Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The beeping of the monitor didn’t sound like death. It sounded like a high pitched metallic shriek vibrating through my skull.

“Call the doctor! The Queen is breathing!” Someone screamed from afar.

A sharp, suffocating pain pierced through my chest, forcing me to gasp as air violently flooded my lungs. I tried to sit up, but the crushing weight on my torso made me arch my back and cry out. The voice that slipped past my lips wasn't my own, it was a high, fragile sound that felt utterly foreign.

I blinked through a blinding, white glare. The dark woods, the mud, and the crimson blood moon were completely gone. Instead, bright fluorescent lights burned my retinas, and a chaotic blur of doctors in blue scrubs rushed toward my bedside.

Instinctively, my shaky hands flew to my chest, expecting to feel the sticky warmth of my own blood and the deep wound where Lorelei had driven her silver dagger.

It wasn’t there.

My fingers brushed against smooth, premium silk.

I froze, locking my gaze onto my hands. My breath caught in my throat. My spotless, sun-kissed olive skin was gone, replaced with pale, translucent, porcelain-white fingers, delicate and completely devoid of the freckles that used to line my knuckles.

"Jade, look at me! Keep your eyes on me!"

The frantic, desperate voice cut through the medical panic. A man rushed to the right side of my bed, slamming his hands onto the mattress and grabbing my pale wrists with terrifying familiarity.

I looked up, and froze in absolute horror.

Staring down at me with wide, panicked, and deeply protective gray eyes was Reid Langford.

“Hey, I’m here. You’re safe.” He whispered, staring at me with so much pain and a glint of relief in his eyes.

I watched in horror as he lifted my hands to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to it, closing his eyes as he did. My eyes were still wide in shock, trying to soak in the strangeness of what was going on when a man in white coat and a young woman in scrubs with glasses resting on her nose rushed into the room, their brows creased with worry.

He let go of my hand and stood up, making space for them. My gaze followed his movement and my heart skipped a beat when it reached his eyes. He was staring at me with hope and something that resembled pity.

Pity? From him? It was laughable.

The doctor stepped in front of him, watching worriedly as the young nurse checked the monitor. She frowned, keeping her eyes firmly on me as if she couldn’t believe that I was breathing. I couldn’t either and I had no idea what was going on.

“Her vitals are stable, Doctor. But this….it’s strange.” The nurse said, shaking her head slowly.

A heavy weight pressed down on me from the intensity of Reid’s stare. I wanted to wipe every inch of it off me, scurry out of his sight and never lay my eyes on him again but I couldn’t. Every breath I took felt like a thousand needles piercing my chest and the pain blinded me. The doctor pressed a hand to my forehead, grabbing my attention before stepping away and bowing.

“We thought we’d lost you, Your Majesty.”

I couldn’t be more confused than I’d ever been. Your majesty? The Queen? Who was this woman they were speaking to with so much care and respect? One question that puzzled me was what Reid was doing in here.

A sudden spike of curiosity sizzled through me and I scrambled up but a strong force pushed me backwards and I fell into the bed, the air seizing from my lungs.

Gasps filled the room as they all rushed towards me, their eyes wide with shock and fear. Reid gently pulled me back into the bed, his eyes glistening with tears. His touch burned through my skin and the sheer disgust made me want to puke on him. Fragments of that night forced their way into my head and anger surged through me.

The urge to scrape the feel of his body off me intensified and I quietly pulled away, gritting my teeth together. 

“You need to stay still, Your Majesty. You’re not fit to strain your body.” He whispered, bringing another hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear.

Gosh, I never thought it was possible to be this angry. I’d never gotten angry at Reid.

He was the most perfect human in my eyes and could do no wrong. I’d been totally wrong and if only I knew, I would have kept walking on that first day.

“Alpha, it’s a miracle that the Queen survived this time but I have to warn you, her health is fast deteriorating and I can only guarantee her at only a year of survival before things go bad again.” The doctor explained, glancing my way uneasily.

I processed his words bit by bit. One year to live. This body had one year to live. The Queen or whoever it is they’re talking about had just one year to live her dreams before she’s gone.

But what they don’t know is that, the Queen is dead. The new occupant of this body wasn’t who they thought it was and I didn’t intend on convincing them. I didn’t think I could.

“And the donor?”

The doctor shook his head. “She wasn’t a suitable match.”

I cleared my throat in an attempt to say something and the first eyes that landed on me was that of Reid’s. He signaled for the nurse to leave and she slipped out of the room. Knowing I couldn’t stand anymore of his touch, I raised a finger up to stop him from coming towards me.

He listened. Good.

“You don’t have to worry about anything, sister. I’m going to make sure that they do whatever they can to save you, I promise. I won’t let you die.” He affirmed and I paused.

Sister. The Queen was his sister. The only woman whom I’ve ever heard him talk about with so much respect and admiration. The same one whose body I now possessed.

Fate was cruel. Cruel enough to pull me back into a situation that already killed me just for it to mock me again. My baby was dead and so was his sister but that didn’t satisfy my quest for revenge even when it should.

Flames of my anger was burning brighter than ever before now that I’m trapped in the decaying body of the one person he truly loved. I wanted to show him what heartbreak felt like and I would. I’d make him understand what it felt like to lose everything he loved.

I stayed quiet, barely nodding at him. He looked terrified and worried. It made me a tad bit satisfied. The sadness of it all made me want to cry, though. He watched me lose my life but would go to the depths of hell to make sure his sister didn’t.

A devil. One who didn’t care about me.

“You’ll keep on looking for a suitable match until you find one. Put up your best team to look after the Queen at the palace and you must not say a word of any of this to the king.” His eyes narrowed.

That was the Reid I knew. The one whose voice commanded authority before he entered a room. A man with a heart that could take the lives of a thousand others if it meant getting what he wanted.

And now, the Reid who was just doting on his dying sister had disappeared. A master at erasing his own personalities.

I tried to raise a finger but this body was to weak to move. I frowned, annoyed at how frail it was. I hated it. I’d felt small and weak every single day of my life and I didn’t understand fate’s sense of humor but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. 

Not now, not for the next one year.

 “Clear up every thing that may implicate us before his arrival. You can leave.” 

The King. Jade’s husband. It didn’t look like they wanted him to know his wife was ill.

The doctor bowed to him and then me one more time before heading out but as soon as the door opened, my body tightened in reflex, my heart racing rapidly.

My brows furrowed in confusion and the hairs at the back of my neck stood up. A scent I’ve never perceived my entire life wafted into my nostrils and it forced me to straighten my spine.

A heavy presence floated around the room even before the person could walk in.

My eyes moved towards Reid who was staring at the door with a straighter posture than mine before they landed on the doctor moving back into the room with terrified eyes.

“Your Grace.”

“Where’s the Queen?” A thundering voice that sent chills down my spine asked and I didn’t need to be told who it belonged to.

The King was here.