The Crown's Obsession

Music Recommendation: Clocks by Luke Faulkner

.

When Calhoun and Theodore returned to the castle, the guard who had informed Raphael saw the carriage and quickly ran towards the King so that he could inform him.

"My King!" the guard bowed deep. He fidgeted, "M-milord, the lady…"

Calhoun raised his eyebrows on which lady the guard was speaking about, "Speak more clearly," he ordered the guard and the guard gulped the ball of nervousness knowing the King might chop his head for the sole reason of informing him the bad news. But he was glad that Mr. Sparrow had checked the lady to make sure she was still breathing.

"Milord, Lady Madeline-" and the guard couldn't complete his sentence as Calhoun dashed right past him to see what happened to her. And even Theodore didn't wait for the guard, instead followed Calhoun.

When the door to the room flew open, Calhoun caught sight of Madeline who was lying on the ground with a pool of blood around her, and his eyes narrowed in anger. "What happened here!" he demanded from Raphael, who had taken to lean against the wall and was waiting for Calhoun's return.

"The guards were the ones who found her with the head maid's body in this state," explained Raphael, and when Calhoun made his way near Madeline, ready to pick her up and place her on the bed, the card reader warned him, "Don't. Something is going on with her. She seems to be radiating."

Calhoun didn't care about it. He didn't care what was going on or if Madeline was destructive right now because he couldn't stand at the side and watch her continue to lie on the floor of the room like some dead person. Bending down, Calhoun put his arms around Madeline and he felt similar pain that he felt yesterday when he had touched her hand. Despite the pain, he carried her to the bed to lay her down.

Raphael stared at the King, who had been adamant enough to touch Madeline.

He noticed the slight change in Calhoun's expression, and the King made his way to the basin before spitting out blood from his mouth. Raphael's eyes widened at this, and it shifted to look at the girl who looked harmless by appearance, but only a few people knew how powerful she was.

Calhoun's mood had turned foul, not because of the physical pain he felt but by seeing Madeline who looked hurt, "Tell me in detail what happened," he said, meeting Raphael's eyes, "I want to know everything."

"The guards heard screams coming from this room and thought something happened. They found Lady Madeline and the head maid lying on the floor. The head maid is dead," informed Raphael so that Calhoun would not ask where she was, "The lady was found in the same state as you saw her. I didn't let anyone enter the room. I thought it would be best if you see her first."

What Raphael couldn't comprehend was how Calhoun could touch her without getting injured completely. It was evident by the looks that Madeline was not in her normal state and had stepped into a place where touching her was not safe. He could sense the danger radiating from her even from this distance. It was like a fire, waiting to turn any and everything to ash.

The guards were dismissed from the entrance of the room, and hearing light footsteps approach the room from the ends of the corridor, Calhoun looked at Theodore, "I don't want anyone near Madeline right now. Nor see her."

Theodore bowed his head, stepping out of the room, he saw Lucy making her way towards the room. Before she could reach, he met her halfway, "Lady Madeline is resting."

"Is she not well?" asked Lucy with concern in her voice. She was ready to go past Theodore, but he came to stand right in front of her, "Calhoun wants her to take some rest."

Lucy pursed her lips, "Okay. I will come back later when she's awake."

Theodore nodded his head. He watched Lucy's eyes dart left and right, and he said, "Don't let anyone know she's sick. I don't think her family members would like to hear that she's fallen sick right at the time when the wedding is around the corner."

Lucy nodded her head, "Okay," and she left the corridor while Theodore continued to stand there watching her walk away.

Back in the room, Calhoun wiped the blood from his lips, that left a slight amount of red tint. He walked back to where Madeline was. Holding her two minutes ago in his arms had been nothing less to burning under the sun. His skin sizzled, leaving smoke-like vapours because of holding Madeline in his arms.

"Did you find anything from her card?" questioned Calhoun, his eyes not leaving Madeline. There was blood on the back of her dress, but they appeared to be slightly dry as if the bleeding had stopped.

"She might be the angel of death," answered Raphael, "You said she was the child of the angel who fell in love with a human. She might be that angel's child who has skipped generations before taking birth, and she has a dark ability to kill. It looks like she killed the maid, though the reason is unknown and we will find out about it, only when she wakes up. You need to be careful around her."

"Because I am the demon's child?" asked Calhoun, moving closer to Madeline.

"Yes. It is very rare for an angel and demon to be paired together. I don't think she was in her conscious state when she killed the maid."

Raphael warned Calhoun subtly because sometimes no matter how much love one had for the other, there were limits and boundaries that were hard to push. Unlike Calhoun, who was much stronger than anyone he knew, Raphael had not dared to touch the girl, knowing what harm it would cause him. If Madeline had unconsciously hurt the maid, that could mean she could do the same to anyone. The question here was if she would hurt anyone or if it was only with specific people.

"It's too late to turn back," stated Calhoun with no regret in his voice. He didn't care about him being hurt because he knew even though Madeline was going to turn to a destructive creature in the future, it would have less effect on who he was and his lineage. The blood that ran down in his veins was thicker and stronger compared to the rest of the vampires or demons. "How often do people like us find things that we feel the need to protect?" It wasn't a question but more on a thought from him.

Raphael's eyes lowered to look back at Madeline. He understood what Calhoun meant. People were often divided into light and dark creatures. And people who belonged to the dark, they were often lost cause.

"I think she has hurt her hand," informed Raphael. He gave them the needed privacy by stepping out and closing the door behind him.

Needn't be told, Calhoun turned the locks of the door so that no one would come to disturb him or Madeline. He could hear her soft breathing, her heart not as calm as it usually did, but he was glad to listen to the beat follow one after another without stopping. When the guard had mentioned, he arrived at the room as quick as he could, and he felt the coldness that was part of him surface up his heart and mind on seeing Madeline on the ground.

Calhoun raised his hand up to his side, snapping his fingers for the light in the room to increase, which was emitted by the candles. The curtains were closed to stop the light of the sun from entering the room, which was brighter compared to the soft tone of candle lights.

Getting closer to Madeline, he caught sight of her hand that was held in a loose fist and there was dried blood. When he pried her fingers open and inspected her hand, he frowned on seeing the glass pieces sticking in the palm of her hand. Getting a vessel of water and cloth, he started to clean her hand gently and then pulled out the two glass pieces that woke her up. She flinched in pain, her eyebrows furrowed deeply, and Calhoun was glad that she was unconscious as it would have hurt only that much more while pulling them out while she was fully awake.

"I am almost done," informed Calhoun, dropping the second piece of glass on the table which was coated in her blood.

Madeline's consciousness was returning, and her eyes took a while to adjust to the light in the room. She could feel pain rushing up from her palm, and she hissed. She took a deep breath because of the pain before she felt the cold cloth on her hand. The last thing she remembered was the pain on her back, and after that, she felt like she had blacked out.

"What time did you come back?" whispered Madeline, her words softer than usual.

"A while ago. How are you feeling?" asked Calhoun, "What were you doing holding glass pieces in your hand?" he asked her testingly without being obvious about what happened.

"I was practising with the glass...when I felt pain on my back. I don't remember what happened after that. I must have fainted due to pain," came her small voice. For now, Calhoun decided to keep the part of her killing the maid away from her, "Did something happen?" Madeline asked carefully. She had felt as if something was trying to come out from her back, but she doubted anything came, like her wings.

Calhoun leaned forward to press his lips on her forehead, letting it linger until he pulled away.

"We can discuss that later. Your back is covered in blood. Let me help you clean it."

Madeline met Calhoun's eyes, and she gave him a small nod.

Her back was still hurting and the pain even though it had considerably reduced compared to the time before she fainted, she didn't want any maids or her family members helping her. Not because she didn't believe they wouldn't, but because of who she was or turning to be, she doubted it would be the right thing to do.

And it was easier to rely on Calhoun.

She turned around to lay on her front, and Calhoun unbuttoned her dress from the back where some part of the fabric had slightly turned stiff and some still wet with blood.

Calhoun's eyes hardened by looking at the amount of blood that belonged to Madeline, "You lost too much blood," he murmured. Dipping the cloth in the vessel of water that had turned red as he had used it earlier, he brought it to her back and slowly started to clean, removing the traces of blood on her pale skin. With every swipe of the cloth on her skin, Madeline shivered because of the wet cloth.

Seeing her blood like this didn't sit well with Calhoun. All he wanted to do was protect and help her. But the help Madeline needed was beyond his or anyone's limit as she was changing. When her back was clean, he noticed the wound, understanding why she thought she had fainted because they weren't thin lines, but there were two visible wounds on her back.

"It looks like where your wings once used to be," commented Calhoun, his finger tracing on the skin next to the wound.

"Do you think they will come back?" Madeline had turned her head to face Calhoun to get a glimpse of him.

A faint frown stayed on his face. Calhoun said, "Your back looks very similar to one when a person's wings are forcibly torn out from the back. Maybe one day they will. And if they don't, you can always count on me. Tell me where you want to go, and I will take you there."

"Calhoun," she whispered his name, "My heart feels heavy...Like I did something bad."

Calhoun placed his hand on the side of her head, gently caressing it to say, "I doubt you would ever do anything bad. Being bad is my role. Did you forget that?" he chuckled.