Sins Among Royals

The room grew quiet as Nathaniel ordered all those that didn’t need to present out of the infirmary. He ordered guards to wait outside just in case and made sure they had everything they needed. Once he started the process he knew there would be no going back.

What he had seen in a vision from Morgana seemed straight forward but he knew it would be anything but.

“Lock the doors. Let’s begin,” Nathaniel and the guards moved the beds so that Indie and Noah were right next to each other. Their beds sat in the middle of the room and Nathaniel stood at the top end. He hovered over Indie for a moment and just watched as she slept. Part of him was proud of his young descendant and part of him was gravely worried. He knew however that there was no time and no place for concern, it would only lead to trouble and complications they didn’t need. “Wake Indie,” he placed his index fingers at the temples of her face and waited.

Nathaniel closed his eyes to concentrate as he ordered her silently to wake. After a short silence the room was filled with loud gasping as Indie sucked in breath after breath. It was almost like she’d been dead and only just resurrected.

“What’s happening?” She asked in a slight panic as she looked around the room wondering where she’d been taken.

“Relax Indie. It is just me, Nathaniel.” At the sound of his voice she seemed to still. “Your mother is here too. We need to do something that will save your mates life and bind the two of you together forever.” Nathaniel wasn’t too sure how to explain what he was about to do and wasn’t too sure about the process either. “You two will effectively share the same wolf spirit but it will hopefully manifest as two separate entities.” He just hoped that the pair didn’t go mad with the new arrangement.

“Will it hurt?” Indie asked quickly as she scanned the room and found her mother standing a short distance away.

Nathaniel couldn’t help but frown, he didn’t know what would happen but he was hopeful. “It shouldn’t cause you any physical pain until you shift but this will be a gruelling test of your mental and emotional strength and the pre existing bond you have with your mate.” From what he had heard the bond between Indie and Noah was temperamental to say the least but what he had seen upon arrival spoke differently to him.

“It’s weak,” Indie admitted quickly, almost through gritted teeth. “Our bond isn’t like anyone else’s and I don’t know why.” A tear sprang to her eye as she thought back on her short history with Noah. Things hadn’t started with great hope and everything seemed to go downhill.

“Don’t focus on the negative,” Nathaniel urged her gently. “Surely there has been some good in your brief relationship.”

A warm glow began radiating in Indies heart as she thought about it. She thought back to Craggy Bluff and to when she almost died. It was her fault but she carried a chip in her shoulder. Noah had abandoned her on the island and she still held some resentment.

Despite his cold heartedness she was soon flooded with images of Noah smiling. He brought her a building and told her he loved her. He’d brought her clothing and offered to give her a job just so she wouldn’t feel like a leech. He’d even pushed her off of the stage when he saw Felix rushing towards them. Noah kept her safe, he cared for her and loved her and though she’d moved passed the Craggy Bluff incident she still harboured resentment in her heart.

“You need to let go of that anger Indie. He’s let go of his anger and even laid down his life for you. The beast you harbour inside you can see that. Why can your human side not?” Nathaniel stared down at her as she frowned and struggled with her thoughts.

Why was she still angry at Noah?

The thought kept nagging at her. He had given her a promise ring and along with it he had given her his heart but something in Indie still was not satisfied. “I don’t know,” Indie whispered. What was holding her back? He had been nothing but kind and caring towards her since she’d arrived in Blackwood and he had more or less left her to do whatever she wanted. Anyone else would be delighted with such treatment. But not Indie.

“We don’t have time for you to be uncertain child. The boy has lost his father and his sister threatens to escape the dungeons. If you can’t figure out what you feel for your mate I’ll have no choice but to enter your mind and find it.” His tone was threatening and made Indie cringe in fear. She didn’t want anyone poking around in her brain.

“I’m angry that he made me leave my family.” She admitted quickly and without much thought. She hadn’t voiced her annoyance before but as the words left her lips she realised it was why she harboured resentment for her mate.

“Indie,” Rita sighed softly as she stepped towards her daughter. “Honey, at some point we all have to grow up and accept our destinies. You can’t live your life wishing he never found you or you will wake up one day alone and bitterly disappointed.” A small smile crept across Rita’s lips as she shook her head. “Besides your bedroom is now my craft room so really you’d have to sleep in that shitty car of yours.”

Indie gasped loudly, “Mom you didn’t!” A frown settled across her face. “What about my stuff?” Indie asked in the hopes that her mother hadn’t tossed it all out or burned it.

“Well it’s all in the garage. Maybe Noah can send someone to pick it up.” Rita couldn’t help but smile. She felt a little bad when she saw the crushed look on her daughter’s face but it was brief. “You know how crazy those damn stickers all over your door sent me. But don’t worry I saved the door!”

“Ahem,” Nathaniel cleared his throat. “This conversation is utterly fascinating but do you two mind?” He was impatient and eager to get it over and done with.

“Oh right,” Rita muttered quickly. “What I’m trying to say Indie,” she knelt and swept her hand gently up over her daughter’s forehead. “You only get one life to live and you were lucky enough to be chosen to live this life of grand royalty and freedom. Think of all the good you could do, think of all the lives you could change and of all the laws you could....rework. Don’t get lost in the dreams you think you want. You are blessed Indie. People would kill to be where you are.”

Indie knew where mother was right. She was always right. It didn’t take the sting out of being rushed out of home though. That would be something that would likely stick with her for a long time. She was stubborn and could hold a grudge and even though she was grateful for all Noah had done for her and given to her he needed to realise his fault.

“Besides,” Rita chuckled again. “I actually don’t want you home unless you are going to bring grandchildren with you so whether you like it or not you are actually stuck here so I guess you should really just suck it up.”

The young woman sucked in a deep breath and sighed, “Fine. I’ll forget my resentment for now.” Indie grumbled in defeat, “I just want this whole Ebony nightmare to be done.” so much had changed in the short time Indie had been away from home and she didn’t know how she has managed to not completely lose herself.

“Good. Just think happy thoughts and we should get through this in one piece ” Nathaniel smiled as he spread his hand out over Indies face. “Whatever you do just try and stay as still as possible. The last thing I want to do is kill you cause you can’t stop squirming around.”

The look of utter shock and horror on Indies face would have been amusing if it were any other situation.

“All I have to do is chant and call to the beast in you, it should draw its entity to the surface without releasing it into your consciousness. Hopefully I can splinter off some of its power and put it into your mate. That is how you will be bound, by sharing the spirit of the same beast within your own beasts.” Although it sounded utterly confusing Indie managed to wrap her head around it. Kind of.

“I’m ready.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.

Nathaniel began chanting in a foreign language that Indie didn’t recognise. Rita on the other hand knew it as the language from the letters she had received from Nathaniel but she hadn’t expected the reaction Indie would give.

The room suddenly filled with a horrendous gurgling noise as Rita and Nathaniel looked down on Indie in concern. Her body began trembling and shaking as if her beastly form tried pulling away from her body. Nathaniel’s chanting was persistent and grew louder and louder with each groan and moan from Indies lips.

Her head turned from side to side and her muscles spasmed, her back arched at odd angles as she kicked and thrashed about the hospital bed wildly. Rita felt her motherly instincts heighten and all she wanted to do was pull Nathaniel away and demand that he stop but she thought back to Nathaniel’s warning. Rita didn’t feel like dying.

She stood by her daughter’s side feeling helpless and useless and as the thrashing grew in its intensity her eyes grew wide at what happened next.

Indies spasms and movements stopped instantly and she looked as though she had been frozen in time and space. Rita watched on as Nathaniel still had his eyes closed, his mysterious chanting still sounded through the otherwise silent room and soon a white light appeared on the surface of Indies skin. It’s dull, pale light even shone through her clothing.

Nathaniel’s chanting grew stronger, more insistent as the light that lingered over Indie began moving towards her head. Soon it gathered into a ball and the colour turned from white to a pale yellow colour as it travelled up towards Nathaniel’s open palm. He slowly closed his hand around the ball as Indies body relaxed and rested. Rita was astonished and scared. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. Nathaniel’s chanting quieted as he turned his head towards Rita and opened his eyes. She gasped loudly at the sight, the vampire’s eyes had turned from a dark colour to white. It was frightening.

Before Rita could say anything Nathaniel turned from her and aged his attention and focus on Noah, he began chanting over the young man’s body. He opened his palm and the light fell and hovered over Noah’s body for a moment. The light again changed color as it touched Noah’s lips and bounced back up towards Nathaniel’s hand. The vampire lowered his hand to Noah’s face again but the light he had taken from Indie didn’t seem to want to enter Noah’s body. The chanting grew loud and forceful again. This was why Nathaniel needed Indie to see good in her mate. The energy he had taken from her was refusing Noah because of the resentment she held for him in her heart. Despite the issue Nathaniel he had to persist. He couldn’t stop now or Noah would not be saved and Indie would be stuck in a state of perpetual sleep.

In the blink of an eye Nathaniel forced the light into Noah and both Indie and Noah gasped and took in a deep breath as Nathaniel’s chanting faded.

“Rita, get away from your daughter and hide. Everyone run.” Nathaniel urged as all eyes landed on Indie and Noah. Something was happening.

“They’re shifting!” Wade shouted as he grabbed Amber and ran for the door.

“Rita go with them!” Nathaniel urged as Indie and Noah’s human forms were quickly lost. Rita was frozen in fear, what she was witnessing isn’t what anyone had expected. While the promise was made that Indie would have her normal wolf back the beast that shifted before them was anything but normal. “Dammit woman!” Nathaniel yelled as he ran to Rita in the blink of an eye and carried her to the far side of the room.

“I thought....I thought you said,” she muttered as she struggled to breathe. Her heart raced in her chest as two beast’s grew out of Indie and Noah’s human bodies.

“The spirit wouldn’t go into his body. Your daughters damn stubborn resentment and hatred of him has turned them both into monsters. There is no way of fixing it now.” Nathaniel was bitterly disappointed in Indie. Her selfishness had now created a problem that Nathaniel couldn’t fix.

“What are they doing?” Rita screamed as the two beasts collided with force. They scratched and clawed at each other before the slipped and landed on the ground. The sight was horrifying.

Everything became a blur as Rita and Nathaniel watched on and soon they lost sight of who was who as they tumbled, rolled and destroyed everything in the infirmary. “What are they doing?” Rita asked in a whispered voice.

It took a moment for the vampire to answer for he was far too enthralled with what was happening before him. “Well,” he began slowly, “they are either fighting for leadership or fighting to the death. I guess we will find out when they tire themselves out or one of them dies.”