Chap 26
"She is mine."
The king's hand seized Penny's wrist.
His voice cracked through the throne room.
Commanding.
Certain.
Calling upon ancient magic to keep its promise.
And the king recoiled violently.
Smoke curled instantly from his pale skin.
A sharp hiss split the air.
The smell of burned flesh followed.
Penny stumbled backward.
The king stared at his hand.
Then at her.
Disbelief flickered across his face.
No.
Not disbelief.
Horror.
Penny could still feel their vows.
Still feel them pulling him toward her.
Calling him.
She could also feel something else.
The wish.
Pulling her away.
Ancient darkness.
Ancient sunlight.
Two magics colliding.
Neither willing to yield.
The king reached for her again.
Smoke and flames immediately erupted from his fingers.
The burn racing up his arm.
He snarled and tried anyway.
Penny screamed and he backed away looking terrified his trying to get to her, was hurting her.
The two magics sank hooks into her soul.
Pulling.
Tearing.
Claiming.
Her legs buckled.
She hit the floor.
Her fingers clawing desperately at the tight white gown.
At the corset.
At anything.
Anything that might make the pain stop.
"Penelope!"
The king dropped to one knee beside her.
Unable to touch her.
Unable to help her.
Unable to do anything except watch.
Then the doors exploded open.
Wade stormed into the throne room.
Covered in blood.
Holding what appeared to be a broken candelabra.
Chunks of flesh still clung to the metal.
He threw it aside.
The bloody thing rolled across the marble floor.
Leaving a red trail behind it.
Prince Sebastian stared.
Evander stared.
The general looked impressed.
Wade ignored all of them.
He shoved past the prince.
Then dropped beside Penny.
Scooping her from the floor.
"What happened?"
Penny tried to answer.
Only a strangled cry emerged.
Wade's expression darkened.
Then he lowered his mouth to hers.
Breathing sea magic into her.
The queen immediately shrieked.
"Get that fish man away from her!"
The king turned.
Watching another man kiss his wife.
Watching another man help her when he could not.
Penny felt everything.
The king's desperation.
His helplessness.
His hope.
Because despite everything
He wanted Wade to save her.
Wade's magic surged through her.
Ocean.
Salt.
Life.
The sea answered.
Penny felt her own sea magic awaken.
Not fighting.
Not choosing.
Weaving.
Threading itself through every spell touching her.
The king's vows.
Wade's vows.
The queen's wish.
All of it.
Making it hers.
Then something unexpected happened.
The magic opened.
And suddenly Penny could feel everyone.
The prince's panic.
The commander's confusion.
The queen's fury.
Then
The general.
Penny's eyes snapped toward him.
Because while everyone else looked horrified
All the color had drained from the king's face when Penny finally broke Wade's kiss.
Wade held her protectively.
The prince had moved closer.
So had Evander.
The general lingered behind them all.
Watching.
Waiting.
Penny could still feel the magic.
It hurt.
But the agony was fading.
The sea magic was weaving through the others.
Binding them together.
Making them hers instead of theirs.
She managed a weak smile.
One for Wade.
One for the king.
The king's expression almost broke her heart.
His hands were still blistered.
Burned.
Yet he looked relieved simply because she was no longer screaming.
The queen smiled.
"Oh, don't look so upset, my love."
She rose gracefully from her throne.
Certain she had won.
Certain she had finally removed the rival who had stolen his attention.
"Surely one flower cannot matter this much."
The king looked at her.
Really looked at her.
For the first time in centuries.
Penny watched the confidence leave the queen's face.
Little by little.
Because the king wasn't heartbroken.
He wasn't angry.
He wasn't even jealous.
He was terrified.
"What did you do?"
The question came quietly.
The queen laughed.
"A wish. That's all. I used her wish."
Her smile widened.
Triumphant.
Cruel.
"She is a witch."
Silence.
Not ordinary silence.
The kind that falls when an entire room forgets how to breathe.
Penny felt it immediately.
The prince.
Shock.
Evander.
Disbelief.
Several guards near the doors instinctively reached for weapons.
Even Wade stiffened.
Not afraid.
Surprised.
The word itself seemed to echo through the throne room.
Witch.
The creatures vampires once crossed oceans to hunt.
The blood that made them drunk.
The reason ancient laws existed.
The reason the gardens existed.
The reason hunting had been forbidden.
Witch.
The queen waited.
Expecting outrage.
Expecting horror.
Expecting victory.
Instead
All the color drained from the king's face.
Not anger.
Not disgust.
Fear.
Pure fear.
"No."
The word barely left his lips.
The queen frowned.
For the first time uncertainty appeared.
"What?"
The king closed his eyes.
Only for a moment.
Like a man watching a nightmare become real.
When he opened them again, Penny felt something move through the bond.
Not panic.
Not grief.
Recognition.
The terrible recognition of a man who finally understands a hundred mysteries all at once.
The sea.
The old magic.
The ribbon.
The dreams.
The way she had changed him.
The way she smelled of sunlight.
The old kings.
The catacombs.
The prophecy.
Everything.
"You made a wish?"
His voice sounded hollow.
The queen rolled her eyes.
"Yes."
"With her magic?"
"Of course."
The king stared at her.
And Penny suddenly realized something horrifying.
Kaida had no idea what she had done.
Not truly.
She thought she had found a weapon.
The king looked toward Penny.
Toward Wade.
Toward Sebastian.
Toward Evander.
Then finally toward the general.
And somehow his face became even paler.
"No," he whispered.
This time it sounded like a prayer.
Because Penny could feel it through the bond.
The king wasn't afraid that she was a witch.
He was afraid of the prophecy that had made their laws.
Kaida's smile vanished completely.
"My king?"
He didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on Penny.
And for the first time since she had met him...
He looked helpless.
The king's gaze drifted slowly toward the four guards standing frozen around the throne room.
"Take her and set up the burning pyre for tomorrow."
The queen followed his gaze.
Then frowned.
Then paled.
"No."
The king reached for her again to help her up, and stopped himself.
His burned hand trembled in the space between them.
Only inches away, and smoke was already trailing up from his fingertips.
A distance so small it should have meant nothing.
A distance that suddenly felt impossible.
"My love..."
The words broke.
Penny had never heard his voice break before.
The king stared at her the way drowning people stared at shore.
As though he could still reach it if he wanted badly enough.
As though love alone should have been enough.
The magic disagreed.
He lowered his hand.
Defeated.
Finally, the king lifted his gaze toward the gathered men.
"Crown prince."
The realization struck Penny like lightning.
Not a soldier.
Not a commander.
Not simply the man who walked the gardens.
The crown prince.
The future king.
Penny stared at Evander.
And suddenly she understood.
The deference.
The obedience.
The way doors opened for him before he reached them.
The way nobles listened when he spoke.
The way even the king smiled when he appeared.
The memories came rushing back.
Carrying her to every entrance in the garden.
Giving the gardener a command to protect her.
A dance beneath crystal chandeliers.
His boots carried her around the ballroom because she didn't know the steps.
Who had noticed she was starving.
Who had quietly fed her.
Who had fished and hunted for her.
Who never demanded anything.
Never asked for anything.
Never tried to possess her.
Evander lifted his head.
For one brief moment, his eyes found hers.
And Penny felt her heart betray her.
He was the crown prince.
The true heir.
The future king.
Prince Sebastian's face hardened immediately.
Years of resentment flashed openly across his features, which Penny had noticed but never realized before, as two brothers, one a human in a vampire court, and one the vampire prince that people spoke in reverence of.
"I'll protect her with my life, Father," said the crown prince Evander as he knelt in front of his father, the king.
He stood and held out his hand like he had so many times to her.
As she stood and placed her hand in his, the magic inside Penny twisted harder.
The invisible hooks dug deeper.
And for the first time, Penny understood.
The wish had not given her away.
It had divided her.
And somewhere inside her chest, new bonds were beginning to answer.
The king looked between the general and Prince Sebastian with naked irritation.
Penny could feel his thoughts as if shouts in her head as he spoke not a word.
Sharing was not part of his nature.
Not kingdoms.
Not treasures.
Certainly not Penny.
Evander began to lead her away from the chaos as Wade stayed at her side
The King gave an order to Sebastian.
"Take your mother to her chambers."
The command struck the room like a blade.
The human prince straightened.
The queen froze.
"She is confined until it's time to dispose of her."
A shiver moved through the room.
The queen's composure cracked for the first time as she struggled against the hands of the guards holding her.
"My king "
"No attendants."
His voice cut through hers.
"No court."
Another crack.
"No visitors."
The queen's face went white.
"Only her son may enter."
As they exited through the doors, she heard the next order being given to the general behind them.
"Cancel the balls."
The order cracked through the chamber.
"End tonight's festivities."
His gaze found Penny one last time before the doors closed.
Love.
Loss.
Possessiveness.
The emotions slammed through the bond hard enough to steal her breath.
Then the doors shut between them.