The Beast And The Blessed

Twenty-Two: Natalie

Natalie’s P.O.V.

Even after a cold shower, I was fuming. I wanted to give Killian an earful and make sure that he understood just how damaging last night had been to our relationship… whatever relationship we had.

I knew he wouldn’t care, but that didn’t stop me. My first stop had been his office, but when I found that empty, I tried every common room that I knew of, including the gym and the training field. Yet, he was nowhere to be found.

It was like he knew I was on a warpath, and he vanished.

Although the rational side of my brain told me that he wouldn’t be scared of me, a human. Perhaps he was trying to save me from publically embarrassing myself further after I had shamelessly thrown myself at him last night. It was bad enough that the servants would be seeing the blood on the sheets from when his claws had punctured my hips and the proof that we had not been trying for the heir that the kingdom was expecting.

When it was discovered that I wasn’t pregnant and that I didn’t bare their king’s mark, I would be seen as a failure.

I stopped in the middle of the garden, glancing around the grounds and ignoring the eyes on me. There were hundreds of people that I had seen in the past hour, but none of them belonged to my alleged mate.

I turned to Tobias, lowering my voice even though there was no one in my immediate vicinity. “He is hiding. Is he not?”

My bodyguard smirked as he stared at me, refusing to give away any information on his beloved king.

I would find him, but I really didn’t want to be right. To have him go there after the night we had

door. I was terrified of what I may find, even more so when Tobias stopped several paces back and took his stance

chest as I worked myself up to open the door. Would he be on the other side,

don’t be inside,” I whispered to myself as I grabbed the door handle. This was the one place I didn’t want to find him. It was the only bedroom I had seen him sneaking out of,

pushed the door open, so I knew he wouldn’t be asleep, but he wasn’t there. It was the woman lying in the bed that took my breath away. Her chest rose and fell slowly in time with the machine next to her. The low beeping

She was supposed to be

and I knew if she opened her eyes that she would have bright emerald irises staring back at me. There was no crown on her head, and she was wrapped up in a hospital gown with a blanket tucked around her. But she was just as stunning now as she was at the prime

the air, a darkness that felt suffocating, and I knew

than life.

over my shoulder, not realizing that I had been moving closer to the comatose queen. The young healer who had helped me with

the question that was at the forefront of my mind, but I was sure it was as clear as day on my face.

is gone, and her soul has suffered a great deal with the loss of her mate. Even we cannot treat the soul.” She moved to the other side of the queen, Lillian Amery. She hung the bag from the metal post,

for decades. She didn’t deserve this. She just wanted to be with her mate, but her body and soul

clearing of a throat made me turn to the doorway, and I watched as Tobias raised his eyebrows at me before taking his place back against the wall. It was only seconds later that

and back to me. “Natalie, what

stared at him in surprise. After this morning, I had. been ready

this was your mother’s room,” I said, not answering his question but also not needing to. I

off limits. Do not come here again.” He demanded with a firm tone, and I looked to the healer from the corner of my eye, grateful when she continued to