Chapter 159
Emily carefully listened from the room that prince Deacon had turned into a wardrobe for her, where she has been hiding for the past hour. ‘Sound like the coast is clear,’ she thought before peeking out of the room and slipping into prince Deacon’s room, quietly closing the door behind her, not making a sound.
Emily could smell the blood from the birth but it did not entice her as she could smell that it was lined with lycan blood.
She speed over to where prince Deacon was passed out drunk and lay next to him on the bed, pulling the thick bed curtains close.
‘How to kill you? Killing you in your sleep is way too easy,’ Emily thought, stroking his face. Emily heard the bedroom door open and listened, hoping to not get discovered.
“Zara, an hour has passed,” she heard someone whisper.
“It feels like ten minutes,” Zara said, sitting up, taking her daughter from the maid, looking over at prince Deacon’s bed, noticing that he pulled his curtains shut.
“Please run me a bath so that I can bathe after feeding the baby,” Zara said.
The maid does as she was told.
“The bath is ready,” the maid said after pouring the water.
“Do you think you can bring a sleeping basket to the room? I want her close to me,” Zara asked.
“Let me take her to the nursery and then help you to the bath. I will then clean your bed and bring a sleeping basket,” the maid said.
“Thank you,” Zara said, passing the baby to the maid.
After taking the baby to the nursery, the maid changed the bedsheets and put a sleeping basket on the bed before going back to the nursery to fetch the baby.
“Zara, your bed has been changed, and I have put your daughter in a basket on the bed. Are you ready to get out of the bathtub?” the maid asked from the other side of the door.
“I can manage. You may go,” Zara said.
“I have left a clean nightgown and underwear with clothes for you. Just ring the bell if you need me,” the maid said before leaving.
Once the maid left, Emily sped over to where the newborn was lying on the bed. ‘She is so beautiful,’ she thought when a plan to punish prince Deacon and all the other royals formed in her head. ‘They will never know you.’ Emily wrapped the baby up, before tying her to her body. She walked to the large window and quietly opened them, but it made a screeching sound. Emily bit her lip and waited for Zara to say something but when she does not; Emily looked out of the window, thinking, ‘can a vampire jump down without getting hurt? What if I hurt the baby?’ she thought. ‘I should test it first,’ Emily thought, unfastening the bed sheet she used to tie the baby to her and laying the baby back in her basket.
‘Here goes nothing,’ Emily thought and leaped out of the window.
‘Wow, that felt amazing,’ she thought when she landed on her feet effortlessly.
‘Now to get back up,’ Emily thought as she leaped into the air and almost missed the window, but by stretching out her arms, she managed to grab onto the windowsill and pull herself back into the room.
Emily tied the baby to her body once more, and this time leaped out of the window without hesitation before disappearing into the night.
Emily did not know where she was running to, but after a few hours of running, the baby started to fuss and eventually cry. ‘What am I going to feed you?’ Emily realized that she didn’t think it through.
Emily sniffed the air for any sign of civilization as she didn’t realize that she ran into nothingness. Emily caught the aroma of a fire burning and ran toward it. She found herself outside a wooden cottage with smoke coming from the chimney, the sun about to rise.
Emily knocked on the door. “Hello?”
After a few more knocks and calling out, the door opened. “What on earth are you doing out in the winter cold this early in the morning wearing that?” A man that looked in his forties asked, holding a rifle but not aiming it.
“Please, I am lost, and my baby needs the warmth of your fire,” Armenia pleaded.
“How do I know you are not some evil woman pretending to hold a baby?” the man asked.
“I am not.” Emily showed him the baby.
“Oh, my word!” the man said, shocked, letting her in immediately. “Come, the fire is over here.”
Emily hurried in and shut the door behind her. “Do you perhaps have milk that I can warm for the baby?”
“If it is your baby, why don’t you breastfeed the baby?” the man asked, suspicious.
Emily caught the scent of another person’s milk. “Are you alone?”
“I am not. My wife is in the room,” the man said.
“How old is your child?” Emily asked.
“How do you know?” the man asked.
“How old?” Emily compelled him to answer, realizing what she was smelling was breast milk.
“Three days old,” the man stuttered, confused.
“Put that gun away and stay here,” Emily compelled him.
Emily walked into the room with the baby in her arms, searching for a nipple to suckle.
“You gave birth to twins,” Emily compelled the woman before putting the baby girl on her other breast.
“Who are you? What do you want?” the woman asked, filled with fear, turning the two babies away from Emily in a protective way.
“When I leave this room, you won’t remember me,” Emily said before leaving.
Outside the room, she compelled the man. “Your wife had twins and when I leave, you won’t remember me.”
Emily left without another word and sped off a few miles before the sun started to burn her skin. Emily came to a halt, forced by daylight, screaming in pain, desperately looking around to find shelter for the day until she tried to dig a hole with nothing but human strength, the daylight preventing her from using her vampire strength. Emily screamed in agony while digging the nails and skin of her fingers, but the pain was nothing compared to her skin boiling away, some pieces falling off her, exposing her bones.
Unable to continue digging, she lay in the swallow hole, desperately scraping as much of the earth over her until she stopped to exist.
***
Back at the council.
Prince Deacon woke up with prince Mano's hands around his throat, trying to kill him. “What have you done with the baby?!”
Prince Deacon jumped into defense mode and quickly got the upper hand, as he has always been stronger than his siblings. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You killed Zara! Where is the baby?!” Prince Mano spat, getting out of prince Deacon’s grip.
“I don’t know what you are talking about! Asks the maid! Check the nursery,” Prince Deacon stormed over to Zara’s bed, the one that once was Emily’s, and pulled the sheer curtains away to find a blue skin Zara and an empty baby sleep basket. “What the hell happened to her?”
“I found her in the bathtub,” Prince Mano said, pointing with a shaking finger to the bathroom.
‘To lose a claimed fated mate again, he must be devastated,’ Prince Deacon thought, walking over to the bathroom. Prince Deacon saw no struggle but a red water bathtub.
“I have looked her body over, but there is no place of injury,” Prince Mano said with an accusing look on his face.
“Stop accusing me! Check my mind!” Prince Deacon opened his mind to Prince Mano.
“Who would have done such a thing? Where is my daughter?” Prince Mano cried, laying next to Zara’s cold body, holding her face, pressing his into hers.
“Your daughter? How can you be so sure?” Prince Deacon asked before running to the bathroom to vomit.
“Since when are you sensitive to a little bit of blood and death?” Prince Andre asked, having made his way into prince Deacon’s room while prince Deacon was vomiting.
“I had too much to drink last night. Get out!” Prince Deacon demanded.
“Who do you think did this?” Prince Andre asked, ignoring prince Deacon’s demand.
