Chapter 52  

"Klara? Where are you going?" Irene stood at the door while Klara packed her weapons.

"I am going to find Lucian." Klara waited for Irene to ask why but she didn't.

"How do I leave? I mean we came through that magic gate." Klara asked.

"You leave through it as well. Do you want me to open it for you?"

"Yes, please."

Klara followed Irene outside and she opened the gate for her.

"Take this." Irene said handing her a bird shaped necklace."It will help you when you are in danger."

Klara looked at the necklace. How would a necklace help her she wondered. "Thank you. I shall go then."

"Yes."

"Wait!" Hazel came running toward them. "Could you give this to Lucian?" She asked holding out a letter.

Klara took the letter. "Yes." She said, "Goodbye." Then entered the gate with her horse.

"Be careful." She heard Hazel call before a force swept her away and she landed flat on her stomach.

"Ouch!"

Standing up she dusted herself off. Her horse, Klara called him Thunder seemed fine, just confused by what was happening.

"It's alright." She said clapping him. "Shall we leave?"

Mounting Thunder Klara rode off to find Lucian.

Klara rode for a while until she came to a crowded place. It was a shopping market she realized, but where exactly?

"Excuse me? Where is this place?" Klara asked a woman walking by.

"This is Xantus My Lady." The woman told her.

Xantus was a city in Decresh. So she was already where she wanted to be.

"Where can I find the royal castle?" Klara asked.

The woman's face turned blue. "You shouldn't go there My Lady. There is blood everywhere."

"Just tell me where it is."

"It's in the north-west a few miles away."

"Alright. Thank you." Klara said and continued her journey.

The sun went down and it became darker and darker till it was difficult to see the road. Klara decided to stop and sleep until the morning light.

"Let's get some rest." She said getting off Thunder and stroking his back. Finding a tree she tied Thunder, then she lay down on the cold ground under the tree. "Goodnight Thunder." She whispered and closed her eyes.

The next morning she woke up from Thunder making a sound. It only meant one thing, horses were nearby which probably meant soldiers. Klara got up quickly and hid behind a cliff then listened to the sound of horses and men nearing.

Slowly she peeked her head from behind the cliff. Soldiers dressed in a black and blue attire were walking past. Black and blue? It was her brother's men. What were they doing here?

Oh, no. Her brother knew she went to help Lucian so of course, they were looking for her here or maybe even looking for Lucian.

"Your Highness?" A young soldier named Erik looked at her surprised. "We have been looking for you everywhere."

Klara sighed in frustration. Couldn't she just be left alone?

"Well, here I am."

"We have been told to bring prince Lucian."

Of course. Her brother probably wanted to punish him for escaping as if he really didn't have enough problems already.

"No, you won't. You wanted me here I am. Let's go home now."

"I am sorry Your Highness but we have to follow the king's orders first."

She looked around. They were too many to fight on her own. Crazy things she was doing for love, fighting her own men.

"Then I won't come with you." She threatened. "You either take me or him. You decide."

Erik didn't blink once. Rasmus must have told them to bring her no matter what. Klara knew her brother.

"Your Highness please. Don't force us to fight."

"I am not. I gave you an option Erik. Take which option you want."

Erik sighed then nodded toward the soldiers. Klara took her sword out ready to fight.

"Leave the Lady alone." A voice she recognized spoke.

Looking to where the voice came from Klara found Roshan walking from a distance.What was he doing here?

"Do you know him Your Highness?" Erik asked.

Well, she knew him but not really.

"Are they disturbing you?" Roshan asked as he neared. Wearing a long black coat he looked even more bad and dangerous than before. "Do you want me to get rid of them?"

Klara looked around. He was only one, how would he fight all these men?

"Could you do that?" She asked.

He smirked. "You just tell me."

How stupid she was. Of course he could. He was a witch so he would probably just make them fall asleep like Irene did.

"Alright." She said.

Erik raised one eyebrow. "Just kill him and bring her." He ordered unbothered.

A few soldiers took their swords out and aimed toward Roshan. Roshan ducked from the first soldiers' strike and snapped his head off so fast she couldn't even follow with her eyes. The other soldiers stopped in their tracks surprised by what just happened.

Klara was shocked, was he going to fight? She thought he would put them to sleep.

Clearly he wasn't because in a few seconds fight he had already killed everyone using only two small daggers. He reminded her of how Lucian fought, fast and fluid.

Roshan took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from his daggers before putting them back in his pocket all while Klara still was shocked as she looked at the dead bodies of her men. What had he done?

Klara looked at Roshan. He was standing there, unbothered, as if he just didn't kill someone, but was out here on a walk to get some fresh air on a sunny day.

"What have you done?" She asked.

"You don't seem thankful."

"You just killed my men."

"You told me so." He stated simply.

"Well, you could just put them to sleep or something." She said frustrated.

"What? Do you want me to sing them a lullaby?"

Klara glared at him.

"You are not funny. You could use your magic or whatever."

"Magic?" He said confused. "Oh...you think I am a witch."

"You are not?"

"No."

Klara was confused. If he wasn't a witch then what was he? Because she could sense he wasn't a normal human. There was just something different about him.

"Then what are you?" She almost whispered.

He took a few steps toward her. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

He leaned in as if he was going to tell her a secret. "I...am... a man." He said.

Klara took a step back. She knew he was mocking her from the smirk on his face.

"Oh, really? I didn't know." She said sarcastically.

"I could show you." He said letting his gaze rake her body. Usually, she hated when men did that but this time she felt something in the pit of her stomach and her cheeks burned.

Turning around afraid he would notice her reaction she began to walk away.

He followed her.

"Why are you here?"

"The necklace." He explained.

Oh, the necklace. So that's how it would protect her. By sending this annoying man.

"Where are you from?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"From which kingdom? Because clearly you are not from here."

"Oh, I am from the Kingdom of Shinai."

Klara stopped and turned around to face him."Shinai?" She had never heard of it.

"It's in Persia."

"You are Persian?" Klara asked surprised.

"Yes."

"Oh,"

"Now let me ask you a question. Why are you risking your life for a married man?"

Klara stopped breathing for a while. She didn't expect him to ask this question.What was she supposed to say? That she had been a desperate bad woman in love and is now trying to make up for the mistakes she made.

"That's none of your business." She said then whistled.

Thunder came galloping toward her. "Thank you for the help. I can take care of myself now, you can go back."

Roshan narrowed his gaze. "Do you even know where to go?"

Truth she didn't know anymore.

"I'll manage." She said.

Klara hoped he would insist following her because she really didn't know where to go and what more dangers she would come across but Roshan only shrugged.

"Alright then."

Angry with herself for even having such hopes she mounted Thunder and rode away.

I couldn't fall asleep, so I got off the bed and decided to get some fresh air. Besides Irene had a beautiful garden and I wanted to see how it looked like when it was night.

As I walked out to the garden I found Irene sitting on the threshold. She sat on the floor with legs crossed and hands stretched out to the sides. On each hand lay a burning candle and several other burning candles encircled her. She seemed to be mumbling something with eyes closed while melted candles were dripping down her hands. The hot wax must have been burning her skin but she didn't seem to be in pain.

"Irene?" I whispered as I neared, but she just continued mumbling some unknown words. I walked even closer and called once more. "Irene?"

With eyes still closed a tear fell down her cheek. the candles in her hands were burning out and more wax was dripping down her hands. She was hurting herself.

"Irene! What are you doing?" I said as I threw the candles out of her hands. Her eyes shot open and a strong wind put out the candles.

Irene's green eyes were filled with tears as they looked into mine. "Irene? Are you alright?"

"No, I am not." She whispered. I looked at her hands, they were red and covered with dried wax.

"Why are you doing this?"

She looked at her hands. "I do this every day. It's nothing new," she said taking her hands away.

"Why?"

"I am trying to break the curse."

"But who cursed you?"

"My mother. She is the most powerful witch."

"Why did she curse you?" I asked wondering why a mother could curse her own child.

"I can't tell you much. I can only say I broke the rules, I did something forbidden."

"Can't you ask your mother for forgiveness? I am sure she will forgive you."

Irene's eyes widened. "She will not!" She said shaking her head. "My mother has disowned me Hazel."

I looked at her. What had she done that made her mother disown her?

"Can you tell me how she cursed you? What is the curse?"

"That I can't tell you." She said.

Suddenly her gaze shifted to something behind me and I could feel the hair on my back rising. I got goosebumps and a cold shiver went down my spine. I knew someone was behind me, I could feel a powerful presence. My heart began to beat rapidly and the air felt suddenly cold.

"Would you stop love? You are scaring her." Irene said standing up. Love?

I stood up as well and turned around slowly. A tall figure was standing in the shadows, the only thing visible thin was long silver pale hair. Was it hair? I wasn't sure yet.

Slowly the figure stepped out from the shadows and into the light and my breath caught in my throat. I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, or that I didn't die and go to heaven and an angel was standing right in front of me now.

This man, if he was a man, was breathtaking. He was tall, lean with facial features that seemed to be made by Gods own hands. His silver hair, a very odd hair color, matched perfectly with his looks and his eyes a midnight blue seemed colder than the glaciers. Yet as he looked into my eyes I felt as if he could burn me with his gaze if he wanted to.

They say the hottest fire always burns blue.

Irene walked up to him and put her arm through his.

"Hazel, this is Lothaire. I had promised you to meet the man I love, here he is." She smiled.

"Hi," I said as I still stood frozen in the same place. God, I was being rude. "It's nice to meet you." I forced myself to speak.

"The pleasure is mine."