Star Blood |✔|

42| STEEL

Steel.

Jonaus stared at the steel that protruded from him.

He was weak.

He didn't even have time to defend himself or react to the sudden attack.

He falls to his knees, a rattled cough leaving him and covering Saint in black blood.

She steps back, her eyes wide as she quickly distances herself from him.

I'm already up- running towards Jonaus.

The King is there.

Holding him.

"No, no no," he is whispering the words, urgent in his actions as he stares at Jonus in what could only be described as horror as a hand is compressed to his own chest.

Jonaus's eyes, the solid red that possesses them now, lands up me as I stop short a few inches from the two.

"You knew," he whispers.

The King's angry gaze falls upon me as he hears Jonaus's words.

I nod, "I...I had a thought."

Jonaus laughs, "I should have never given you that book."

"No," the King hisses, still holding Jonaus in his arms, "you shouldn't have."

"It's what you would have done," Jonaus whispers, "you can only blame yourself."

Saint slowly makes her way to me. She is covered in black blood, her whole body shivering as she looks at me.

"What is happening," she asks.

She steps behind me, partially hiding her body against mine to protect herself from the oncoming wrath of the King.

But he is too busy focusing upon Jonaus.

And it's the feel of her trembling body that brings a sudden light into my chest. A familiar lost feeling rising within it as a courage I thought gone, resurfaces.

"Maddox."

The King hesitates before he looks up to meet my gaze.

"You were Moon blessed."

Saint gasps behind me, her fingers curling around my dress as her shaking becomes stronger.

"Mother was scared when she had a Moon Blessed child," Jonaus speaks, causing the King to hiss and look at him in anger. But I can tell he does not have long. Black blood has stained his shirt. His red eyes are fading away.

Jonaus.

Oh Jonaus.

"She asked the Father Darkness to take it away....,"

I walk forward, fear yet determination in my steps.

My task from the Moon.

I had to complete my task from the Moon.

Slowly I lower myself, becoming eye level with Jonaus.

He looks at me, "I was split into two. I'm the light."

"And I'm the darkness," Maddox finishes, his voice a whisper.

I take the Moon Stone off of my bracelet. It had been upon the uninjured hand. Fate working in mysterious ways.

"Your heart, Jonaus," I whisper.

Maddox's eyes grow hard as he presses a hand to his chest, "You were right little star. I am heartless."

I turn to Jonaus again, a sudden knowledge filling me, "It needs to go back."
A tear falls down his face, "I know."

I lean forward and stroke the side of his cheek, feeling a weight settle within my soul, "May the Moon Bless you Jonaus."

He smiles at me, "Take it," he whispers.

Maddox leans forward, "Jonaus, wait. No please, I can't handle it. I need you. I need someone to hold the light for me please don't-,"

His words die away as he realizes that Jonaus can no longer hear him.

He drops the body.

"Maddox..." I slowly back away, taking in his anger, "you need your whole soul."

His angry red eyes turn to me, "Why?" He hisses, "What if I like the darkness? What if I want to stay like this?"

I continue to back away. Jonaus may have been gone, but that didn't mean Maddox was. And that didn't mean he would suddenly have a change in behavior.

The Moon's task.

When I had been eight years old, drawn to the window and painted in her light.

The words whispered within my ears, "restore the balance. Make what is broken, whole."

"Maddox," I stop and allow him to storm up to me, his anger a black cloud that choked me.

"Do you know what would have happened if my father- the King of darkness? Found out that his son was Moon blessed?"

Maddox laughs, "Mother knew. She knew and so she did what she had to. And now you expect me to -," he can't finish his words as he breathes angrily down at me, "I just wanted you to be my Queen. Just one simple thing. And you-," he turns to face Jonaus, a look of pure anguish on his face as he takes in the still body.

"You don't feel sorrow," I whisper.

His red eyes gaze down at me.

"You feel anger. And violence. Hurt and betrayal. But not sorrow. Not love, not comfort, not those other things that Jonaus could feel, but you...you could....you could have him back."

There is a pause in the air, a ringing silence as Maddox shakes his head.

"I will stay like this, forever."

I look down as I feel a sensation within my palm.

The Moon Stone.

I had forgotten about it.

We both gasp as it shines brightly, casting a light that blinds us.

I don't think.

I just act.

My instincts taking over.

And so I throw the stone at the King and watch as it hits him in the chest- sinking and landing in his body. Letting those red eyes close and fall to the floor. 

pat yourself on the back if you guess correctly (proud because some of you readers did ;))
And Merry Christmas!