The King's Queen

Chapter 59

The guy with the mask was the second person I'd encountered from Sepia X. First was the girl who had magnetism as her unique ability. Whoever the Sepia X members were, the prinarch had carefully chosen them, and they were dangerously powerful.

***

Even two days later, the incident with Sepia X's tracker had us all on edge.

Not only did we have to worry about Rosaline and Princess Hailey sending assassins after us, but we had to remain on constant alert, waiting for the tracker to show up to finish his job.

Although on second thought, it would be good if Rosaline did send people after us. It might mean she'd figured out that Twain wasn't the real darkness user. As long as they still had him, and he was alive, it didn't matter how many people came after us. We would go through all of them to get Twain back.

While we were navigating the threats Lydia offered, life still continued as scheduled for the rest of the world, including Crysauralia. Beau, Melissa, and Callie had video-called to update us on what was happening.

Prinarch Cole had finally done the unthinkable. He'd officially declared war on the Spade Kingdom, claiming that King Malekh had abducted me, the crown prince's fiancée.

Because Ashton and I had yet to formally announce our engagement, that revelation caused quite a stir throughout the empire.

We were supposed to do it at a press conference, but I'd been taken to the Spade Kingdom that same day.

Prinarch Cole was right about one thing. Malekh had arranged for my abduction; however, the prinarch couldn't care less about my well-being. He was using me for his personal political advantage, and that made my blood boil.

That heinous man must have been born without a conscience. He had the audacity to stand before millions of people and pretend to be heartbroken that I was being held hostage by a foreign kingdom, when just a few weeks ago, he'd locked me in a room infused with Nightshade gas, fully furnished with a psychopathic scientist, and left me to die.

Sure, he was definitely concerned about the safety of his grandson's fiancée.

My parents were growing more distraught with each passing day. When my daily communications with them had suddenly stopped, they'd been suspicious, but the palace had come up with the excuse that I was too busy. Now, they knew that was a lie.

I wished I could tell them the whole truth, but it was too risky. For now, they'd just have to believe that I'd be alright. Melissa and Callie would continue making sure that they were safe, and Kevin would check in on them when he returned to Crysauralia.

The Origen Association was also preparing to launch another full-scale war against the Origins. But they were mistaken if they expected the Origins to just sit by and wait to get annihilated again.

The Origins would retaliate. Before that could happen, I had to meet with Luca. If he agreed to help us, then we could destroy the Meryllian Origen Association.

On some days, I was convinced that we had a good strategy, and all we needed to do was move the pieces on the board accordingly, while on others, I felt torn.

I wanted to do everything I could to protect both sides, but was that just an optimistic, unrealistic goal? Even if we stopped the war, then what? Would the Origins and Origens go back to hating each other? Would the Crysauralian royals and nobles accept Ashton as their emperor if he married me, Luca's daughter?

I had already shifted, but on days like these, the splitting headaches kept creeping back.

***