There is blood everywhere. My heart stops as I see Erin kneeling beside someone. I rush over to her, dropping on my knees when I reach her. She is trying to stop the bleeding that’s leaking out of her date’s chest. I rip the bottom of my dress, roll it up, and press it against the open wound.“What happened?” I whisper shout.“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She mutters.“Did you see who it was?”I give her a quick glance. She is pale and her eyes are wide.“Erin?”She shakes her head slowly. Where is everyone? I glance around and notice several people on the ground. My stomach sinks. I grab a hold of Erin’s hand and put it over the wound.“Do not let go! You hear me?” When she doesn’t respond, I ask a little louder. “Erin, do you hear me?”“Yes.” She whispers.“Good.”I rush over to the next person and rip up a little more of my dress. I wad it up and place it over their wound. I place their loved ones hand on top of the cloth and repeat what I told Erin. I do this with every person lyi
AlrichA few hours earlier:I’m livid. I’m jealous. I’m hurt. All of these emotions are foreign to me. I’m not used to having such strong feelings about someone. Yet, here I am, pacing around the tent watching as she dances with someone else.It brings me back to the night that I met her. The smug Prince must have really upset her because, as soon as he walked towards her, I saw the fire and determination in her eyes. She turned to me with the sweetest little voice and asked me to be her escort.I couldn’t resist. She was breathtakingly adorable. We danced all night. That is how our friendship blossomed. Now, here she is doing the same thing with a guy four years older than her. I can’t lose our friendship. It’s no secret that Toby dislikes me.He does have his reasons. I haven’t always been the best guy. She changed me. I glance over at her mother and scowl. She is stopping me from getting what I want. I usually always get what I want. I don’t know what hold she has over the King but
RaleighI didn’t sleep. I don’t think that any of us did. So many people, so much blood, and no answers. No one saw the attacker. If I believed in such things, I would have thought that it was a vampire. They don’t exist though.Nothing else makes sense. My thoughts drift to Chris. Does he know everything that is going on? Is he being informed about his dad’s health? I sigh. The pain in my heart reminding me that we were no longer friends.I hear a knock at my door and I rush to answer it. I never heard my mom come home last night. I was a little worried but too scared to go and find out from Talon. Opening the door, Erin stood there.Confused, I look her over. “Hello, Erin. Are you okay?”“I was hoping that you could tell me if you know where Toby is?” She asked quietly, and a little more than worried.I widen my eyes. “He’s not at home?”She shakes her head. “He never came home last night.”My heart starts beating hard and I rush to Talon. I pound on his door. He yanks it open, eyes
ChristopherToday is the today that I return home. I can not wait. It has been a hard year. Learning that something killed a large amount of subjects, in such a short time, during Raleigh’s birthday almost made me come back. I was panicked.Erin assured me that she, meaning Raleigh, was fine. The amount of injured and dead was staggering though. I had lost a few friends in that attack. My father sent word that I was to stay put, no matter what I felt.A few weeks later, I got word that the Regent, Reginald, was in charge because my father had passed. To say that I was livid, is an understatement. I knew this day was coming. That didn’t lesson the pain and anger any.He didn’t want me to come home. It hurt. It hurt that I didn’t get to see him off. It hurt that I didn’t light his pyre. It hurt that my Mother had to handle it all by herself. It hurt that..it just hurt.I didn’t visit Erin after that. I worked on my training. I worked out, perfected my sword fighting skills, perfected my
RaleighChristopher is coming home today. At one time, I would have been excited. However, I am not as concerned about it as everyone else seems to be. All four of the territories are hosting their own parties. Me? I’m trying to sort my feelings for a certain black smith.It’s been about a year since the massacre at my birthday. The strange thing is, that was the last massacre that happened. It wasn’t the last murder though. There have been ten more murders since then. No one wants to tell me what is going on, either.Every time someone is murdered, they keep it away from me. It really makes me nervous. I do get the feeling like someone is watching me every now and then. But, it has even lightened up a bit. It seems like that massacre was the breaking point.“Rae.”I jump and spin around to see Emma standing in my door way. Our friendship has been rocky for the last year. This attraction that I feel towards Tobias, and her crush, have been weighing heavy on my mind. I feel guilty.“So
Toby’s POVThe second that she opens her eyes, I freeze. I know what my strange need to be with her is now. The problem is, that she isn’t old enough to know it yet. She’s my fated mate! How have I not noticed it before? The strange jealousy, the urge to protect her, the constant thoughts of her.She’s always been mine. I’m twenty one and she’s only 17. She won’t know what her attraction is to me until she turns eighteen. That’s when we know, for sure, who our mates are. I look at Erin. Everything in me wants to say ‘mine’ but I know that it would confuse her.*Erin.**What’s wrong, Brother?**She’s my fated!*She glances at Rae, stunned. She studies her face and suddenly recognition sets in her facial features. She’s starting to connect the dots. She kneels beside us, checking on Rae’s wounds. When the horse fell, all I could think about was Rae. I didn’t get to her in time and my heart seized. I heard her arm break and the air rush out of her lungs. Panic seized me.*Chris is going
Toby’s POVI hear the bells signaling that Chris has been made the King. I can tell that Erin wants to go to him. She won’t go though because our best friend is in there fighting for her life. One of the nurses finally came out because Selene is screaming.I finally started feeling like I can breath again and the pain has stopped. The bond is still there so I knew what she was going to say before she said it. Rae didn’t die. I’m still sitting on the floor, broken. Sweat is drenching my shirt.I felt her leave. The nurse explained that she had flat-lined. Just before the doctor pronounced her death, she inhaled air like she was drowning. It was a miracle. Right now, she is in surgery. I glance over at Talon who keeps giving me looks like he wants to kill me.“Has anyone told Emma?” I hear Erin ask.Emma! How could I forget about Emma! I look to her brother and parents. They are thinking the same thing.“I’ll do it.” My father said. “I think it best if it comes from someone who can get
Chris’s POVI’m walking back to my room at the palace when I run into Emma. When she first notices me, she rolls her eyes and starts taking off.“Em.” I call out to her. She starts running faster, irritating me. I groan frustrated. “Em.” I holler out again, using my authoritative tone.She spins around. “Yes, your Majesty?” She bows, sarcastically.It irritates me. We were best friends. I struggle to keep my irritance at bay. I scowl at her and take a deep breath. I’m already upset that Rae didn’t show. I had hoped that years apart would help her feel better.“Em. Get up, you know that you can call me Chris.” I tell her.She doesn’t look very happy that I consider her a friend. Great. I knew that Rae and her were best friends but could they both not forgive me? I’ve changed. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. She looks at me disbelieving.She raises her eye in defiance. The smirk on her face irritates me more. “I can?? Oh!! How exciting! Is it only Rae who isn’t good enough to call you Chr