“Alexia dear, don’t do anything foolish,” the king uttered the words almost in a frightened manner.
Emily knew better than to speak. Hell, she didn’t even care to breathe with the dagger pointed at her neck.
“Put that dagger down, mother, and I will let you live,” Theodore said in a low threatening voice.
“Mother, please,” both Serena and Liam pleaded with her to come to her senses.
But it seemed that her resentment was far too great, for she pressed the tip of the dagger against Emily’s skin. This latter didn’t dare even hiss. She knew Theodore was hanging on by a thread.
Was this going to be the end of them? The thought made it hard to breathe.
She merely blinked away the tears but tried hard not to let her fear get the best of her.
That blink was all it took for Theodore to act. She merely heard something being thrown across the dining hall and no longer felt the pointy end at her neck.
A womanly groan followed the queen’s fall. Theodore stood before her in an instant, his aura dark and murderous.
“Thanks, Serena,” he said calmly. “I owe you one.”
“Don’t mention it,” his sister told him softly.
What did Serena do? Emily inwardly wondered as she touched her neck, almost as if to make sure she was unhurt.
The king went at unhurried pace to his son even as his queen was laying on the ground, visibly in pain. Theodore towered over her and said, “You are one vile woman, mother. How dare you even try to hurt my mate? Do you have no shame?”
“I never truly accepted that woman you call mate,” was her response.
“I know that, believe me,” he scoffed bitterly. “I think the whole kingdom knows of your disapproval.”
The queen then sat up and Theodore went on, thunderous, “Give me one good reason to keep you alive.”
“Because she is still your mother,” The king told him flatly.
“A mother who acts more like a queen than she does as a mother properly,” Theodore spat out angrily.
“You would put the kingdom in jeopardy by killing the queen,” Liam said pensively. “The king would remain mateless, and the vultures would start plotting against the crown.”
“See?” His mother taunted. “You cannot kill me.”
“I can still come after you more discreetly, mother,” Theodore said in return.
Her fear gulp was audible. “Will you?” She asked in a wavering voice.
“I will consider leaving you alive, provided you apologize to Emily and behave from now on,” he told her matter-of-factly.
“Apologize?” She all but screeched in response.
“Yes, apologize, mother,” he commanded, repeating his words for the second time since Emily met him, which proved how dire the situation was, “lest you want me to make hell rain down on you.”
The queen stared at her son and her mate in success, looking helpless – when only a minute or so earlier, she had been ready to kill.
“Fine,” she growled as she rose to her feet at long last.
“I am sorry, Emily,” she basically muttered.
“Not even nearly convincing enough,” Theodore growled.
His mother shot him an incredulous look. It seemed like it took a lot out of her to do this.
“I am deeply sorry, Emily. I acted rashly and without thinking. My apologies,” she uttered the words with more force this time around, and even hung her head low in shame.
Emily just nodded at her, unsure what to tell her.
The queen just turned on her heel to glare at her eldest and said, “Do what you please, you and your damned mate.”
“We obviously cannot force you to take on the throne,” the king supplied. “But I think your mother and I both need a reprieve from the title. Kindly see to it that your younger brother gets coronated the day after tomorrow.”
There was the ghost of a smile adorning Theodore’s lips at that. “I will, father.”
And with that, the king and the queen left the dining hall at once, leaving the three siblings and Emily there.
Emily couldn’t help but voice out the question that had been burning her lips since earlier, “What did Serena do for you to thank her?”
“Oh, we never told you, did we?” Serena all but giggled. “I am telekinetic.”
Emily’s eyes went wide as saucers at that for it meant that Serena could control inanimate objects or even persons to move a certain way.
She let out a stunned “Wow.”
Liam supplied, “I, on the other hand, can make people freeze by simply looking in their eyes and willing it.”
Emily nodded at that, and then turned to Theodore who said, “I have control over fire. But I sadly cannot create it out of nothingness.”
“Is that why you keep a lighter in all of your pants even though I never saw you smoke?” She asked, seemingly unable to help herself.
“Stating the obvious much, dorogaya?” He teased as he ruffled her hair lovingly.
A moment later, and Liam said, “We have a big problem if you go through with your plans, Theo.”
“And what is that, Liam?” Theodore sounded almost bored as he asked that of his brother.
“Princess Tatiana said she would only mate with me after ten years. The ten years have yet to be up,” Liam stated. “Six weeks remain.”
“I have a plan,” Theodore told him cryptically.
“Why would she make such a demand?” Emily couldn’t help but ask at that.
“Because she is the scorned princess,” Serena said almost grimly.
“What do you mean?” Emily asked anew.
“I have already told you that Theodore was supposed to be the one to mate with her,” Liam reminded her.
“Well, he basically sent her a missive the very evening they were supposed to throw a party to officially announce the alliance,” Serena explained.
Emily shook her head negatively to express her disapproval, “How could you, Theodore?”
“Would you have preferred I mated a woman for the sake of peace – a woman that isn’t you?” He retorted.
“No, but you could have spared her feelings, and made your intentions clearer from the start,” she pouted.
“Well, I had my parents to convince to stay out of my business before sending her that letter,” he said, sounding unrepentant.
“So, what’s the plan?” Emily then asked.
“That’s need to know only, dorogaya,” he said in a teasing tone as a devilish smirk appeared on his face.
That was unexpected and slightly off-putting, but Emily didn’t dare to pry further.