Page 1 of Regal Queen

One

Two lifeless bodiesin the room, one of them covered with a sheet.

Still. Unmoving.

So motionless that I wanted to roar. To scream. To smash everything in the room just to let out the raging agony that was thrashing through my chest like a trapped animal, frantic to escape.

I clutched my hands into fists, my nails digging into skin, the sharp pain a reminder that I had to keep control over my emotions.

A man who was in control was a man in charge.

Except…

…

I was never in charge. Not really. Because he was dead, wasn’t he?

The one person who took care of me for the last several years.

Another person carved from their life, another victim of my world.

Another person I didn't protect.

The helplessness was overwhelming.

They drug him through my house, dumping him right inside the hallway to my wing, the first thing I would see when I finally had the chance to go after her. His fingers were smashed, as if they’d stomped on them to keep him from using his gun or phone. His body was beaten black and blue, then riddled with bullet holes. The one in the dead center of his head was what made me burn inside.

He'd still been alive but somehow I knew that Dimitri looked Grant in the eyes when he put a bullet to his head.

That knowledge kept me raging, the ability stay awake even though I hadn’t slept in three days. We’d managed to bring him here, but I hadn’t had the courage to do anything after the doctor embalmed his body.

It’d been that long since Dimitri showed up in my own fucking house and took what belonged to me.

Rose.

I needed her right now, God, did I need her. She was the only thing that could keep me sane. But that asshole had taken her and who the hell knew what the sadistic bastard was doing with her.

The only hope I had was the sound of that fucking annoying beeping machine, a constant blare of noise in the background. If I could, I would smash the machine to tiny pieces. But it was the only thing keeping Coulter alive, the soft sound of his labored breath making me cling to my faith like a long lost lover.

He was alive, teetering on the edge between life and death.

The whisper of cloth made me blink, and I straightened, leaning back into the sofa we'd set up next to Coulter's bed. My vision was blurry as I looked towards the doorway to see the man in a white coat enter the room. I wasn't familiar with this place, as we'd left the King mansion to hole up at Dante's house, but the room was adequate. It was set up similar to the one we had at my house with enough medical equipment to keep someone alive for several weeks.

“How's the patient?" The stern looking doctor brushed by me, business-like. "Any changes?”

I shook my head, my voice gruff. "No."

He only grunted in return, not paying me any attention, his focus fully on Coulter now.

Unable to watch the lifeless body of my brother, I turned to stare at Dante, whose form filled the doorway. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders slumped, but his gaze didn't leave Coulter, not even when the stiffening of his back indicated he noticed I was staring at him.

His expression was fierce, as if by his very glower, he could make Coulter rise up from the bed and walk again like Lazarus from the bible.

“He's not dead," I growled, not liking the way he was looking at Coulter. Coulter was going to live, if I had to drag him from hell kicking and screaming myself.

Only when I spoke did Dante's gaze shift to me. "I know that."

“Then wipe that pitiful look off your face."

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