Vampire Queen

Chapter thrity three

The royal guards came to my chambers. I recognized them. They were among those who betrayed Cassius as king and swore their allegiance to Balmore.

"Prince Bael requests your presence immediately," they informed me.

"I'll come when I feel like it," I said.

"However, the prince requests your presence immediately," they repeated.

"I am the queen. Prince Bael has no right to ask or expect anything from me." I retorted bossily.

"The prince has something that will surely capture your attention, Your Majesty." a mischievous smirk bloomed on their lips.

I followed them to the royal tomb. Bael and Balmore were waiting for me there. Soldiers and hunters kept them company. As if they would prepare for war. But I wasn't afraid of them.

"What do you want Bael?" I asked him irritated.

"I think you must be missing why you're here, Dragomira," he replied coldly.

"I see you've invited your entire army," I smirked. "Are you afraid I might do something stupid?"

"You're always doing something stupid, Dragomira," he said. "Like why is Cassius still alive?"

"For personal reasons," I replied.

"And aren't the personal reasons that you started to have feelings for him?" Bael asked me a question.

"It's none of your business," I retorted.

"You are unteachable, Dragomira," Bael said. "You always end up making the wrong choice."

"Really?" I laughed. "You make Cassius a monster, but it was your hunters who attacked the innocent. What did the attack in Kalon mean?"

"We were giving you a chance not to be accused of murdering the king," Balmore replied. "There was chaos there. You had the best chance to kill him, but you didn't take it.''

"I'm sorry, but at that moment I had other things to worry about than planning someone's murder. Like getting people out of burning town."

"How noble," said Balmore almost mockingly. "However, you were traveling with him for two months. You had many chances to correct that mistake, but you decided not to take any of your chances anyway.''

"That will probably be because I decided I'm done with your game," I said forcefully.

"You're not finished, Dragomira," Bael said.

"And how are you going to force me?" I laughed. "I didn't tell Cassius about you, only because of our past, but that could change very quickly."

"You didn't say anything to Cassius because you're protecting your own neck, Dragomira. You know very well that he would kill you if he found out. After all, you planned his death."

I took a step closer to him, two, three. I was standing right in front of him. We stared at each other.

"I won't do it," I said. "I won't kill him."

"You will have no choice, Dragomira," Bael said.

Bael waved at his soldiers and they brought my brother in chains from the shadows. He was injured. His face covered in blood. He looked as if he had experienced a crushing battle to the death. And he lost. But instead of death, he's tied up here like some kind of animal.

"Alexei!"

I wanted to run to him, but Bael caught me. The hunters stood between me and my brother. I turned to Bael and violently pushed him away from me. He hit the wall hard and fell on the ground. I grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the wall. The soldiers took a step towards us but did not intervene. They were on alert.