Sacrificial Bride to the Feared Lord Hastings-Chapter 238: Clash (2)

Sebastian entered Edward’s bedchamber and closed the door behind him.

"I have come, father. It is the son you wanted to abandon," Sebastian announced his arrival.

Sebastian stared at the large bed fit for a king where his father laid peacefully. He would have preferred it if the bed were already empty.

Sebastian slowly approached the bed. "I gave those fools a task, yet they could not do it well. If you were in good health, you would send all of them to the dungeon for being so useless. You should be dead by now, and I wanted you to go without it being your son to take you from this world."

"How dare you rid me of my act of kindness by going behind my back to choose my brother? After I have allowed you more days to live, that is how you repay me? I could have killed you from day one of my plans, but I didn’t. You wound me in the end," Sebastian said, peering down on a sleeping Edward.

"Wake up, father. I want you to see me," Sebastian said, wanting Edward to see who would kill him. "I am the one who picked the poison for you. I know that you can at least open your eyes. You can if you had the strength to create that order in secret."

Sebastian grew impatient with Edward not moving.

It wouldn’t be satisfying to kill Edward if he didn’t see it was his son who killed him and claimed the throne.

"Did my brother put you up to it? He was never one to be ambitious, but it wouldn’t be surprising for him to change his mind. I was going to leave him alone since we share the same mother, but I won’t have someone thinking they can steal my glory," Sebastian said, leaning on the option to kill his brother.

"My mother will have to forgive me," Sebastian said as he crept across the side of the bed. He went up to where Edward laid and sat down. "I wish I could send my apologies to her through you, but you are not going to the same place."

"I think I will bury you in a grave far away from where my mother lies. In a grave where people years from now won’t know that it is King Edward who rests there. Your body will either never be found or not be seen as someone important," Sebastian said as he fixed the blanket covering Edward.

"You have only yourself to blame. You would not give away the throne to me. You forced my hand-"

Sebastian was startled by Edward grabbing his hand before he could reach his father’s neck.

Edward’s hand shook as he struggled to keep Sebastian away.

Sebastian chuckled, humoured by how his father still tried to put up a fight. "Now it is exciting. You have opened your eyes. Tell me, father. How does it feel that your flesh," Sebastian said, using little force to pin his father’s hand down onto the bed. "And blood will be the one to kill you?"

Sebastian overpowered his ill father with ease. He thought of how to kill his father.

Should he cover his face with a pillow until he stopped breathing?

Beat him senselessly?

Or, stab him with a knife until he stopped moving?

Sebastian made up his mind, but just as he did, the doors flew open.

"Your highness!"

"What?" Sebastian yelled, frustrated with the person who disturbed him.

Sebastian backed away from Edward, but he wasn’t done yet.

"I apologise, but there is news that the queen and her family have launched an attack on the palace. Her children were secretly moved out of the palace as her father led men inside. I must take you to be protected," said the palace knight.

Sebastian’s laughter filled the bedchamber. "I need to be protected? I am not the one who needs to be hidden away. That woman and her father gave me what I needed. I don’t want to hide, I want to see it. Your sword," he said, holding out his hand.

The palace knight offered his sword to Sebastian without hesitation.

Sebastian took the sword and plunged it into Edward’s chest. "There, you’ve done something meaningful with your life. You’ve helped kill a king, but I won’t let you have all the glory. Now, take me to where the queen fights."

The palace knight stared at Edward, struggling in his final moments. It was his sword, but he didn’t have any part in killing the king. It was all Sebastian’s doing.

Sebastian walked out of the chamber, seeing no need to give his father company in his last moments. "I am now the king. If I turn around and you are not behind me, my first order as king will be to kill you."

"Forgive me, Your Highness."

"I hate apologies from servants. It means you are failing me. From now on, do your task well so you don’t need to apologise. Your head will roll if I hear an apology. Now, the queen," Sebastian said, eager to see Althea. "Direct all the knights in the palace to slaughter the queen’s followers, but leave her alive for me."

Sebastian wanted to be the one to kill Althea and place her in a grave near his father, where she would be forgotten as well.

"I want the queen’s children brought back to the palace and imprisoned. They should get to witness their grandfather being killed and their mother hanged. I will set a reward for the knights who place them in the dungeon," Sebastian said as more knights gathered around him for protection.

"Your Highness!" Lilith yelled as she ran towards Sebastian. "It is an attack. I have sent for my father to help us."

"Your father? Sweet soul, why would the king need your father’s help? Watch the power of my army," Sebastian said, holding onto Lilith’s hand to drag her along. "I am now the king, and you shall be my queen. You need to stand beside me now."

Lilith tried to keep up with Sebastian as he pulled her along. "I will always stand beside you, but don’t you think we should hide until she is captured? Althea knows the palace like the back of her hand. She wouldn’t have attacked us without a good plan. We must wait."

"Only cowards hide. We shall watch them all die," Sebastian replied, keeping a firm hold on Lilith’s hand.

By the end of the day, Edward, Althea and all their bastards would be dead. Sebastian wanted to witness them all fall.