At first both Yul and Magnus were taken aback and then when they understood what he meant, they barked a laugh. "You are smart, Lazarus!" said Magnus. "No wonder you agreed to that vow so easily."
Lazarus shrugged. He gazed at the unconscious woman lying on the floor. She was curled with her hands on her stomach. She was lying in a pool of blood. The rejection had made her body not only writhe in pain her magic reacted against it. It tried to come out to grab its mate to whom it was tethered to and in the process, it ruptured her skin. There were too many bruises and wounds on her body. Blood flowed from her mouth and nose. "Call the maid to look after her. Tomorrow is a big day."
While Lazarus went to Yul's apartment along with Magnus, Yul went to the dungeons after Ailill. Ailill's skin was getting blue. His lips were blue and so were his fingernails. The guards dragged him to the dungeons. Yul ordered them to give him the prison with high security. The bars of the prison were made with fae iron and so was its ceiling. He was chained with the shackles on his neck, his wrists and his ankles. Heavy iron balls were attached to the chains that shackled his ankles. And those balls were made of fae iron. Basically if Ailill tried to escape, he wouldn't be able to. The fae iron was the one used in the dungeons of Vilinski as well and it kept the fae in a lot of control.
"She rejected him?" Emma asked, her eyes rounding at the corners. "Oh my god!" She placed her hand on her chest in complete disbelief. "That is cruel!"
Lazarus didn't reply to her. His jaws clenched as a muscle feathered in his cheek. He walked to the bar and poured wine for him and Magnus.
"She deserved it, Emma," Magnus said. "She had been cheating on Lazarus all the while even as she claimed to remain faithful to him. Lazarus wanted to make her his queen. Yul has gone after Ailill to get more confessions."
Emma grabbed a pillow from the side and pressed it against her chest. She rested her head on the pillow, feeling sad. "I don't know what she deserved, but thinking of rejection is... painful." She had undergone that feeling and it was so horrible that her body shuddered.
Lazarus came to her side and sat on the edge as if understanding her emotions. "It was Maeve who goaded me to go against you Emma, but trust me I had lost the battle the moment I had seen you. Do you know when I saw you first?" She lifted her head up to look at him with a question in her eyes. He cupped her cheek with his hand and caressed it with his thumb. "I saw you when you were just fourteen, and I knew that you were my mate."
Her mouth dropped open. "When I was fourteen? When?" She was totally flabbergasted.
"Yes, I saw you in the forest near the capital. You were plucking herbs for your brother. But I couldn't come to the terms that you were my mate." He had kept an eye all the time though. Whenever he returned to Wilyra, he would go and see her. If she wasn't at home, he would go to the forest and if she wasn't in the forest, he would go to her home. "When I got you here, it was Maeve's idea to keep you away from me and I... like a fool--" his Adam's apple moved up and down. "Like a fool, I kept you away. It was a futile effort."
He brushed her cheek while gazing into her clear green eyes that reminded him of the forest he found her in. "I tried hard Emma, but I gave up. I couldn't--" he choked on his words. Emma removed the pillow from her lap and crawled into his. She wrapped her hands around his chest and he immediately grasped her in his arms. "I couldn't stay without you. I lost the battle before it even started," he said in a hoarse voice that burned with emotions. "I love you, irrevocably. You are tattooed on my heart."
She kissed his chest. "I love you too..."
He rocked her for a while. "Maeve wanted me to separate from my mate. I gave that right back to her. I am going to make it even worse for her." His chest tightened with anger that Emma also felt his muscles rippling with anger.
"Lord Lorza," she said, tipping her head up. "Do you need my help?"
Lazarus tipped his head down and frowned. And when he understood what she meant, he started laughing. "I just need you to be patient with me. Tomorrow is going to be a very sensitive day. All my enemies are going to go after you. Stay here locked up in Yul's apartment. Don't get out even for a minute. I don't trust the servants."
"I am going to make sure she stays with me, Lord Lazarus," Olya said excitedly. She was sitting beside Magnus with her head on his shoulders, watching the two of them with admiration.
"That would be wonderful, Olya," Lazarus replied with gratitude in his eyes. "And there was something I needed to tell you about Naomi and Lord Cain."
Olya stiffened. Magnus wrapped his arms around her shoulders, sensing her tension. "Did they contact us?" he asked, a crease forming in the middle of his forehead.
Lazarus nodded. "Yul handed me the message that Lord Cain had sent to me. He was going to ask King Viktor to help him find Olya."
"Bastard!" Magnus cursed him. "He can't find her and so he wants the king's help."
"He is going to make sure that Olya goes back to him. Naomi is too ambitious. She wants Olya's share of property and for that she would go to the depths of hell and find her."