I didn’t need to do either.
One second I was standing, and the next I was in Declan’s massive claws.
Right alongside Keifer.
And he was pulling us away before I’d even realized we were gone.
“No!” Brooklyn screamed, jumping in front of her uncle who’d moved his gun from where I’d been standing to where I was now hanging from Declan’s clutches.
Joseph shot her.
Her blood sprayed, and I watched in horror as he followed her body down, and shot her one more time.
Her body jerked, and that was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes and screamed.
“Brooklyn!” I pleaded. “Get Brooklyn!”
Keifer and Declan didn’t listen.
In fact, they only went faster and faster until all I could see was the copse of trees that I’d left behind.
Then, the further we went, the more my heart seemed to break.
My best friend had been killed by her own uncle.
And I’d witnessed it.
Jesus, no.
Please, don’t let her be dead.
I’m sorry, Drakina.Chapter 14
Today I’m wearing a lovely shade of shut the fuck up. I didn’t sleep well last night.-Blythe to KeiferKeifer
“What’d you find?” I asked my brother who’d just come home only moments before.
“Absolutely nothing,” Nikolai dropped down into the couch beside me.
I clenched my fists.
“That fucker knew. How’d he know?” I growled in frustration.
“The friend. I think the friend knew more than she was letting on,” Nikolai told me gently.
I shook my head.
“She was scared, yes, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d protect Blythe even if she thought what she was doing was wrong. Blythe is the only family Brooklyn has left,” I told him softly.
Nikolai shrugged. “I don’t know. When we all got there, everyone was gone. It was like they didn’t care about us, they only wanted you.”
I shook my head. “Why me? Why am I so special?”
“Because you’re the prince,” Blythe whispered gently from the doorway.
I looked up to find her watching me.
Her eyes were red and bruised from crying.
She was in nothing but my t-shirt, and I found that I liked that.
I did not, however, like that my brother was watching her in nothing but my t-shirt.
“Come here, Drakina,” I ordered gently, holding out my hand to her.
She walked forward slowly, taking my hand once she was close enough, and folded into my lap.
“She wasn’t there?” Blythe asked hopefully.
Nikolai shook his head.
“Blood. That’s all that was left. She wasn’t there. The Purists weren’t there. It was just a wet spot in the middle of the park,” Nikolai murmured tensely.
Blythe winced, and I wanted to smack my brother for being so inconsiderate.
“No.”
One simple word was said from Blythe, and I felt it down deep into my heart. Like I was stabbed, making me inhale sharply to breathe through the pain.
But it wasn’t my pain.
It was Blythe’s.
“I’m sorry, honey,” I whispered to her, pulling her into the shelter of my arms.
The closeness of our bodies made our energies collide.
Mine. Hers. And our baby’s.
Thank God I hadn’t lost her.
“What now?” She whispered brokenly.
I shrugged.
And I could tell Nikolai was thinking much the same as me.
Was it worth it to risk more of our own to search for a woman that was most likely dead or on the brink of death?
I could tell instantly that Nikolai didn’t think so.
Ultimately, though, it wasn’t up to him.
It was up to me.
“Keifer?” Blythe called.
I looked down at her.
“Yeah?”
“Why aren’t you King?” She asked gently.
I froze solid.
“My dad’s the King, which made my mother Queen,” I told her.
“But your dad is dead, and it’s the men of your society that hold the power. Why is your mom still considered Queen when you should be the King?” She wondered aloud.
I ran my hand up the middle of her back, letting my hands smooth down the hair that fell down to her butt.
It was Nikolai that answered, though.
“Because he’s scared,” Nikolai laughed.
I shot him a glare.
“I’m not scared. It’s Mom’s. I’m Prince. And I can’t be King until there’s no longer the Queen,” I told him honestly.
A sound at the doorway had me looking up to find my mother there.
The moment she realized I had her attention, she started to sign.
Actually, honey, I think that may be what they’re trying to prevent from happening.
I shook my head, looking away. The stomped foot had me jerking my head up to find her standing with her arms crossed at her front, staring at the three of us with tears in her eyes.
It’s time, she mouthed.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Yes,” Blythe urged. “I think it is.”
“We’ll take a vote. How does that sound?” Nikolai suggested.
I turned my eyes to him. “How can you be okay with this? If Mom’s not the queen, then she’s nothing in this society and everyone will know it.”
“She’s not nothing, honey. She’ll be the Dowager Queen. She’ll still live here. She’ll still take care of the sanctuary. Everything will be the same except she’ll no longer have the title. She’ll still be your mother,” Blythe explained.