Call Of The Dark

"As if I will allow that!" Magnus replied with a growl. "I will kill everyone who lays a finger on her." He clutched Olya possessively.

"Why do you have to do all that when it can be dealt with easily?" Emma said.

"What do you mean Emma?" Magnus said, his voice still having that growl. Lazarus growled back at him to warn him to not scare his mate.

Emma climbed out of Lazarus's lap. She said, "Naomi wants Lazarus to marry Olya." She looked at Lazarus. "So why don't you say yes to it?"

"I won't ever marry her!" Lazarus retorted. "I will only marry you. You are my mate and no one else will take that place!"

Magnus too was so riled up that he looked murderous.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Do you remember what you said at Upper North Jupan, Lord Lorza?"

He tilted his head and said, "Yes. I said that I will marry her."

"Yes, you said you will marry her." When Magnus growled again, she added, "Hypothetically." That made Magnus less ferocious. "So why doesn't Olya come out of her hiding and you announce that you will marry her. That way, she is going to stay under your protection all the time and will be with Lord Magnus as well. Who would know the reality? It would be just a façade."

"I hate the idea of Olya's name with Lazarus's," Magnus spat.

"You may hate the idea, but if King Viktor sends his army to find her, they will find her and give her back to Naomi and Lord Cain. Would she be safe there?" Emma questioned him. "Why are you all trying to be righteous when everyone around you is so twisted?"

Lazarus got up and curled his arms around her shoulders. He kissed the crown of her head and chuckled. "If it's just a façade, then I don't have a problem." His eyes went to Magnus, who was still not convinced.

Emma said, "Look, it is already established that Olya ran because she didn't want to marry Lord Lorza. That part validated her displeasure at the arrangement. Now, instead of the army finding her, how about Lord Lorza claiming that he has found her. That way he will bring her to the Wilyra Palace and force Naomi and Lord Cain to allow her to let her stay in the palace."

There was a gleam in Olya's eyes. "That's great! And I will stay with Lord Magnus while I am here!" she squealed.

Magnus, who was very angry until now, suddenly blushed. Olya was jumping at the prospect of staying along with Magnus, and he couldn't help but love it.

Emma shrugged. "See, the problem is solved."

Lazarus grinned, seeing Olya hugging Magnus. The way he was blushing was a memory he captured in his brain. He was surely going to ask the royal painter to make a painting like that. "Wonderful," Lazarus said. "So, now you will have the company of Olya openly."

"I will!" Emma lifted her face up and kissed his chin.

---

When Maeve got up, she was feeling like she was run over by five carriages and then some more. There were two maids who were helping her clean up her wounds. Her tears wouldn't stop falling. Lazarus had made sure that she rejected Ailill, else he was going to kill her. She didn't know where he had taken Ailill, but at least she had made him vow to the Lore that he wouldn't hurt her. Her chest ached with so much misery that depression set in. She didn't feel like eating or sleeping.

"M'lady," a maid said. "I will call the healer. Your wounds are bad and you have to stay healthy so that you can present yourself for the ritual tomorrow."

She nodded weakly. Inside her mind was in a complete turmoil. She promised herself that she was going to take revenge from Lazarus. She was going to marry him, take over Emma's body and then she was going to kill him bit by bit. Her worry was that he would mark her while claiming her. She was going to find Ailill the moment she possessed Emma's body and then she was going to make him mark her. Lazarus could take her after that. And then she would ascend to the throne of Wilyra.

"Where have they taken Ailill?" she asked the maid. She was sure that Lazarus wouldn't be able to touch him also.

"Oh, Lord Lazarus hasn't taken him," the maid replied. "Lord Yul has taken him, and we don't know where he has sent him. There are several dungeons across the palace. It is possible that he has not taken him to the dungeon in the palace."

Maeve's stomach dropped to the floor. "Yul has taken Ailill," she said with disbelief. This meant that even though Lazarus didn't touch Ailill, his minions would do his work. Yul would torture Ailill. A shudder ran down her body and she thought she would piss. If tortured, Ailill might spill the secrets about her. Their past and what all she did while she was his mate. How she took gold from Lazarus only to give it to Ailill. How she went to Vilinski only for him. Suddenly, Maeve wanted to marry Lazarus like today!

"Yes," the maid answered.

This was going to be a disaster even before it started. Maeve closed her eyes as more anxiety crossed her heart. What about Emma? She asked the maid, "Have they found Emma?"

The maid shook her head as she tied a bandage around her thigh. "No m'lady," she said. "Lady Emma hasn't been found. But Lord Lazarus is still chasing her. He hopes to find him by tomorrow. After all, she has to be there at the soul casting ceremony."

Everything was going against her. Dread skittered down her back when she thought that they wouldn't find Emma. In that case she was going to enter whatever body she would find first. "Call Lord Lazarus now!" She ordered her maid. Emma could go to hell.