PAUSED | The Red King's Wrathful Mate

There was blood everywhere. It's as if time stopped so I could see it all as clear as day - the knife lodged deeply inside my stomach, the blood gushing out of my mouth and the blood streaming from my abdomen. There's no way my unborn baby survived this. He's dead. There's no way he survived. Black and white dots started forming in my eyes and I felt myself falling to my knees as the knife in my stomach was dragged sideways to ensure my baby's death. I knew I'd heal, but my baby wouldn't. My baby would die. My baby is dead. "Hold on, Vanessa!" Violet rushed to my side. "It's going to be okay, sister. The healers are already here. I promise it's going to be okay." My sister was crying and her hands and pretty light blue gown were covered in my blood. She knew it too. She knew my baby was dead. I never thought I'd ever see Violet cry. My sister is the fiercest female warrior in the Eastern Inkling kingdom. She has trained all her life to prove herself to the kingdom and to those who mocked her. She may be wearing a gown right now, but her shaven head and her toned body serve as clues to onlookers that she would much rather be wearing training gear and on the field, punching someone in the face. Violet is younger than me. However, at twenty four years old, she's proven to be one of the bravest people I know. I've only ever seen this woman cry a handful of times, but I've never been the one to make her cry...that is until today. Today I made Violet cry. I only caught a glimpse of Grace from the corner of my eye. My youngest sister was standing as far away from the horrific and bloody scene as she possibly could. She was frozen in shock, too scared to move or make a sound. Her black eyes were fixed on the blade in my stomach and the pool of blood that my body was now lying in. Unlike Violet who didn't waste any time trying to help me, our youngest sister was too shocked to even move. "You'll be okay." Violet held me as hard as she could and cried while healers tried to save my life. I don't know who called for them. Maybe it was Violet. She's quick and has seen gory scenes like this before. It couldn't have been Grace. The poor girl is too shocked to be of any help to anyone right now. Whoever called for the healers seems to have called every healer that was even remotely close to the palace because there are at least a dozen of them in my room. However, it's not just healers who are flooding my suite. There are warriors and servants all over the place trying to make themselves useful even though they know only a healer can help me right now. They all looked terrified. The Queen of the Eastern Inkling kingdom is currently on the floor with a silver knife lodged deep in her stomach. She's carrying the future heir to the kingdom, but it's clear that the heir is now dead. A healer tried to pull the silver blade out of my stomach, but I gathered the tiny bit of strength I had left to push his hand away. "Just f*****g hold her down!" Violet roared at them. "She's obviously sick or something. Help her!" I was held down by who knows who while I struggled in Violet's arms, trying to escape the healers' hands. "Don't!" I whispered screamed while blood gushed out of my mouth. "Don't heal me!" Whoever was holding me down pressed their weight down my hands and legs and I couldn't move anymore, no matter how much I struggled. A healer pulled the silver knife out of me in one swift move. The silver burned him, but he held on to it until it was out of my body and more blood started gushing out of my stomach. I tried struggling under their hold once more, but I couldn't. Too many people were holding me down. Within seconds, the healer's hands were glowing with an ethereal light and I felt my wounds closing up as he healed me. "Keep holding her!" He ordered angrily. "Make sure she keeps still." People were weeping, some were confused, some were shocked, but most of them looked scared. The royal heir just died. Who wouldn't be scared? "What the hell happened?" The healer panted while healing me. "I can heal her wounds, but the baby...", he tried holding back tears, "the baby is gone. I can't heal the dead." The room fell dead silent. All the weeping, the gasps and running around stopped immediately. The healer can't heal the dead. My sisters didn't answer his question. They wouldn't dare answer that question. They saw everything that happened. They even tried to stop it, but they were too late. Grace was too shocked to say anything. She was no longer standing. She was now on her knees, shaking like a leaf in her pretty pink dress. Violet just kept holding me as tears stained her petite pale face. She kept running her fingers through my long silver hair, comforting me as if this wasn't my own fault. The silence suffocated all hope out of the room. The healer can't heal the dead. It's only his heavy footsteps that broke the crushing silence. I couldn't tell if he was running or walking really fast, but I could feel his tether inching closer and closer to my bedroom as each excruciatingly slow second passed. Anger, pain and sadness started filling the air in the room with each step he took closer to my suite. He felt it. He felt the death of our unborn child. The doors swung open as if a vicious wind had entered the room. Before us stood my chosen mate, the father of my dead child and the King of the Eastern Inkling kingdom - King Midus Elios. Midus is strong and his physical appearance is a testament to his strength. His height, his muscle encased body, his beast, his aura...it's all proof that he truly is a royal inkling. His ocean blue eyes were filled with tears and like Grace, for a second, he too seemed too shocked to move. I was healed, but people were still holding me down while I lay in a pool of my own blood. "What happened?" He repeated the healer's question. "What happened, Vanessa? What happened to our baby?" Each step he took towards me filled the room with dread. We tried for three years to get pregnant. The day we found out that not only was I pregnant, but I was also carrying a boy, it seemed our godess, Nayala, had answered our prayers. He lifted me into the air and kissed me so hard right infront of the doctor. We were happy. We were going to have the family we've always dreamt of. But now our son is dead. "Tell me, Vanessa!" He knelt down and started shaking my body. "Tell me what happened!" Tears were streaming down his face while he shook my body. I wasn't being held down anymore. There was no use for that anymore. "Out!" He roared at everyone. "All of you, out! Right now!" The healers, servants and warriors all ran out of the room. Only me, my mate and my sisters remained. Grace was still in shock. She couldn't move. Violet was choosing to defy his order. She saw what happened right before my unborn child died. She's too afraid to leave me alone with him. "I said leave us!" He gritted through his teeth. "Now, Violet!" She refused to obey what was clearly an order. She just stood defiantly on her knees while glaring at Midus. I watched his ocean blue eyes turn gold as his beast came to the surface and pushed down its aura on my sister. Violet buckled and her head fell to the floor while she gasped for air. Her milky white skin started turning blue and her eyes were on the verge of rolling back while Midus refused to stop pushing his aura down on her. "Stop it!" I screamed as loud as I could, but my voice came out as a whisper. I may have been healed, but some of the pain and discomfort of having a knife in my stomach was still there. "Violet", I tried going to her, but Midus was holding me too tight. "It's okay." I lied to her. "Take Grace with you. I'll be okay. I promise." Midus reeled in his aura when I dug my finger nails into his arm and my sister was able to slowly stand up. She was scared. Violet is a warrior, but right now, in this very moment, she's scared ... for me ... for what might happen to me. "Violet, please." I pleaded when she still refused to move. "I'll be okay." She forced herself to look away from me while tears ran down her face and ran to go get Grace who was still frozen in shock. "Come on, Grace." Violet tried picking up the dark brown skinned girl. Her long, straight and silky black hair created a little pool on the floor where she was kneeling down and trembling. "Grace, stand the f**k up!" Violet screamed as she lost her patience. Grace finally stood up, but she wasn't okay. Her body moved, but there was nothing in her eyes. Her sparkly black eyes that usually twinkle like little stars, where dull and lifeless. "The baby." She muttered while Violet helped her leave my suite. "The baby is gone." Violet gave me one last worrying look. "I'll be right outside." She said before she closed the door. "Talk to me!" Midus held my face with both hands. "Tell me how this could happen? Who did this to you? Who killed our child?" He waited for me to give him an answer while I looked at the puffy red eyes staring back at me. If someone told me four years ago that the day before my twenty eighth birthday, I would be sitting in a pool of my own blood being asked to explain the death of my unborn child, I would have thought they were playing a prank on me. And yet, here I am right now looking into my mate's eyes, trying to find just the right words to tell him what happened. I knew I shouldn't, but I felt the corners of my lips curl into a smile. I could smell Midus' mistress on him and it made this whole situation so much more woeful than it already is. Of course I felt the pains of his betrayal today. I have felt them almost everyday for the past three months - ever since I found out I'm pregnant. But I've never caught her scent on him. This is a first. I must have disturbed them right in the middle of their lovemaking, so he didn't have time to hide her scent like he usually does. As if the pains of betrayal didn't already reveal his secret. My hand went up to caress his cheeck and he leaned into it, seeking comfort from me because we just lost our unborn child. I ran my fingers through his hair with my other hand while he kissed the hand that was on his cheeck. His shoulder length black hair was a mess because he was busy having s*x with an eighteen year old mere minutes ago. I should be used to it by now. Despite his promises to stop, he still went ahead with his betrayal. He expected me to live with it because he knew I was trapped. Our unborn child kept me trapped. "You have pretty hair." I smiled at him and he gave me the most confused look. "And pretty eyes and a body that puts most men to shame, Midus. Maybe that's why an eighteen year old girl fell for a thirty year old man even though you both knew you had a pregnant mate waiting for you at home." "Vanessa-" He tried to speak, but I placed a finger on his lips. This man can lull anyone into doing what he wants with those pretty lips of his. I think I wanted the throne too much. I wanted to rule this kingdom and bring it out of the dust and shame that has plagued us since the Inkling kingdom split into the North, South, West and East. I was going to make our kingdom formidable and I was going to let him take all the credit because I loved him and I loved our people. I loved a man who kept sleeping with a f*****g eighteen year old. I'm embarrassed each time I think of it. A woman carrying a royal child cannot separate from her mate...so why not cheat? I am strong enough to endure the pains of his betrayal...so why not cheat? Carrying a royal child anchors a woman to the territory of our kingdom...so why not cheat? The kingdom's magical barrier will not let the mother of a royal child leave the kingom ...so why not cheat? That's why he was faithful to me all those years we were trying to get pregant. He knew I would leave him if he cheated, so he waited until I was carrying his child. He waited until he knew I wouldn't be able to leave him or this kingdom. He waited until he put a baby in me. "Our child is dead." I whispered with a smile. "I killed him myself. I made sure I dragged that silver blade across my stomach until I couldn't hear that little heartbeat of his." I watched all the hope and blood drain from his face. He wasn't angry; he was devastated. "Why?" He begged. "Why would you kill our child?" My smile widened. Even if I get executed, this...this moment...this moment where I'm freed of my mate and of that empty throne, is worthit. "Because you're not worthy of having a child with Vanessa Lockewood."