It now explained the unease that hung on my shoulders when I was a child, laying in my room and feeling that chilling sensation. An old intensity that still race down my spine even until his very day. That cold breath of a ghost, or the phantom like groan that would whine from the upper vents above my room, or that overwhelming sensation of being watched that bore down onto me in every corner of the castle.

Could it really have been, has my great grandfather been alive, all this time, living right in the castle? using dark magic to keep himself alive ... and those rituals, spilling the blood of innocent, in my Queendom.

Adonai is a wise man, despite what he partakes, he has never been known to lie even when confronted.

Have I been fighting all this time for a blood crown? just as I thought of it, I felt the weight linger above my head slumping me deeper in depression. And now to rummage over the fact that my father might have lied to me of the stories of my ancestors. At this point what is real and what is not, all these unanswered questions leave my head disoriented, I felt unwell, and leaned my back against the popcorn textured wall.

These were answers I was not prepared for, even when the origins of the cult could have been a vastness of narratives, being lied to about the heritage I cherished so much couldn't have been one of them and now the veil is lifted, and I question the dark tale of my past.

Alone in the dark hallways, secluded in my own bubble while trying to drown the harsh grunts and blows that come from the other side. Adonai kept his end of the bargain, a part of him still caring for his life even if he will live the rest of it mutilated.

Mission one is now complete, and it will only get darker than this. I jolted by a sound of sharp medal clinking loudly against the wall I stood behind, counting the seconds until it is over and we can part to the next destination, The island of Essos, where King and Queen Ardenwood, and I shivered, remembering their faces, they were kind when I was a child and now I understand why they were overly nice.

Soon the low grunts now heaved, brute force is now asserted, and I hear sickly cracks and loud slams of a body, and it follows by an agonizing wail, and I covered my eyes, muffling out the cries that speared through my personal bubble and rumbled the walls I leaned on. My eyes closed tightly when I couldn't drown out the sounds, even when I tried.

It's too much, I just want to go, I say silently say to my self, struggling to solidify the words or call for it to be over. The sounds of blows only growing harsher, sicklier than the last and I can smell the iron seeping from the room around the corner. But I had no where to turn to, I couldn't run anymore, I needed to be strong.

Please make it stop; please just make it stop.

And then. It stopped, as if I stilled time with my prayers, leaving me to simmer in the quiet. A heated cloud creeps aside me and I smelt a heavenly colon, and it followed by a gentle touch of calloused hands.

"I got you." I heard a masculine voice say, "I'm right here, it's over, I'm sorry I left you."

My head is gently pushed down onto a sturdy chest, a spicy scent of musk stung my nose and strong arms warped around me. His long curly hair tickles my temple as I listened to the fast-paced thumps of his heartbeat. I let go, releasing myself from my cocoon of solitude, coiling my arms around the slender of his toned waist with my eyes closed.

"It's alright. I won't touch him anymore." Nasir assured. Even while I heard a low grate sound of a body being dragged across the floor, I wasn't concerned anymore.

Since I was questioning what was real around me, could what he said to me in the room be real? or was that only a daydream. But either way, I wanted to hear it again.

My fingers curl into his fabric, my heart races in my chest as I say lightly, "Nas?"

"Tiana." he chuckled lightly.

My fingers tremble and my pulse deepened, but I buried my head into his sternum and muffled, "did you mean what you said in the room?"

His hold on me loosened and I feel him light pulling away, "What did you say, I didn't hear you."

I inhaled a deep breath, and the musk of his spicy cologne dragged in with the air, my eyes spilt tears along the way and it left dark wet spots on his dress shirt and I looked up to him, his eyes, even though they were dark and dimmed by the faint shade in the hallway were serene and questioning. "I said did you mean -"

"Nasir sir-" Hectors baritone voice speared my words, his presence stomped in from the wreckage on the other side.

In a heartbeat Nasir's eyes sharpened but he made no effort to acknowledge him, instead slowly twisted his neck to towards Hector, summoning a deep calculating breath, neither pulling away from me or dropping his arms, and he crooned, "My Queen was talking Hector. And you interrupted her. Apparently, I need to teach you a lesson on manners as well."

Hector, who was all jokes and tease earlier, his voice is now racked with fear, "F-forgive me sir, I -I didn't know you were speak -"

"Is speaking." Nasir darkly clarified, his rapid heartbeat now steadied and I felt the fumes heating his skin. "You interrupted her while she was about to say something. Don't do that. I still have not dealt with you for nearly impaling her with the bullet."

I feel his anger radiating like waves, his deep voice rumbling my bones, now the anger flared right to him.

"I s-swear sir ... I was being cautious sir to keep the bullet from anywhere near her, I know better than to bring that object anywhere near her majesty and -"

"Careful is not good enough," Nasir interjected, "Be lucky you still have your jaw after startling that horse, and making it run off with her."

Hector stays silent, conversations between Javier and Ray mumble on the other side while the tension thickens between us three. Seeing as though the plan has been delivered, I wanted to end the first task and just move onto the next, Nasir has spilt enough blood for the night, and I fear the level of heat that he emanates will be a flame untamable.

"Get me out of here Nas." I lowly whined, nuzzling my face into his solid pec.

I seemed to have eased him lightly and his loosened arms around me tightens again.

"What is it you needed to say Hector?" I asked, peering over to his half luminated frame. His eyes hard but he was remorseful.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you my Queen I -"

"She gave you permission to finish. Don't piss me off further." Nasir said in a cold tone.

"Yes sir, I wanted to know if you still needed me."

It astonishes me how just earlier this man was on the brink of insanity, ready to end a life with no care, yet now as he stands before Nasir, he couldn't solidify a single word with his lip quivering.

"Oh." Nasir lulled, "Eager to back to your stepmom heh?"

Hectors lip tilted wickedly. "I have kept her waiting far too long sir." His tongue slithered from his mouth and dragged it over his bottom lip, and his eyes took a mischievous gleam.

Nasir chuckle is crisp and dark above me, and I knew than I wasn't the only one that caught on to this innuendo.

Does Mrs. Guatemala and him have a thing? she is married to the mayor.

Hectors eyes swept down to me, "My Queen. It was the upmost honor," he steps in closer, reaching out his hand, "I do hope we meet again an-"

"Take another step and I'll break your legs." Nasir inserted, his chest rumbling with a growl. Hector stilled instantly, pursing his lips and nodded, and instead settled his goodbye with a bow.

"We will meet again my Queen; my loyalty is pledged to you and my idol Nasir."

"Thank you, Hector. Goodbye, for now."

He twisted back, ready to disperse into the shadows when Nasir called out.

"Be sure to go back on your meds Hector," Nasir said lowly, "It won't end well for her if you don't."

A deafening silence prolonged between the two as I observed in question, Hector stills by the statement, his reaction slow, absorbing every single word, his red crimsons curls resting over his shoulders but tousle gently as he twisted his head. Only partial of his eye is present as he spoke with the most tender voice a man could summon, a low gentle sorrow.

"Of everything I have done in the past, her fearing me would my biggest curse."

And with that Hector stepped within the clouded shadows, and that was the last I have seen him since. He left that night, but he left me staring in the darkness behind him, wondering more about him than before, and his story.

"We must get going my Queen." Nasir says above me.

By than Adonai was settled into a chair, granted his mobility, Nasir attempted to move from me, but I pull him tighter.

"I won't leave your side, take my hand."

I believe him, every word he says, I'll follow him wherever he wants to go, because wherever he is, that is my home, my safe haven. Our hands entangle together, and I look at Adonai one last time, whatever the men did to him they manage to attach his eye back in place, he is sat on a chair staring blankly to the ground.

"I guess I should thank you for sparing me tonight." he rasped. "And to keep my life I guess i should say my guards turned on me hmm?" he chuckles.

"You can say whatever you like Adonai," Ray mused, "Hide and seek is our favorite game."

"It'll only get worse than me, Queen Tiana."

"I'm quite aware Adonai," I said.

"What will you do than, torture both the king and Queen?"

I shrugged, "If need be."

He scoffed. "I once saw you as my daughter, I cared for you deeply." There was a crack in his voice that touched me in a way.

My hand in Nasir's tightened, and he looked down at me. "Please go fetch our stuff, I'd like to speak to him alone."

He hesitated, glaring darkly at Adonai.

"I promise, I'll be ok." I assured him, incapable of holding a genuine smile.

And he nodded, our hands loosen, and he signaled both Javier and Ray to follow, their masculine presence fleeting and took the thick tension that loomed around the room, their footsteps are heavy down the hallway until it falls silent behind a click of a door.

And once the thick tension lifted, I exhaled a deep breath, "This could have all been avoided Adonai."

"Tuh-"

"I used to always see you as an uncle figure back in those times." I advance cautiously, engulfing me in a rusted scent of iron, I looked at him cautiously, examining those deep awful gashed and the searing hot iron that was used to seal the wounds.

"It pains me to see you this way Adonai -" along the way my eyes brimmed with warm tears.

"You care for me now? it's already too late." he slumps in the chair, a weighted cloud of defeat hung over him.

"I have always cared, and I will keep caring, hence why now I want you to live, live and become the better version of yourself."

His silence spoke loudly, and he looked down at himself, mindful of all his cuts adorned on his skin, a new and broken shell of what he now has to wear now.

"The beast you hid within, will now be the same everyone will see, including you when you look in the mirror. Wear your sin Adonai."

A trickling bead of sweat dripped down his temple and the salt stung into the fresh cut wound and he hissed sharply.

Underneath my gown was a tight garter belt around my thigh. From there I pull out a small green bottle, Adonai's eyes observe my every move as I glanced behind me in case Nasir or anyone would be watching.

"Here, drink this." I handed him the tiny warm jar, and he hesitated rightfully so. "It's to make numb the cuts for a minute."

"You had this around your lady parts?" he commented, stoically glancing down the slit and my naked thigh.

"I do travel with the Mafia's guard, I figured this would come in handy, in case. Well, you know."

He glares at the jar, his pupils discolored.

"Go on Adonai," i nudged, "though you are an evil man, I refuse to lose you this way, until I can come back and finish you off myself."

And with that statement, he heard the promise to live, and he gently takes it from my hand. His silent examination took several seconds, sniffing, feeling and studying, and finally in one swift gulp he swallowed the liquid.

"This taste?" he says, his face contorted by something bitter.

"It's the aloe plant that will settle in your bloods streams. It's to aid the red blood cells." I clarify.

Adonai settles back into the chair, gazing up to the ceiling as the liquid takes affect.

"I have done everything I could, to make sure you were crowned queen."

"And you succeeded." I shrugged, my lips tilting upwards.

"But now a part of me is brimmed with regret."

I cocked my head. "And why is that?"

His eyes closed for ten long seconds, and he summoned a deep breath. And when he opened them again, liquid silver begun to line over his lids.

"Adonai?" I ushered. "You were saying?" I leaned coyly against the pole on my right.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Whatever happened, I cannot change,"

"Change what?" His eyes closed again, and his breathing became racked.

"Adonai?" I sung, my lips tilting to a wide smirk.

He heaved with a cough as he opened his eyes again, and small drops of blood coated his bottom lip.

"Arghhh," he groaned lowly, pressing "This drink is -"

"Doing it's job." I cut him off, "Please continue."

He stills with confusion; an exhaustion overcomes him and he gruff.

I stood still, blank and yet amused. "Did you have something you want to say?" I ushered again, arching a brow. The cool air of the vents caressing my nape.

He sits upright, trying to still the spinning atmosphere before he tumbled down to the ground, reopening his branded wounds, his palm clutching his heart as he fights for a breath. i pushed off the pole and steadily walked over to his frame as he called my name.

"I'm here." I sung, stepping in his line of vision, a proud gleam displays in my face.

"I think this medicine is taking a huge toll on me." He strained.

"Hmm, if that's how you want to put it."

"T-Tiana ..." he groaned.

"I'm here."

I watched his hand reach out to me, but his strength failed him.

"Tiana, p-please tell me your here." he rasped, seemingly knowing his life is fleeting.

"I'm here."

"Please tell me you're that sweet little girl that I used to raise. Please tell me you're still that girl, and your nothing like your father or the mafia."

I giggled, "Of course not Adonai." I found my tone to be slightly appalled. "I am much worse."

His faint smile suddenly thinned to the statement.

"To be fair I always saw you as an ant to my feet Adonai, wallowing in all this pathetic richness that even you know is struggling to keep afloat. This act of high and mighty was over played and frankly I didn't know how I would have tolerated your face any longer than I needed to."

A deep bloodied phlegm expels from his throat as he coughed painfully, the air in his lungs shrinking immensely and it finally dawns within.

"The - that jar w-was-"

"Poison." I giggled, "a little hobby I picked up after a late friend. Accepting drinks from the enemy is a major no in our society Adonai, you know this."

He heaves, trying to clutch his chest.

"That's your heart trying to pump
Out the fleeting blood." I recited. "Pretty soon it'll clot in your veins and arteries, and you'll be nothing but a sponge."

"You-you-"

"Bitch? Whore? I've heard it all, you need to come up with better ideas. And hurry, your time is ticking."

He gasped.

"Oh. You thought I was going to let you live?" I giggle, "the men were. But not me. You see I had a better solution of ridding you off this planet, but I instead settled for the sweet innocent old princess that knows nothing." I lean in closer. "But Adonai, I'm the Fucking queen, and sought something much darker to use than to just leave you as a hunchback. I wanted to watch it final fleeting moments and remember my face when you're in hell."

"H-help, help me. Arghhhh"

I stay silent, glancing left to right, "You might want to be louder than that."

"How could you."

"Simple, I despise you, so it was pretty easy. In fact, you became an instant eye sore the minute I landed. If it were up to me, your arms would have been cut from the elbow down along with your legs, and I'd leave you hanging in the middle with your skin hooked. Mouths and eyes sewn shut and light this place on fire."

He whimpered.

"Be lucky I only settled for cutting off those fingers. Lucky for you, patience is something I had to practice, I wanted to do more than that ever since you touched Nasir. Running your hands over his body, he is mine and mine alone, remember that when you burn in flames.

The light is soon fading from his eyes, the ink of poison now reached his heart, filling his arteries with toxins.

"P-please."

"It's over Adonai. Now die."