16. Stop Them! #2
Phillip sat on the ground and started to laugh, catching me completely off guard. “If you truly knew my father, the man behind closed doors, you wouldn’t be so surprised at this. The Lost King didn’t get his crazy out of the blue. Let’s just say he didn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Are you saying your father truly didn’t care if he killed everyone?” I demanded, shoving out of Dayson’s grip. This time, he let me go, but he wasn’t far away.
“The kingdom is ruled by my mother… pretty much has been their entire reign. Good King Edward is always thinking that someone is out to get him or that there is some conspiracy to take the throne from him. It’s even been bad enough that Mother had to keep us away from him when we were little.
She managed him well, and he had a personal doctor in the castle who would keep him medicated with some herbal remedy or another to keep him calm.
My guess is that since he has been off whatever concoction they were giving him, his mental stability cracked,” Phillip explained.
“I’m surprised Gavin didn’t tell you about the family secret, seeing as you wanted an alliance with them. ”
Gavin never would have divulged something like that unless he felt it was necessary, and since I’ve mostly been interacting with the queen, there wouldn’t be a need.
Although, now that Phillip shared this information, it connected the dots of seeing how his father has been unraveling.
Every altercation I’d seen has been from the king, although the queen seemed to agree with him, but I doubt she was feeling that way at this moment.
She might be pragmatic when it comes to ruling, but she is still a mother, and I’ve seen how she looks at her sons.
“This is why you wanted him to step down and let you take over. The stress of war and not being medicated would be too much for him to handle,” I said as realization hit me.
“Gavin knew he didn’t want to be king, and I was better suited to it, even if I was younger.
Over the past two years, Father has become even more unstable, and it’s harder to keep it a secret.
Once the wolves smelled blood, they would be ready to attack.
So to keep that from happening, we’ve been trying to find the best way to get him to step down.
Mother didn’t agree with our plan, saying she could still rule like she always has, but we knew there would come a day when Father did something like this, and we would be screwed.
” Phillip sighed, dropping his head into his hands.
“Now my father has declared war with Sheca and their new queen.”
Looking over my shoulder at Dayson, he just shrugged his shoulders, not really having anything to add to this situation.
It was then I noticed the sound of battle had quieted, so I moved to peek around the boulder blocking us.
My heart broke at what I saw, causing me to step out to take in the scene before me.
Queen Mary sat on the ground sobbing as she clutched her husband to her, and even in the dark, I could see the blood pooling under him.
Naytan and a few of the soldiers with him were also dead along with King Edward’s dragon and one other, while the third was still breathing but was bleeding out.
Carefully, I made my way over to the dragon.
“Cassarah, what are you doing?” Dayson yelled.
“Don’t even think about walking up to that dragon, Cassarah,” Jade shouted at the same time.
I didn’t bother to argue with them, feeling the pain this dragon was in from the wounds and having lost his pair-bond.
He bared his teeth at me, but that was about all the strength he had at the moment to threaten me with.
Reaching out, I placed a hand on his head and closed my eyes, taking in all he was feeling, the sadness at being unable to protect his person.
Interestingly enough, I found he also wasn’t in agreement with what had happened here tonight, but he would support his pair-bond no matter what.
“Would you like me to end your pain?” I whispered to the dragon. “You honored your bond, and if you want, I will set you free from it so you can find them once again in another life.”
The dragon’s acceptance told me everything I needed to know.
Calling on that part of me that held my Birthright, I forced it through my hand that touched the dragon’s head, and within seconds, his breathing stilled, and he was gone.
Never would I leave anyone to suffer if I could do something about it, no matter what side of the fight they were on.
No one deserved to die alone, afraid, and in agony, especially not one such as a dragon.
Stepping back from the once-majestic creature, I faced the others who all paused to watch what I was doing.
That’s when I noticed the clan leaders bound and on their knees in front of my guardians, and Alsten was looking worse for the wear.
Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for this interaction, knowing that I might have to call for the death of one or all of these men.
If it came to that, I don’t know how I was going to look my guardians in the face, seeing as these men were their family, but such is the life of a queen.