COLD (Twisted Forbidden Tales) Book One

Chapter Sixteen

QUEEN ( Christine's Secret III )

Their wariness proved right at the news of Christine’s husband's death three months after her marriage. She left the Knights League in the charge of someone else and planned to return to her home, the first kingdom. Now a widow and five months pregnant, her plan was perfect for gaining the trust and sympathy of others. A month later, after her return, their father and mother fell ill after a return trip from a neighboring kingdom. With the secret help of Marcia and Hannah, they were able to cure the illness without Christine's suspicion.

A celebratory ball of the king and queen's good health brought an unexpected union between Delia and Nathaniel as they discovered they were destined mates. Soon the final wedding between the sisters was under way. Christine, however, was beyond livid.

Delia just had to get royal blood as her mate. Nathaniel wasn’t just any royal blood but, the rarest one, pure blood. Christine had to have him at any cost, but she knew her sister Delia wasn’t an easy opponent and Nathaniel wouldn’t be so easily fooled. This new plan of hers had to be carefully thought out and with the upcoming birth of her child, no one would suspect her.

Delia and Nathaniel were soon married and within the year Delia was pregnant. Hannah soon presented the rest of her findings to their father about Christine’s misdeeds. Retribution was in order, but then something strange happened. Hannah was deemed an outcast instead and banished from her home kingdom as a traitor.

Devastated by the news, Delia, in her condition, was in no position to appeal the decision or protect Hannah. At that time, I could only watch as Christine’s lies and misguidance sickened the kingdom. A dark and gloomy overcast began to build within the First Kingdom slowly throughout the forest, crushing and demolishing the kingdom in mere months.

Christine quickly disappeared. Their people were in complete despair and were now easy targets for a takeover. Their mother and father and kingdom were no more. Only now becoming part of the Dark Woods within the Forbidden forest. Because of the distress, Delia sadly miscarried their firstborn child. It took a year before my mother became pregnant with me. The kingdom was happy to see their Queen no longer depressed. The heir to the kingdom was a joyous one indeed.

Worried about my mother's health, my father, Nathaniel, commissioned a new maid for my mother that was tendered to care exclusively for her. This maid was known quickly throughout the time for her skills in medicine and prenatal care. She was the best of the best according to several kingdoms. Unbeknown to my parents, all that they were told were lies and now invited into their home was a wolf in sheep's clothing, my aunt Christine.

Delia was five months pregnant when Christine made her move. She had learned to harness her new ability. She could temporarily disguise herself as people close to us, but this power came with a price.With each use it would drain her life span. To prolong her life she needed the blood of a relative or pure-non-corrupted soul.

Christine had wanted my mother and me to die. After all, we had all the blood she needed. As my mother’s nurse she was able to learn a lot of my mother’s habits and mannerisms. This was enough to follow servants and other people within my father’s kingdom, but not the King and Queen themselves. In order for her to take over completely, if she was able to get pregnant with a royal son, all her dreams would be filled.

Her plans did not succeed as my father truly loved my mother. Delia had told him of Christine's misdeed long ago, so he easily picked up her strange behavior.Christine barely escaped with her life, however, this did not stop her plans. They had forgotten the serious factor that Christine had someone behind her.

It was too late when my father found my mother. Now eight months pregnant, she had given birth to me. Taking all the poison into herself just to keep me safe was too much for her already weakened body to handle. She held on for as long as she could and used the last of her magic to get a private message to Hannah and Marcia about Christine. Delia died ten minutes before my father found us.

He raised me alone until I was ten years old. On a trip to a neighboring kingdom, he encountered an accident that kept him away for a month to heal. When he returned, he was a whole different person and I had a stepmother and stepbrother. All of my happiness ended on that day….

Black soot-colored blood leaked from Christine’s lips as the images of her deepest, darkest secret crept through our minds. I was disgusted by the things she had done to her own niece at that time. Not to mention her own son, who was my cousin.

“Finnigan” she wheezed.

“Dead” my one-word reply left her choked.

The curse was now finishing her off. She began to laugh but it sounded more like garbles. I stood up and then left her to her own demise alone and miserable. A voice rang out from the shadows.

“Is it true?” Walden revealed himself from his hiding spot.

I had spotted him on my way in to see Christine off. He needed to see her true colors before it corrupted him completely. I had no beef with Walden except the one time with Snow, and then, I scared him shitless after a dinner invite with Silas and me. He had begun to change for the better because of his family's misdeeds. It was owed to him to know the truth about who he really was.

“Every single bit” pacing a small note in his hand as I left him to his thoughts. My stepmother’s eyes looked panicked as she stared at Walden. I knew she doted on him, her only grandchild, yet he didn’t even know that she was. She wasn’t his grandmother at all. That would soon change after he read the note.

The war was finally over and the few kingdoms that chose to stand with Finnigan began to concede. With Finnigan and the Queen now dead, a calming peace now showered the land. There was still Christine’s accomplice that needed to be handled. However, that wasn’t my battle to fight, instead it would be my cousin Walden. As for my father’s kingdom that was meant for me, did I want to rule it? I had something I needed to do first before I could decide. The prophecy would now come to a head as it should have years ago.