88

                                    

                                          

MARIA
"You must have done the calculations already, but just incase, I'll do it for you. Your sister is the female vampire from a royal bloodline and Maria, my clueless daughter here, is the Queen of Sorceri."
After those words, Maria heard nothing else. It was like her ability to hear disappeared and she could only think. Feel. 
What did her father just say? 
She was the Queen of Sorceri?
How was that even possible? 
The Queen of Sorceri was basically the most powerful sorceress amongst the Sorceri and if she was that creature, then she was the most powerful sorceress in the worlds. But how could that be? She had never felt weaker than she did right now. 
And to think that her own father wanted to offer her as a sacrifice just to get his powers back. After using her to do all his evil work, he was going to kill her? Was she so worthless to him?
Tears slid down her cheek continuously but no sound came out of her mouth. She was too astonished by everything she'd learnt today. First, finding out that she was Bran's mate—she still did not know how to take that news—then hearing that the bracelet she'd been admiring on him all this while was to stop him from claiming her as his. Then to learning that Bran had decided to give her to her father like she was a piece of paper being passed back and forth, from one cruel man to another, until it tore under their rough hands. 
Bran had broken her heart so thoroughly that she'd almost been able to hear it cracking in her chest, and with it, pain had swamped her, making her it's best friend as tears flowed unhindered down her cheeks. 
But Bran looked tortured, wrestling against some sort of hold like he wanted to come to her. Like the words weren't true. 
Gods, she wanted so desperately to believe that everything she'd heard wasn't true but all evidences pointed to them being true. 
No wonder he had been so closed off about the collar. No wonder he didn't let her venture past the castle grounds. It hurt to know that all those times he would kiss her and curl on the bed with her, he'd been planning on shoving her into Ariti's arms. 
How could he do this to her? How could he hurt her this way?
When Maria looked back up, she saw that the Queen of Evil had moved until she was now standing beside Bran, her hand drawn back from her. Her intent was clear in the way she stood, her shoulders drawn back, ready to unleash evil. 
Oh gods they were going to kill Bran. 
She turned quickly to her father and saw him watching the scene play out, his hands clasped behind him and the expression on his face, one of absolute excitement. The queen wouldn't do anything without her father asking her to, and right now, it looked like her father had ordered her to kill Bran. 
No. 
No. 
He might have hurt her but she couldn't let him die. Feeling her gaze on him, he looked at her then and her heart hurt at the yearning that filled his eyes. The longing that reflected in the green depths, calling out to her soul. To her very being. 
She couldn't let him die. She couldn't watch him die. He had a sister that loved him. A sister that was probably waiting right now for him to save her. She loved him too much to watch anything—
Oh fuck. 
Maria loved him. She loved him more than anything in the whole bloody worlds to the extent that she'd picked being with him over going back to Ariti and doing everything she could to make sure that her mother was safe.