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.

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

my way toward the infirmary and stopping before the mystery door. I was terrified of what I may

as I worked myself up to open the door. Would he be on the other side, sleeping in someone else’s bed? Would she be

want to find him. It was the only bedroom I had seen him sneaking out of, but it didn’t mean it was the only one

room was brightly lit as I 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

thought I would. She

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 of her life when she had been chosen by the king and

that felt suffocating, and I knew that she was closer

than life.

looked over my shoulder, not realizing that I had been moving closer to the comatose queen. The young healer who had helped me with my ribs several days before stood in the doorway with an IV

my mind, but I was sure it was as clear as day on my face. Why were the people of the kingdom told that she

we cannot treat the soul.” She moved to the other side

for decades. She didn’t deserve this. She just wanted to be with her mate, but her body and soul were holding on to this world, forcing her to stay here

place back against the wall. It was only seconds later that the

her and back to me. “Natalie, what are you doing

I was expecting, and stared at him in surprise. After this morning, I had. been ready to yell and fight with him

said, not answering his question but also not needing to. I still had a book full of questions for him that I knew I would never get

looked to the healer from the