Chapter 28 #2
Looking up at me, she smirked, a dark glint shadowing her eyes as her face twisted into a sneer. “Nothing can hide from a vonBermere when they choose to go digging.”
She appeared so similar to Kellan in this moment that it halted my thoughts. My brow furrowed as a shiver of apprehension clawed across my neck and back.
Ignoring me, she hit play again, forcing me to watch the carnage that filled the screen between a young girl and the five grown men who attempted to overshadow her…
The girl’s eyes snapped open, dimming as the blood coating the forest floor seeped into her shoes. Her dress was in tatters from the knife slashes and grabby hands the men subjected her to. Soft footsteps filled her ears, and her head snapped up.
Two young boys halted upon seeing the destruction the young queen had caused. One with dark soulless eyes and the other a brilliant gold.
Tears began to fall as she released the iron-knuckled grip on her blade, dropping it onto the ground as she went running towards the boy whose eyes reflected death back at her.
“You’re here!” Her arms banded around his waist as she buried her head into his stomach. The other boy came up behind her, gripping her shoulders, an attempt to cover her modesty.
“Lilah. Stop!” I shouted, using skills Kellan taught me to try to pause this horrible night in front of me.
“Where is your twin, Little Queen?”
“I don’t…nobody came…” Choked sobs left the girl as her mind began to shut down, blocking out the blood and the hurt she was forced to endure. Too much, they later said, for one so young. A girl so innocent and sweet.
“I’m here now, Printsessa. You’re always safe with me.”
The dark-eyed boy scooped her up, bundling her into his chest as he looked at the golden-eyed boy, the message clear in their eyes. Destroy the evidence, protect the queen.
The girl’s eyes fluttered shut as the golden-eyed boy nodded in silent agreement. His hand came up, combing her hair back from her face as she succumbed to sleep.
“Lilah! Enough. You do not want to test me today.”
Something in my voice must have reached her, because seconds later the screen went black. She blinked, as if coming out of a daze.
“Wha—”
“What the absolute fuck, Lilah?! Why would you show this to me right before Game One?”
“I didn’t…he said…”
For once, she appeared at a loss for words. A haunted look appeared on her face as if realising what she’d just done. What she forced me to view. “I didn’t…”
“I think I’m done here. Obviously, you have nothing new or worthwhile to share. Just be warned, Lilah…”
Standing, I cleared out of the chats and rooms as I gave her my parting words.
“You may be the queen on your board and in whatever twisted game you’re playing to survive these trials and games. Even your contracted marriage date…but you will never have more power than me. Do not make me your enemy.”
Exiting the screen, I brought up my firewalls and enhanced security that Kellan had in place.
I closed my eyes as the end of that memory played across my mind.
That fateful night I had honestly never once tried to forget, especially since the Yateses also had that video and enjoyed playing it in full at least once every full moon when I was younger.
That memory now bled into a dream, one I can no longer discern from reality—a result of trauma on my mind, being so young.
The girl dragged her gaze to the boys encircling her, ice-violet eyes flashing as blood dripped down from a cut on her brow.
Propping her chin up on the dark-eyed boy’s shoulder, she watched as the massacred bodies of her prey grew smaller as they walked away from where men thought she should be attacked.
The girl closed her eyes as her face relaxed. Her little hand was gripping the boy’s carrying her. The quiet voice of the golden-eyed boy filtered through her, leaving her confused.
“Brother…you’re so screwed…be careful with her, you know what she must become.”
Little did the girl know that she had earned the undying respect of two boys that night, who would grow into two of the most feared men in the world a handful of years later.
Men who would volunteer pieces of their souls in a bid to protect the Queen, whose fate was written in blood the minute her mother announced the birth of within the Ellsworth line once again…ones now attached to the Antonov Bratva, a direct line to the Iron Crown.
A girl bathed in blood…stood all alone in the woods…
Surrounded by smoke, shadows, and carnage…
As her newly found knights kneeled at her feet…
Swearing silent protection and a promise to always do…
What must be done.
“Empires must fall, daughter mine. For your time to shine has come…”
A hand fell into focus, bloodied and branded. Followed by another, one with healed scars full of roses and snakes. A final hand gripped the other two, branded with thorns and fangs.
A pact sealed with traitor’s blood, a promise the girl had yet to realise all those years later as her fate began to play out for the world to see.
My eyes snapped open as the last moments played out in my mind. The thin line that blurred reality from fiction became harder to discern as time went on, even if that night cemented itself as one of the worst of my life before I left London.
The Guilda had no idea what they were trying to unleash inside me, but if war was what they wanted, then war was what they’d receive.
Later that night, I sat at my computer, pulling up a secure line to the Ellsworth holdings accounts, preparing to send an email that would likely piss Kellan off. But it had to be done.
The ping of the email being sent cracked through the silent room like a gunshot.
An evil grin curled my lips, knowing no one would be happy with the events I just set in motion, but also realising The Guilda was becoming much more deadly as initiation went on.
No doubt the newly crowned Hellhound would not see my announcement as happy news.
To whom this may concern,
I hope this email finds you well. As you know, I have recently reached the age of twenty-one, and as stated in the last living will of Sloane and Henry Ellsworth-Antonov, I am now of age to step into the Crown so graciously held by the board at Ellsworth Holdings.
I shall return in the next few months to properly take my mantle up, but this serves as the official announcement that I will be accepting the titles and honours bestowed upon the last true heir of the Ellsworth line.
And my first act is to reinstate Kellan Ellsworth, formerly vonBermere, into the line and family once again. He will act as my second in command. You have forty-eight hours to reinstate his titles and inheritance.
Your time is coming.
You’ve been warned,
Audrey Vasilisa Ellsworth