Zion
1138 Words
“What are you staring at?” Flynn looked at me oddly as he wiped more blood from his brow.
“Nothing.” I swallowed hard before turning my attention to Zion who was just standing there with his mouth open. “Zion why are you here?”
“I told you, to help you find your brother.”
“How many people know?”
He shrugged. “Honestly, just the immediate family.”
I shuddered at the word. “And the guards.”
“Yeah, I guess them too.”
“So why are you trying to help me?”
“Well I figured since you didn’t have any help you’d need some since I do keep up with what goes on in the species world.”
I gave a sigh. “Yes, I have taken myself out of the world when I left my mother’s but I am not completely helpless.”
“I know, I just thought…” he looked down, and shuffled his feet.
“Zion go home.” I insisted.
He looked up and straight at Flynn. He glared at him before turning back to me with a softer expression. “Is it because of him?”
“He,” I pointed to Flynn, “has a name. Flynn. And yes, I am going with him.”
“Why?”
“Because thanks to him, I was able to get a lead on my brother.”
“How?”
“I’m not telling you how.”
“Why not?” he snapped.
“Because you don’t need to know how. Just know, that we were informed that if we keep heading in this direction, we might pick up some sort of trail for Jesper.”
“I’m your best friend!” he yelled, clutching his chest. “I deserve to know!”
“The moment you deceived me and went behind my back to marry me, you lost the privilege of being my friend.” I said bitterly.
Zion hung his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to betray you. I just wanted to help.”
I could feel the heat from Flynn's glare as he stared at Zion. “You should leave now, Zion,” I said stiffly.
Zion’s eyes welled up with unshed tears, but he nodded slowly. “I understand. I’ll go back home and tell everyone what happened. Just... just be careful, Zel.”
I soften ever so slightly. “I will.”
Zion looked at Flynn oddly then turned and left.
When Zion was gone, Flynn finally spoke. “I don’t really want to know but from the context I’m guessing you were hurt.”
“More like betrayed.” I hugged myself as I kept walking.
Flynn nodded. “I see.” He seemed to be more alert now since the attack of the assassins.
“Um, by the way, who were those people?”
He raised an eyebrow to me. “You didn’t check?”
“No.”
“So you just killed them without knowing who was behind the mask?”
“In my experience, friends don’t hide.”
“You should keep that in mind yourself.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. To answer your question, they seemed to be lower vampires.”
“I could smell that when I killed them.”
“No one you knew?”
I shook my head.
“My guess is that they were sent by someone who didn’t want you to find your brother.”
“Not to kill us?”
“I don’t think they were told to kill you simply by the way they were positioned.”
“Just to delay me.” I said more statement than question.
“Probably.” He nodded.
“Why?”
“That’s a great question, why princess? Why are you having lower level vampires tailing you, to delay you on this journey? And what is the real reason you must find your brother instead of alarming the world?”
I looked down at my feet, chewing on my lower lip. “My mother made a deal with me.”
He waited for me to continue.
“She said she would annul my marriage to Zion if I found my brother. Of course, that isn’t the only thing she put in front of me. She gave me a time line to finish this task. I have a week to find my brother or come home and become the next ruler of the vampires.”
“Why? From my understanding, you aren’t the favorite. Wouldn’t make sense to just make you the ruler if you can find your brother. Especially if you make everyone in the kingdom look for him.”
I took a deep breath, “It’s part of the law. It is a forgotten law, but one that was put in centuries ago.” I swallowed hard. “Apparently there was a princess who ran away to be her own person. No matter who looked for her, no one found her. Whispers, rumors, and everything in-between, no one ever found her. Finally, her sibling was crowned ruler. On the day of the coronation day, she showed up and bowed to her sibling. Well, they couldn’t take the crown back and give it to her, so they made a new law. If the next in line goes missing, by the end of the week, the succeeding of kin is to take over.”
“So your mother is choosing to make you the ruler?”
I nodded. “I think she is more worried about someone trying to take over. And she knows that I will try my hardest to not become the next ruler.”
“So your mother sent those people?”
I gave a laugh, “I doubt that. She doesn’t care for me remember?”
“Hm,” he mused.
“What?” I tried to look at his face, leaning over.
“Nothing. What did Magna say again?”
I could see the pivot in the conversation. “She said that he came in the other night and got the vile of rose.”
“Veil of Rose.” He corrected.
“I know what I said.”
He chuckled. “Sure, then what?”
“She heard about a vampire heading to the human kingdom that has been closed off for a century.”
“Which is west.”
“Yes, and that is why we are heading west.”
“But we aren’t heading west now.”
“What?” I stopped walking.
“We are heading more north.”
“Flynn!” I screamed.
He laughed, grabbing my hand, turning in the correct direction. “Come on princess.”
“Come on where?” I joked.
- Writer
