I screamed. I screamed with all the pain that was threatening to consume me. The pain was taking me in its wraps so tightly that I felt incapable of pushing out my lungs and taking in a single breath. Tears flowed down my cheeks blurring my vision.

Amidst the all-consuming pain, my limbs on their own accord pushed my frame off the ground, and I found myself running towards Vincent. My knees hit the ground with a thud as I cushioned his head with my lap. Beads of perspiration were highly evident on his facial skin, as was the blood; some dried whilst other travelling across his skin in forms of crimson rivers. His body shuddered at every intake of air; his intestines quivered with every breath through his brutally opened fleshed. He had his eyes screwed shut and back arched trying to live through the waves of immense pain hitting him one after another.

As a quick reflexive action, Vincent's eyelids fluttered open feeling the tear drop escaping my eye land on his skin. With visible effort he forced his lips to form a smile. Every inch of his face reflected pain, unbearable pain. Seeing him in such a state of pain a tortured sob escaped my lips and more tears found their way out of my swollen eyes.

"Do not cry, my love, tears mar your beauty."

I let out another strangled sob, as I placed my palms on Vincent's bloodstained cheeks, and rested my forehead against his. My tears melded with the sweat and blood layering his face, but that concerned neither of us.

"Please, do not leave me. I cannot be without you."

"My, my what a touching and heartfelt moment, may I add."

Vincent opened his mouth to say something, but was cut out by Adrian and his mockery.

"You are a worthless piece of shit; that does not deserves to be called a human," I spat, venomously. Within my being burned a fire fueled by endless stocks of anger with an intensity I previously had thought to never be possible.

The laughter died from his face, his orbs thawed. His cold stare found my hate radiating one.

"I am not worthy of being called a human, fine by me, Ms. Black, but what do you think about him uh," without breaking our eye contact, Adrian pointed towards my lap where Vincent lay. "Is he worthy of being called a human when he is the spawn of the monster?"

"Lineage does not matters, he may be the son of a person who has nothing but monstrosities in his account, but he is an angel; he is the paragon of goodness. You, on the other hand, may be the son to someone who was innocent and wronged, but you yourself are nothing more than a sick, twisted, and sadist natured bastard."

The changes in his features were completely visible, his eyes narrowed and his lips drew into a thin line, while his fists clenched. He was beyond mad, I could say that without any doubt, but that scared me, not. I squared my shoulders and stared right back into the slits that his eyes had narrowed down to, daring him to do something.

"Do not speak so big words when you yourself are merely a pawn in my game. You are no queen, Eleanor; you are and were just a pawn in a carefully schemed game I played to win. Nothing in your life was your choice, I played and manipulated you from the day dot, and you fell right into my plots each and every time," he spoke with a taunting glint in his eyes. "The day I was brought into the royal castle by Mr. Ozera, the first thing I noticed was the power and the influence that your father held in the politics of the empire. His power would not have been a problem to me if and only if he would not have been so loyal to the king; at multiple times in multiple ways I tested where the loyalties of your father lay, never did they falter away from the king and his family. Hence, I initiated a quest for locating his weakness; a way to put him down and out of my way. A little surveillance and I knew it was you; his favorite daughter, who would play the pivotal role in changing the sides General Black took. The question was just how to use you, and that I was intent on finding an answer to. I kept a close personal eye on you for years. Raised amongst brothers, you were different from other women; instead of dolling up and parading around suitors you spent time on reading and learning to yield weapons, more importantly you were stubborn, and that was what made you so easily fit in my game. I needed to use you in such a manner that your father turned against the royal family, so I brought Andre in your life. He purposefully brought the ignorant prince in your life. The game began to unfold just as I desired, you came close to Vincent and people saw that, now all I needed was for you to get hurt and your father to blame Vincent for it and turn against him. I got you and Emily out of the castle for that purpose, and I would have succeeded if Vincent would have not stupidly fallen in love with you and ruined my plans. He sent those men loyal to your father to protect you in secret. I have known since the beginning that I would have to deal with your love for Vincent, but never for once did I thought that, the closed to all women, Vincent will fall in love too. His love ruined some aspects of my plan, but it also distracted him well, giving me a chance to play harder for my win. I set him up, while he was busy running around making certain that you were safe. I got him declared a traitor and turned him into a powerless fugitive. According to my calculations Cedric was to kill Vincent; his only heir, and then I could with ease assassinate the king under the pretense of some natural cause. With the king and the prince dead the throne would have gone to Andre the only living blood relative to the royal family. However, everything was ruined when you brought in reinforcements for Vincent, but worry not, I still managed to have both the former king and the former prince dead. Now, you all will die too, and my plan will fall back onto the track," Adrian spoke with much delight.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. It shocked me to the core to see this revolting face of a human. How could a human being be so fixated on negative entities when there existed so much positive energy around him as well? How could someone play, betray and thoroughly hurt someone who did nothing but good to him? My mind struggled to seek answer for these and many other questions.

"Why hurt Emily? She considered you a father?" I asked in a broken voice, as my eyes drifted to the now still body of the princess. Instead of providing me with a plausible answer, the man standing in front of me threw his head back and laughed. I stared at him, confused. Had he lost what little of the mind he possessed as well, I wondered.

"She did not consider me her father, I was her father." Absolute shock hit me as my brain registered his words. "When I did not retain a level of such high power in the castle and politics of the empire to get all the accurate information, behind the backs of everyone I charmed the princess Kozlovsky and made her fall in love with me. She trusted me with everything, and that way I got all the news that only the royal family might have knowledge of, but like all good things that set up did not last long; the princess got pregnant and started forcing me to run away with her and lead a married life with her. She threatened to out me as the father of her child to the king months into her pregnancy. Naturally, I had to secure my position, I was not going to let a spoilt bitch ruin the status I struggled so hard to build; I pushed the princess down the stairs in a largely accidental way that could not lead back to me. It worked, the princess took her last breath few hours later, but she left Emily in her wake. I hated the princess and that is exactly what I felt for her baby, but I knew the very tender hearted uncle of hers will raise her and keep her close to him meaning I would still have a source to get the inside information, I just needed to be patient. All happened just as I had expected. When Emily came to the age of few years I told her I was her father but she would need to keep it under the wraps if she wants me to not be killed by the king for marring his respect. Now that Emily had served her purpose, I had to sacrifice her for the greater good of her father; she would understand."

His words faded and lips stilled, but I stared at him for some moments like a statue. My brain had fallen into a state of numbness somewhere in between Adrian's word. Once the words I had just heard were fully processed by my brain, hatred and utter disgust ignited within my body. I spat on the man's face, as he shamelessly admitted the monstrous acts he had committed.

All the glee in Adrian's eyes evaporated within moments. His fingers twisted around the hilt of the sword hanging from the belt held at his slim waist. With a swift movement he pulled the sword out of the shadows of the sheath, and with a loud battle cry the sword came swinging forcefully my way. I knew what was coming; I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the last breath to leave my body. I awaited the pain of the blow that was impossible to stop, but nothing came.

Opening my eyes, I saw the sword slip through Adrian's fingers and clutter to the ground. A mud coated arrow protruded from the flesh of his hand as he fell to the ground; howling in pain. There was panic and absolute confusion in air alongside loud murmurs. I did not get much of a chance to mull over the happenings; a pair of strong arms grabbed me off the ground, roughly, and I felt the sharp stings of air on my skin as my body jumped into motion.