Make Your Move Katherine

Questions

Tightening his belt around his waist, then buckling it, one hole down to slacken the hold that would cause the pant waist to drop lower down just as the guard announced the man. Oscar watched his friend, waiting for the words that would start a war as he hung up the phone by pressing the screen as it lay on the dresser top. The phoenix- bah. Why would he rush to Katherine’s silly meeting room? She was the furthest thing from his mind these days as Nuwa had him falling more in love with her. He’d even dropped down on the number of ladies that visited his chambers.

He was supposed to meet with Eric in his office, fifteen minutes from now but when the man had called him, Oscar told him to come up. This is one meeting that couldn’t wait even a few minutes. Anthony will wait.

“He believes that you are spewing lies and wants to meet with the woman,” Eric articulates bowing his head as he spoke.

Lies! Hah!

‘The woman’ is Katherine and very much alive and is his chosen bride by the higher power of the Gods so said by the mage and the priest to his uncle and the same about him years later. His uncle lost her and now she’s married to him. Geez. What a mess. He regrets marrying her more and more every day- even more than when Ju had stated that he was to marry her.

Why? Just why would ‘the Gods’ guide Ju’s hand the wrong way? Or his?

Oscar had spent so many hours just thinking- beating his brain on this very matter. What about Katherine was so special that she had been chosen not once to marry a king but twice. Was it really a trick by her family on their own revenge? Wool pulled over the kingdom’s eyes… over all its citizens? Was Xu Kai the first victim and when that had failed, he became the target. Were the mages the real targets or the kings? Was it vampires or dragons? What about if it was all about the werewolves? Maybe just any shapeshifting bloodline ancestry would work…

What if it began before Xu Kai? Oscar had dug into archives of any happening similar to what transpired centuries ago but nothing was out of the ordinary except his family splitting the country into four after a raging war. History placed it as East, West, North, and South Demkas but during the past centuries the other three changed their land’s name and South Demkas dropped the South.

Revenge was so close.

Weeks now Eric had been in the kingdom of his father’s cousin, Xu setting up a meeting with any of the king’s senior operational team-member within the Royal Household. A difficult task but Anthony’s face was too well-known publicly and a disguise was just plain foolish as he could be caught. Besides, the royal guard had other worries at the moment- another worry for Oscar.

“What do we do now, Oscar?” his childhood friend croaked out as he collapsed on his bed, staring at him. It was refreshing to see that Eric’s loyalty was still for him after that whole situation with him, back at Katherine’s place. Then this Anthony situation…the hybrid part, not the part where he just called.

In his fury he had bitten Anthony- he would have made him a vampire eventually but only when he’d been one hundred percent positive in the results. See, he cared for the man, like a brother, a father, and a friend, so it had hurt him deeply when he felt that he would lose Anthony over Katherine. The king considered men who fought over women weak- men who put women in the middle of family ties and caused misunderstandings pathetic. The women? Oscar had many choiced names for them.

Yeon was still being monitored, so why had he become so angry that he’d sunk his teeth into his friend’s neck? After all this time when he’d been certain he had the urge to drink everyone’s blood, under control.

He’s only reserved his fanging to blood O, alone. Mostly Nuwa as she’d been the first he’d bitten that survived without any complications. Later they had discovered it was because of the blood she carried in her veins that seemed to fight off his venom. Nuwa had been his first glimmer of hope in his hopeless existence since Katherine in high school. He saw a survivor- a feeding bag yes but still a survivor.

Nuwa had represented hope for a future without the guilt of death for him. A rainbow after that dark moment in his life- hatred for his father, being an animal by lineal descent and Katherine. It was also then he’d started plotting against his father’s cousin. Vengeance would be his, he’d vowed.

Now, his plan was failing.

Xu wanted to meet Katherine. He’d been under the impression that the king would have taken his blood family’s word for it. Hmm. No trust in this world clearly.

The problem with meeting Katherine is that she would talk and Oscar sort of just wanted her dead- no conversation. He figured Xu would have done the same after confirming she is who he said she is. Oscar was sure his mage could confirm she is who he said she is- unless…Xu knows already and knows they are married.

Another thought plagued him. Xu Kai could have a spy in his kingdom right now. Maybe in the castle too. A cold sweat threatened to break out but he doesn’t sweat anymore Oscar reminded himself. The last he sweated was the compulsion of blood. The constrain was forever a stain on his mind.

He had a tiny bit of doubt in Ju’s pishogues around and inside the castle and uncertainty swept its way inside his brain. That would mean a war already is brewing. Could be, he corrected himself.

He should just kill his wife now and offer her cold body to Xu Kai as a peace offering nevertheless. He could say it was a disrespect about what she did by running away from him and no- that won’t work, she was a child then when she vanished. He paced the floor, ignoring Eric’s worrisome look, his chin caught between his thumb and index finger- ah, he could say her parents took her- which technically is true and then when she came of age, she fooled the mage and married him- fooling them all about her true identity. He could add that she did so in seeking revenge for her fallen parents, blaming king Xu for their deaths.

His eyes brightened. That might work but he’d look like an i***t. Who could actually fool a king, a mage and the entire church? Authorities…heck the entire kingdom? He could very well play victim himself and say he married for love- a smile crept across his features. Every article that covered the wedding and him in married life portrayed a happily married king. This might work. He will say she had him fooled- yes. That’s it.

His smile evaporated. She’s a virgin still. Which married man leaves his wife a virgin if he’s in love with her, months after marriage? He could take care of that now. Ugh, just the thought of sleeping with her felt like an unliked chore to him.

He needed time to figure it out- time…another thing to be pissed about. She even stole his phoenix that would have given him another five hundred years to rule- his birthright.

“I’ll be back he threw over his shoulder,” wanting to rush out of his chambers but couldn’t because of royal b*llsit, walking to the elevator. He needed to see the contract to remind himself of why he couldn’t strangle his wife. He will finish this meeting with Eric a bit later as he already had the main bit- the details will come later.

Five minutes later he walked through the doors that allowed its hinges to work only in his presence, thanks to Ju, and nodded his head staring at her signature at the bottom. Katherine was such a little priss that he had to check if her signage was authentic or not. It was but still, on the day of the wedding, he’d dropped her blood on the top of her scrawled ink.

His eyes widened- the phoenix! What was Anthony saying? First the firebird now Ju wasn't showing up? Something was definitely off. He dashed out, running all the way to the office, guards alarmed but alert as they ran behind him. A king does not rush unless out on the battlefield.

Technically this is one- between him and Katherine.

Not one asked anything, for his expression was not one of worry, nor was he seemingly hurt- it was something he’s become an expert in, so they simply followed along with his chase, silently keeping up with his pace, careful not to use his vampire speed as much as he wanted to. The king knows they know about him but it’s always best to play safe, even in your own home.

Besides, practice always makes perfect.