He looked down over his shoulder at the floor as he listened before replying,
“I understand, my Lord, and I promise you, that I will stand by you if my brother has been foolish enough to do as such… or…” he paused long enough to look back at me and tell me,
“I may be the one to kill him myself.”
I nodded after this, believing his words, for he had severed ties with that family long ago and declared his loyalty to me. I had to trust that that loyalty was still as solid as the foundations from which they were first built. As if he could read my mind he said,
“For I am with you in this, my King.” Then he walked through the door to carry out my orders. As the McBain brothers followed suit, I warned,
“Do not lose her again, for I do not need to remind you what price is at stake if you do… a price I am close to paying.” Trice looked as though he wanted to say something but with one look from his brother, he thought the better of it. Gryph bowed his head and said,
“We wull nae let any harm come tae her, fur oor vow o' life tae keep her safe still stands true.”
“Then let us hope it doesn't come to that, for your life is what it will cost you… now go!” I ordered making them leave the room and just as my brother was about to follow them, I put a hand to his chest to stop him.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“Where do you think? To get your girl back!” he snapped.
“No, brother, your place is here, to continue ruling in my absence,” I told him, making him ask in utter disbelief,
“You’re still trusting me to rule, yet not ten minutes ago I was kneeling at your feet about to lose my head?” I would have winced had this been said with a more pained and accusing tone in his voice.
“I want to know how you knew that she would be the one to save you?” I asked, seeing if he would now trust me enough with the truth and I was only happy that at least some of it he was. Because it was in this moment that my brother put a hand on my shoulder and said,
“Because your Chosen One may have been prophesied to be your Queen, but long ago it was prophesied that she would one day be…
“My saviour.”
22
The Touch that Means Everything
Amelia
Okay, so I had to admit, finding out that time ran a little differently here than in Lucius’s realm had me freaking the Hell out! Because it meant that I didn’t have hours to wait like I had naively hoped but in fact days. Of course, the good news to this was that it gave me more hope that the McBain brothers got to Lucius in time to save Dariush.
To save his brother.
However, on the not so bonus side of this snag in time, meant that I had days to wait, or should I say days to aimlessly pace the floors trying to play the ‘guess what time it is’ game. Which, trust me, was not fun, as in, at all. Thankfully, I had one companion in this, and she was lovely. It was of course the King’s sister who had spent most of her time hiding from her mother and I was the perfect excuse to do this. She was also a woman that I had not been sorry to say I hadn't yet seen, and from all accounts not one that I ever wanted to as she sounded like the biggest cow bag bitch in the realm!
This was because of how she made my new friend feel. She was one of those mothers that was all about her son. The King was who she really cared for and the sister seemed to be more of an afterthought, one that the Queen had had to go through because fate deemed it so. Which meant to say that feeling bad for her was an understatement. It seemed as though the poor girl couldn't ever do anything right and it was little wonder that she preferred to hide herself away in her room, painting the world as she wished to see it.
Freely.
This was more like her prison than her home and the only sanctuary in all this was what she found in her painting. But now, having me here, she confessed to no longer