Page 122 of The Depraved Prince
I keep holding her as her blood makes a puddle. I sit and let my knees drench in it as I kiss her soulless forehead and lips. She’s cold. Where’s her warmth? Where’s her honey-brown eyes that sparkle?Where is she?
“I’ll see you next moon.” I groan into her neck, where my mark still lies.
I’ll see you next moon.
“She had more time! This doesn’t make sense!” I shout into the sky. I hope God can hear me. I hope he can listen to my pleas to give her back to me.
Please give her to me. Give me back my little Bambi.
“What the fuck is happening to my sister?!” Nash’s livid shout slices through the thin air. He loses control but my guards restrain him within the crowd, forcing him to watch.
“King Drago!” One of the maidens holds up a cup. She was the one that helped get my Millie dressed in her wedding gown. “She was poisoned!” Everyone gasps in horror while I do everything I can to not destroy and kill every single guest.
Who would poison my girl? Millie shouldn’t have any enemies with evil intentions to end her life and if she did, I’d make sure they never got a fucking chance. She’s adored by everyone in this Cathedral.
My mother flashes to her, pulls the cup from her hand, and smells it. She’s careful not to touch it with her mouth. Not one more second passes before she pushes the bronze cup away from her lips, revolting. Immediately, my mother’s eyes bulge, and she goes still.
“Who gave her this drink?” I snarl, but I don’t move. I can’t leave my wife. I can’t let her go…
She points to Holland.
He drops his cane and snickers demonically. He stands there clapping with an evil grin, his eyes beaming red with glee.
“Checkmate,” he spits with hatred. I knew he hated me, but I didn’t realize his hatred for me cut this deep. He’s willing to kill and take the only person I love away.
“You…you?” I’m shaking, aching, breaking. Tragic is an understatement. Has our love blinded me so much that I hadn’t been focused? I hadn’t seen the chest moves were being moved from inside of my own kingdom? I still don’t have it in me to let go of Millie. My blackened eyes dart to Holland and my bloodied bride. My father takes initiative for me when I can’t. I’m frozen with a destroyed soul. Even the demons that live inside me are absent, granting me this moment to endure it in silence. I don’t have the energy to feed them. I’m drained from the inside out.
Millie…wake up. Baby. Please…
I plead with her through her mind like I used to do but only silence greets me.
My father rushes to him and restrains him. Holland doesn’t fight him as thirty more vampire guards help assist my father.
Holland played us all. He’s been the true enemy all along. Pulling the strings behind enemy lines.
“You don’t deserve anything good in your life. You always get what you want, and I’m sick and tired of it. But guess what? In this cruel world, we don’t always get what we want, Hayden, and it brings me joy to see you suffer and learn one of life’s hardest lessons. You’re a monster trying to change the times for a human? For love?” he scoffs with amusement. “Don’t forget who you are…which is The Depraved Prince.”
44
SCARLETT
YEAR 2024
“In the end,The Depraved Prince became The Lost King. The Lost King who fell out of love with life and in love with the idea of death. It’s a tragic story of revenge and love that hurts. His father warned him time and time again that this would be her ending. She was always supposed to die. He was always supposed to lose her.” My aunt closes the book.
“And what happened to Holland?”
“Hayden tortured him until he killed him. It turns out he was the one who leaked Hayden’s uncle’s relationship with King Davenport. He was the one who turned on the TV so Millie could find out about her father dying, and he was the one who let King Davenport into the Cathedral so he could get to Millie to unlock his powers. It’s all written in this journal.”
“How?” I quirk a brow, biting my fingernail with a broken heart.
“How? What?” she repeats.
“How did Hayden torture Holland?”
“Those details aren’t important, sweetie.” She groans out. She removes her reading glasses and stiffens, probably thinking about the answer to my question. I’m sure it’s in that journal.
“Milie’s death destroyed him, and there are other stories about him. Stories that he turned into something far worse. Some stories are so horrifying I refuse to believe they’re true.” She widens her eyes and shakes her head. “Or maybe he’s gone from this world and into another, haunting Millie until he finds her again…nobody knows.”
