Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Chapter 51:

Lancelin’s P.O.V:

“Is everyone out?” I called out to Acelin when the throne room seemed relatively empty aside from my family and a few other trusted soldiers.

“Yes,” Acelin confirmed as he came to stand next to me. “The guards are all taking the guests to safety and everyone has cleared the castle.”

“Now we find out who’s responsible.” I looked around the room with narrowed eyes. “Has anyone seen Nathaniel?”

We looked around the room which was now in chaos. Two huge chandeliers were on the floor with glass shards scattered everywhere. The flower vases had been overturned when people were trying to escape and they too had been shattered into pieces, the flowers trampled to a paste under heavy boots. The fire from the candles in the chandelier had caught onto the heavy silk curtains and were now consuming them with phenomenal speed, the smell of burnt fabric and smoke having scattered in all directions, making it difficult to see. Three people had been injured because of the chandelier falling on top of them and another six had been trampled over in the resulting chaos. Thankfully, they were all immortals and no was reported dead, but their injuries will take time to heal.

“He was the first one to flee the room.” Amber said as she came to stand beside us, next to Acelin. “Aunt was unwilling to leave but I sent her away to see the guests to their new quarters.”

“Good idea.” Acelin nodded. “Now…who would want to ruin your coronation? I doubt it was Nathaniel. He could try to control you but not go against his people.”

“Lancelin.” Erick arrived next to us then, using his teleportation skills. He was probably the only vampire in history to have teleportation as his vampiric ability and I had to admit, it was a mighty useful skill.

“Why are you back here? Shouldn’t you be with your wife? Where is she?” I asked him.

“I just teleported her to our castle here in Sanctium. My brother and my bodyguard are both there, looking after her.” He said. “I thought you could use a helping hand.”

“By the looks of the current situation, we definitely do.” Acelin shook his head as he looked around the room.

“Everything is ruined.” Erick lamented.

“Nothing that cannot be fixed.” I told him with a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad everyone is safe and the injured are being looked after.”

“Don’t celebrate just yet, Your Highness.”

A feminine voice sneered from somewhere in the room and I turned towards the back, looking for the voice when six hooded figures appeared in the middle of the room, all clothed in black robes from head to toe, making it impossible for us to identify them.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” I ordered, making my voice echo with power.

Five mages were standing in the formation of a circle with one person in the middle and everyone removed their hoods at the same time to reveal their faces.

“Mauve?” Acelin whispered as we all recognized the woman in the centre of the circle.

It was Mauve Balfour, Chrone of the Amenite Mage coven and Tanya’s grandmother. Not only was she over five hundred years old, but she was a power. People stayed out of her way and she stayed out of theirs. Mauve was one of the few mages who was ambitious and power hungry but what cause she would have to ruin my coronation, I did not know.

“You’re about to commit a sin, Incubus King!” Mauve’s voice was like granite, her namesake eyes spitting fire at me. Her black hair was in wild curls around her head and her dark chocolate complexion was only a few shades lighter than her robe. By looking at her, no one would be able to tell her age as she hardly looked older than forty five years.

“What sin?” Acelin frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You turned a human into a vampire and you plan to mate with her!” She spat. “You want to bring back the hybrids! The very reason why our world were in turmoil! You plan to spawn evil!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Erick snapped at her. “None of what you’ve spoken is true and I can guarantee it. You have no proof except for your baseless assumptions!”

“So you’re a part of this too! The entire Dark Council is corrupted!” Mauve threw her hands up in the air and dark light began to form around them. The men surrounding her, all mages that were lesser known part of her coven, began to chant a spell in their language.

“What-”

Before any of us could react, all of us fell to our knees, the force of gravity attracting us towards the earth with double the intensity. I couldn’t get up, couldn’t use my powers. Lifting a finger felt as difficult as walking with a broken leg. I turned my head towards Erick with much difficulty and found him in the same state as me. Acelin and Amber were behind me so I couldn’t see them but from the sound of their groans, they must be in a similar state. I had to brace my hands on the floor to stop myself from falling face first on the floor and the force of gravity seemed to increase with every second that passed.

“What are you doing? Stop this at once!” I ordered Mauve but she just laughed.

“You have no jurisdiction over us Incubus,” she sneered. “We are not your puppets and we refuse to let anyone else get slaughtered because of your foolishness! You will end up creating hybrids sooner or later! It’s better to nip the problem in the bud.”

“Stop this!” Erick groaned. “Mages are peace keepers, protectors of nature! What would you get by harming us? Killing other races is a crime punishable by death and you’re about to harm two Kings of the Dark Council.”

“Unfortunately for you, no one will remain to punish us.” Mauve laughed. “And the dead don’t talk.”

The chanting increased as Mauve lifted her hands skyward once more, the dark light crackling like black lightning. I tried with all my might to get up, to move! But nothing was happening. It was the four of us against the combined power of six mages. It was impossible to do anything.

Sanaya…I’m sorry…

Suddenly, all the fire in the room died out as if someone had pressed an off switch. The smoke cleared a second later and the torches on the wall came to roaring life, illuminating the room so we could see our enemies clearly.

“What the-?” Mauve looked around the room in confusion, chanting a few times in her language but nothing happened.

“I’m late to the party by a few minutes and this is what happens?”

She emerged out of the shadows, clothed in a robe of darkness that seemed to follow only her. Her long dark red hair was tied up in a ponytail and her eyes looked almost black in the darkness, but we knew it was a very dark shade of green. She wore a gown in pure black with diamonds embedded in them like constellations in the night sky. And as she came into the light, everyone’s eyes widened in horror.