The Little Star

Mysteries

“Years of planning! Wasted!” His bellowing echoed off the stone walls, sending others huddled down in the throne room rushing for the doors. Their exit was loud on its own, the clinging and crunching of broken glass and twisted metal under foot ringing through the air.

The once immaculate throne room looked like a battle had been waged within its walls. Glass glittered on the floor resembling fairy dust, sparkling as the remnants of an antique mirror caught the dim light above. Beautifully painted pieces of porcelain and pottery lay scattered about, shards of the priceless vases that had stood peacefully among the walls for centuries. The queen would have her son’s head if she witnessed what one of his temper tantrums caused, but she’d never know.

She’d never find out because cleaning up after the royal cry baby was my job. A job I hated with every fiber of my being. Unfortunately, my kind didn’t always get to chose who we were assigned to serve. Upon my graduation of apprenticeship my class and I had drawn lots, and I’d drawn the vampires. With William as my lord, I had no shortage of messes to clean.

Clearing my throat, I moved forward, stepping lightly over the broken candelabra at my feet while I snapped at him. “I did try to warn you that taking her wasn’t the smartest plan.”

“I don’t pay you for ‘I told you so’s’, Avery!” William snarled back, turning his fang filled glower on me. The rage pouring from him may have scared the others under his command, but I’d learned long ago this vamp was all bark and no bite. He knew the power I controlled, and he at least possessed enough intelligence not to face me head on. I wasn’t a vase that would shatter under his hand.

“No, you pay me for my advice and my magical prowess. Both of which you ignore.” Before he could open his mouth and continue to rage, I was lifting my hands before me and gently swaying them through the air in a figure eight formation. “What once was perfection is now destruction, let this scene of objection become one of un-obstruction.” Slowly the mess around the room began to heal itself, pulling together and reforming to its previously glorious state. In moments the throne room was as it should be.

“What kind of spell was that? Is ‘un-obstruction’ even a word?” Willam demanded with a sneer as he threw his pompous ass down in the now perfectly glittering thrown, probably tired from his little fit.

“What does it matter? It worked, didn’t it?”

“I’d watch that sass, if I were you, witch.” Leaning back against the throne, William ran his long fingers through his curly hair before resting his chin in the palm of his hand and staring off in thought. “She was almost mine.”

“Arguable.” I snorted under my breath, blinking innocently when William returned his narrowed gaze to me. “It doesn’t matter now. She’s gone, protected by her family and her true mate.”

“I am her true mate!” He growled, slamming his fist on the arm of the throne in his anger.

“She may have been your domvlada, but I don’t believe you were ever her true mate.” It was the first time I’d voiced my beliefs in this regard, for exactly the reaction I knew I was about to receive.

“That’s not possible.” He scoffed. Dismissing me with a wave of his pale hand.

“When you think about it, it makes perfect sense.” Pacing the room, my soft leather flats made barely a whisper of sound as I mused aloud. “You both felt the mate bound, but you were able to reject her with ease if the stories you told me are true. Everything we know about Lycans says that the opposite is true. Then you add in the dragon, and even less of this mess is understandable.”

“You aren’t making sense, witch.” William grumbled as he shifted in his seat, narrowed eyes following my movements across the room.

“Lycan’s mates are reincarnated, from one lifetime to the next. And yet how old is that dragon prince? Thousands of years old? Unless Celeste’s wolf has never found her mate, or at least hasn’t for as long as Drogon has been alive, they can’t be true mates either. So why is one Lycan coming to find herself mated to multiple males when it’s never been found in their histories before now?”

“The moon goddess has an annoying sense of humor?”

“Doubtful.” I mumble, stopping in my shuffling across the room to focus on one of the antique paintings on the wall. It’s pretty, but if I’m completely honest, I haven’t paid attention to it much before. Like most of the beautiful, but ostentatious and priceless trinkets in this underground fortress they call a castle.

This painting though, if I hadn’t known any better, I’d assume someone was pulling a joke on us. It played out like a picture from our recent situation. It’s a battle scene, vampires and wolves in a bloody war, while a dragon circles from above, raining fire down on the men and women already fighting for their lives. In the distance were mountains, clouds around the top with the sun setting behind. How fitting for the war this vampire prince was adamant to start.

“What does it matter? She’s mine.” Arguable, I think to myself while his royal-pain self continues. “You are to get her back, through any means necessary.”

“Any means necessary? What is going on? Have you turned into a Bond villain?” Turning my back on the very bane of current existence, I make my way to the colossal, gilded doors to make a hasty exit. I have a lot of thinking to do. A mystery to uncover. One that is becoming more intricate and fascinating by the second.

“Where the bloody hell to do you think you’re going?” William yells at my retreating figure.

“I’m going to my chambers to think over all of this with a clear head and a quiet space.” Turning to face him once I reach the doors, I can’t help the disgusted look I throw over my shoulder. “Besides, it seems you’ve forgotten exactly who and what I am. Hell, it seems you’ve forgotten who you are. So let me remind you. I’m a witch, powerful and intelligent. You are a prince of a dwindling species. You are not a mafia lord, and I am not one of your foot soldiers. When you’re done living in the pretend world you seem to be stuck in, let me know. Until then, I’m going to try and figure out exactly what it is we’re up against here.”

As the doors close behind me, I smirk at the string of curses that echo around me in the empty hallway.