WATER MATE
Water Mate - Chapter 14
Mystery Mate Series present
By Authoress Kemmy B. Gabriel
[✓]
Finn's standpoint
I rest my head on my hand, quietly listening as the court members yelled about my mate, throwing words I would kill them for. I would have yelled, but my head was hurting. Ever since Suzanne left, I hadn't been myself, I was weak and the headache wasn't leaving. I couldn't quite fathom what was wrong with me, but I was hoping to find out soon.
"How could your mate disappear! Run off after trying to kill you! A whole king!" They got it all wrong, I tried to kill her. After Kale took her, I passed out and woke up on my bed, by then it was too late to tell Casmir to hold his tongue, he already blabbed the information to the vampire court and not in the good way.
I would kill him, but I didn't have the energy to. I was both depleted emotionally, mentally and spiritually. My life was upsidedown, something was missing and I knew who it was. Most of all, my inner system was in chaos, I could feel my body splitting apart slowly. Was it the demon, I had no idea.
"How? Mind my tongue your Majesty, but how did a mere human succeed in causing so much damage to you? I still don't understand."
"She is his mate, she couldn't..."
"He let his guard down for the human, that would explain it," Lord Bancroft spat resentfully. "It is possible for a mate to try and kill the other," he glanced at Axel when he said that. Axel looked away emotionlessly, avoiding snapping at a high member of the court. Bancroft had always been a thorn in my flesh, wanted the throne for himself but I couldn't hurt him, not when he evidently hadn't done anything to warrant his death.
The death of his daughter who I killed added more fuel to his hate for me, he was surely celebrating that a human humiliated me.
"My mate did not try to kill me," I spoke for the first time since I sat there, or since I woke up. My throat was dry, my voice croaked. When I spoke, it burnt, no matter how many blood I drank, the dryness and pain didn't stop.
"If your mate didn't try to kill you, how then would you explain the fact that you were found in the pool of your own blood?" The funniest thing, there was no trace of Suzanne's blood anywhere, only my blood. It was hard to explain.
"Because I injured myself to paralyse my arm, I did that to stop myself from hurting her..." I trailed off and looked towards Axel. "Didn't the entire palace perceive the strange blood mixed with mine?" Axel nodded positively, so did Casmir. "That was my mate's, I lost control and attacked her..." I trailed off as images of what I did crossed my mind.
Suzanne would never forgive me, her hate for me was permanent. I promised myself, I vowed to never lay a finger on her like I did to Dainty, but at the end, I did worse.
"So how would you explain the fact that her blood or body wasn't anywhere to be found?" One of the lords asked.
"I summoned a friend to take her away from me before I killed her, she took my mate to a far away place." I lied, I couldn't tell them that Alpha Kale just jumped in through a portal and took her, no one knew he had such powers and it should remain that way.
"A witch?"
"A sorceress,"
"And where is she now?" Lord Bancroft asked curiously. I sneered at him.
"That is the part that doesn't concern all of you, I will not give out the location of my beloved to anyone who would end up using it against me."
"Beloved? Did you just call her beloved?" Lady Kaede asked irritably. "A human girl?"
"Point of correction, my destined mate and your queen," she lowered her head apologetically.
"She is not yet queen Your Majesty, not until we say so."
"Oh really," I leaned back on my chair, crossed my legs and smirked at all of them. "And who would stop me if I make her queen? What makes you think I give a damn on what either of you think? I made the mistake once, I am not making it again. Lady Suzanne is my mate and your queen, if there is anyone who wants to object to it, speak now."
"But your Majesty," one tried to protest. I gave Axel the stern order with my eyes. Before any of them could act, Axel unsheathed his sword and swept off the head of the protester. A gasp ran through the court members, their fear fed my ego satisfyingly.
"So, does anyone else have anything to say?"
"N...n...no Your Majesty." They stammered.
"Great, glad we could come to an understanding. I believe this means the whole court agrees to Lady Suzanne of Mego Island being my queen, no?" I asked with a sick amuse smile. They all remained quiet. "Have I ever told you all that I hate repeating myself?"
"Your decision is wise Your Majesty, I agree to it." Bancroft growled out.
"Wonderful," I said smilingly. I literally bounced to my feet and swung my hands behind me. "Casmir, bring out the book of agreement, make sure all their seals of approval are stamped and then a coronation and wedding date set to suit my queen... No, put a hold on that, I think I will let her choose herself. I bid you all farewell, have a lovely day."
Without looking at them, I swept my red cape out of the way and trampled out of the courtroom, listening to their murmurs of objection. I wondered how she was faring, Kale hadn't sent me any message on her health. I completely drained her blood, was she even alive? Was she fighting for her life? I knew I had to ask but I didn't want to or I would find myself in his pack, trying to take her back.
"Sire, Queen Elfina sent a message, she welcomes you to her palace and said you should come as soon as possible," Axel delivered the message I had been waiting to hear for almost two weeks. "Should I ready a carriage or..."
"I'll fly there, it's much faster."
"Alright, I'll..." My heart thumped violently, stirring an unexpected scream from me. I staggered and collapsed on the floor, something had a strong grip on my heart and was twisting it. I could feel my veins pulling together, forcing itself into knots.
The agony was more than any pain I had ever felt, I had never felt pain except for the time Kale and I first encountered, the day he stomped into my palace and slammed my head to my throne. That pain was a sting compared to the one I was undergoing, it tugged at my life string, snapping the wires connecting me to the world of the living. I felt myself plunging into darkness, whatever was killing me was strong.
"Get the medic!" I heard Axel yell. I groaned and pulled myself out of the abyss, forcing my life out of the cold grip of death. I sat up breathing heavily, the whole court hovered over me with looks of worry, surprise, confusion, uncertainty.
"Are you alright My Lord?" Lady Kaede asked anxiously.
"Get the stablemen to release Knight, I'm leaving to see Queen Elfina." I gasped out as I struggled to my feet.
"The elf queen?"
"Now Axel!"
"But you need to rest," he protested.
"This is the second time I am collapsing, tell me, does it look normal to you?" He kept his mouth shut. "Then get me my hippogryph before I make you feel what I just felt!!!"
"Yes My Lord."
"And all of you, get out of my castle!" I thundered. The whole thing was driving me insane, who could be trying to kill me?
Well d'oh! The demon of course.
I watched them all exit, some scrambling and scurrying away, some looking back at me as they fled. I whirled around and ran to my room, I needed that medallion mother gave me, it was my only hope. Mother gave me a medallion to wear when the demon first rose, it helped silent it but after I got use to it, knew how to control it powers and use it for my own gain, I kept it away. Now, I needed it.
After throwing on a much more comfortable attire on, I wore the medallion and carried what I would need. I quickly headed out where my pet hippogryph was already waiting for me. (A hippogryph is half horse half griffin by the way) Knight was his name. I found Knight as a baby few years after Dainty died, he was crying by his dead mother. His mother died after birthing him and his sister, but she died after birth. The poor thing was alone, I could tell it was one of the hippogryph with special abilities so I took him.
I rarely used him for transport since I had my own pair of wings, but he came in handy in times like this. "Hey boy," I said weakly, rubbing it face. "Sorry, I'm not feeling too well, you will have to fly me to royal castle of the Northern Elves, I need to see Elfina."
The mention of her name made him screech, he wasn't friendly with any other soul except me. Knight scorned the existence of anyone except myself and himself, that was just how he was. His heart was dark, darkness was his powers after all.
"I promise it would only be a little while, and you won't have to stay there, once you drop me, you can leave and come back when I need you to. Is that okay?" He turned his body to me, he agreed. "Thank you."
Knight looked into the open castle doors, he was waiting for the mate I promised to show him. Knight had long seen Suzanne before I did, he would show me the image of a girl riding a female hippogryph high in the clouds. The clouds covered her face, so I never truly understood what he meant except for the fact that she would be how he would meet his mate. So that was it, he desperately wanted to see Suzanne, her eyes would tell him where to find his mate.
His words, not mine.
"She is gone, I lost it and tried to drink her dry..." He neighed in protest. "I know, that is why I am seeing Elfina for answers and maybe solution. Suzanne is safe, I sent her away but I promise she would be back and you will get the chance to meet her."
My head thumped, a sudden wave of vertigo washed over me. For a moment, the world toppled on its axis, I fell forward, but before I could fall further and kiss the floor with my face, Knight wrapped his wing around me and supported my body with his.
"Good catch boy," I murmured weakly. I was barely hanging on to him with my hand loosely laid on his body. I forced myself to my full height, blinking off the blurriness overwhelming me. Knight knelt down so it would be easy for me.
Vampires don't get sick, yet alone me. I felt like death was calling me. "Catch me if I fall boy, I might doze off, okay?" I whispered almost inaudibly. He shook his body to adjust me on him. I fell flat on him with a "oomph". I was definitely sleeping all the way there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Axel asked worriedly.
"Stay with your mate, you are still getting to know her, and I want you and Casmir to protect the castle. I'll be back soon."
"Here," he pushed his wrist to my mouth, "at least feed before taking off, you look pale." He had to be worried, it was the first time even me was seeing myself like that; vulnerable.
"I have a feeling blood won't help me, if I feel the urgent need to feed, Knight here has got my back, his blood is stronger than yours and has it own healing powers."
"Just take a little," he insisted. I sighed and let him shove his wrist into my mouth. I extended my fangs and stabbed it, his blood flood into my mouth, it tasted like garlic and vinegar. Every blood tasted like that since I woke up.
I scrunched my nose and endured it, endured until my stomach rumbled, warning me that it was time to stop. I retracted my fangs and patted Knight weakly. Axel stepped back with sincere worry written allover his face.
"I'll be fine." I assured him. Knight took off, dashing into the sky like a haunted hummingbird. I exhaled loudly as the wind blew against me, letting my eyes shut and darkness enfold me.
••••••••••••••••• Narrative ••••••••••••••••
Something was written in the stars, something she couldn't understand. Queen Elfina stared up at the evening stars with great confusion, wondering what they were trying to tell her about the king placed under her care. In very rare cases was a elf with astrological powers assigned as the birth guardian of someone, but she was. The moment Finn was born, the stars assigned her to watch over him, to protect him from himself.
Doing her job wasn't easy, not just because he was a vampire of all creatures, but because he was a stubborn one who didn't believe in any help and she had a kingdom and a husband to stand by. It was slightly easy for her when his mother was alive, she would pass the message to the dead vampiress and the rest was up to the queen. But since his mother died, there was no way she could get to him without him waving her off. She had seen what was to happen to his first mate, tried to warn him but ended up getting reported to her husband. Again she saw it before the second came, even went as far as forwarding the message to his pet, but the stubborn vampire wouldn't listen.
Now she wasn't sure of what she was seeing, she couldn't see who his mate was but she knew that the lady was no way human. Elfina was more than excited, he was coming to her himself, which meant that he really needed her. Sighing at her confusion, she had no choice than to return to her throne room and sit with her husband.
On her way there, her daughters ambushed her, blocking her way with sheepish giggles. She rolled her eyes, already knowing what the four elves wanted.
"Go to your rooms." She deadpanned.
"Oh come on mother, don't be a fun killer," the eldest said poutingly. "This is the first time he is coming to see you, coming to our palace and we were just curious."
"About what?"
"What is his favourite colour?" The second asked urgently.
"Does he like his women short or tall?"
"Mom how do I wear my hair to please him?"
"Would he stay the night?"
She rolled her eyes as her daughters continued to bombard her with questions, not even elves were immune to the charms of the cold king. She was disappointed, she hoped that at least one of them would remember that they are not just princesses, but elves, the most graceful and elegant creature in the world.
"King Finn has a mate, I hope you are all aware?"
"But she is human," the second pointed out with a roll of her own eyes.
"Nothing compared to us elves." The fourth added.
"And plus, I heard she tried to kill him and ran away."
"Human?" Queen Elfina said with a chuckle. "Human indeed," she pushed her daughters apart and walked pass, only to stop and looked at them over her shoulder, "and you better behave like princesses and come nowhere close to him, he would end you and I will still allow no harm come to him. And plus, the beauty of his mate is more than all four of you put together, and her powers..." She left her words hanging, even she couldn't tell what powers, but she knew that the woman in question was related to one of the mighty gods.
An elf maid ran towards her with panic written allover her eyes. Elfina already knew what she was going to say. She ran past the maid with the speed of an elf, rushing to the entrance of the castle. She was not in anyway surprise when she found an unconscious Finn laying on his hippogryph who looked extremely worried as it tried to wake up it master.
"It's okay Knight," she snapped her fingers for two elves to assist in carrying him, "take him to my healing chambers, be fast about that." She turned and ran to her herbal garden to get the medicinal leaves she needed. Elfina followed her instinct, pulling out the leaves her hands led her to.
Elfina ran to her healing chamber, shouting out orders to the maids and guards. Finn was sitting on the bed when she arrived, his shoulders rising and falling with great difficulty.
"Finn, how are you feeling?"
"Dead."
"I can't help but say that if you had listen to me and heard what I had to say, none of this would have happened," she huffed, throwing the leaves into a big bowl. "You are just like my son, he never pays attention to anything anyone says, but you are worse."
"What is happening to me? Why does my demon want her dead?" Finn asked hoarsely, the dryness in his throat was causing him pain, she could feel it.
"You are a telepath, communicate with me mentally to save yourself the pain."
"Why? Do you know?" His voice rang in her head.
"Of course I do, at least most of it. Like I told your mother when the demon first awoke in you, it would give you greater powers, far more than the ones you already have, but the more you use it, the darker your heart becomes. When you met your first mate, I told you that she was your mate but at the same time, not your mate, she didn't have the spiritual, mental and physical powers to contain your demon. If you noticed, everything you did to her was all you, the darkness in your heart. But her death wasn't entirely worthless, the first death was to soften your heart and purge it clean of enough darkness for the second reincarnation."
"Second?"
"At first, what I see in your stars is that Floriana would die and return stronger than her old self, then die again..."
"What!"
"Let me explain," she pleaded, "to cleanse the demon, the only way was to make you feel compassion and that was by losing your mate seven times..."
"Seriously!" Elfina winced from his shout.
"Remember you are in my head, please don't shout. Yes, the whole thing was stupid, I didn't like it either. Florry was to return as a shrine maiden, the rest of her reincarnations were to be witches, dark fae, sorceress and priestess, but her life disappeared from my watch after she died, almost like something hijacked her soul and rebirth her itself. I couldn't understand until three years ago when it resurfaced, not to my reading but it was there.
I couldn't see her star, couldn't tell what she came back as, but I knew she was no human, Floriana came back as something much more stronger than I ever calculated."
"She isn't human?"
"I will say she is a priestess because of her wide knowledge of things even I don't know, and her spiritual powers is so strong that just touching her burns your demon. The demon knowing that she is a threat, made you drink her blood with hope of killing her and adding her powers to yours like you added Florry's." Elfina continued to explain.
"I don't understand, are you trying to tell me that Suzanne is not an ordinary human? Is she aware of what she is?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Elfina said regretfully, "I cannot see much about her. The only thing I know is that it made a mistake forcing you to drink her blood, her blood is poison to those she doesn't give it to. What you drank Finn is poison, not food."
Finn's eyes widened in horror, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You are weak, you see death and your heart is failing you, that is the poison at work. The blood is set to eliminate the demon alright, but will take you along with it..."
"Then how do I get it out! I can't die!"
"Again, don't yell, and I don't know. The only thing I see is that she is the only one that can heal you, but she has to come to you, you cannot go to her." Elfina explained calmly as she grind the leaves in the cold liquid.
"I can get my blood purged..."
"No use, you drank every single last drop in her body, you took a huge amount of poison Finn, even I can't help you. I however can buy you time until she comes to you," she paused and blew air into the bowl, blowing gold dust into the green liquid. The water turned gold. "This will slow down the effect of the poison, you will keep on deteriorating, just not as fast as it should be. You would be dead by morning if you don't take this. Again, I see some flowers, flowers made of jewels, you dropping it on her nightstand before the incident?'
"Yes, those flowers are still there, it's the only thing that makes me feel better."
"When you get home, have the flowers grinded to dust, mix it in a glass of hot water and drink. The pain in your throat will reduce, your hunger for blood will seize as you won't be able to feed from now on, but it will sustain you until the blood overpowers the potion."
Finn chuckled, so this was how he died. Suzanne would never forgive and return to him, he was as good as dead. That was if she was still alive, if she was still in a coma. At least he had hope that she would survive it, even if he died, it was the best way to pay for what he did to her.
"Finn," Elfina whispered out, "Floriana loves you, she will surely come back."
"She will never," he replied telepathically, "she is Suzanne, not Dainty."
"Trust me when I say she will be back, just have faith and hang on no matter what, fight death until you can fight no more. I should probably warn you that Stephan is coming, he will use your moment of weakness to invade the castle, him too as enquired a hundred demons in other to fight and destroy you. You can't stop him, you will be too weak by then, so all you have to do is hold still and don't move."
Finn raised a weak questioning brow at her. "Stephan has pride, he has spent his entire life trying to kill your grandfather, your father and now you. Every time, he never ended up with the victory so when it is staring at him in the face, he will not accept such easy glory, he would not attack a defenceless opponent. So when he comes, don't move a muscle or say anything, just keep your eyes shut."
"Until I die on my own." Finn said with a dry laugh.
"Until a miracle happens, for once in your life Finn, listen to my instructions if you ever want to live."
Elfina knew, the instructions were simple, but would he do it? She took the bowl to him, her heart bleeding for who she ought to protect. The feeling of uselessness washed over her, she couldn't protect him the one time he was asking for help. The only thing she could do was hope that the girl wakes up on time, or better, return to him.
Tucked in her floral bedcover, the lady in question tossed on her bed, whimpering as a glimpse of her past life filled her innocent dream; the innocent dream of the sea maid with no memory of who she was.
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