FOREDOOMED

Chapter 2.2

"First, there would be no s****l i*********e prior to the wedding, but will be allowed only after a year of the wedding," she cited her first condition without batting her eyelid.

"After a week of the wedding," he corrected her condition. He needed an heir as fast as possible.

Her eyebrow shot upward. "And when will be the wedding?"

"Next month," he plainly answered.

Her mouth fell down as she was caught surprised. Then, she bit her lower lip as she struggled to hold back the rage surging up. "Do you think I will be comfortable having s*x with a stranger?"

Considering her words and noting the indignance as indicated by the rise of her voice, King Henric thought to bend a bit. "Three months after the marriage," he said.

"Six months or no marriage," she demanded in a firm voice.

Silence reigned as they battled with their deathly glares. The king yielded in the end. "Six months, it is," he said. He had to be patient, he reminded himself.

Adira fought the urge to smirk as she intended not to further irk his ego. "The second condition is that I will continue my work as a volunteer in White Cross even once a month. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that organization, but it is--."

"No," King Henric readily rejected her condition. He would not risk her safety.

"And why is that?"

"A volunteer is not befitting for a queen," he said, easily coming up with a reasonable excuse. "You will be the head of the Royalty Charity Works," he insisted. He had to fire whoever the head was next thing tomorrow.

Adira did like volunteering. Helping and saving humans gave meaning to her seemingly meaningless life. But that was not the primary reason for her condition. If she was to stay with him for seven long months, she had to secure a position that would somehow give her some power. Directly demanding it would raise his suspicion, so she had to resort to creativity.

"I don't think I deserve that position since I lack the qualification," she argued, not readily agreeing to make it appear she was disinterested.

"You will be guided and assisted," he assured her.

"

Then you leave me no choice but to agree," she said, sounding a bit disappointed, for she had lost. But, in truth, it was a victory for her. "For my last condition, I want to freely roam in the castle without any maid or guard tailing behind me."

"Why?" He was suspecting she might be planning of running away.

And he was right, for Adira must be able to know every nook and cranny of this castle for her to successfully escape, and she could do it without any maid or servant snooping at her back. Unlike before, she relied on her power to flee, but she lacked that indulgence now.

"I hate the feeling of getting trapped. I know that when I choose to marry you, I will be caged in here for the rest of my life. And is it too much to ask for a bit of freedom?" She asked, making sure her voice cracked in her last word.

She might sound convincing, but the king was no fool to easily trust her. She must prove her loyalty first. "A single servant will always escort you."

That would be fine, she thought. "Okay. Now, may I know the name of my soon-to-be husband," she tried to sound lively, but her tone fell flat.

"Henric Ulfric Richmond, King of... Pretannia," he introduced himself in a formal tone. "And you?" He had realized just now that he did not know her name as well.

"Adira Woodville, a volunteer from Fordshire," she imitated his introduction. "And how should I address you?"

"King Henric or any honorifics will do."

"Very well, I accept to be your queen, Your Highness," she said, declining not to utter his name and choosing the honorifics she knew he preferred best.

Complete satisfaction he would be basking only if she spoke his name with a king attached to it, of course. But he swallowed hard the taste of disappointment. "You must swear an oath," he said, trailing back to his plot.

"What oath?" She sounded confused, though truthfully, her heart gave off a panicky throb.

"An old tradition, the bride irrevocably vows to marry the king," he explained, his eyes darting away from her for the first time since he entered the room and gazing back when he was done speaking.

Lies, pure lies. There was no such a tradition. Adira knew what it was, the Oath to Doom. It was a sacred ritual any Dominus could perform to attest one's good faith in fulfilling promises, and the failure of fulfilling would lead to ultimate doom.

"I'll do it," she gasped out, with her chest constricting, her stomach churning in as though her body was protesting for risking the one life it possessed.

King Henric slowly raised his right hand and reached out for her, but abruptly stopped and raised his bushy eyebrow, an indication of asking for her consent. She nodded, though inwardly she wanted to refuse. Right above her left chest where her heart was throbbing in dread, he placed his big hand. And when her body was vehemently protesting and wildly panicking when it was recognizing a deadly threat a while ago, yet one touch from his, and her heart found its steady beating and her muscles unstiffening as though welcoming death in peace. Her body did confuse her at times.

Confusion was far from what the king was feeling. His heart was ramming hard now that he was touching her, a flimsy white tunic was the only barrier to coming in contact with his dark chocolate brown skin. With her heart beating the same fast rhythm as his, uncontrollably, his fingers were twitching, his sharp nails desiring to shred in pieces the d*mn cloth. Yet, the slow calming of her heart doused the growing l**t in him and stirred a different feeling, a feeling the king could not name. It was a sort of feeling when a person, a woman placed her trust, that complete faith that whatever might happen, he would not hurt her in any possible way. And bestowing that to a stranger, a scoundrel like him that did not deserve an inch of it.

"Your Highness, you may begin," Adira said in a steady voice.

Her voice ringing with certainty was intensifying that unnamed feeling of the king. As he remembered his grand plan, his greed for power prevailed over anything else. He must not falter. "Repeat after me," he gruffly commanded. "I, state your name."

"I, Adira Woodville..."

"Swore to marry King Henric Ulfric Richmond after a month..."

"Swore to marry King Henric Ulfric Richmond after a month..." she mimicked him. Then, a warm sensation emanating from his palm was heating up her chest amid the thin cloth.

"Mate with him after half a year of the wedding..."

That was not supposed to be a part of the oath, Adira thought with resentment. He had fooled her over with his slyness. Howbeit, she uttered those words. "Mate with him after half a year of the wedding."

A bright fiery light was now emitting from the king's palm and passing through his long fingers, that was intensifying the heat on Adira's chest. She kept her lips tight, not groaning from the burning heat.

"And gave him an heir for his throne..."

"And gave him an heir for his throne," she gritted out.

From blazing red light, it transformed into a scorching bluish flame that engulfed the king's entire hands. From afar, it appeared the king's hand was on fire. And that very same fire was scorching painfully Adira's skin, yet she swallowed her whimpers though tears were swelling in her eyes.

As the king did not want to prolong her agony, he desired to finish quickly the ritual. Before he could utter a single word, Adira spoke suddenly.

"And I will faithfully carry this oath only if King Henric Ulfric Richmond will meet the conditions of the oath taker, Adira Woodville as such not forcing s****l i*********e, appointing her to be the head of the Royalty Charity Works, and allowing her to roam free in the Albion Castle, or else let this be oath null and void."

A tear escaped from Adira's right eye, either from the scalding heat that was becoming intolerable or from the ecstasy that she had found a way to be free from the oath he enforced on her. As for the king, he might be irked with her attempt of outsmarting him, but watching a tear descend to her cheeks, he desired nothing but to end her agony.

"This I swore with my life bind in it," the king uttered the concluding statement.

"This I swore with my life bind it," she said, following what she said

The blue flame disappeared from the king's hand, entering Adira's chest and going straight to her heart, where a hot sensation spread through. The King lifted off his hand and stood straight

"I'll leave you now to rest," the king simply said, trying his best not to look where he had placed his hand over her a while ago. Then, he quietly went out of her room.

Adira was left, her tunic had a burned hole, showing a red mark of diamond with a cross inside it on her left chest. It was what they called the Eye of Fire, that would burn her heart to death if she would fail to fulfill the oath.