The Bell of Freedom (King and human romance)✔

Chapter Forty-Nine

"Stay here and rest, I'll be back soon."

I sit down on a chair in the front room of the palace while Cain attends to the chaos outside. He gave me a blanket to wrap around my soaked clothes but my body is still trembling. I'm becoming dizzy and the moment I take a look at the window and see the deceased bodies, I am limping towards the bathroom. I throw up into the toilet bowl, sliding to my backside as I bring out the cry from my lips.

I don't know if it's the salt water that's causing my sickness or if the horrific day has finally caught up to me. I take a long sip from the water at the tap, glancing at my bruised face in the mirror.

My face isn't as bad as I thought, there are a few marks along my cheek and jaw but the bruises are not as dark as when I had my motorcycle accident. I lift my wet shirt up and I gasp at the sight of a large, purple beast stuck to the centre of my ribs. I remember that blow, Thea didn't hold back.

Now the adrenaline rush is over, I can feel the pain. It is like a curse placed upon my body. I hold on to the wall for support as I leave the bathroom and sit back down in the lounge. I sit in a different position so that I can't see the bodies. The palace is silent, I am not used to it being this quiet. I keep expecting to see Bella walk through the door and give me a scowl like she usually did, or a slave to come up to me and ask me if I need anything like they usually did. I set all the souls free that she killed but they're still dead. They're still gone. They're never coming back and the emptiness of the palace only confirms that.

I sit for so long that I almost fall asleep. I can't believe that I'm alive, that I survived whatever the hell that was, that I survived Saffron. My only wish now is to see Jackson and Christian. I am waiting with extreme agitation for Blake to bring them back. What if they were hurt during the flight? What if Saffron's creatures caught up to them? This is the most anxious I've ever been, I don't know what happens now.

I don't know where we all go from here. Cain will probably forgive the creatures that took her side and he'll probably move a whole new batch of humans into the palace as though the ones dead on the lawn were never here. He only cares about me so it came as no surprise that he didn't even show a flicker of sadness for the poor humans. Or maybe he does feel something but he's hiding it.

I can't hide it. I overheard a creature telling Cain that Saffron murdered ten babies inside the nannery. The little girl she flung across the field was saved by Marina but ten babies lost their lives. Ten mothers and fathers are going through the worst day of their lives and there's nothing I can do to help them.

I think long and hard about what I am actually doing. Cain wants to discuss something important with me but he wouldn't tell me what it was, he's waiting until we're alone and I've calmed down. I bite on my nail as I watch him through the window, he stands in the middle of the path with a circle of creatures around him, giving them orders as he points towards the lawn. He's telling them to move the bodies.

He's been through hell too the last few days, he didn't tell me what happened to him but I can guess that it was bad. We have that in common. I didn't tell him what happened to me either, I didn't want to relive it, though I could see in his eyes that he worked it out.

Marina walks through the door carrying a hot beverage and I glance at her before looking back to the window. She closes it behind her.

"I made you a hot chocolate," she says. "I heard the sugar is good for shock."

"I'm not in shock," I mumble.

She passes it to me anyway and I take it, muttering gratitude under my breath. "If I knew all of this would happen then I never would have left."