Royal shuffle: Vampire’s mate

ANDREA

I woke up with a severe headache and blurry vision. I blinked and swallowed. Every part of my body felt sore. My throat, my eyes, my heart. Everywhere. I sighed and tried sitting up in my to realize that I was still restrained to the bed.

“You’re awake.”

I turned my head sharply to the direction of the voice, having to squint my eyes to clear my vision and see who was seated to my far right.

“Leo…”

“Hi…”

I looked away, and heard him sigh. He got out of bed and walked over to me, each step closer meant less air for me. I was already beginning to breathe harder.

“Why are you here?”

“I…I wanted to apologize.”

I scoffed. “For what exactly? For treating me like a common animal? For disbelieving me when I needed your trust? For believing that I killed my own son?”

“Andrea-”

“For belittling me before my own kingdom and reducing me to…to this?!”

“Andrea…”

“Or are you sorry for fucking Esmeralda?! What exactly is the apology for?”

Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks and I immediately looked away. He didn’t need to see them. I tried to clean my tears forgetting that I was still bound, that led to fresh bouts of frustration for me, and I began to wrestle the bonds.

“Allow me,” Leo said, and proceeded to rip the restraints with his claws. “There you are.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I sat up on bed, massaging my wrists and rolling my ankles. I sighed as blood began to flow to all the bound regions.

“What about Stacy? How is she?”

Leo shrugged, “She’s okay. She’s…um…taking it all in.”

“And Adela? Does she still hate me?”

Leo hesitated, and that was all the answer I needed. No one would believe me. Hell, sometimes I didn’t believe myself. How Esmeralda managed to sneak herself back into our lives is still a think of mystery…and witchcraft. I should have had them all executed after that fight. My mercy has come back to bite me in the ass.

“I want to tell you something. You won’t believe me, but I need you to listen to me.”

Leo dragged the plastic chair in the corner to the side of my bed, and sat. He crossed his legs, and folded his arms across his chest.

“I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath. “I know you won’t believe me, but…Esmeralda…”

Leo groaned, “Andrea…”

“Listen. I know it won’t make sense to you, but I just need you to listen. It will make sense. Maybe not now but it will later. I promise.”

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s hear it.”

I took a deep breath and began narrating everything that has happened since the night of the stabbing. I told him how there were people in my room, and I hadn’t been the one to stab myself. I told him how she wants to take everything from me, and how she had done something to Leovanni to make him jump. I told him how she had injected me with something that had forced me into heat, and sent William to have sex with me. I watched as Leo listened to me with doubt and disbelief on his face. By the time I was done, silence reigned supreme.

Leo sighed, “You fucked William. Of all the men, it was William, and you’re trying to justify your act by blaming his Esmeralda?!”

“What do you mean?”

That felt like a slap on the chin, I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Nothing.”

“Look, believe me or not, I’ve said my truth. All I need you to do is protect Adela.”

When you think of the devil, she appears. The door opens and Esmeralda walks in, all smiles and with a large, brown envelope in her hand.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

She barely glanced at me, and sauntered straight to Leo waving the envelope in her hand.

“What is it?” I asked.

She smirked, “Oh, you’ll know soon enough.”

“What-”

“The verdict from the council is in.”

“Council?” I asked.

It didn’t miss my attention that Leo sat up straighter, and immediately had a stressed look in his face. Whatever was in that envelope was beginning to seem a little to important. I watched as he tore open the envelope and began to read the contents of the two page letter. The more he read, the more I could tell that the contents weren’t good.

“Leo, what is going on?” I asked.

He looked at me and shook his head vehemently. He stood from his chair forcefully and walked around the room, running his hands through his hair and pulling at the strands.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

“Do you want me to tell her?” Esmeralda asked, walking over to where Leo now stood in the middle of the room, and began running her hands up and down his back.

“No,” he said, shaking her off and walking over to me. “I need to tell you something.”

Esmeralda giggled, “Oh, this would be interesting…”

“Get out!”

Esmeralda flinched and exited the room, grunting and murmuring on her way out. I derived a bit of satisfaction from her dissatisfaction.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry…somehow the news of the stabbing and Leo’s death got to the ears of the council, and have been holding meetings for a verdict on what to do with you.”

“Why would they get involved? I don’t understand.”

“According to them, you hold a very powerful position as queen of two kingdoms. They can’t risk for you to be mentally unstable.”

“That still doesn’t make any sense. What are you not telling me, Leo?”

Leo sighed, “Their ‘informant’ has also told them that you intend to start another war to extend territory to the humans.”

I threw my head back and laughed, I couldn’t help it. One of the reasons I had challenged my uncle for the throne was so that there would be no more wars between species. And we have lived in peace for the past ten years and have fostered relationships that no one believed could happen. I knew exactly who their informant was, and from the way Leo looked at me, he looked like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“So, what is their verdict?”

“Banishment.”

“Is that a joke?”

“I’m afraid not, Andrea. I tried…they wanted your head…”

How dare these people?! Who did they think they were to banish me from my own kingdom?! Tears sprung to my eyes, and I immediately blinked them back. I’ve done enough crying to last a lifetime. Perhaps it was better to just leave, I wasn’t of much help locked up in here.

I nodded, “Fine. When am I to leave? Where do they want me to go?”

“They want you to live amongst humans. You can go anywhere as long as it’s a human territory. You can’t shift there.”

“But my wolf…”

“That’s the plan, Andrea. They want to make you weak. They want your wolf…”

He didn’t need to finish his sentence. They want my wolf to become weak, so weak that if I ever dared to come back, I would be very easily dealt with. This felt like the end.

“I want to see my daughter before I leave.”

“Of course. I have prepared the truck for you, and in the truck, you will find debit cards heavily loaded with funds.”

“So, this is how we end?”

Leo looked away and ran his hand through his hair. I swung my legs over the bed, and stretched.

“I’m going to get my things…”

I walked out of that hellhole for the first time in ages, happy to finally take deep breaths of fresh air. I didn’t miss the looks of the nurses, doctors and other patients as I walked out of the hospital. It was filled with disdain and mockery. I didn’t miss the way they whispered into each other’s ears as I walked past and giggled to themselves. Esmeralda had really done damage. I stepped into the sunlight and sighed. It felt good to feel the rays of the sun on my skin, and to be able to smell the flowers and forestry in the air. I rolled my shoulders and began my short walk to the palace, vaguely aware of Leo walking a few steps behind me.

I stepped into the palace, and stood in the lobby, looking around. Redecorations had taken place, and my human-sized portrait was being taken down. I looked back towards Leo, and he shrugged.

“We thought we would begin early,” he said.

“You thought? Or Esmeralda thought?”

“Andrea…”

I waved him off, “One day, the scales will fall from your eyes, her spell would go away from you and you will see the truth. Until then there’s nothing I can do. All I can do is pray that when that time comes, all isn’t lost and that it isn’t too late.”

I walked up to my room, and began throwing my clothes and jewelry in a box, not really caring to fold them. I came across my mother’s necklace, the very one she had given me in the dream before the fight. I turned and handed it to Leo.

“It’s Adela’s birthday next week. Give that to her, tell her it’s a present from me. I won’t be here to give it to her myself.”

Leo nodded and took the necklace from me. I turned around and finished my packing. I dragged my back into the room and looked around the place I have slept on for the past ten years. A lot of memories were made here. I took a deep breath. It was time to let go. The door opened, and Stacy walked in. Her eyes were puffy and she looked like she had lost weight. I wondered if she hated me. Does she blame me for our sister’s death.

“Stacy…”

Stacy rushed towards me, and I braced myself for an attack, but instead she wrapped her hands around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, her voice breaking.

“I’m so sorry, Stacy…”

“Shh. It’s okay. It’s all over now. We’re going to go somewhere where we would be just fine.”

I pulled back from the hug, “We?”

She nodded, “Yes. You thought I was going to let you go alone?”

Tears sprung to my eyes. Happy tears. I smiled and hugged Stacy again, holding her so tight that it was becoming difficult to breathe.

“I have already packed my bags. I’m ready to leave too.”

“Help us with our bags,” I said to Leo, taking my sister by the hand and walked out of my room, drove out of the palace and into our new lives.