from me.
The monster’s expression changed, looking genuinely concerned for me. But the moment Quanah wrapped his arms around me, he vanished like smoke.
“It’s going to be okay.” He held me tight against his body, offering reassurance, or so he thought.
But I’d just learned I couldn’t trust anyone. There was no one in my life who could make me feel safe after all this.