Awaken
POV: Lucien
After the ritual, it felt like the life had been drained out of me and I immediately fell asleep once I felt the warmth of Alexandra’s magic enter my body and felt the coldness of the blood magic release from me. Like Artemis had said, I knew right away that I was no longer cursed to be attracted to Melody. As I lay there, I had dreams. These dreams consisted of a childhood that had happy memories but also tense memories of me trying to run away from my responsibilities that I did not want when I was young. I would find places to escape, at home with my books and the retreat with my cave. This prompted a memory coming to mind when I took Alexandra out there in hopes of showing her a part of me that I had not shown anyone before. It was where we confessed our feelings for each other. I could feel a warmth in my heart as I dreamt of that moment. This dream melted away to reveal me sitting in a dark castle. I got up from my bed, feeling rather sluggish. I walked over to a mirror to reveal myself as an old man. An old lady came into the room, walked up to me, and kissed my cheek. I turned to her and stared at her but I did not recognize the woman I was staring at. I kept asking myself if I just looked at her eyes, then I could know if this woman was Alexandra. No matter how old I got I knew that I would always recognize her lovely violet eyes. The woman turned to look at me but I couldn’t see the color in her eyes. She smiled and led me over to the bed and laid me back down, “Father, you need your rest. You haven’t been well since Mother died.” I had a sinking feeling in my heart, wondering if Alexandra had died before me. This had morphed from a dream of my future to a nightmare I just couldn’t fathom.
I must’ve been asleep for a while because when my eyes finally fluttered open, the sun was kissing the horizon. I had beads of sweat resting on my brow. I sat up and looked around. Jheelis was up sitting on top of one of the round white stones staring at me. He hopped down upon seeing me sit up, “Good morning, Your Majesty. Did you sleep well?” I wiped the sweat from my forehead and shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure.” He smirked at me, “Well based on the last hour of your sleep and the sweat that formed, I would say that you weren’t having a good time. Nightmare?” I only nodded my head and looked around. We were the only ones there and my eyes widened. I didn’t even have to ask before Jheelis offered an update. He said that shortly after I fell asleep, Alexandra sprang into action ordering Jynx to check on my mother in Mesha. I was happy to hear that Panshad had got her out before being abducted. She then summoned Mordred who brought the Seely royalty along. I immediately heard about The Order trying to declare the throne for themselves. Jheelis said that what Alexandra did next displayed her propensity to lead. She lamented having to leave my side but she knew she had to re-secure my throne for me while I was out. She ordered Jheelis to stay behind to guard me as I slept. She was going to assemble the Elder Council and the Citadel together along with the assistance of the House of Dark.
I hopped down from the altar and looked at him, “No offense but I wonder why she didn’t leave behind Jynx so she could bring me to the meeting.” He chuckled and shook his head, “I have orders of my own. Technically, His Highness is still in charge.” He pulled a Mesha stone out of his pocket, “It’s me, he’s awake.” A portal opened and Vanessa stepped out, “Nice to see you in the world of the living, Lucien. Come with me.” Vanessa was dressed in head-to-toe black leather and her red hair was swept to one side of her head. She almost looked like one of Blake’s spies but I knew she was wearing the traditional House of Dark battle garb. She was dressed to go to war for the sake of Vellum. I followed her back over to where she had stepped out of a portal earlier. She opened the portal and waved me through. I stopped short of stepping through, “Where are we going?” She smiled, “You’ll see when we get there.” I sighed at the cryptic attitude and the fact that Blake and Alexandra would use the fact that my power was revoked to “protect” me. I knew that was her ploy but I didn’t quite understand why my brother would go along with it. If he still felt something for her, she would come first as always. He would want me out of the way. I stepped through the portal and found myself in front of Blackwood Manor. Reggie was standing outside, stepped forward, and embraced me, “Lucien, I’m happy to see you are well. Let’s go inside.”
I stepped inside Blackwood Manor and the foyer was buzzing with activity. There were long tables set up on all sides of the room. Maps were strewn out on one table where the General was hovering over it and discussing some things with Talon, Toby, Derek, Jess, and Ashton. Blake, Jynx, Mordred, and Alexandra were at another table with some books open on another table. There were lots of witches from House of Dark at another table. There were various artifacts on the table and they were picking up the various artifacts and placing them in pouches. At another table in a corner were Renier, Cal, and a couple of other faes. They had weapons and gear laid out on the table. Each of them were chanting over the weapons and each time they were finished the weapons glowed. Jheelis leaned in and whispered, “It’s kind of impressive that she got all this together so quickly. The fae are enchanting the weapons from the Citadel. Obviously, we cannot fight your war for you so this is His Majesty’s way of helping out without interfering.” I turned to Reggie and asked, “Why is Blackwood Manor being used as a command center? Wouldn’t it make sense to have it at the Citadel?” He shrugged, “Alexandra believes it would be too obvious. She had thought to use the passageway but thought against it too. She told me that we need to keep that a secret.”
I looked over at Vanessa who had reached into her pocket and pulled out some leather fingerless gloves. She was slowly putting them on and making sure they felt comfortable. I looked around and noticed she didn’t have her assistant with her. I politely asked about her because she always seemed to be with her when she needed someone to run errands. She shook her head, “About that. She offered to come with me when I went back home to grab my gear. Alexandra, Jynx, and Mordred were with me at the time. Alexandra recognized her from somewhere and realized it was from the memory she took from Talon. Apparently, she assisted Talon when he was Zero to kidnap Tyleesh. She communicated with Mordred telepathically about it. Since she is a witch, he stripped her of her powers and arrested her. In doing so, he found out that she also took Panshad from the castle.” I remembered that the person who took Panshad was a woman but I didn’t get to see her face because she was wearing a mask. She added, “He said that he would give you the prisoner if you want to punish her.” I nodded, “I do want to punish her. It will be up to House Batiste to decide what to do with her. She harmed them after all.” She patted my arm, “I think Mesha has something to say about that too. Don’t you?” I nodded, “Reggie and Blake will have to discuss this to come up with a conclusion.” Reggie nodded, “I don’t think anyone has told Blake what happened to Panshad yet though. He’s been worried about her, asking if anyone could find out about her for him.” I stepped towards the table he and Alexandra were standing at, “Let me break the news.”
I walked over to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder as he was talking about tactics. He turned his head and smiled, “Brother, glad to see you are in the world with us again.” I smiled weakly back at him, “Alexandra?” She turned her head and quietly said, “Yes, Lucien?” She didn’t want to be caught in a room full of people dropping the honorifics. I said, “I need to talk to Blake real quick. Is there a quiet place I can take Blake to talk?” She made a face to indicate she was thinking about it and started to run through things, “Not the study, the Elders are in there. Not the garden, more fae are out there enchanting the Citadel’s weapons along with members of the Citadel gearing up. Hmm. I guess you both can go up to my room. That’s probably the only room I can offer that isn’t being used. I don’t get in the habit of offering other people’s rooms. Hope that’s okay.” I nodded but asked, “Are you sure?” She nodded and turned back to talking to Mordred and I pulled my brother away from the buzzing and activity of the foyer. We finally got to Alexandra’s room and we both stepped in. He sighed as I pulled the door shut and spoke, “What is it, brother? We don’t have a whole lot of time to mess around.” I pointed at Alexandra’s small tea table and told him, “Sit down. This is important to you. I know it is.” He groaned, “We’ll see if it is more important than getting our kingdom back.”
He sat down and I crossed the room to sit down in front of him. I took a deep, calming inhale and leveled my gaze at him, “When I went to check on our mother last night, I saw a woman holding a blade to Panshad’s neck. She said something about preventing us from getting to the ritual in time. I didn’t understand how The Order knew about the ritual.” I shook my head, berating myself for veering off from the subject at hand slightly, “Anyhow, I don’t quite know how to break this to you.” He grunted, “Is she dead?” I shook my head vigorously, “Oh! No! Not that.” He tapped the table, “You don’t need to finish, I can surmise what happened. Thanks, Brother.” He got up from his seat quickly and walked over to the door but stopped as his hand touched the handle, “Would it be okay if I give the power back to you and gather my people?” I spoke to him since he didn’t turn his head, “Yeah. Get her back. She is family after all.” He nodded and pulled the door open, “Thanks again, Brother. I won’t tell you any details about it though.” I called out to him, “They caught her abductor too. Modred has her in custody. Would you like to choose to punish her? You’ll have to discuss it with Reggie since she also abducted Tyleesh.” He shook his head, “I’ll leave that up to Reggie, he will find a way to punish her fairly. I’m too emotional to make that decision. I’d probably want her hands as a trophy for my study. It’s not the best idea that a member of our House would want such a thing, at least publicly. You can tell him that I just want something a little harsher than the last punishment he decided on.”
We both got back down the stairs and joined back in the fray of planning the siege on the castle. I was updated on the details of what was being planned. The House of Dark would open portals in the ballroom of the castle. They decided this was large enough to get everyone who would fight into the castle. The fae were enchanting the weapons from the Citadel so that the weapons would be more effective. There were four units consisting of a mixture of witches and Citadel soldiers. One unit would house me, the General, Alexandra, Jynx, Jheelis, Modred, Vanessa, and Talon. We were going to take the throne room. Jheelis was only allowed to participate to keep Alexandra safe. He isn’t allowed to engage unless she gets attacked. I understood why Renier was cautious about not involving his people and why he would only allow Jheelis there to protect and not attack. His only interest in this fight for Vellum was to keep his interest in Alexandra safe. She insisted that she fight alongside everyone after Renier objected to her participation. He conceded that would be fine as long as Jheelis go along and protect her. I felt a tap on my shoulder after I was fully briefed on what the plan was. I turned to see Elder Enzo and he smiled up at me, “Your Majesty, I wanted to let you know that Blake has officially relinquished the power back to you. You are back in charge now.” He turned to leave and I stopped him, “Wait. I do have a question. How can The Order claim power in this case?” He smiled back at me, “They are claiming that they have possession of you and that Blake was planning a coup to take power. They declared martial law of sorts. Claiming to keep Vellum safe until you have recovered.” I clenched my fist at the audacity of hearing that The Order can make such claims. I made a promise to myself and would gain my throne back if it hurt me.
