The Bastard Prince

12 Searching for the prince (2)

He hadn’t thought that it would happen so soon.

Karic stared at the Grand King’s men saddle up and take off at a run to go assist Phillip in searching for Prince Dominic.

His stomach tightened as he thought of them finding the prince in the forest.

Not enough time has gone by for him to be found by someone. He had made sure not to cut him too deep, so that he might have a chance to survive.

But he had bleed too much.

There was nothing he could have down about that, since David had been watching. The amount of blood managed to convince David anyway. Or he would have been suspicions and came back to inform Phillip.

He would have hurt Bella.

Karic closed his eyes at the thought of losing her. He couldn’t lose her. That’s why he’d come up with the plan of just wounding him.

But Karic was scared that it might just kill him too. The way he had bled…he shook his head. That was not normal.

But it was risk he was willing to take for Bella.

Bella….

Karic stared the house wondering how she was. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to tell her…

What?

Fuck…he didn’t know.

He stood there feeling terrified.

He might have killed the prince.

And he’d had the hair as proof that he only injured him, not killed him. He was going to show the hair to Bella as proof. But that had backfired on him.

Karic stood still, his heart hammering in his chest.

What was he going to do?

He knew he shouldn’t go to her, but he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t stand there as sorrow filled his heart.

He knew it wasn’t his…it was hers. He could feel it. And it was breaking him inside.

He stared at the house again, and made up his mind. He made his way inside without being noticed. He came to a stop in front of his door.

The whimpering cries coming from inside tore at him. His very heart ached.

“Bella,” he whispered through the door. He wasn’t sure if she heard him. A few seconds ticked by, and the door was opened. She stared at him for a minute before vaulting into his arms.

She cried as her arms closed around him.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he said walking forward into the room. He closed the door behind him. And then picked her up, walking toward the bed.

He lay her down, and then pulled back to take off his boots.

Bella voiced her displeasure in a whimper. Her hands reached for him too.

“Shhhh,” I am not going anywhere, he said leaning down to kiss her. He pulled off his boots and her shoes. Once he was done he pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead.

She cried sinking into him.

“My brother,” she said against his chest.

“I know,” Karic said hating himself for causing her so much pain. And he couldn’t even tell her that he did it for her, that she was caught in a toxic web of power that he didn’t even understand himself. But he knew King Stefan wanted the Duke of Marinne’s daughter to marry Phillip for a reason.

He just didn’t know why.

He need to find that out so that he would know what to do in the future to protect himself and now his heart. His arms tightened around Bella.

She felt so good against him, that he didn’t want to let go.

“He was sick,” she lifted her head and stare at him.

Karic blinked. It now made sense why he bled so much. He didn’t cut him that deep.

He just hoped that someone found him alive.

He shook his head as the memory of the blood painting his nightshirt filled his mind. It had been gruesome.  

He could be dead. Karic hissed hoping it wasn’t so.

“He…I fear he might have fallen in the forest with no one to find him,” Bella shook her head. Her tears flowed freely now. She stared at Karic, her brown eyes darkening from her sorrow. “I have the same sickness.”

What?

Karic sat up with her in his arms. She straddled his thighs, looking down at his chest, and not at him.

“You do?” Karic asked fear gripping him.

“Its…I am…” before she could say anything. There was a knock at the door. “Princess?”

That sounded like the prince’s male servant. 

“I have to go,” Karic said not wanting him to see him again. It would be too many times he’d seen him with the Killengly siblings.

Bella nodded even though she looked like she wanted to refuse.

He took ahold of her cheeks gently, tilting her face so that she was looking at him. “I’ll come back,” he said slanting his mouth over hers. She whimpered, clinging to him as if she’ll never let go.

“Tonight,” she demanded.

“Yes,” Karic said kissing her one last time before making his way out the window.

He hid himself in the corner so that the male servant wouldn’t see him and listened to him give his report about the prince, that they found nothing.

It’s as if the prince vanished into thin air.

Karic stared in the direction of the forest wondering what might have happened to him. He walked to the stables, deciding to saddle Thunder, so he could go and look for himself.

 But Phillip was already there.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In the early hours of the morning, right before dawn in the forest:

It’s so cold.

Dominic thought as the morning dew settled down on him wetting his already wet clothes. He could feel the blood caked to his skin and clothes. It should have dried during the hours of the night, but he kept bleeding.

If he wasn’t wrong, he was due to die soon. He couldn’t lose that kind of blood and live. Even for a half-breed vampire. Especially when he was on the verge of death anyway.

He had been dying before Bella’s mate put a knife to his throat.

Dominic frown thinking about the very moment he realized he wasn’t alone in his room. He hadn’t thought that Bella’s mate had come into his room to kill him.

He had thought that he was there, maybe to talk about what Bella had said.

He had assumed that she had told him. And he perhaps didn’t understand what it all meant, and he wanted to discuss it.

He was ready to make him understand, to convince him that his sister needed him far more than he will ever know, because he was now her life. He was the reason she would live.

And he would live for a very long time.

He hadn’t thought that he was there to kill him.

Never in a million years.

The betrayal of his action coursed through him like acid destroying the bond, the love he had felt forming as he watched his sister ride away with her mate that very afternoon. He had thought she had finally found someone he could leave her with, someone that he would die not worrying that his sister was all alone.

He had sensed honour and virtue in Bella’s mate. How could he be so wrong?

Dominic closed his eyes, feeling tears prickle his eyes and his heart squeeze tight from the pain that now lived in his dying body.

He couldn’t believe he had been betrayed. Not like this.

“I am doing it for your sister,” he’d said.

  Dominic shook his head, because that didn’t make any sense. If he was doing anything for her, then why kill him. That will make his sister hate him, and not make her run into his arms.

This didn’t make any sense.

He tried to breathe deep but his throat hurt.

Fuck…he groaned as his head pounded, and he felt his eyes growing tired. He closed them and waited for death.

He didn’t know for how long he lay there in the cold, when he heard the distinctive sound of dogs barking excitedly.

He knew they were smelling his blood.

He shivered knowing that his death was near. Wild dogs will never leave a wounded animal. He was an easy kill lying there with so much blood pooling around him.

This is it, Dominic thought as the sound of the dogs got nearer. He closed his eyes, and waited. The dogs stopped a few paces away, as someone commanded them.

“My God,” that someone said as he came to a stop next to him. “Samuel!” he called.

And Dominic heard more feet rushing towards him. He opened his eyes to look at the men who were surrounding him.

“He’s still alive,” a very young voice said. Dominic followed it to look at a mop of blond hair covering the face of a handsome looking young man. “We should help him.” he declared.

“Yes, right,” the one who had spoken first said, looking down at him. He touched his throat gingerly, and Dominic could see the worry in his eyes.

He’ll tell him he can’t help him soon, they’ll leave him here to die, he thought.

“The cut was shallow, thank God,” the man said moving to rip the tail end of his s**t, and then tying it around Dominic’s neck. “He’ll live. We just have to stop the bleeding. Get him on your horse and we will take him to the tents.”

“Yes, master,” the blond said. “The Grand King is going to be mad that we didn’t catch any rabbits for his morning soup.” he grumbled as he picked up Dominic and hoisted him onto his shoulder.

He’s strong, Dominic thought as he brought him to the horse. He handed him to someone and then climbed onto the horse. He was handed over, back into the blond boy’s arms.

The horse was turned around, and then they were galloping somewhere.

“The Grand King knows I wouldn’t disappoint him. We wouldn’t have found anything here anyway,” they continued their conversation as if it was every day they found an almost dead man in the woods.

Dominic did hear them say the Grand King.

But he was too hurt to feel any emotions where the evil king was concerned. He was too hurt and too tired to car.

And besides, it wasn’t like he could do anything about it who saved him. He was just glad he’ll get to live.

He won’t see the Grand King anyway. He’ll get well and get back to his sister. He had to. Or she was will die in the hands of her mate.

And that was his last thought when he passed out.