Blakeshire (Insight #9)(71)
“I’m sure it does. I brought doubt to your Willow. Are you not playing matchmaker?”
“One way or another, I will rule this world again. If Willow happens to prevail, if Drake happens to adore another in her place…there is a spell in place to claim their children.”
“You are going to steal babies? Right when I thought I liked you.”
“Not infants. They will grow, the cycle will repeat, and against their parents’ will, they will follow down the same dark path—only that time, I will already know when and how to strike.”
He was delusional. What he was speaking was what he believed when he died. I know for a fact that Willow and Landen had already made it past far more trials than Donalt or any other evil would have assumed that they would.
“And if there are no children?”
“There will be.”
“You are playing this all wrong.”
Quickly, he moved back as if my words had struck him. “How do you mean?”
“Willow and Landen already know your game—the smart thing to do would be to leave them be and bide your time.”
“Did they take your humanity when they drained you?”
Who was this ‘they’? I already knew that Monroe’s powers were the ones that had altered my insights. Now, how did I know that and they didn’t? And who was taking credit for that in the first place?
“Maybe. Just looking at this from an objective perspective.”
“Spells have chained us. We must complete this task.”
Once again, that was what he believed when he died. Like a fool, the last thing he had considered was Landen and Willow prevailing.
“It’s going to suck if you lose,” I muttered.
“I’m not going to lose. They will end their quest soon enough. They are already keeping their distance from this palace.”
“Right.” This guy was clueless.
“You believe me not.”
“Why should I? How do I know that Xavier did not put you up to speaking to me? You want me to fret over a death that I have no power to stop. You want me to believe that some phantom king has the hots for me. What’s the point?”
“You implore a sign of good grace.”
“Not really.”
“Why are you so difficult?”
“I’m not. The only good grace you could give me is a ticket out of this hell, and apparently Xavier has that planned out.”
“He needs to be taken down,” he grumbled.
“Well, I’m sure someone is working on that.”
“You dive. When he begins the spell, you dive. Swim north. You will find what you need there.”
“Sure. Swim into a trap.”
“Not a trap. It was Xavier’s plot that led you down the road you are on. He convinced the King of Obsession that if he complied, you would forget your quest, you would commit to him.”
“And what were you offered, considering that this occurred in your kingdom?”
“A vessel,” he said with a sly grin.
I knew he was talking about Drake, but I was going to play this out. I glanced over him once more. “You got the short end of the deal.”
He grinned again.
“I’m not diving into water until I have some kind of proof that your word is not worthless.”
“My word is true.”
“Proof, dear King of Fear. I need proof.”
He said nothing for what seemed like forever, then he pursed that half lip of his. “There is going to be an explosion in twelve hours. The city north of here. The eruption is one of three omens meant to tell the people in this dimension that Drake is courting the wrong girl. Evacuate the city, do not bring them here, move them further north so the other kings will not be aware that you have blocked this. After you realize that I just helped you save thousands of lives, consider diving, and do so before they’ve bound your hands this time.”
“This time,” I mused. “And were you there the first time around?”
“No. If I were, I would have told the fools to spare the child. At the very least not bind him so he would not be damaged when we needed him.”
Rage. I could not believe how calm he was about whatever had happened so long ago that a child was involved.
“There was a child at my death. Is that what you are telling me?” I said as uncaringly as I could.
His one eye filled with the evil I knew he was. “The child was your downfall. The King of Obsession swore to the others that it was his—that you were faithful to the devotion he claimed he felt coming from your energy. He went as far as stating that the child carried his eye color, assuming that would be enough proof that his essence had collided and created that babe.” He let out an evil laugh. “You see, a sovereign cannot produce a child with a mere human; not on this plane at least.”
When I first came here with my cousins, Charlie, Monroe, and her brothers, Donalt had formed before us, and he didn’t look at all like he did now; he was near perfection, even sported some impressive wings. Monroe was the one that hindered him then, by simply stating, “Father, tempt me not.” Now, I knew that Monroe had supernatural powers, but as far as I knew she was human. If that were the case, then how was he her father? Of course, I couldn’t ask him that because that would hurt the uncaring character that I had displayed thus far. I made a mental note to figure out where exactly Monroe was born and what, if any powers her mother may have had that would have allowed her to bear children with this ghost at some point in time. My gut was telling me that Donalt was a father to no one, that that was a ruse. Seemed as if no one was who they claimed to be.