Chapter 10: Rise of Suspicion

Jasmine POV:

King Sargon kept his black orb fixed on my green one, I was feeling pressure on my chin which was pinched by King Sargon, I tried to say something but no words came out of my mouth, in that split second King Sargon suddenly leaned it forward, our lips was merely inches apart when out of blue I started feeling burning sensation in my right hand wrist  

“AAAAAhhh……” I screamed and pulled back; I started rubbing my wrist and realized that my dragon wing rune was exceptionally red and swollen all of sudden.

I was lost in my thought when “You are Mine, Don’t dare to let other man touch you” I suddenly heard a loud growling voice in my head, this was sounded familiar but yet unknown.

“What is happening to me?” I murmured and turned my head up only to see King Sargon was stunned eyes, he was about to speak when I turned back and made run out of my medicine shop.

An hour later I came back to my shop with some fresh wheat bread and pumpkin soup, King Sargon was sitting on one of my old chair while General Nolan was still unconscious

“He has high fever?” King suddenly said and I checked General Nolan forehead, indeed he was burning like a fire however it was normal.

I tuned my attention to king and said “As per grandmother book, it is normal to have high fever after treatment, he shall be fine by morning”

King Sargon thought seemed content with my answer because after that he did question anything, I offered him some bread and soup which I purchased earlier, initially I thought he will decline but he accepted it.

 We both ate our meal quietly, once done I offered King Sargon to go and sleep in my room which was on first floor be he insisted on staying with higher General Nolan,

At last I laid another floor mat with some mattress for King Sargon; I even covered General Nolan body with a warm blanket.

My grandmother medicine shop was also our home, bottom part was medicine shop while above we had two room and area where my grandmother and used to live.

“Please call me if you require anything my king” I said with my eyes to ground and turned back to my bedroom on first floor.

I was so tired that I fell asleep the instant I laid on my bed.

At night I again dreamed myself walking in same dark corridor, but this time I stopped in front of some bar prison, I opened its door and walked inside, there was nothing inside it except a small candle, this time strangle I was able to smell the pungent smell of this room, it was awful, I felt like this place was not cleaned for age, I quickly pinched my nose shut to prevent inhaling its smell but my effort went in vein when some pushed me down from behind.

I rapidly turned my body and saw the same handsome man from my usual erotic dreams pinning me down to ground, he was pressing his upper bare body on my delicate curve but this time his aura seemed little different, he looked hurt and injured.

In dimness of light lamp I saw blood stain on his forehead and lips, his left cheek was swollen, his long beard and moustache was covered in crimson blood trail, unknowingly I questioned him “What happened?” and to my surprise he replied “You, that’s what happened” he said and I felt a chill ran down my spine.

His deep husky voice immediately rang my all bells and I recalled his voice was the one that I was hearing since morning, he was the one who told me about General Nolan poison, he was the one who warned me when King Sargon tried to touch me, I kept staring at his striking blue eye when suddenly he leaned in and smashed his lips on my lips, he furiously kissed me like his life depend on it, I wriggled and tried to move but he kept me in position.

He roughly pulled up my both hand above my head and squeezed them together in his left hand, in meantime he used his right hand to push my gown up to my waist, I concluded what he was planning to do but this time I felt very uneasy since I was having double thought on my dream “No.. No wait” I stopped him and tried to resist but he ignored me completely, he tore away my undergarments into pieces and pulled down his own rugged trouser and with one swift move his entire length was inside me “AAAhhhh…..” I moaned in pain and pleasure both, my body arched up and got pressed more on his hard muscular chest while he kept thrusting inside me like he was taking out his anger, we kept having sex for entire night.

Next morning, I realized that someone had covered me with a blanket, when I opened my lazy eyes his long thick lashes greeted me “My King…” I said in my hoarse voice and sat up straight.

“You are already awake?” I questioned him as a yawned escaped my mouth “How is higher General Nola?” I questioned him “He is awake and washing up in your backyard near well” King simply replied “Ahem… are you hungry? I can go and buy some breakfast for you both” I suggested and he agreed.

I quickly went out to buy some goat milk and fresh wild berries, then I handed food to King and General “Ahe… wild berries will help you to regain your strength faster” I said to General Nolan while glancing at King beside him.

They both took a bite of and king said “Hmm… these berries are not properly ripe”

I felt little embarrassed, royalties are too much picky I thought to myself.

After we finished our breakfast I turned my attention to general Nolan and questioned “Ahem.. do you know who tried to poison you?”

He was looking at me attentively but I explained him seriousness “If you don’t want to share then its okay, but Sorceresses are very difficult to deal with, she tried to poison you once now that you are cure she will do it again but this time she will hurt me and King to…”

Higher general was silent for a moment and then he lowered his head and said “It… our Queen”

My eyes went wide in shock when I heard his words “Queen…?” I murmured jus to be sure what I heard was right.

“Two years back I unknowingly started having illegitimate relationship with our queen Drusilla, I felt like I was in love with her, we used to make love behind kings back, since I am higher general our King never doubted me when I used to visit queen, everything was going well for both queen and me until slowly and gradually she started showing me he obsessive dark side, she requested king to make me as her personal guard, I am a solider trained for war but when Queen started keeping me around her like some pet I started falling out of my attraction towards her, she tried to pursue me but I started maintaining my distance, one day she suddenly made me an offer, asked me to slaughter our king in return for my freedom for battling again, that very moment I came to know that she was simply looking for power over our entire Kavan Kingdom, if our king is dead she will the rightful owner of his throne because of which I declined her offer, she was very unhappy with my decision and started creating unnecessary trouble for me after that, she had also hired assassins to kill me but I over powered them, form our royal sorceress when I came to know about this Kurumora Poison, it was then I remember our previous queen also died of this poison and it was cursed on her by our new queen Drusilla … queen Drusilla is mastered in conducting black magic and sacrifices, only I and her follower known about her this dark truth, she… is indeed a purple Sorceress” General Nolan said.

“When my entire army was slaughter in wood I came back to our kingdom but from very next day my body started feeling indifferent, every day I started getting a nail mark on my back, I assumed it was because of some normal nail mark of the lady with whom I had sex in wood but it continued spreading all over my back, every single day I woke up with new scratched mark until it formed a giant tree like structure, soon there was also swelling on my back, it was then I consulted our sorceress who told me that I was poisoned also I knew it was done by our Queen, I tried various methods but they weren’t fruitful, a week back I started puking black blood which worried me, it was then I consulted King Sargon, he is the only one whom I trust with such situation” General Nolan added.

King Sargon was silent through our discussion, I was then understood the missing piece of General Nolan story.

“Is that why you came to Tallis?” I said “Yes” he replied coldly glancing at King Sargon who was staring at me.

The reason why General Nolan came to Tallis was because we had several sorcerer her who could remove this poison.

 Not everyone was willing to remove the poison, because first it is one risky process also on other hand purple Sorceresses are difficult to deal with and once you remove the poison, you would become her enemy.

A Sorceress is very insidious; she won’t just trouble its enemy but also its family and friends, which can be an endless trouble to deal with, in order to escape it you can only choose to kill her instead of shielding against her.

We were in between our conversation when suddenly there was knock on my door, no one knew I was here with King and general except few of army people, I hesitated for a moment but still opened my shop door “Commander Philip?” I said lowly as soon as I saw a reckless commander Philip panting on our door “Where is King?” Commander Philip questioned me and I turned back however before I could say anything Commander Philip forced pushed me and walked inside.

I stumbled back couple of steps but regained my balance, I saw Commander Philip went straight to King Sargon and whispered something to him, his voice was not audible but I believe it was something important because expression of commander face turned blue in split second.

 “We are leaving right away” king commanded and turned to General Nolan “There is some urgent situation at army camp “you are coming with us to…” King Sargon added turning back to me while I simple nodded and bowed to his command.

We traveled back just the way we came here; it took us almost hour to reach back to army camp.

The moment we stepped on army ground in mountain allies of Tallis, I and General Nolan followed king and Commander Philip, surprisingly King and commander both headed towards slaves tents where I was shaken to core when I saw three head chefs Gustavo, Vincent and Dante along with all other kitchen helper slaves lying on bed covered in red colored boils all over their body.

From head to toe their bodies were covered in big boil which looked like it could burst any second now.

I controlled my urge to puke when suddenly I heard a familiar sound whisper in my ear “Get ready to meet me….”

Third person POV:

Jasmine instantly understood it was voice of the same person who the keeps on dreaming about having sex in dream “What happened here?” King Sargon worriedly questioned Commander Philip “I.. I.. I don’t know my king, our army physician said it’s some kind of plague that had infected them, only kitchen staff, chefs and server are infected by this plague” Commander Philip replied.

Hearing King and commander conversation Jasmine quickly said “It’s not a plague…. it is heart furuncle poison"

“furucolo poison?” King Sargon questioned her.

 “It is heart furuncle poison, because the boil on their body are all in heart shaped..” Jasmine said and pointed towards all infected people, King, General and Commander all turned their head and scanned every infected person, indeed all infected people looked like they were having heart shaped boil on their skin.

“If I am correct, it is outcome for treating General Nolan earlier, that Sorceress must have found out about my whereabouts and now she is poisoning people near me” Jasmine added and shared a glance with higher general Nolan.

“Can we cure this?” King suddenly rushed to Jasmine and questioned her by squeezing her both shoulder.

‘Say NO…’ Jasmine suddenly heard same whisper of her dream man, air around her unexpectedly turned cold, she stood quite for a minute battling with her own though

‘SAY NO…..’ she again heard same whisper, Jasmine felt it would be wrong to lie to her King as she knew her grandmother had mentioned about treatment to deal with this poison in her book however before she could open her mouth her Dragon wing rune on her right hand wrist started burning and itching as if it was set on fire.

She winced under King hold, in split second her eyes got clouded with white fog and she unwillingly replied “I.. I.. am sorry my king… I can…not … hel.. help you in this…”

Hearing her word king suddenly squeezed her shoulder more harshly simultaneously pain on her wrist became unbearable and Jasmine jerked back from King hold, a faint stream of tear stared flowing down from corner of her both eyes, she quickly bowed down her head but still felt intense gaze of King Sargon poking in her body.

“Get out” King said in his low growling voice and Jasmine turned back to leave.

Scrubbing her right hand wrist Jasmine unknowing bumped into Judith on her way out “I.. I am sorry” Jasmine said bowing her head “Can’t you fucking see and walk bitch” Judith quickly hissed rudely and immediately left inside.

Jasmine was in pain because of which she ignored Judith words and quickly walked in direction.

Once jasmine reached Kitchen gate she saw Chef Margaret carrying away a tray full of some herbal soup “Jasmine, please bring that another tray of soup for infected people?” Margaret ordered jasmine as she passed by her.

Jasmine nodded and walked inside kitchen but abruptly stopped in her track and though to herself ‘Didn’t Commander Philip said all Kitchen staff including chefs and server were infected by this poison, then how did Margaret and Judith escaped from it?’