Did Declan remember everything?
Will I be executed today? Or will I be vindicated? The question repeated itself over and over again in her mind as she stared at the man whom she had loved for so long—whom she had sacrificed everything for, over and over again. The same man who was staring back at her with questioning eyes as cold as ice.
She said nothing at all. There was nothing to say.
“What did I just hear?” he grated. “Was she right, Vetta? Did you have a hand in killing my brother?”
“Yes. King Cone gave me a sword to kill Declan and an ultimatum,” she stated at last. “It was either him or you. I took the sword from him and chose to keep you alive.”
“You killed Declan?” The disbelief and pain in his voice was too much.
“I was left with no choice.” There were tears in her eyes, but she lifted her chin proudly, looking him in the eyes. “Do you know the worst part of this? If it repeats itself again, I will still choose to keep you alive.”
King Lucien’s head was overloaded. Too crowded; his thoughts were all jungled up. His head was no longer making sense to him. But his heart was torn apart into two.
Declan moved then, getting in front of him, blocking his view of Vetta, standing between him and her. “No, Brother. You are getting it all wrong.” He turned then, his gaze boring down on Vetta. “You’re getting it all wrong because she is telling it all wrong.”
Vetta looked up at him with tired tear-filled eyes. The look of betrayal, coldness and hatred in Lucien’s eyes directed towards her was shredding her heart to pieces in her chest.
“Why won’t you tell him all the truth?” Declan asked her softly.
“Because there is nothing to say.” Was this the result of all the pain she had caused him, both voluntarily and involuntarily? There was truly nothing else to say.
“No.” Declan put his hand on her shoulder. “No, there is a lot to say.”
“What is the matter, Deck?”
He faced his big cousin. “After King Cone dragged me away with Vetta, I was half-dead and barely alive after the beatings—the rape—but I was there that night, right there on the floor of King Cone’s bedroom, bleeding from my butt because of the brutality of the rape. I was aware. I heard everything that happened. King Cone and Coza taunted her with you as they...” his eyes closed at the painful memories. “...they took turns raping her.”
Vetta lowered her head to hide the shame, the pain of that particular nightmare. Tears fell from her eyes.
“Afterwards, King Cone brought in his personal spy, our traitor. That’s the maid. Then King Cone ordered the two women to finish me off. Vetta refused verbally, but King Cone blackmailed her that he would poison you if she did not follow his command.”
King Lucien flinched.
Declan nodded his head sadly. “I was there. I heard how she begged, big cousin. She cried. She pleaded. King Cone was done. His guards took me out back to one of the empty storage rooms. I stayed there and waited for my death.” He swallowed tightly. “Already, I can feel death coming as my whole body feels like it was stumped on repeatedly by a huge horse. It was still a long wait, waiting to be killed. Then that night, that maid entered and stabbed her sword beneath my heart. The scar is still there. I died there. I was sure I had died there. But I remember feeling surprised by the pain coursing through my body when I retained awareness, even after the maid left me. Vetta entered behind her and shouted to the maid that I was dead. The maid said she should still stab me anyway to be sure I’d died completely.
“I stabbed him. Talia was about to enter the store room again, so I stabbed him,” Vetta whispered shamefully, tears running down her eyes.
“She stabbed my arm where it’s visible, gathered blood from that wound—and the one Talia made—using her sword and spread it all over my chest, making it look like there was a stab wound there.” Declan’s face was glazed over in memories. “Talia entered again and saw three stab wounds and a dead man. She was satisfied, so she left to go and inform her masters. Vetta hurriedly found a big cloth and spent the next few minutes stopping my bleeding. Afterward, she gave me a glass of water, which saved my life as much as not bleeding to death. Then she’d whispered to me, ‘I’m sorry for choosing to keep Prince Lucien alive. I’m so sorry that you had to die this way, Prince Declan. You are the lucky one. At least you have stopped suffering here.’” He paused. “After she left, I was taken to the trash bin as a corpse.”
King Lucien’s face gave no reaction at all. But his eyes were an ocean of pain.
Vetta was weeping into her hands, gut-wrenching sobs. Her pains, the guilt of that particular event six years ago. He really did remember everything. She was not executed; she was vindicated. She couldn’t stop crying.
“So King Cone sent two women to kill me, big cousin. One killed me. The other saved my life.” Then Declan walked closer to Vetta and pulled her into his arms.
“Thank you for saving my life, Anarieveta,” he grunted into her hair.
.
.