"It is proven," Byron declared. "This girl, this human, infiltrated our kingdom with malicious intents, spread lies, and perjured herself in front of the queen. She should be punished without mercy."
The queen remained silent for a brief period of time. Her court regarded her in anticipation. Willow closed her eyes, praying for Wes to show up, praying for an earthquake, a strike of lightning, a zombie apocalypse, or literally anything that would delay the verdict for a lifetime.
"Your majesty?"
"As I said earlier," the queen finally spoke, "those who commit perjury earn themselves a death sen—"
The sound of the hefty golden doors opening cut her off. Everybody's attention was focused on the offender who dared to trespass and interrupt her majesty.
When Willow recognized the person, she sputtered and tried to cover her mouth with her chained hand. The entire room wore the same expression as her. The queen's face featured a small smile.
The queen and Prince Wes entered the meeting room beside the throne room and took a seat at the giant rectangular table. The queen sat on her grand seat at the head of the table and Wes sat to her right. "Prince Wes," she began, "your kingdom and mine have a special relationship that predates your birth. But I am afraid my hands are tied. I cannot allow injustice and privilege to prevail." "Your majesty, this is not a common person that we speak of. She is a princess and my wife—" "A wife who had an illicit affair with my son." Wes' eyes widened and his eyebrows knitted. He was shocked to say the least, although he quickly deduced the possible conclusions and assumed that the alleged affair must have been a ploy to free Willow. He cleared his throat. "All the more reason to let her go. I will deal with this private matterprivately. In addition, I am willing to overlook the affair. I will not hold Prince Slade accountable
Willow, Wes, and Luke were back in the grey cloudy sky that was a contrast to Hieroland. Wes increased the speed of the car which blew the dust off the road as they passed the trees. "I had totally forgotten about Byron, and then they chased after us in the entire market," Willow narrated the entire story to Wes about what had happened with her and Luke. Luke chimed in too from time to time and Wes listened. "—And that's when you walked in!" she looked at him. "Were you afraid that I wasn't going to show up?" Wes asked, momentarily taking his eyes off the road to look at her. "No, I always knew you would." "Ugh," Luke said from the backseat. Wes slowed the speed of the car before pulling over near Willow's father's house. "You sure you don't want to go?" He asked. She looked at the house and smiled. "No, I'll come back soon when I have more time." If she went to her father's house she would have
Willow rushed back home in the afternoon and yawned while walking in. She heard a disturbance coming from the kitchen, like the clanking of utensils, and walked towards it only to find Wes, cooking. "You can cook? I'm hungry! What are you making?" She asked excitedly, looking at him stirring the cauldron. He looked up from the pot. "That's not for eating unless you want unlimited strength for lunch." "Wait, are you—" "Making a potion with the herbs? Yes." She walked closer and noticed a brown paper with the recipe kept on the counter. "Wow, you came prepared," she sounded impressed by his thoroughness. Willow rested her arms on the counter and watched him work expertly through the process. Once the potion had been made and cooled down, Wes transferred it to two separate vials. "Here," he handed over one vial to her. She looked at the brownish-green liquid sadly. This was the final order of their business
Wes entered the kingdom again after crossing the barrier. Even though everything had changed, it still appeared the same and as if he never left. It didn't suit a person of his stature, but he didn't care as he walked through the streets that provided the shortest route to the palace. He imagined Willow walking beside her, sharing some anecdote that she found interesting. People were whispering as he moved through the streets. Wes wondered what the point of whispering was when he could clearly hear everything. "He's back!" They said in low voices. "He's back after a month!" "Did he get married?" "Do we have a new princess?" 'Yes, I'm back. It's been more than a month. Yes, I got married. No, she's definitely not a princess,' Wes thought as he walked past the houses. The news of the prince's return traveled fast. Wes saw Raven driving towards him as the car stopped a few meters away. "Your majesty!" He got out of
Ava strolled through the palace's corridors. Since the prince went missing, her life had only gotten worse, so her relief at his return was palpable. Wes' door was open when she continued down the hallway, which was unusual because it was always closed. He was sleeping on the bed when she peered inside. Ava knocked without entering. She recalled the one and only occasion she had entered his room. It happened when she had just gotten married. The moment the prince noticed her in his room, he yelled at her, called her names, and threw her out. A long time had passed since then, but he had never invited her inside. She knocked on the open door again, this time more loudly, and saw him stirring on the bed. "Ava?" He said when he saw her, wondering what he was doing in the palace room. She saw him go still for a second before he vigorously started checking for something in his pockets. When he had his affirmation, he looked at her again. "D
What do you say to someone when someone close to them dies? I'm sorry? Are you okay? Here's 10 million dollars to make it all go away. Willow sat on the dining chair in her father's house as she looked at her brother playing video games right after coming from school. He was still in his sweaty, dirty clothes, and her father was yelling at him for it. "How many times have I told you to take a shower and complete your assignments before playing these games?" Over the years, her father had taken the role of a mother too. She had never said it to him but she immensely respected the way he parented her and her brother. Lord knows it wasn't easy. "Just one more game, dad!" Daniel whined. "I promise." It had been 'one more game' since three games. Willow laughed as she watched the scene. Her eyes were covered with the rose-colored glasses that she had bought from the magic marke
"Help!"Willow woke up to the sound of a voice crying outside the front door. She wiped her eyes and noticed the dusk through the window.There was a loud cry again, and this time it was accompanied by bangs on the door. Willow got off the floor and rushed down the stairs with the glasses still in her hand. The empty house came into view and then the front door that shook because of all the knocking.She placed the glasses on the table, went to the kitchen, and looked through the window to see a girl standing outside in torn blue jeans and a dirty white shirt. She had cuts on her legs that were bleeding profusely."Is anybody here?" She cried while knocking on the door. "Help!"Willow grabbed the biggest knife from the kitchen and went to the front door. She opened it with a thud causing the girl to startle. Willow pulled her in when she saw a vampire running towards the house. On instinct, she held her hand out and screamed.The golden ligh
Wes is the king.He had finally achieved what he wanted at the expense of her family. She had been grieving for all this time and hadn't considered the causes of these unfortunate events. Willow was aware these rogue vampires had to originate from somewhere, but she had no idea Vilaria was the source instead of Hieroland, as she had previously assumed. If Wes was the king, then he had let the vampires out, the ones that killed her family.Her nostrils flared."We can't stay here anymore," she whispered.Willow and Grace hid behind the counter and watched the vampire who was still crying over the dead body."Where will we go?" Grace asked a little too loudly. She too was crying and terrified."Shh!" Willow looked out of the window to see if the vampire had heard them. "We'll go out through the backdoor."Grace nodded before crawling on the floor like Willow. They safely made it out of the kitchen and into the living room. Will
Once the dust settled and the smoke vanished, Wes and Willow saw that all the vampires in the vicinity had been turned into humans. People were rejoicing as their hunger and bloodlust dissipated. They hugged each other and shared tears and smiles."I didn't mean to hurt that boy I swear," Willow heard a woman say, "I don't know what came over me."The newly turned humans were sharing stories about the horrors they had done while being consumed by bloodlust.Wes saw Luke reuniting with his family and went to talk to them, while Willow found Ava and Rus standing on the right side of the platform. Two of the priest's apprentices were carrying the body of the late king to burn on the pyre they had created in the open field where the tent was.Ava had a bright smile as she felt the sunlight on her face."You look happy," Willow remarked."I am no longer a queen. I'm finally free to do whatever I want. Of course, I'm happy. I can travel now. Live
In the city square, the witches and mages had joined hands, formed a circle, and began chanting. The humans and vampires of Hieroland protected the circle from the vampires of Vilaria. The chanting got louder with each passing second. There was a vibration in the air. One the feel the power radiating from the circle. The wind picked up and the earth started shaking.Behind the circle, the priest and Aurum engaged in a ferocious battle. Their energies clashed and it shook the ground. Everyone became a little unsteady, but the witches and mages did not let go of their hands and continued chanting.The priest stood on the platform looking down at Aurum who had fallen to the ground."Why shall I suffer at your hands?" Aurum cried, sweating profusely. He looked at Hieron. "You destroyed my life once. Wasn't that enough?""A mistake on my part," the priest calmly replied. "You did plenty wrong before you came to accompany the tribe, as I seem to remember. I am
Gemma cried when a vampire bit her wrist, though she quickly took out a knife and managed to pierce the heart of her attacker. The vampire's eyes were as wide as saucers. She struggled to grab onto Gemma but eventually fell to the ground. Gemma put pressure on the puncture wound before tying a handkerchief around it. She looked around to see one-third of the humans lying dead. A wave of anger washed over her. She was about to go on a killing spree, but Kairav stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. "We must stick to the plan," he said. Her nostrils flared, but she nodded. The humans and people from Hieroland created a barrier between Aurum and the vampires of Vilaria. On the other end of the barrier, Willow falls unconscious. The woman who hit her raised the baseball bat to smash her skull, but before she could do that, Wes tackled her to the ground. "How dare you!" He spoke, enraged and murderous, as he punched her face.
The executioner fell to the ground, bloodying it. Everyone in the crowd turned their heads and gazed upon the perpetrator. Slade stood there with an unapologetic smug expression. Aurum smirked as he looked at Wes. "How heroic of you to come here and try to save your father." Everyone gasped again as they realized who it was that stood amongst them. Aurum didn't wait for a reply. "You have made my work easy by walking here and saved me the time to hunt you down." "And why would you hunt me down?" Wes asked. "What is my crime?" "You," Aurum's jaw ticked, "are the son of a traitor." "Is that a crime? I didn't ask to be his son." Wes looked into the crowd to see some of the heads nodding in agreement. "Yeah!" someone shouted. "He is nothing like his father." "He is the complete opposite!" Aurum's face swelled with anger. "Silence! I am the ruler of this king
Willow and Wes left the room and gathered everyone. "Why now?" Kairav asked as he walked down the hallway of the lodge with Wes, Willow, Slade, Ava, Rus, and Luke. "We know for certain where Aurum is going to be," Willow said. "And the rest of the vampires. There couldn't have been a better opportunity." "Should I remind you that we don't have the numbers," Slade exclaimed. "How are the seven of us going to beat an army of thousands?" They were out of the lodge when Willow turned to face all the others. "We have the vampires of Hieroland and the humans of the organization. But you are right. It's not enough, which is why I have a plan." *** Wes and Slade walked through the streets of the kingdom of Vilaria. The two had come through the portal into the once-human city of Syllton and had crossed the woods to enter Vilaria inconspicuously. Wes kept his head low while Slade walked ahead with his head held high since nobody would re
Wes stood outside the priest's house in the open green lands and knocked on the door. The priest let him in and asked him to take a seat on one of the chairs made from jute. "There has been something on my mind for a long time now," he said to the priest who was sitting in front of him. "Before that," the priest raised his hand, "can I offer you some tea?" Wes remembered what happened the last time he drank tea and refused the offer. "Alright, what is on your mind?" "There was something Aurum said to me before he locked me in a prison cell; something that seemed familiar. He said he was a vampire before being the kingdom's mage and a mage before being a vampire. He had been in a tribe and had been wronged by one of the members. If I remember correctly, you killed the person who was responsible for the curse and everybody else." The priest nodded in affirmative. "Aurum said that the mage who tried to kill him made him a test sub
"A human was caught near the palace," a soldier said to Aurum, who sat on the throne inside the palace of Vilaria. He was dressed in long black robes with gold embroidery and long sleeves. "He claims to know the location of the human organization and is willing to pass it on for the right price." Aurum gestured for the soldier to bring him in. A minute later, the heavy doors to the throne room opened and Dain walked in. When he saw the mage sitting on the throne, he immediately kneeled and bowed his head. Aurum looked pleased. "Rise," he said looking at the human. "What do you know? And spare no detail." Dain shared the exact location of the organization. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" Aurum asked. "I wouldn't have risked my life to come here if it wasn't for the truth." "And why are you selling your comrades?" "They are not my comrades, sir," he spat. "They are delusional people who think they can wi
The sun had risen on the horizon, illuminating the green forest. Willow and Wes walked in silence for the rest of the way until they reached the top of the hill, from where the organization building was partially visible. "Wait here," she said to him before second-guessing her decision. "No," she shook her head, "come with me." "Why don't you want to leave me here? Do you not trust me?" "No, I don't. If anyone from the organization sees you they won't hesitate to kill you, or you will kill them. Neither of the outcomes is favorable," she said monotonously. She walked down the hill and looked back to see him. "Now," she stated, "follow my exact steps. Do not stray." "Why?" He asked, but she had already started walking towards the building. "Not everybody can enter the organization." He saw her footprints and matched his steps to them. She then took him to the side of the building and looked up. "That's my
The sky above the palace of Corlyn was dark, starry, and cloudless. Ava stood by the window of the guest room that was much smaller than her room at the palace of Vilaria. The space had minimal furniture: a bed, a vanity table, a small closet, a sofa, and a coffee table.Ava twisted the fabric of the curtain between her fingers as she looked at the main gates of the palace, where guards stood in attention all night."This is exactly what I tried to escape, and this is exactly where we ended up," she sighed. "Another palace."Rus looked at her from the sofa chair, feeling sympathetic. He had been given the room beside hers, but he didn't want to leave her alone.There was a knock at the door. Ava turned around to look at Rus and then back at the door. Whoever was on the other side did not wait for a response as the door flew open."Princess!" Ava said coming to stand near Rus who was now standing out of respect too.Princess Raya hastily rush