20

The rope scratched the skin of his wrist.

—Wentworth Carsten, my advisor... How sorry I am that I have to kill you for treason... Has she bewitched you?—Victor whispered dully, tightening the bonds with the help of a strap.

— Let's fight, for the first and last time.—Wentworth looks up at the mad king.— Let the weapon decide everything, not the judges!—

— Come on.—Gustavsson smiles.

A nasty shiver rolls over from this smile.

Victor calls the servants, they untie the bonds and bring two knives.

Wentwort swings the knife, attacking more aggressively.

The skin burned and began to sting.

Blood flows and the wound spreads.

The shirt grew the first crimson flower on its whiteness.

— I killed my best friend because of you!—Wentwort yells and drives the knife very deep into his shoulder.

The smell burns the smell of the king's fast-flowing blood.

The wild wolf freezes. How he loved the king... How he loved him...

There are tears on Victor's cheeks, a quiet sob is heard.

He dodges one punch and wounds Karsten again.

Suddenly the guy grabs the blade with his fingers and drives it into himself ...

The last time his eyes were clear... It's not to forget ...

***

Many years have passed, an era has changed, and not one, perhaps... Time passes quickly.

His heart was covered with ice. The tyrant King Wentfort Karsten stopped feeling guilty.

He still goes to the three graves of his friend, his fiancee and his beloved, but he can no longer feel anything.

Life had killed all his feelings.

The crown burns, very often Wentfort remembers how Rody talked about it. Sometimes it even comes to mind that he can cry...

Every year Wentfort adds to the collection of slaves, but none of them all can calm his fire under the crust of ice.

Seeing one of the visitors today, the king felt the fire engulf him. Not lust, the heart beat again, it fell in love!

Olga Valdez... Olga Valdez!

It was not difficult to bite her.

The animal essence accepted her.

Olga looked at the bars with animal eyes. She has already made so many escape attempts in a couple of days...

— Valdez, get up!— one of the servants calls out to the girl with fiery curls.

Silence.

A huge man strikes with a club.

A little later, Olga and Wentworth are married.

When a person has so much money, it doesn't matter if the bride agrees. And it doesn't matter that he's not a person at all...

— You won't get love from me. You won't even get respect...— the red-haired Spaniard said angrily.

— In this world, you don't get anything for nothing. I have conquered and will subdue your body, and the soul will submit itself. In the future, you will understand that submission and love are the best way out ...—

***

Olga leaves after the wedding night.

The corridors of the castle are so cold and soulless, after the abduction, the longing for the infinitely beloved Barcelona intensified.

— Who goes?—a hoarse voice asks.

— The shadow left by Olga Valdez... Ghost...— the girl said softly.

— Do you want to live again? Become the queen of the north and get rid of the cursed crown... Crown what was killed Roderick, my friend, and Victor... And Wentworth was cursed from the beginning...— an almost childish face appeared between the bars, framed by gray strands.— I'm Christophe... The one who became objectionable to the false king...—

— And what should I do?—Olga asks, snuggling closer to the bars. So it's guaranteed that fewer ears will hear it...

***

Wentfort found Olga in her chambers, beating her stomach.

— Hey, Kara!— the king called the maid.— Why is no one watching my wife? Give her a sleeping potion and tie her to the bed! I don't want to lose the puppies! —

angry tears froze in the redhead's eyes.

Olga growls, struggles, breaks out of her shackles.

Wentworth feels how resentment blooms like a sick flower in a heart that has lost its knack for emotions. Bitter resentment, tormenting almost to tears.

He loves, or rather, loves with his withered heart and tries to love with his soul, but the soul no longer knows how it is ...

***

At the animal meal, Wentworth was disturbed.

The man looked up from a plate of raw human liver.

— Yes!—shouted he.— What?—

— Your Majesty, we have captured prisoners. Sectarians, pagans... A big gathering. This company has a leader as white as snow.—The valet said, relaying the silent warlord's message.

— Yes? Interesting.— Karsten wiped his hands and face, rinsing himself in the fountain.— Come, let's look at them ... —

***

Vegard Frogner resembled a statue made of snow. He was constantly praying in different languages, with words flying from his lips at a very fast speed.

— I should have killed him right away... I don't have enough half-witted churchmen in my kingdom!—Wentworth muttered angrily.— He's also sick... He has a fever. —

— Lord, but Lady Karsten desired him and marked him... We have no right to touch him now, no one can. Even you have no right, the world stands on this law.—one of the young soldiers said.

Wentworth growled. HE was just growling loudly and terribly.

— Don't touch him! I'll do anything, just don't touch him!— for the first time Olga uttered such a long phrase in English.

Wentworth raised his club, but he couldn't.

The devil! He will not be able to hit his wife, despite his dislike. He loves her, he loves her!

The hand falls powerlessly.

— Your son is calling you.— the Spaniard said this in a tone not aggressive, but rather motherly concerned.— Go there, to him.—

The redhead helps the Finno-Norse to go to the rooms that she herself chose for him.

— Always be ready,—she said softly into the blond man's ear in Norwegian. They can understand Finnish here, but they don't know this language yet.— we will escape, we will escape very soon!—

***

One day, Jerry suddenly just disappears.

Olga's patience only looks royal from the outside.

When she feels unwell again and the sticks stop, the thought begins to beat inside: it's time! It's time to leave this nightmare!

Olga comes in the morning and pushes aside the closet in the chambers that she chose for Vegard.

The dark and nondescript chambers that Wentworth once chose for himself...

— Take a torch, don't leave me anywhere!—Olga says to Vegard and presses her lips to his... You're the only one I love in this world...—

They are running down the corridor, holding torches in their hands. Strange, but for some reason there were no sounds here.

— Hurry up!— they're turning into the basement.

— Christophe!—Olga calls.— You're free now!—

After hitting the hammer a couple of times, Olga knocks down the dungeon door.

— You...—Christophe slowly stepped into the lighted area.—You're the only one who believed me...—

— I have a feeling that you are important to my life...—Olga replied.— Come on, the beast with the hair the color of the moon!—

Outside, a cold wind embraces the body.

Wentfort Karsten feels with some part of his half-dead heart that his wife is moving away.

She was morally far from him before, and now she is leaving physically...

Growling, he turns into a wolf on the run and jumps when steps, and when whole ladders ...

Claws hurt from strong jumps, paws throb, but the brain seems to have separated from the case.

That's why Wentworth didn't feel any pain now.

Thoughts close everything that was only in this brain and mind now...

— Stoooop!!!—Wentworth shouts without taking human form.

Olga growls in response to him.

— Don't go away!—Wenworth yells over the blizzard.— Don't go away! Or I'll kill you! —

— I hate you! Do a good deed at least once! Let me go!—Olga answered with a shout.

Wentfort rushes forward and the paw, still remaining wolfish, hits the ribs.

Just a moment - and Christophe's claws cut through the tyrant's back and Olga jumps away from her husband.

A sword soars into the air and, with a bestial yell, Wenforth grabs his eye.

A line cuts through the face. Blood trickled down his cheek.

— I will not live in slavery. Never...—Olga says, stepping back.

Only a moment passes - and the offended king sees two wolves disappear in a blizzard.

A scream, a mindless scream cuts through the blizzard.

Wentforth had never been in so much pain.