Chapter 32

Niklaus:

“What is the story of Verone? Who is that man? And why is he after your throne?” Kiara asked slowly. Her eyes stayed on mine as she watched my expression carefully. She wasn’t judgmental. I could tell that she was simply trying to understand, her handheld mine and she slowly intertwined our fingers letting me know that she was by my side, that she wasn’t going to judge or leave me.

“He’s my twin brother Kiara,” I said slowly waiting for her expression to change but she didn’t. Her eyes were as gentle and loving as they always were, and if I were not mistaken, they were even softer as she waited for me to continue with answering her questions “him and I was close long ago, we fought for the same cause, which was against the humans who were hurting our people. But Verone went too far, he wanted the people to submit to him, he was merciless, he lost his humanity, he started killing children for simply being human, then he went on killing our people when they objected. The man would kill for pleasure and that set me against him”

“One day, he killed a girl’s family, I had saved the girl from him, she was a child. But he didn’t care, he wanted her dead because her family had refused to submit to his cruelty, our battle started back then. One for the throne, and the other for me being against him. He and I were so different yet so alike in so many ways it was scary. However, being twins didn’t mean that we shared the same traits, he hadn’t inherited being a werewolf from my father, and I hadn’t inherited our mother’s magic. He was born first, with a few minutes difference between the two of us, but due to that, he believes that he’s the rightful heir. Now, if it were on normal circumstances, yes, he is the rightful heir, but I was chosen by the people who fought along my side. The rogues fought along his side, they were banished for treason, some were executed at sight for their crimes. But I am aware that there are rogues who had escaped, I didn’t search for them, showing them mercy and letting them live, but if Verone is back now. We are in trouble” my eyes avoided my mate’s, I could hear her calm heartbeat as she looked at me, probably reading my thoughts, I didn’t dare read her mind in fear of what I was going to hear. She slowly removed her hands from mine and softly cupped my cheeks, running her fingers over my scruff, scratching softly and making me look her in the eye.

“We will get through this Niklaus, you got through it once. You were weaker and your people weren’t as bound back then, and you wow. Your people trust you, Klaus, they will support you, and I’m here by your side through it all. Aiden is too, we’ll get through this” Kiara said gently, Aiden put his head on my lap between Kiara and me, purring softly and laying his head comfortably, letting me know that he too was by my side.

“I’ll fight with you, I will become stronger, and fight along your side,” Aiden said looking at me making me smile, I softly scratch the young dragon’s head and smiled at both Kiara and the little black dragon.

“We won’t leave you Niklaus,” Kiara said putting a hand on top of mine. I smiled and softly leaned into her, kissing her forehead feeling lucky to have her. I didn’t know what I would have been doing if she weren’t here, yes, I wasn’t going to leave my people behind, but I sure knew that I wasn’t going to be as calm without her being by my side.

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“Klaus, have you two lost your minds? We can’t fight Verone!” Grace said angrily, her green eyes meeting mine, they had shifted in color a few times. They have been doing that a lot lately and I didn’t understand why, I was sure that she wasn’t even aware of the shifting of color due to her stress. But I wasn’t in a state to question anything about it.

“We don’t have another option Grace, Verone is going to kill the people the second he sits on the throne, and there’s no way I’ll let him have it,” I said looking my little sister in the eye.

“I never said let him take your throne, that prick should be burned to ashes, but we can’t fight a man that can’t die! Did you forget that he put a spell on himself, the man is the most powerful hybrid on Earth, and I hate to admit it, but he’s more powerful than you are, you may be strong, but Verone is heartless Niklaus, he won’t consider anyone as he killed. And being a vampire too, his strength would have gathered over the years wherever he’s been, and we don’t even know if he fed or not” Grace said talking sense into me, I knew that she was right. Verone was far more dangerous now, but we couldn’t let him stay here. If he gets his hands on any of the people, blood would be spilled, and a lot of blood.

“We have no other option Grace, you know that we can’t keep him out there,” I said looking at my sister who sighed running her fingers through her blonde hair.

“Not to mention that there’s his dragon Klaus, he has taken the throne of dragons, you are well aware who it belongs to, even if the dragon is a youngling, it belonged to his parents and belongs to him,” Ian said looking at me and Kiara frowned in confusion. She didn’t know about Aiden being the heir of the dragons, his family bloodline is the purest and strongest of the dragons. The young dragon’s parents were the rulers of the sky, the death of his mother explains why Verone came out.

“What are you talking about?” Kiara asked looking at us and I sighed. Ian’s eyes went wide upon realizing that Kiara had no idea what we were talking about, I didn’t want to worry her about such a fact. She loved the young dragon and he loved her, but the little creature was bound to want to take his place in the sky one day.

“Aiden’s bloodline is the true heir of the dragon royalty kingdom,” I said looking my mate in the eye making her frown in confusion “his mother had been killed and a red dragon had taken his family’s place in the sky. I didn’t know who the dragon was a few months ago but I had my suspicion. However, when if Verone was out of wherever he was hiding, it means that the dragon was his”

“Who’s the dragon?” Kiara asked frowning. Her heart raced as if she’d been running for miles even though she was sitting down beside me, Aiden who was sitting in his place beside Kiara’s seat stood up. Anger could be seen and read through the little dragon’s eyes. But he didn’t say a word as Kiara motioned for him to stay quiet.

“His bloodline had been made by mother long and long ago, she had been the one to breed the two dragons, the infants that came were stronger than all dragons. They would live longer, require more food, their flame shot would burn miles ahead without the dragon moving. There were three born, we killed two, however, we lost one of them. I found out that he was with Verone when we went to battle…” I said explaining what happened during the battle, that dragon being with him was one of the reasons why we couldn’t fight Verone. He had trusted that his dragon would help him, he was by his side through everything in exchange for the dragon throne “the dragon cannot reproduce, one of the disorders the new bloodline has was that they couldn’t reproduce, it is said that mother was killed because of it. Some said that she was exiled, I still don’t know which is the truest legend and I don’t intend to find out”

“But that dragon killed my family?” Aiden asked looking at me and I looked at him and nodded.

“I found your mother’s body a few miles where we found your egg. I couldn’t tell you of it, I didn’t want to hurt you with such information…”

“But why would he do such a thing?” Aiden asked not questioning my intentions. The dragon could feel my good intentions toward him, he didn’t need me to explain myself. One of the central intelligence of dragons was that they could read our expressions and feelings. They understood common sense more than any creature in this world. Their ability to read one’s emotions helped them as well, they knew when one was bad intentioned or good, they didn’t need to be told twice.

“He wanted the throne, your mother wouldn’t have given it, I’m assuming she hid your egg where I found you. She died to protect you” I said looking at Aiden who didn’t react looking down on the floor. Kiara got down on her knees beside him and he laid his head on her lap. Sadness could be seen in both his and Kiara’s eyes, however, Kiara wasn’t only sad about his mother, she was upset that I knew about this and didn’t tell her. I could read her swarming thoughts and it pained me to know that she was upset with me right now, but she had to understand that I couldn’t have told her about such a thing. I didn’t want her carrying such a burden.

“What are we going to do now?” Grace asked looking at me. Diverting my attention from my mate and the youngling who was probably processing everything I had told him, hearing that your family had been killed, no matter what species you were, hurt. I couldn’t blame him for how he was feeling, and I couldn’t blame Kiara for being upset with me. She had been completely honest with me about everything while I hid something from her, something which even she was looking for. I knew that she wouldn’t have given up Aiden even if she did find his mother, it was just to know where the dragon came from. She knew that the little dragon needed a dragon mother to teach him how to protect himself, how to hunt as a dragon, and being a human, she thought that she couldn’t do it. However, from what I was seeing, she was doing an excellent job so far.

“We have no other option. We have to fight to protect the people” I said looking at my little sister.

“But first we need to find a way to break the spell he has put on himself,” Kiara said looking at me, I frowned in confusion and she raised an eyebrow at me “we need him dead Niklaus, you will not be able to kill him if he doesn’t have that spell broken”

“And how do you intend that we do that princess? We don’t even know whether or not we can trust the witches and warlocks with a king like Verone out. They could be siding with him for a chance of ‘freedom’ of using their magic as they wish, or whatever he could promise them” Ian asked Kiara who raised an eyebrow at him.

“A bargain, if you don’t trust your people, Prince Ian, then it is better to offer them what your opponent cannot,” Kiara said making me raise an eyebrow at what we could offer them more than what they already had. The people had freedom of speech, freedom of acting as they desired, freedom of using their magic in certain areas, yes, they couldn’t use their magic everywhere, nor could they harm anyone using their magic, but I would never stop them from using their magic, not could I force them into doing something that they didn’t want to do.

“We’ll give them an equal position beside the other creatures,” Kiara said looking me in the eye. I frowned in confusion at her proposal and she raised an eyebrow at me “if you do that Niklaus, then there is nothing that he could offer them that would make them loyal to him”

“Princess, we cannot trust these people, they could side against us at any time,” Ian said looking at Kiara who nodded.

“That is why the positions will simply be an illusion,” Kiara said calmly.

“I beg your pardon?” Grace asked frowning in confusion.

“They would believe that they are holding high positions, they would attend normal meetings where you would discuss the normal needs of the people, any military plans, any preparations of supplies, any war preparations would be done in the underground room of the palace,” Kiara said looking at Grace. She got up from in front of Aiden and sat on her chair beside me, her back straight and her head held high. She truly was a queen, my queen, I couldn’t deny that. No one in the kingdom could if I was going, to be honest.

“What if they find out that we are holding secret meetings? Won’t that cause us more harm than good?” Grace asked and Kiara smiled shaking her head.

“Then we would know that there is a traitor among the men who are holding real high positions, how would they know if our people don’t inform them?” Kiara asked raising an eyebrow.

“Kiara, that is a smart idea, but won’t it be too risky? We would be giving two different instructions, what if they contradict?” I asked my mate who smiled at me.

“Not really, we’ll see the people’s needs, the ones that we cannot neglect, and the ones we know are true needs, whether they are food, clothing, study fees, medication, or homes. We would discuss these matters and be sure to find ways to provide them all. When the witches and warlocks hear that the people’s needs are being tended to in the meetings the palace holds weekly, they would know that their requests are being listened to. If we are lucky, they wouldn’t dare rebel” Kiara said looking me in the eye, I smiled at her confidence and took her hand in mine, she smiled and nodded at me.

“Our later plans would be held with our most trusted men. You and Prince Ian would be in charge of them. I and Grace would be in charge of providing the needs of the people, whatever they are. I’m sure that money wouldn’t be an issue to any of us in the palace” Kiara said looking at me and I nodded. All the money in the world didn’t matter to me if it included my mate’s wants and my people’s needs, we had what we needed, if the people needed income to provide something for them, then I would be more than happy to help.

“If you don’t wish to agree or have any other plans, please do tell me…”

“No, your plan is great and tactical. Well done princess” I told my mate who smiled hearing my encouraging words, she had never been part of such plans, her father wouldn’t have allowed it if she grew a second head. Seeing her here now, I could only say one thing.

King Leonardo was an idiot…