Love Comes In Many Dangerous Forms

Elizabeth didn’t interrupt my repetition of names that passed through my unmoving lips. We walked down the carpeted staircase, my right hand hovering over the wrought iron railing. I took caution with every step I took; the pads of my feet quietly skimmed the floor as I glided down the staircase as what may have appeared either a very calm, confident and collected queen that was able to defeat whatever was thrown at her or a terrified scarred slave girl with little purpose to the world and had only a sliver of control over her mental stability.

When my feet landed on the ground, suddenly everyone that was left in the castle appeared staring down at me with confused eyes. Shane, Zach, Tristan, Blaine, Audrey, and Elizabeth all stood in front of me while Athen was in a dark corner holding a struggling Carly in his arms.

Shane reached me first, his hand rested easily on the top of my shoulder, the pad of his thumb rubbing in soothing circles around the skin, “What’s going on, Cassiel?”

I glanced towards Athen who proceeded to give me a glare that could kill. I opened my mouth to speak, still not breaking my stare with the immortal across the room, “There’s going to be a council meeting today, and my parent’s didn’t tell me about it.” The lie passed through my lips easily, that even I almost believed it.

He looked at me with a blank expression as his hand fell from my shoulder back to his side limply, “What?”

“The council is coming,” I repeated calmly.

“Then why the hell aren’t you running?” Zach stared at me, with a mix of confusion and anger in his face.

“And leave you all vulnerable when the only thing that they want is me? I don’t think so,” I shook my head at him.

“We can handle them,” Audrey spoke, coming forward with blood in her eyes.

I smiled at her and touched her arm lightly, “There’s nothing to worry about; it’s just a routine meeting. I’ll tell them that my parents and Hillary had to leave with the Nevatrixs for an emergency over in the werewolf territory. Everything will be fine.”

She sighed, looking down at the floor as she wiped her eyes, “Just be careful, okay?”

“Always am,” I assured her, letting go of her arm.

“Blaine,” I faced the shadow with slight concern. “You may want to stay in my bedroom for a few hours; I don’t want them finding you.”

He gave me a silent nod, and disappeared.

I turned to my brother with cautious eyes, “Are you ready?”

He stared at me with knowing eyes, and brought his hands that were behind his back and rested something on top of my head. I looked at him with a confused look, I brought my hand up and my fingers grazed across the object until I was filled with recognition. I was wearing my mother’s crown.

“Now I am,” he answered solemnly.

I nodded as I gave a reassuring glance around the room, making sure to make eye contact with everyone in the room and then I made my way down the short corridor, turning into my father’s conference room where there were twenty empty seats waiting to be filled. I took my place at the head where my father was seated during meetings and Tristan sat to my right, having perfect posture as if he had been with my family the entire time and not enslaved.

As if hearing my thoughts, Tristan’s head snapped in my direction with his violet eyes filled with raw determination. He was a perfect fit for my father’s old uniform, which was freshly pressed and looked as if it had just been tailored. His short hair had been slicked back as best as it could without spiking up as it did when he was younger, “I’m going to fix this, Cassiel.”

I shook my head gently at him, “There’s nothing to fix.”

He opened his mouth to speak but I raised my hand to cut him off, “They will kill me either way, Tristan. If I die with or without the other humans and everyone else is up to how I handle this. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep two-hundred and fifty-three people out there breathing, so please don’t try to save me when it’s too late.”

I could tell that he was going to argue, but the click of the door silenced him.

Zach let the door swing open and stepped aside with a dark look so that the three new occupants could enter the suddenly cold room. They hadn’t changed even the slightest bit in the past three years of not seeing any of their faces.

Derik was the one whose eyes met mine first, and almost instantly I felt a shard of ice dragging over the skin above my spine. Deep pools of nothingness glared back at me as my brother and I rose to our feet. I bent my head slightly in a short, unrespectful curtsy while Tristan stood by my side unmoving.

“Cassiel,” he greeted, letting malice soak in his tone.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my mouth suddenly went dry when I saw the man behind Amelia. His heterochromia eyes drew me back into the memories that I had locked in a box, where I was safe from their unbreakable vise. But that rattling box was withering down into a thin layer of dust. There stood the only surviving guard who tortured and raped me for nearly three years.

Anthony Cavalry.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tristan shoot me a concerned look, “Derik, Amelia,” he greeted, emotionless.

Derik’s eyes flickered towards my brother in silent surprise, “Is that you Tristan?”

He didn’t reply, only staring blankly at our former owner.

Derik tilted his head with a condescending smirk on his face, “I thought you would be dead by now.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” he said, sitting back into his chair and I did the same as I cleared my throat to speak.

“This is a low blow, even for you Derik,” my gaze drifted back to my tormenter.

“Really?” he looked towards Anthony and then his eyes flickered back to me. “I thought it was fitting.”

“What does he mean by that Cass?” Tristan whispered in my ear.

“Hush,” was all I said.

Across the room there was a deep animalistic growl that echoed through my ears, “You’ll have her back soon enough, Anthony,” Derik assured easily.

It didn’t take long for Tristan to put two and two together, and his eyes clouded over in a bloody haze of rage. I grabbed onto his arm, in a futile attempt to keep him under control, “Let it go, Tristan.”

Before he could tear from my grasp, the door reopened and two unfamiliar men with brilliant silvery white wings that fanned out behind them as they walked through the entryway. I had never met either of them and yet I knew exactly who they were; Archangels Raphael and Gabriel, they were the surviving two of the original seven. They resembled each other remarkably, except for the hair color; they could have passed for the same person.

They both had high cheek bones, casting shadows along their angular faces. They were dressed in solid ebony suits with neat slit in the back so that their wings could be free. They moved in unison, frowning as their heads turned in my direction. Their luminary eyes were as white as their wings with no pupil guiding their eyes. They were skeletal like, it seemed like their skin was the only thing covering their hallowed bones.

Gabriel spoke first, “Nice to finally see you again, Queen Cassiel.”

My fingers intertwined with each other nervously, “Likewise, Gabriel.”

“You are undeserving of our brother’s name,” Raphael interjected. “However, in the recent events your sins shall be punished and justice will be served for the lives that you have taken.”

I let his words strike me while I struggled to keep Tristan calm.

“You son of a bitch,” Tristan finally broke from my grasp and stood face to face with the archangel. “She has done nothing to any of you to make you hate her; she has saved your people more than all members of your fucking council ever had. And yet, you turned the entire world against her with your brainwashing. She is innocent of the crime that you are here to punish her for, the monster who massacred my family and the Nevatrixs is out there and from what I can determine, the same monster that killed my family murdered Prince Michael as well.”

“Speak of my son’s death again, I dare you and I will rip your pathetic head off,” the normally quiet queen hissed at my brother, but when he glared at her, she cowered behind her husband.

“I’d like to see you try, Amelia. After what you did to my family and the humans. And I don’t think your ‘soul mate’ wouldn’t really mind me returning the favor seeing as he has been in love with another woman throughout your whole marriage, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

I pushed my chair back and stood between my brother and the council members, “You’re here for me, remember? Leave my brother out of this; he didn’t do anything to any of you. I’m the one that killed all those people, your people. No one else is to blame for the crime I committed.”

“My sweet, innocent Cassiel,” Derik cooed and reached out to caress my face as I held my breath, waiting for him to flick his wrist and snap my neck. “I will never grow tired of the ruse you put on. And I’m sorry to say that you are so terribly wrong, how could one weak mortal kill twenty-three of her own kind and immortal without the help of her brainwashed servants? I’d even bet your little charity case bastard bit into one of your servants.”

“His name is Jimmy,” I choked out as I tried to control the waves of panic washing over me. “And I am telling you they did nothing, it was all me.”

“We’ll see about that, my dear,” he smiled and released my face from his grasp.
The rest of the immortals surrounded us as one by one the eleven of the council members entered the enclosed area. My eyes ran across the room nervously, expecting him to be there but for once luck was on my side that day. I did not see a trace of Blake Locke.

“And once again our dear nephew refuses to show his face, just like his father,” Gabriel scoffed.

“Typical, Blake,” his brother agreed.

I struggled to keep my composure as I bowed to every hate filled gaze. My hands shook as I made eye contact with every immortal inside the conference room, but I saw two faces behind the cluster of people that had regretful looks on their faces.

They were both unrecognizable, never in my life had I seen them before but I knew who they were based on who they stood with. The girl was standing behind her parents, Alarcon and Rosina Dulcina, their wings twitched with irritability as my eyes landed on them and with every slight movement their wings gave off different, yet brilliant hues of color. I racked my memory for her name and smiled at her when I remembered, Gelsey Dulcina. She was the only child of the rulers of the fairy kingdom. I could see it in her face that she didn’t want to be here, it was the same expression that I wore for nearly three years of my life.

The second person was Prince Durin Vercelli of the trolls who would glance at me, then look at Gelsey, and back to me again. He stood slightly behind his parents and elder sister, trying to go unnoticed but failing in my opinion. I frowned slightly, counting their family members once again and noticed one was missing. The eldest brother, Eitri, wasn’t present.

I pushed the lump in my throat down and made my way back to my seat, gripping Tristan’s arm the whole time. The rest of the members followed in suit, and gave my brother and me a wide berth. The only ones who would sit even remotely close to me were Durin and Gelsey, but even they were restricted by their families’ glares.

“Before we begin, I would like to present something to you all,” King Aquarius spoke in a calm, low voice as he stood up. I was confused for a second on how he was able to have legs, but then I remembered that merpeople of the royal family were able to shift from fish to human.

“Go ahead, Aquarius,” Derik smirked, gazing right at me like he knew something.

“We all know how… influential this young mortal is. She can turn your own people, your own family against you with just a few words from her mouth. And those people who fall for her spell spread her lies. Those lies spread like wildfire and is the reason why we are on the verge of a rebellion. Now, you all are aware of this and that her servants are the ones who are poisoning the minds of our subjects. And now that we finally have proof of their involvement with the queen of the mortals, we can end this suffering once and for all.”

“What proof do you have?” Tristan snarled at the immortal.

Aquarius smiled, “Bring them in.”

And then my worst fear was spread out in front of me. Zach, Athen, Audrey, Elizabeth. Carly, and Shane entered the room with blades against each of their necks. Jimmy, Blaine and Vera were nowhere to be seen, so that gave me a slight sense of hope that they would live. But then the door opened again, and one of the guards entered while dragging a motionless body that had been beaten mercilessly. It was a merman with green scales and seaweed in his brown hair that was starting to dry out. His skin was shriveling up more and more as the seconds ticked by. He was bleeding profusely out of the gashes that covered his entire body. The guard who dragged him, turned him carelessly on his side and I saw into his black lifeless eyes that were once filled with joy and light.

That boy was Zane.

I suddenly couldn’t breathe as I knocked my chair over and rushed to my best friend’s side, “No Zane no, no, Zane, you can’t die.”

“He’s not dead yet,” Queen Naida spoke, standing beside Aquarius.

“You are a liar, Derik,” Athen hissed, trying to fight the guard that was restraining him. “You promised my family would be safe.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, Athen. You knew exactly what you were getting into when you came to me, you helped her leave me for that soul sucker therefore, you must die.”

“Wait!” I begged, staring at all of my friends who I considered family to me, and an idea struck me. “The lake.”

“What?” King Alarcon spoke.

“You don’t want me to just die and become nonexistent; you all want me to suffer for eternity. I will make you a deal if you let them and the humans go.”

“Cassiel, no,” Elizabeth pleased.

“Shut up, or I’ll cut your tongue out,” the guard behind her threatened.

“Go on,” Derik insisted, his red eyes filled with hunger.

“My conditions are the humans will not be harmed by any of you or your people in any way and they will not be enslaved. These eight that are in front of me, a long with my son and Vera, will all be safe, you will not harm any of them and they are not to be enslaved as well,” I spoke my works clearly and carefully. “You may torture me however and as long as you may like and then you may throw me into the immortal lake. If you break this deal, my soul goes free.”

The world seemed to stand still for a moment as the members glanced at each other and then gave one curt nod in unison.

“Deal.”