Princess of the Damned by Dahlia Lu Read Free Book Online Page B

again!”
    “ Say…Sayan?”
    He grinned. “It’s funny that I used to like it when you called my name.”
“Is it…really you?”
    “ In the flesh.”
    She rose up and leaned toward him. Her eyes were searching for familiar features. He jerked away when her hands reached for his face.
    “ Will you answer my question now? What happened to you after you abandoned me?”
    “ I didn’t realize you had felt abandoned…”
    “ There really wasn’t any other way to feel.”
    “ If I had let you stay with me, you would have been captured….maybe even killed.”
    “ Instead of asking me, instead of walking the road with me, you made the decision for me.” He scoffed. “I hate people like you the most. I won’t believe anything you tell me again.”
    She fell into silence.
    “ Why are you marrying the Western Prince?”
    She looked up. “Three years after I went into hiding, I got caught. I thought the prime minister had finally captured me, but it turned out to be Prince Ce. He told me he fell in love with me at first sight and wanted me to be his wife.”
    “ And you agreed?”
    “ There is more to it than that, but yes, I agreed.”
    “ Then I’m sorry for intruding on your happiness.”
    “ How did you-”
    “… Become Prince of the Northern Kingdom?” he interrupted. “I have you to thank for that. After you abandoned me, I joined the Black Army. I went to war, crushed a few rebellions, and eventually gained the attention of the King. That old man was so afraid of me, or rather, he was so afraid I would rebel against him that he wanted to buy my loyalty with the title ‘Prince’ even though Kings almost never adopt sons. People thought that he had gone senile, but he was quite cunning. He forced me to take an oath to never rebel against him or his descendants and he knows that I am a man of my words. From then on, I do his sinister biddings to help him clear the path for his own son. In a few short words, I became a tool – a weapon.”
    “ You are not happy.” It wasn’t a question.
    “ I am far from happy,” he admitted. “However, it was a tradeoff I could not refuse.”
    The battlefield of the Eastern Kingdom was littered with rotting corpses. The vultures descended from the sky to feast on the remains. The white fabric of a broken flag was being carried away by the wind up into the air to a nearby city. There was celebration music inside the gated city. Wines were served to the surviving soldiers to commemorate their victory. This small victory would buy them some time until reinforcements arrived.
    Drunk with the hope of seeing their loved ones again, the soldiers toasted one another. They could have easily been one of the corpses left out to rot. As much as they like to honor their dead, they did not have the man power or the resources to bury them all. They were confined to the gated city walls for protection in case the enemies returned.
    Laughter was cut short when an eerie wind mysteriously put out all of the fires. The soldiers quickly picked up their weapons to defend themselves from the enemies hiding in darkness. They did not know how the enemies had gotten through the gate without their detection, but it wasn’t the time for questions. They needed to rely on their instincts now more than ever.
    There were many screams that came to an abrupt end. The shadows were moving in all directions. With every scream, they were one fewer. The fires burned again, spreading light to the surrounding area. There was one soldier left standing, shaking to see his enemies. Bright glowing eyes and jaunty smirks were staring at him. There were so many of them.
    “ We missed one.” The one with grey eyes laughed. He came to the soldier’s side and placed and arm over his shoulder. “What’s that in your hand? Wine?”
    “ He didn’t pick up his weapon, so we didn’t hear the sound of metal cutting through the air.” A red haired female reported.
    “ Oh?” The grey eyed one guided the