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.

as I thought back to where he might be. I had the feeling it 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 felt like it would be the final

as I turned back into the castle, I found myself making my way toward the infirmary and stopping before the mystery door. I was terrified of what I may find, even more so when Tobias stopped several paces back and

door. Would he be on the other side, sleeping in

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, but it didn’t mean it was the only

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 of the monitor showing her steady

I would. She

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

thickness in the air, a darkness that felt

than life.

realizing that I had been moving closer to the comatose queen. The

forefront of my mind, but I was

soul.” She moved to the other side of the queen, Lillian Amery. She hung the bag from the metal post,

be with her mate, but her body and soul were holding on to this world, forcing

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 the familiar sight of the king rounded the entrance and stopped short

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

was not what I was expecting, and stared at him in surprise. After this morning, I had. been ready to yell and fight with him until I got the answers that

room,” I said, not answering his question but also not needing to. I still had a book full of questions for him

the healer from the