BELLA
He stilled at my question, as his gaze once more sorted his brother’s. Neither of them uttered a word, and I thought they would never do that. I was prepared to have them change the topic, as it seemed they weren’t ready to tell me about their kingdom and their reasons for leaving when they did. Same with what happened to Kandera’s father. I only knew they killed him, but not their reason for that.
As the subtle breeze blew on his hair, I watched, waiting for him to say something, to tell me they didn’t want to speak about it, or forgot what took place. They could claim it happened a long time ago, so they couldn’t recall everything.
“It was a long time ago,” Fred started, his gaze returning to my face. His blue eyes locked with mine as he told the story. “As hybrids, our people did not accept us. My parents’ relationship was considered taboo, just like your parents. My mother was the vampire princess. The strongest in her bloodline.” His eyes softened as he spoke about his mum.
I could tell he not only loved her but admired the woman she was. Seeing such an expression on his face, I had this crazy wish to meet his mum. If only it would be possible. I would have loved to see the woman who could make him look more human than I have ever done.
“My father was the Lycan prince, the only son of his parent, and the heir to the throne. He was betrothed to a werewolf princess when he met my mum. Fate brought together them. Two unlikely people fell in love despite the laws of their species. Vampires were mortal enemies of Lycans. They weren’t supposed to fall in love, but they did.”
There was so much love in his tone as he narrated the story. His voice got softer, just like his gaze. Looking up at him, it amazed me at how much he changed. Same with Blue. Though he wasn’t the one narrating, he shared the same expression as Fred.
“They were both betrothed to different people when they met, yet they secretly dated each other for a long time until my mum got pregnant. My dad wanted to do things right by making her his queen, but my mum refused. She knew things wouldn’t work out well for them should my dad do that, but he was stubborn.”
“Just like you,” Blue interrupted.
“We both know who is like him,” Fred grumbled, running his fingers through my hair. “I’m more like our mum, while you are the true replica of our dad. Isn’t that right, Bunny?”
Just like that, he dragged me into an argument I didn’t want to be in. Nodding at his words, I acted like I was mute.
How the hell was I supposed to know who took after their parents when I hadn’t met them before? However, Fred wasn’t wrong about something. Blue was more stubborn than Fred. I believe he had a valid point there.
“See? She believes so, too. It’s settled.” Smirking, he playfully nudged his brother before focusing on me. “My dad won the argument, and so they told their parents. The news caused countless problems. My maternal grandparents were against it. However, they weren’t as violent as my paternal grandparents, who took things seriously. Just like what happened to your coven, they attacked my mother’s kingdom one fateful night, and destroyed the entire kingdom, laying to waste all the inhabitants.”
His face contorted. Gone was the soft smile he had on his lips when he spoke about his parents’ union.
“My mum was the sole survivor. My dad, who was on a mission at that time, got the information late. And when he arrived, he only met a destroyed kingdom. My mum was the only one he saw, bathed in the blood of my paternal grandparents, whom she killed when they tried to do the same to her. My father took her away from there and hid her far from our kingdom until she gave birth to us.”
He paused, his gaze leaving my face briefly to look up. He seems to be taking his time, getting himself ready for the final moment. I could tell his story was about to be wrapped.
“With my paternal grandparents’ death, my father ascended the throne. He believed he could get us back with no problems. Though he didn’t do that initially. We stayed in exile with our mum for years until he got the council to agree with his plans to bring us back to the kingdom. However, the council betrayed them. Those damned old men played a trick on him. On the day my mum was to be coronated, they slaughtered them. That was when we were still youths, in Lycan terms.
They believed it would be easy to get rid of us after our parents, not knowing our powers had been woken. Our mum knew something like this would happen, so she forced our change. As we shared vampire blood with her, it wasn’t difficult for her to wake our vampire side up.
That night, we laid to waste any who stood in our way, but it wasn’t enough to bring our parents back.”
I reached over to him and wiped the small tear under his right eye.
“We tried so much to revive our parents,” Blue continued, his tone as hollow as Fred, though it didn’t break like his brother’s did. “We were late. We couldn’t do anything.”
“Was that why you left your kingdom? You were heartbroken by the betrayal?” I asked, feeling that was the only explanation for it, but he shook his head.
“We ruled the Kingdom for 30 years after that black day, putting those who tried to fight against us in the dungeon, and riding the Kingdom of the leeches in the dark. We wanted to change our kingdom, to remove the damned rules against intermarrying between different species, but we were betrayed once more, by those close to us, causing more bloodshed in the palace. It was a dark time. The betrayal caused us to recall what happened when our parents died. Not only that, but we were poisoned, and almost got rubbed off on our vampire side that stayed dormant for 50 years.”
“We dissolved the council of elders and laid to waste any that stood in our way. We confined those who were against us, letting Da Ankora and our uncle live. After that, we left the kingdom, vowing never to return,” Fred concluded as he resumed running his fingers through my hair. “However, we didn’t just leave the throne. We still kept it going through those we specially appointed, punishing any who left the Kingdom for Earth, to preserve our parents’ legacies. Otherwise, we would have let the entire planet rot in hell for what they did.”
“Even the innocent children?”
“We were once like them, but did anyone care? They robbed us of not only our innocence but our parent’s love. Of course, we don’t have the heart to care,” Blue’s tone was as hard as his gaze. Distant, and filled with pain.
“We only care about you,” Fred asserted, caressing my left cheek.