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Chapter 112: Do You Love Me?
*Ciana*
Theo was moved to his room and I went with him. Dottie, the healer, was summoned to check him over.
I stood back and watched as she did her job.
She sighed a few times. My heart raced every time and I held my breath.
"Prince Theo is fine," she said. "He just needs a little time to recover."
"Are you sure that he is going to be okay?" I wanted to be assured.
"Yes, Miss. If you're worried, stay with him. You can look after him," she suggested..
"Yeah, I'll do that." I went to the bedside and tucked the covers closer to Theo. Slowly, I smoothed
some wrinkles out of his comforter.
He looked peaceful, like he was just asleep instead of unconscious. There was a slight thinness to his
face, probably from being starved in the dungeons.
Nita stood at his bedside, opposite of me. She looked at Theo' s sleeping face with a strange
expression of mixed emotions.
"He's going to be okay, Lady Nita," Dottje smiled at Theo's mother, but looked puzzled-relieved, but
puzzled.
"You can just call me Nita. The king's dead, and I'm no longer a royal concubine."
Dottie nodded. "It was a miracle! He didn't kill you. Actually, you look... better than you did a few hours
ago. What a relief!"
"I'm not sure what happened but I suddenly felt a lot of my strength return." Nita then absently lifted her
eyes to me. "But there is a more urgent matter to discuss."
Why was she looking at me like that?
"You're immune to Theo's powers. Why?" she asked, fixing me with a hardened, suspicious stare.
I shook my head. Being immune to Theo's power was as much a shock to me as everyone else. At that
point, I didn't even think too much. All I knew was that I had to do something so that Theo wouldn't kill
his mother.
He'd already suffered too much from Maggie and Warren.
Based on what Jake said, there had been no other survivors when Theo's power was activated in the
past. Now that things calmed down, I had the chance to sort through the details of the past incidents.
Perhaps the reason Theo's deadly impact skipped Warren was because I happened to be there to
break their physical connection.
As for why it didn't impact me... I shrugged at Nita. "I don't know. Maybe it is just fate."
Nita murmured, as if she was talking to herself. "As far as I know, even the mates of the Dark Kings
weren't immune to this power. That was why the descendants of the Dark Kings had to be really careful
when they were around their loved ones."
I grinned, "Whatever it is, it's a good thing, right? I'm just glad I was able to help!"
Nita looked at me for a long moment, and her sharp look softened. She turned on her heel and walked
towards the door. "It seems like Theo is in good hands. I'll come back once he is awake."
"Don't worry, we'll let you know as soon as he is up!"
Nita walked out of the room with a gentle sigh, but she didn't say anything else.
I stayed with Theo most of the day. His breathing was steady and his color was returning. Dottie had
left a few things that would help revitalize him once he woke up. I wasn't worried about him anymore.
He was strong and I knew he'd pull through.
When I left his room to grab myself a snack, the palace was in complete chaos. I'd never seen so many
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtpeople running around! It was like no one knew where they were supposed to be or what they were
supposed to be doing.
I dodged around a frantic servant and dashed away from a couple of well-dressed maids that were
urgently discussing Warren and Theo's condition in rapid, short sentences.
A familiar face popped out in the crowd and I went over.
"Jake, what is going on? Why is everything..." I got cut off by a
soldier bustling by as he bumped into my shoulder.
Grunting, I rubbed my arm.
"Ciana, you should be back with Theo. He needs you more," Jake said, dismissively. He looked like a
rubber band pulled to the breaking point.
"I can help," I said.
Jake shook his head. "Sebastian is dead. Warren and Theo are both unconscious. People are
panicking. They have no idea what is going on and there is a lot of fear about who is going to become
the next ruler, especially with both princes incapacitated."
"I see," I muttered.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anything I could do to help. I wasn't a member of the royal family. Jake was
Theo's Beta and he was having a hard enough time keeping things under control. We'd need a miracle
to get the palace organized now.
"Jake, Beta Jake," Sophia called down the corridor.
Jake groaned and let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Yes, Miss Chambers?"
Dottie was right behind her with an unusually large smile on her face.
"Warren is awake," Sophia panted. She tried and failed to hide her smile. "He's awake!"
"What? How?" I blurted out, knowing that Warren couldn't wake up on his own.
"We don't know. He's still a little confused. But a lot of the other guards that Sebastian attacked have
woken up as well. They are all disoriented," Sophia said.
"Dottie, is that true?" Jake asked.
"It is. I've examined them all and they are all well on their way to recovery," she said, nodding.
"That's... the best news I've gotten all day," Jake said, sighing again. Only this time, it was a sigh of
relief.
"I don't understand. I thought once a life essence was taken, it had to be replaced, otherwise, the
person would never wake up," I said, referencing Dottie's explanation of Warren's condition.
"That is what I thought, as well," Dottie admitted, her smile fading.
"I don't care what is going on. Warren is awake, and I need to be by his side." Sophia turned on her
heel and ran down the hall.
My thoughts went to Nita. I was still amazed at how fast she'd recovered. She'd been unconscious and
seriously aged, but just now, she looked a lot younger and her strength had returned.
The same thing was happening to Warren and the other guards.
"Perhaps it is time to get answers. There is one person that knew Sebastian's secrets better than
anyone," Jake suggested.
"Xavier!" I jumped in.
The three of us went to a private infirmary room where Dottie had set Xavier up. He was pretty badly
wounded but he was healing quickly.
Jake went right over to Xavier's bedside and slammed his hand down on the bedside table. "Xavier,
stop pretending to be asleep!"
Xavier yelped and "woke" up. He sat bolt upright and clutched his side where he was covered in
bandages. Xavier lifted wide, scared eyes to Jake. Then, his eyes darted to me and Dottie.
"Please, please don't hurt me. Prince Theo said he would spare me."
"When Theo wakes up, he will be the one to determine whether you will live or die. We are interested in
something else," Jake explained.
"No, please, just let me go. Tell Prince Theo I escaped. Or tell him I died. I just want to go back to my
home pack and live out the rest of my life," he begged, looking at us with frantic eyes.
"Not so fast! If you talk to me and answer my questions, I will put in a good word with the prince.
Perhaps, he will agree to your request," Jake said, holding his hand up.
Xavier sighed, but it sounded more like a sob. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Tell us everything you can about Sebastian, all of his dirty laundry. We want to know it all," I jumped in.
Slowly, Xavier adjusted his position, propping himself up on the pillows behind him.
"Well, you see, His Majes... I mean, Sebastian knew that his power was limited. He couldn't kill his
enemies with it but he knew another way to use it to his advantage. He would steal little bits of
everyone's energy. It is what kept him strong and young," Xavier explained.
I gasped and covered my mouth.
Jake snarled and shook his head.
Dottie sighed heavily, her shoulders sagging. "That's so shamefully horrendous..."
"You've never noticed how youthful he looked? Or how he was never sick? Did you ever see how fast
he recovered after getting wounded? That is because he was stealing life from everyone. Just enough
that they wouldn't notice," Xavier elaborated.
"How did none of us know?" Jake asked, looking at Dottie, who shook her head.
"He was sneaky. He knew how to do it without anyone noticing," Xavier claimed. "He was always
surrounded by so. many people, he could take a small portion from all of them and it would replenish
him a hundred times. Then he'd go for another group."
I shook my head, disgust coiling in my stomach like a snake. Sebastian was cruel and awful, but I
never knew he went that far.
"Could he... could he steal the life force of anyone who stood around him?" I asked.
Xavier shook his head. "Not that I know of. As far as I know, that power only works when there is
physical contact. People might feel exhausted at times, but no one really knows why."
"I remember seeing Lady Nita feel exhausted after Sebastian's visit. I thought it was just... because she
hated him so much, it emotionally drained her," Dottie muttered more to herself, but we all heard it.
"Now that the King is dead, the life forces he stole have been returned to their original owner... well, if
the original owner is still alive and close enough," Xavier said.
"That's why Warren is awake! Whatever Sebastian stole from him was enough to restore what Theo
took!" I blurted out. Quickly.
"It makes sense," Jake agreed. "If Sebastian stole enough over the years, it would be enough to wake
him now that Sebastian is dead and Warren's life force is returned."
"And that must be why Nita recovered so soon too!" Dottie came to that conclusion, solving the puzzle
which probably had been hovering in her mind the entire time.
"Well, Lady Nite really lucked out," Jake added. "If... if
Sebastian hadn't stolen her life force for years and then died right then, she might not have made it."
Jake still called her Lady Nita out of respect, probably because she was Theo's mother.
"Fate is a funny thing," Dottie muttered, shaking her head.
"Did I answer all your questions? Can I please leave now, forever?" Xavier asked.
"Once Dottie gives you a clean bill of health, you can leave, but I don't want you coming back, ever!"
Jake gave his final say. He knew Theo wouldn't care less about the ending of Xavier.
"Really, not a problem," Xavier quickly accepted Jake's arrangement.
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"Well, now that all of that is cleared up, I need to update Nita. Prince Theo is going to be crowned king
soon and I'm sure she will need to help prepare for his coronation," Dottie said. She gave us all a quick
nod and departed.
I headed back to Theo's room to check on him. I hadn't wanted to be gone that long but we'd gotten the
answers we wanted about Warren and Sebastian. It was all very disturbing, but at least it was all over.
I sat on Theo's bed, next to him, and smoothed his hair away from his face.
I couldn't wait to tell him that Nita and Warren were okay. I. could just see the spark of hope and life
returning to his eyes, easing his pain and suffering.
I'd hold his hand, and he would not be able to push me away this time.
After three days of Theo just lying there, I was getting worried, but Dottie kept telling me that he'd wake
up any time. His strength was restored and she'd given him some supplements to keep his health up.
I sat with him and talked about everything that was going on with his mother planning the coronation.
Suddenly, Theo reached out and grabbed me, pulling me against his chest. His strong arms pinned me
against him and I couldn't wiggle free.
"Um... Theo." He hugged me so tight that I could barely make a sound.
“Hmm... mmm," he muttered. Apparently, he was only half conscious.
"Theo," I called him gently, pushing at him.
His eyes snapped open and he sat up, pushing me away from him.
"I'm sorry, Ciana, I wasn't thinking... I wasn't fully awake," he said quickly.
"It's okay. You startled me, that's all."
"I know. I'm sorry. It's just... you're alive and I'm so happy about that. I didn't mean to... cross a line," he
said, his voice professional and cool.
My heart immediately softened as if it was a patch of cotton. Yes, I understood that he had been
through a lot in the past few days, nearly killing his mother, actually killing his father, all the torture, and
so on, however, he was frustrating me!
Why did he have to be so reserved all the time? Why couldn't
The just open his heart up?
I needed to get a clear answer on how he felt about me. Today.
I stared at Theo until he looked at me and our eyes locked. I held his gaze for a while, thinking about
what I wanted to say.
"First thing first, your mother and Warren are both fine. No harm at all, I thought you should know."
His eyes lit up, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he murmured.
"You're welcome. Now Prince Theo, can I ask you a few questions?" I asked.
He lifted his gaze and nodded.
"Okay, well, You said, you're happy that I'm alive. Why are you happy?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Theo creased his brow. "Because, Ciana, you're my... friend. Why wouldn't I be happy?"
"Is that it... are we just friends?" I asked, pressing Theo to be honest with himself.
Theo stared at me and kept his silence. It was like he couldn't figure out what I wanted from him.
Sighing, I moved on to my next question. "Okay, second question, you have been pushing me away
from you. Is it because you're afraid you can't control your power?"
"Yes," Theo confirmed with a sigh that mimicked mine.
I grabbed his hand. Instantly, he pulled back, but I didn't let go.
"You don't have to worry about that. See, your power doesn't impact me, not at all," I reminded him.
Leaning in, I kissed him before he could pull away again.
Theo froze with his lips on mine, and then he pushed forward, kissing me back, but I pulled away. I
stared right into Theo's eyes and asked my last question.
"Do you love me?”
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