Tales of the Throne: Queen

Chapter 13: Who Do You Serve?

Katherine's POV

Several minutes had passed filled with me trying to talk some sense into Lucian but after a while, he started ignoring me. Llewellyn had gone back to get some water a few minutes ago, so it looked like it was up to me to convince him.

"You can't possibly be thinking about rouges," I jogged a little to catch up with him, yet he still ignored me. I turned back to notice Llewelyn had fallen behind a bit. "Lucian you can't just put lives in danger," he still didn't respond to me. Okay, now he's starting to piss me off.

I grabbed Lucian's arm to stop him from moving any further but he snapped at me and cornered me to the nearest tree so fast I didn't have a chance to process it.

"My duty is to you, to keep you and the kingdom safe, and I will do whatever is necessary to do so," His breathing intensified against my forehead as he looked me straight in the eye with his glowing red ones as if he was checking for any defiance.

His intense gaze made me squirm a little, I nodded silently.

He slowly let go of me and backed away, I was still a little shocked so I was still pressed against the tree. At that moment, I noticed Llewelyn had caught up with us.

"We should continue if we want to get there soon," I mumbled as I pushed myself off the tree and continued walking in the direction we were going before not waiting for either Llewelyn or Lucian.

I didn't know why I was so irritated, maybe cause I wasn't used to getting yelled out. Maybe it was because Lucian didn't budge about going after rouges. Either way, I wasn't in the mood to talk or be spoken to.

Shortly after I heard footsteps following close behind me and I assumed it was Lucian. I felt a hand go around my mouth and I immediately became alarmed.

I roughly was thrown to the ground and that's when I had a chance to view my attacker.

He growled and was about to sink his teeth into me but luckily just in time, Lucian snapped his neck rendering him unconscious while Llewelyn was picking me off the ground.

I was still panting when I asked, "Who is he and why is he trying to attack me?" I was still gasping for air but my heart rate was starting to slow down.

"I don't know, Lucian and I were talking then we smelt his scent," Llewelyn said, checking me for any injuries.

Meanwhile, Lucian stayed quiet while knelt beside the man, scanning the man's body for any clues of who he might be. He lifted up the man's left arm to reveal a red burn mark, it contained so much detail, it was still red meaning it was done recently. He had been branded, but it wasn't the mark of the royal court.

"It's the mark of the rebellion," Lucian sighed looking at Llewellyn, I let out a low gasp remembering what Lucian had told me about the rebellion wanting me dead.

"They're not supposed to be this far up north," his eyes scanned our surroundings, deeming whether or not we were safe, subconsciously I did the same.

Lucian punched his hand through the man's chest and kept his hand in the man's chest. Immediately, the man regained consciousness with wide eyes staring at the hand in his chest, while gasping for air.

"Who do you serve?" Lucian commanded, his eyes starting to turn black, it in itself was already terrifying.

The man stayed silent then Lucian twisted his hand in the man's chest making him scream in pain.

I turned away and snuggle closer to Llewellyn because I couldn't watch the scene that unfolded right in front of me, torture just seems very inhumane.

"Ol... Oldris," the man managed to wheeze out. Who's Oldris? Is he the leader of the rebellion?

I turned back to see the man staring at me, "Your... death is our victory," he sneered, I felt a bit of vomit rise in my mouth but I kept it down.

Before he could say anything else, Lucian already pulled out his heart and tossed it aside carelessly.

The blood on Lucian's palm extended to his whole hand, and his nails had grown slightly longer. "They're becoming too bold," Llewellyn said as he let go of me to check the man's mark once more.

I was staring at the gaping hole in his chest and the stench of blood in the air made me gag once more in my mouth.

Lucian glanced at me as if to check if I was hurt anywhere, "We'll be safer at the academy, we're almost there," he reassured me, after noticing how terrified I looked. I was still annoyed at him so I just turned my head away.

I was silent for the rest of the walk there, what had happened was embedded in my memory. I couldn't help but continue to wonder who Oldris was.

We continued walking and not too long after we arrived at the gates of the Royal Academy. We had finally arrived after two days, it was a school truly built for royalty, it was almost as beautiful as the castle.

The tall gates had a soft barrier around them, I walked closer to touch the barrier, it was so mesmerizing. "I wouldn't do that if I was you," Lucian caught my hand before I could touch the barrier.

I stepped back to stand beside him, simultaneously the gates opened and the barrier opened slightly but just enough for us to pass through it.

I slowly walked through from behind Lucian, as I continued I scanned the school and the land was massive.

There were several buildings but it was quite obvious to tell which one was the main building, it had a massive staircase made of stone and two huge statured wolves on either side.

I noticed a man dressed in very nice attire walk up to us and shake Lucian's hand. "General, it's a pleasure to have you as a guest. I'm sure you must want to rest," the man nodded towards Llewellyn and simply skipped over me as if I wasn't there. "Captain, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"There's no need to rest, we can discuss in your office," the man simply snuck a glance at me and led us into the main hall of the school.

I noticed the students were in uniform as the girls wore black skirts with a white shirt accompanied by a black-tie with gold writing. Some wore a black blazer, others wore a sweater. The boys were dressed in the same way but with pants instead, some of the boys even had richly made coats over their uniform.

They all looked around my age and I felt oddly out of place, I continued looking around and I noticed a lot of girls were staring at Lucian but he paid no attention to them.

Llewellyn however sent winks here and there, didn't he have a mate?

One girl even went as far as to drop her handkerchief in front of Llewellyn. Don't they have anything better to do? Dropping a handkerchief in front of a man was more or less asking for it.

I inwardly rolled my eyes at the behaviour of some of the girls.

The worst part was that they looked like they were my age or younger. I saw Llewellyn pick up the girl's handkerchief and hold it in his hand, "Llewellyn! She's young," I silently whispered trying to knock some sense into his head.

"She looks young because that's the age she was turned at, barely anyone here is human," he whispered in my ear, smiling wickedly. I couldn't help but want to bring up the fact that he has a mate but I decided it's not my place. I just silently followed the principal into his office.

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