Chapter 34

Jasmine


An entire hour passed before the door of the bathroom was opened by Micheal, my eyes spotted the sight of the now destroyed bedroom behind him— Everything in the room was completely shattered, the pieces of furniture, the glass decorations, the vases, even the curtains were torn into tiny little pieces.

"Jasmine..." Micheal walked closer to me and wiped my cheek with his fingers and it was then I realized that my tears had not stopped even for a second for the past hour.

"Is Lucien okay?" I asked, the constant worry did not have any intention to recede until my ears would get to hear what they wanted to.

Micheal did not answer my question, instead, he helped me get down from the counter and lead me out of the bathroom. Supporting my weak legs by sliding his strong hand around my waist and keeping me close.

As soon as I entered the room, my gaze found its way to where Lucien was— Sitting On the chair with his elbows resting on his knees and face buried in his palm, a sense of guilt radiating from his posture.

"Lucien...." I slowly walked closer to him, avoiding steeping on the glass pieces that were scattered on the entire floor.

Hearing my voice, he finally raised his head and met my gaze. The prior guilt had shaded his eyes which were now back to their normal color but the peace within them was not there anymore.

Before I could even say anything else, he moved forward and hugged me tighter than ever. His hands wrapped around my hip and his face was buried in my chest.

"I am sorry, I am so sorry..." I could have sworn I had never heard Lucien saying anything this low, his voice was barely audible.

The weight of guilt seemed to have consumed him completely. I could feel his loud heartbeats and unsteady breathing that he tried to suppress by pushing his face more into my chest.

"It's fine, it was not your fault Lucien." I softly said, rubbing my fingertips on his back trying to soothe his discomfort.

"I have hurt you today, Jasmine," His voice grew sterner, "It's my fault that I let it take control over me," He added.

"A lot of times, we don't have control over everything even if it meant our ownself but that does not mean that we are the one to be blamed, it's our circumstances that were not in our favor," I said and cupped his face in my hands.

The tears were not there in his eyes but from the look on his face, there was no doubt that they could appear any time sooner.

"It was not your fault," I said once again just for his assurance.

"You could have gotten seriously injured," He said, the gloom once again shading his countenance.

"But I am perfectly fine, you did not hurt me even though you were not in your senses. Archer and Micheal were there to help us, nothing bad has happened.'' I pressed my lips against his forehead, and slowly but adequately his uneasiness started vanishing in thin air.

He began relaxing, his hold on me loosened remaining not as tight as before giving me the message that he was getting to his normal state and the evanescence of the turmoil inquietude.

"We can't lose you, Jasmine," Lucien said after a long period of silence, "We can't..."

"Y'all won't lose me," It automatically left my mouth as I looked at him then at Archer and Micheal, "Never."



*******
                                               

All of our things were soft and shifted into another room, our room that was destroyed because of Lucien's awakened feral was going to take a few days to set it back to its prior condition.

It was not a big a deal for me that we would have to live in a different room for the next few days because my comfort laid where remained in the presence of the vampires I loved although the current situation of sitting at the diner with everyone and to be very specific with King Elijah's judgemental stare on me did not make it possible to find any sort of comfort.

"Lucien, since you are the eldest among the three. Let me ask you something and I expect you to answer without turning it into an argument." King Elijah looked at Lucien.

"Fine, What do you want to know?" Lucien heaved out a sigh, he sure did not look like he wanted to argue with his father not when he himself is too tired from the attack of the upcoming blood moon.

"Well, I am sure you all do remember Lord Fredrick who ruled the Vaidel dynasty at that time," King Elijah began, his words causing a rush of blurred memories to pass through my eyes and inchmeal leaving my breathing edge heavier.

"Yes, we do," Lucien said, "But why are you asking about that?''

He did not particularly answer Lucien's question but he continued anyway, "So you must remember what happened to his kingdom, very well. The name of the Vaidel dynasty— The most powerful vampire realm ever, was wiped off in one single night. Not even a single person managed to survive including, the world's most powerful vampire of that time— Lord Fredrick Winchester."

My entire world stopped for a solid second, the name ringing in my ears again and again as if it was trying to awaken the memories I had never got the chance to remember.

An unknown restlessness surged within me, I could not fathom why the visions of gigantic flames of fire constantly flashed in front of my eyes. The agonized screams of unknown people buzzed inside my head.

My palms got sweaty and tiny beads of sweat began covering my forehead.

Why was I feeling so anxious?

"Yes, just like the clan-less vampires destroy our kingdom, the only exception was we faced fewer deaths because of the security I, Archer, and Micheal had urged," Lucien responded with a bitter chuckle.

"But our kingdom still exists, right?" King Elijah arched one of his eyebrows.

"That's only because we enforced the guards before leaving for the attack other our kingdom would have been in the same place as the Vaidel dynasty that's now nothing other than a destructed lifeless land." Micheal interrupted.

"Yes, that's exactly what I am talking about. Our kingdom survived only because my mate was capable of giving our kingdom, strong heirs." As King Elijah spoke, It was no longer suspense what he was taking this conversation to.

"What do you exactly want to say?" Lucien asked, looking seemingly aware of the situation.

"What I want to say is that a strong mate is needed not only for the welfare of the kingdom but also for having strong heirs who can take over the kingdom later on. Your decision of choosing a partner affects the future of the entire kingdom."

"I think we were already done with this conversation last night, I do not prefer to talk more about this topic," Lucien spoke through gritted teeth, and Archer's hold around the spoon tightened noticeably bending it.

"I know, but do you know that Lord Fredrick's mate was a human?" Unaffected by his sons' reactions, King Elijah continued, "Katherine Augustus, a simple human born in a rich catholic family who did not know anything about the royal matters or the responsibilities...."

Katherine Augustus.....

Once again, a rush of memories passed through my eyes. The blonde hair of a beautiful woman, her soothing embrace, and then everything screeching to an abrupt hall with a tear-stained face and sight of.....blood.

"Yet, she fulfilled all of her duties and kept the respect of the position she was given. Right?" Archer harshly interrupted.

"I had gotten the chance, to meet them once. They were indeed like the perfect family you all are dreaming of to create with your mate but there's a difference between trying heart and soul to be a worthy queen and being one." King Elijah paused for a second before he spoke again.

"However, Her good values and efforts came to no use because, in the end, she failed to save her own daughter during the attack, and the six-year-old princess was found dead beside her mom. I had seen that girl once, she was lovely and cheerful, maybe if her mother was capable of fighting the strength of a vampire, that innocent soul would have been alive today."

My breathing got caught in my throat, my hands shook for someone I tried hard to figure out.

"I don't see any point in talking about all of these things that happened hundreds of years ago,'' Lucien said.

"You all need to hear it out, no matter how strong of a king you all are at the end of the day, if your partner is not worthy of being beside you you'll lose everything just like lord Fredrick, whose last wish too did not get fulfilled which was to save his daughter at the very least."

"The attack was a tragedy, Queen Katherine had nothing to do with it and none in the kingdom was left alive. Every single person died whether it was a vampire or a human. How can you blame her for the death of their daughter whilst she was one against hundreds of Vampires?'' Micheal asked in disbelief.

"I don't understand if you all don't understand anything at all or you all don't want to understand?" King Elijah asked, his tone lowering which was giving away a little.

"Maybe it's both, maybe we don't understand why you are comparing our lives with the family that was destroyed because of a tragedy. Maybe, we don't want to understand the reason at all because we are done with this conversation already." Lucien slammed his fist on the table and stood up from his seat.

Mom warily looked at him, the things of dismay already shading her features.

But, here....the turmoil had already risen within me. Tossing my beliefs here and there, making everything around me seem like an upcoming apocalypse.

I couldn't take it anymore.

My feet proceeded before any word could leave my mouth, I found myself standing up putting every bit of the strength left in my body in order to hold myself up.

"E-Excuse me..." I managed to utter, the sentence trembling on my lips before I turned around to leave.

"Jasmine, wait..." Archer grabbed ahold of my hand stopping me on my way.

"Please, I need some time," My voice was barely higher than a whisper, "Alone...'' Soon as I uttered the last part, Archer's grip on my hand loosened.

I couldn't meet his eyes, and nor could I get myself to look at him or anyone else. The chaos in the deadly silence, the obscure shadows that were fighting to take me in....I just couldn't look at anyone or meet their eyes when I was lost in the uncertainty.

It was a few seconds of silence before Archer let go of my hand and a quivering sigh left my mouth on its own, I headed out of the room the next moment only to reach someone who might have the answers to my dilemma, the only one to know about my past that was the reason for these unanswered questions.

Martha....