Chapter 33

Kiara:

“You are upset with me” Niklaus stated wrapping his arm around my waist from behind and pulling me to his chest. My body involuntarily leaned into his touch despite my sadness of him hiding what he knew from me.

“You hid something from me when we promised one another to be clear towards each other,” I said in his arms. His arms tightened around me and he kissed my cheek from the back before softly turning me around to face him. His arms remained around me as he leaned in o my lips “Niklaus…”

“Shh princess, allow me to explain why I did it first, then you have all the right to be angry with me,” Klaus said softly. His lips connected with mine and a vision of a forest appeared in my head making me pull away from the kiss but Niklaus kept his arm wrapped around me, nodding as he encouraged me to kiss him. Slowly and carefully, I wrapped my arms around his neck, connecting our lips.

The vision of the forest cleared itself in my mind and Niklaus tightened his arms around me, pulling me closer as if knowing that my knees would be needing support. Which they needed after a few seconds. It was like I was in Niklaus’s mind, seeing what he saw and feeling what he felt, a smell of blood filled my nostrils, and I could tell that it was not human blood. Though how I knew that was beyond me.

“You are hearing, seeing, feeling, and even smelling what I saw that day” Niklaus’s voice filled my head and I found it hard to breathe for a second “relax baby girl”

The blood’s smell was strong, and it felt like something was dying or already dead. The animals which were supposed to be around the forest had disappeared. The flowers had lost their color, and the closer Niklaus got closer to the source of the smell, the fewer flowers there were, the greyer everything was. A smell of burning flame which had died out mixed with the smell of blood and my eyes widened when I saw a dead black and white dragon in front of me. A few broken eggs much like the one Aiden came out from were broken or smashed.

I pulled away from the kiss and Niklaus’s arms remained around me as tears fell from my eyes. My heart clenched at the sight that I saw, it had been the first time I’d seen a creature so great on the ground, lifeless, its eyes were open as if it had struggled as its life had left its body. Niklaus slowly wrapped his arms around me and he pulled me closer to his body. Hugging me tightly as tears fell freely from my eyes and a sob broke from my lips. I had never imagined seeing such a brutal sight, the blood that was around the dragon looked as if it had come from a strong battle. Her stomach was torn and her intestines out beside her, the shattered eggs. Only God knew how she had managed to hide Aiden from whatever had harmed her.

“Easy love, I didn’t want to tell you about this because I didn’t want to hurt you” Klaus whispered to me and I sobbed again. How had I been angry with him when he had kept such brutality away from me? He knew that my heart wouldn’t be able to handle such a sight, and instead of respecting his decision to protect me, I was upset with him, thinking and wondering why he was hiding things from me.

“I’m so sorry,” I said pulling away from the hug, Niklaus frowned and cupped my cheeks, wiping my tears from my eyes. His ocean blue eyes remained on my green ones as he waited for me to finish what I wanted to say, even though he could technically read my mind. He still didn’t do so, letting me speak to him “I was upset for you Niklaus, I had wondered why you hid such information from me, but all you were trying to do was protect me”

“Baby girl, I can’t blame you for what you felt. I didn’t explain this to me, you had every right to be upset” Niklaus said softly, his eyes staying on my own as he slowly wiped my tears. I leaned into his touch and he smiled at me, his smile assuring to me.

“We will avenge her Niklaus, whatever is to happen. We have to kill Verone and whoever is working with or for him. We can’t let more people or creatures struggle because of him” I said looking at Klaus who smiled proudly at my words, it was like I gave him the world upon speaking the words that I did. He was my love, and I was to fight along his side until my last breath, it was something that I had promised him and myself once and I intended to keep my promise.

Klaus leaned in to kiss me, his lips just inches from mine when the chamber’s door was knocked making the two of us pull away from one another. I wiped my tears quickly and took a step back from Niklaus who took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers “come in”

Lorenzo and Giovanni came inside the room looking panicked making both Niklaus and I frown in confusion. They had stayed back home to protect their mother from their father and his ways. Despite what they had done, it was I couldn't leave her in the arms of a man who I knew was heartless, he was a man with no heart, I had escaped him because Niklaus had helped to do so, and despite mother being part of his plan, I couldn’t leave her be in his arms without knowing if she was safe or not. Without making sure that she wasn’t harmed by him.

“Lorenzo? What is going on?” Niklaus asked frowning “why are you not in the human kingdom?”

“It’s the queen, sire, King Leonardo has her locked in the dungeon,” Lorenzo said looking Niklaus in the eye. My eyes widened and my heart dropped to my stomach. He couldn’t be serious about this? Father would not be a locking mother, why would he even think of such things?

“What are you saying, Lorenzo?” Niklaus asked wide-eyed, sensing my worry due to the mating bond, even I could feel how tense he was now. Hearing about mother being locked right now, Lorenzo had been assigned to keep her safe for a reason, why did he not get her out of there if something rose that would put her in danger?

“King Leonardo fought with the queen, he wants to bring the princess back. He wants her to marry Prince Caspian. The queen had objected, she told her that she no longer wanted the princess to come back, she claimed that she chose you and that she didn’t want to see you. The queen spoke her words in front of Prince Caspian. King Leonardo punished her for it” Lorenzo said avoiding my eyes. He of all people knew the struggles I lived with my father. How he had hurt me or locked me. I don’t even know how I managed to heal to live like a normal person after the damage he did. I had Niklaus to thank for that. However, that doesn’t mean that I’ve healed after what he’s done.

“That can't be the only reason, even if mother spoke in front of Caspian, she raised the prince, the father wouldn’t lock her up because of anything she says toward him,” I said looking at Lorenzo who looked down avoiding my eyes “what happened Lorenzo? Why has father locked mother? How long has their conflict been going on?”

“The queen has been sleeping in the king’s chamber lately princess. I cannot see what is going on inside the chamber and something blocks me from hearing anything that happens between them, the second the door is closed, I cannot hear a word they say” Lorenzo said and my heart clenched a bad feeling engulfing my chest.

“What do you mean you can’t hear what is going on inside that chamber? You are a vampire and my most powerful guard!” Niklaus said frowning in confusion. Now the two of us were worried.

“I have tried listening in, I tried standing in front of the door. It is like no one is inside the chamber” Lorenzo said making me gulp, I let go of Niklaus’s hand and sat down on the edge of the bed. If mother was to face anything of what I did as a child. Then I didn’t want her to bear that. She had done me wrong for years, but she needed to be safe, I had to save her and get her out of there.

“Princess, he won’t harm her, not as he harmed you anyway,” Lorenzo said looking at me and I nodded not saying a word. A princess must always control her emotions, a princess must be controlled, a princess must not show her anger.

“Lorenzo, you can go. I’ll be letting you know what I plan” Niklaus said before looking at me. He sat on his knees in front of me, putting his hands on my thigh softly. His eyes met mine and he smiled at me.

“We’ll get her out of there princess. I promise you I won’t leave her in his arms” Niklaus said gently. I ran my fingers through my hair before wiping my face as a few tears had escaped my eyes “oh, baby”

He got up and sat down beside me, wrapping his arm around me. He slowly pulled me to his chest and kissed the crown of my head “don’t block it in baby girl, I’m your mate, I can feel your pain”

“He’s going to kill her Niklaus, he might not end her life. But he will kill everything in her. I don’t want her to go through the pain that I’ve been through, she would end her life if it happened” I said in Klaus’s arms. I knew my mother, she couldn’t handle the stress or pressure of feeling that much pain, she was treated to grow as a spoiled queen with her family. Father had put ME under all the pressure but he spared mother, he would hurt her, but never as much as me.

“We will ensure that she is a safe princess. I give you my word that I won’t leave her at his mercy” Niklaus said softly, he cupped my cheek and made me look him in the eye “I just need you to be strong for me, okay?”

“I will be fighting along your side Niklaus, whatever battle you’ll be thorough, I will by your side”

“I am counting on it princess”