Chapter 44

Niklaus:

“I see that your mate left,” Rosetta said when she caught sight of me. I raised an eyebrow at her when I entered the ballroom and her blue eyes met my own, she looped my arm with hers when she saw me approach her “aren’t you going to greet me, my king?”

“I can tell that you’re still as observant as you always were,” I said glaring at Rosetta who rolled her eyes on me, she smiled at the guests who were leaving. Their eyes looked at our joined hands for a second before they bowed and walked out of the ballroom fearing me noticing their eyes.

“Do you believe that she’s safe because you made her leave the palace Niklaus?” Rosetta asked making me frown in confusion, I could tell that her tone was nowhere near being normal. I glared at the woman whose lips twitched up as she tried fighting back a smile “Have you already forgotten who I am and what I’m capable of?”

“You lay a finger on my wife…”

“Not so fast Niklaus, you need to calm yourself down. Well, that is unless you want to hear of your wife’s death this evening” Rosetta said coldly, stopping me from speaking. She was the one person who knew that she could do so, she knew the power she now had on me, that is of course if what she was saying was true. She pulled me to the dance floor and her arms wrapped themselves around my neck as she swayed to the beat of the music “I won’t hurt the little princess or wait, I believe I must say, little queen”

“What do you want?” I asked and she smiled. Her eyes looked into mine as she knew that she was getting what she wanted. I didn’t like it one bit, but I also knew that if my mate’s life was in danger, I would have to comply with what she wanted.

“Now you and I are speaking the same language,” she said smiling at me wrapping my arms around her waist as the two of us looked one another in the eye. I frowned at her and she bit her bottom lip, raising herself to lean closer to my lips, our breaths mixing “I want you”

I pulled away from her and pushed her away from me to find her smirking at me, a laugh escaping her lips “Okay, I see that you don’t share the same feelings”

I was glad that the guests had already left noticing the tension that was there. The only ones here were the guards and maids who were cleaning up or guarding. The musical instruments were playing themselves by magic and Rosetta seemed amused by what happened. The two of us looked at one another and she laughed sitting on a chair which she made appear behind her.

“Since you’re choosing to be a hard head, I won’t twist and turn. I want your throne. Both I and my love want it” Rosetta said casually. The way her eyes looked into mine, I knew that the woman had truly lost her mind. I hated it, but I knew the reason behind it, she now knew that she had me where she wanted me. But that was about to change.

“And I’m casually supposed to give it to you?” I raised an eyebrow at her, crossing my arms over my chest. I walked to my throne and sat on it. Rosetta’s chair turned to face me and she smiled raising an eyebrow at me, her smile sarcastic and devious. Despite the fear that I was feeling, I couldn’t feel my mate being in danger, I knew that she wasn’t. But this witch implying what she was made my heart clench as I feared the worst.

“Yes, because my dearest Niklaus, if you don’t; the woman that you think you love, dies,” Rosetta said casually making my eyes turn golden as I glared at her. My wolf made himself known and Rosetta smiled seeing my temper “now, now, Niklaus, I do suggest that you calm down. You know, your wolf coming out like that isn’t going to do any of us any good”

“You lay a finger on her…”

“I won’t touch her, I am here in front of your love. However, I can’t say the same about your twin” Rosetta said smiling evilly. She stood up and took a step toward me as I vampire sped toward her and pinned her to the wall, choking her “do you believe that doing this is a good idea?”

The voice came from behind me and I was surprised when I saw that I was initially choking one of my maids, the woman’s eyes widened and I took a step back letting go of the maid. Our eyes were wide in confusion as I turned around to face Rosetta who was smiling at me, the whole room had illusions of Rosetta around me. But I smirked and caught sight of the real version of her, a vampire speeding toward her and digging my fangs in her neck.

“You…!”

“Your wife’s life is between my fingers. One word from me would make her die, I give you my word” Rosetta said trying to catch her breath as I sucked her dry, her eyes were wide and she tried pushing me away from her but I wouldn’t let go “IF I DON’T GO BACK TO VERONE, HE WILL KILL THE GIRL”

I didn’t stop choking her though, her eyes widened as she went limp in my arms and I knew that it was only a matter of time before she came back to life. If she had put the spell on Verone, then she must have had it on herself just like Kiara predicted. If she didn’t come back to life, then that would mean that she wasn’t the one who created that spell, to begin with.

“Put her in the enchanted dungeon and let me know when she wakes up,” I said looking at one of my guards who nodded picking her up. Her body was limp in his arms and I could hear that there wasn’t any heartbeat meaning that her body was yet to function and come back to life again.

“Call the guards, we need to find the queen,” I said glaring at the men who nodded following me out the palace. My heart raced as I feared the worst, if Rosetta was saying the truth then Kiara was in danger.

Please be a nice baby girl.

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“Sire, we cannot find a trace of the queen. The way to Lorenzo’s home has no trace of the” one of my guards said looking at me and I glared at him my eyes flaring with anger and fury, though I knew that they had nothing to do with this. I could find no trace of my wife either.

“We will turn this forest upside down if we have to. We have to find the girl” I said glaring at the men who nodded. My heart shattered at the thought of something happening to her and I looked around the forest trying to catch a scent of her. Nothing, if Verone did have her, then he covered her scent well, or she never passed through this path.

I already knew that Kiara hadn’t reached this part of the forest, if something happened, then it happened long before they got here.

“Sire…”

“We’re going to town, the princess never reached this forest…”

“But we searched…”

“I gave an order!” I glared at the guard who tried stopping me from finishing my sentence, his eyes widened and he took a step back fearing my reaction and I glared at him before the vampire sped toward town to catch the scent of fire. My eyes widened when I reached there to find that the whole town was on fire, flames were eating the whole city while people ran out of it, everything was ruined and screams filled the surroundings as people tried escaping.

“COME ON! YOU NEED TO RUN!” I heard my wife’s voice as she yelled at the people. My eyes widened upon hearing her voice and both she and Lorenzo were trying to find a way to get the women and children out without anyone getting harmed. I vampire sped toward her and lifted her in my arms making her gasp, pushing me away, she pulled a dagger and tried to attack me only to realize that she was looking at me. Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around my neck hugging me tightly.

“Niklaus! Verone set the town on fire. We’ve been trying to get everyone out and we can’t seem to get the fire to stop…” I connected my lips with hers stopping her from talking, she stopped for a second. Kissing me back before she pulled away to look me in the eye “are you serious Niklaus?”

“I saw Rosetta, she told me that Verone had you…” Kiara nodded in understanding and the two of us turned to look at the screaming people who tried running out the door. They were screaming in fear and I couldn’t blame them, fired killed vampires. No matter how strong they were, a fire killed them.

“We’re going to need to get them out of here and fast, the people would die if they get caught with fire,” I said looking at my wife who nodded. Her hands shook as she took in the sight that was in front of her. The people who were screaming in fear, some in pain, others at the losses of their families. The homes have burned, I couldn’t think of what my wife was feeling right now, but I knew that it was nowhere near being okay and I wasn’t even sure that the people would be able to get over this.

Verone was doing it again, he was repeating his cycle all over again, and this is how it starts. First, fear, second, death. He would make them defenseless and broken, then he would start killing them one by one until none of them could handle being loyal to me, the people would be willing to lose their lives or to switch sides to the dictator that would kill whoever thought of going against him.

“Klaus, what are we going to do?” Kiara asked looking at me, her hand holding a child who was crying in her arms. The child had just watched his mum die right before his eyes and he had been crying since. Our eyes were wide in shock and fear and the sight, but none of us had time to process what was happening. We were too caught up trying to help everyone who was trying to escape, the guards of the palace were split in two, some of them were putting off the fire. Others were helping the people, Lorenzo’s eyes seemed to darken and blood poured from his forehead and I couldn’t miss the fact that I had not seen Giovani since I arrived.

“Where’s Giovani?” I asked wide-eyed and Kiara shook her head as she fought back tears. I looked at Lorenzo then Kiara who looked down at her feet before running out of the town’s gates, whatever had happened it was bad, and seeing how helpless my wife was now.

I knew that whatever happened was worse than I could have imagined. But I knew that now wasn’t the time for this, Kiara was being strong for the people, and as their king, I needed to do my best to be just as stronger, if not stronger.

I ran toward my wife and wrapped my arm around her waist, the two of us running out the town’s gates. Kiara’s heart was racing as she feared what was happening, everyone here was frightened, but I was aware that my wife was petrified, never had she seen anything like this before. Despite what she lived as a child, she always knew that she was safe. No one was technically harming or hurting the people of their kingdom, seeing this now. She realized how frightening this war was.

“We have to avenge these people Niklaus, we cannot leave them in the hands of that killer,” Kiara said looking at the town that fell right before our eyes. My eyes were wide as I looked at the place that we built falling to the ground, nodding at my wife who was shaking, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly, kissing the crown of her head and burying my nose in her hair smelling her scent.

“We’ll make them pay baby girl, I give you my word”