SWNOVELS Chapter Forty-Five
Vali
Waking up had been the hardest part. Forcing myself to open my eyes to the dim light in the bedroom, to see a body in the bed next to me. My head had felt like it was splitting, but once I laid eyes on Mircea’s dark irises the pain eased. Through my haze he explained what had happened, what he had done to keep me alive, and I hadn't hesitated to pull him against me. To show him my appreciation, to show him how much I loved him.
That had been three days ago.
Right now, we were still in the midst of cleaning up Bran Castle before we would plan what was next. The few bodies that were left had been buried, punishments for the loyalists that had survived had been dealt out. Most were doing time in the dungeons.
Very few were deserving of something else.
Some ended up having to be manipulated by me, having literal thought processes damaged and rewired by me to inflict pain whenever they tried to do something. For most it was simple; think about overthrowing your King, and you will feel unbearable pain.
Nari was the last one that had to be dealt punishment. There were a few reasons she was the final loyalist to face. First reason; Mircea didn't want to be in the room with her when it happened. Second reason; I needed to discuss what Kang-Dae's follow up plan would be and the exact reason she ended up working in such close proximity to Traian. Third reason; I needed time to come up with her punishment.
As it turns out, Traian had been training Nari from a very young age to work on his side. Kang-Dae had even gone so far as to say that Nari was groomed by the late King to be a part of his plans. He had asked me to be lenient, and that immediately after her receiving her punishment here she would be going back home for a long while. There was a lot of healing needed for her, but right now I didn't care about that.
Well, I did, but not as much as I cared about how she had hurt Mir.
"I don't believe that Nari can move forward and heal until she understands the pain that she caused," I said. For their privacy it was just the three of us in an unused study, I thought it would be best considering the vampires who loved Mircea weren't as forgiving or understanding as I was trying to be. Hell, if Anne got a hold of Nari I don't think there would be anything left of the young vampire.
"I did what I needed to-"
"Nari." Kang-Dae cut his daughter off. "We understand," he said as he turned to look at me.
"For this reason, I am going to create mental consequences. It's a technique I have perfected over time, and I can remove them if it is proven that you have changed. Otherwise…" I trailed off, sighing. "I talked to Mircea about this, and he agrees with what I thought of. That is that everytime you think about Mircea, you are going to feel the pain you put him through. Everytime you think of anything to do with him, your blood will burn the same way it did for him when you raped him. The way his skin burned and the nausea he felt for hours and days afterwards, you're going to feel that for the same amount of time as he did."
"Is that all?" She asked, and it took everything in me to stay in my seat. For her to be that nonchalant means she truly didn't know how much physical pain she had caused Mir. She would know soon enough.
"No. Because the same thing will happen when you think about the crown you never won. Or when you think about how you hate me, which I understand and actually prefer from you, but you lied to him and manipulated him throughout your entire lives together." I looked to Kang-Dae who nodded slowly. "She is also not permitted to leave your home in South Korea for the foreseeable future. This can be rediscussed at a later date, but just for now it will be that strict. When we release her from house arrest, she will not be allowed anywhere near Mircea, not until he is willing to move on and she genuinely tries to gain his forgiveness. If she breaks that order, I will not hesitate to kill her. And trust me, the way I've thought about doing it is not pretty."
Kang-Dae nodded once more as Nari seemed to be completely unaware of what I was capable of. That I had placed the foundations for this in her head during the fucking wedding and had simply been waiting to flick the switch. Honestly, I wish Kang-Dae hadn't helped with the rebellion, because if he hadn't I could have killed her. I could have forced her body to give up on her, turned her insides to mush or simply tortured her to death. Killing Traian had been too quick for me, after everything he'd done, so I had to make up for it somehow.
I flicked the switch in her head, and immediately I watched as her eyes widened. As she began itching at her skin and holding in her groans of pain.
"I'm sorry, Kang-Dae. This is just as much a punishment for you as it is for her." I had to acknowledge it, and he nodded.
"It is a small price to pay for your mercy of letting her live. Seo-Yun and I are grateful for the second chance you are giving her, we'll make sure she doesn't waste it." He mentioned his wife, who must still be back in Korea. Far from all of this shit that had happened here.
I nodded and they left, Nari stumbling beside her father, too proud to ask for help. I waited for a few minutes before I left the study too, walking through Bran castle to find my mate.
The others were all safe, well and rested. Marcy and Jackson were just happy to be alive, Dallas was happy to be out of imprisonment and Anne was happy that Mir was finally on his throne.
Speaking of which…
Mircea was standing in the throne room, his eyes on the coveted stone-carved seat, a golden circlet on his head.
"Just looking, are we?" I asked and he jolted as he came back to reality, his eyes landing on me.
"Yeah, I guess…" He trailed off. "It's strange that it's mine now, because I hate it. Like I actually hate the look of it, and I don't know if this castle works as a good home anymore because of all the shit that's-"
"Sounds like you're doing the whole future planning thing, and I thought we agreed to not do that until next week," I said. I walked over to him and took his hands in mine.
"We did agree to that…" he trailed off, taking a slow breath. "Will you um…" I knew what he was asking, so I did exactly what he wanted. I put my hand on his sternum and he covered it with his, and he put his other hand on my sternum and I covered it with my spare hand. Our hearts beat at exactly the same time, our breaths shared like we were one person. It was then that I connected our minds, and I felt his wave of emotion that he couldn't put into words.
"It's going to be okay," I said gently, and he nodded with his eyes closed. "We're going to figure this out, rebuild our world from the ground up and fix everything we can. We're just going to rest first, just for a week, before we start. We aren't neglecting anyone or anything, we are just taking care of ourselves first so we can take care of others." He nodded once again, opening his eyes to meet mine.
His hands left mine as he moved to hold my neck, tilting my head up before placing a gentle kiss on my lips. Slow and tender, he pulled away to leave my skin buzzing for more of his touch.
"I love you, Little Red," I said, trailing my fingers over the mark on his left arm. The one that he told me faded nearly to nothing before he joined our lives together and it sprung back with such force it overtook his whole arm. Like it did with mine.
"I love you, little Goddess."
I smiled, because this was the most calm I'd felt in my entire life.
And no one could take it from me.
Not ever again.
The End.