8 The corrupted kingdom

… so you have to keep her healthy in my absence."

It has been about a little more than five months since then. There might be a possibility that she might have delivered her child, his grandchild. The young woman in the room was frustrated by the long stretched silence as she stomped her foot and left the room in frustration.

The king just sighed heavily as he slumped down on the nearby sofa. His wife left him soon after Linda was exiled. With the deteriorating health of his wife, he found out that there was nothing his doctors could do. He had even called over the different worldwide famous doctors, physicians, and surgeons to make out her disease and somehow help her. But everyone said that the queen had given up on living. Her will to live anymore had died and there was nothing they could do. The king had been quite frantic at that time as he somehow wanted to save his dying wife, the queen from the claws of death. He had to save her for the promise he had given to Linda.

But it seemed like destiny wanted something else, as no matter how hard he tried, the queen died. At her last moment, she had finally spoken a few words which only were meant for Linda.

The king still remembered her condition and the difficulty with which she whispered hoarsely to him, " Linda and …. our grandchild will be the only destiny of … our kingdom. I will miss… you, Ethan. "

And with that, the queen took her last breath.

By the time, the king was back to present, he felt his cheeks wet with his tears. Never in his life, was he so devastated and helpless. There had always been a way for every challenge and problem he faced. But now? It seemed like his luck didn't want to take his side, nor did his destiny want to take a positive turn. He lay down on the bed and let the tears that dropped from his eyes fall on the pillow.

The young vampire lady had her face almost twisted in anger as she entered her wing of the royal palace. Entering her room, she closed the door behind her with a loud bang. She was so furious that smoke could be seen coming off from her ears. Her eyes were red with anger and her fangs were out. Suddenly she sensed someone's presence inside her room. And then without warning, she threw the nearest fruit knife in the direction she could sense the annoying presence from. However, her aim went in vain as her presence was much faster than hers. Before she could fathom, who the person was, the person had already come in front of her and held her hands behind her back, making her yelp in pain.

She cursed under her breath and tried to wiggle out of the man's grasp but he was just too strong for her. After what seemed like a few beats, the vampire woman finally calmed down as her fangs retracted back and her eyes returned to their normal brown color. Feeling the anger of his hostage calmed down, the man turned her around and held her shoulders as she was made to look at him. The man then said for the first time since his arrival, "Calm down my tigress sister. Calm down. It's not the first time that you are watching the old king being lost in his world. Let him be the way he is. We can think of some other plan."

Kira looked back at her elder brother, who was younger than Linda with what seemed like helplessness.

"How much do I have to wait, brother? Linda has now been exiled … and the last vampire prophetess had given the prophecy that it would be a lady who would be the ultimate queen of our kingdom. With sister gone, shouldn't I be the one to be crowned? Why doesn't father understand it all?"

"Oh sister, my dear Kira. How can you say so bad about your sister behind her back? Won't she feel bad if she knew that you thought of her to be better off going from your path to the throne?"

"I don't care."

Kira muttered as she swatted Ander's hands off her shoulders and she made her way to the built-in drink bar in her room. Ander just followed her silently. Kira took a bottle out of the shelf and took off the cork as she poured the red liquid into the golden glass. She then took a sip of it, not caring about the red taint that the liquid left behind on her lips.

Had it been an unknown, they would have thought of it as an expensive red wine of the finest quality but the metallic smell of the liquid said it all. The red liquid was blood and what else? Ander poured himself the drink as well and sat down beside his sister as both of them stayed in silence for a while. None could miss the grace and that royal aura that they carried even when drinking.

Finally, after some moments, Ander broke the silence as he said, "So what do you want me to do now? Even when you gave the condition of the culprits being roguish in the kingdom, Father didn't hear you out. So … what do you think you'll do next? I have already had the rogue vampires spread out corruption and fear among the masses."

Kira didn't answer him right away but the gears in her head were visibly moving … which meant that she was thinking about something grave. In addition, she had that calculating look on her face.. the same face that was a cheerful and lively one in front of others.

No one could have imagined an innocent and cheerful young vampire to have such a calculating mind. The mask of the innocent girl had long faded as she finally showed a smirk... an evil one, that meant no good.