Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 423: Counterfeit III

Chapter 423: Counterfeit III

Daphne’s mouth ran dry. Jean Nott’s words were in a language she understood, but when they were strung together they made little to no sense at all. The fate of the living world? As far as Daphne knew, the iron meteorites were meant to reverse Silas’s dastardly fate. The rest of the world shouldn’t hinge on Silas’s survival.

"What are you talking about?" Daphne demanded. "Explain yourself!"

"If you wish, my sweet chickpea, I will oblige," Jean said dotingly, and it sent shudders down Daphne’s spine. Jean’s terms of endearment were more horrifying than his outright threats. "What does an iron meteorite, a kelpie’s eye, a griffin’s wing, and your wedding ring have in common?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

"If I knew, I wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for you to explain, would I?" Daphne retorted acerbically.

Nathaniel had told her some of his inferences about what the items represented, but they had no clue about the ritual Sirona had scribbled in her notes. Daphne believed that if she wasn’t pulled away to Xahan right at this critical moment, she would have been able to figure it out.

"Do you actually know something, or are you here to waste my time?"

Jean put a hand on his heart, as though he was overcome with emotion. "Daphne, I’m trying to be an engaging tutor here. Can’t you appreciate my efforts a little more?"

Daphne stared back at him sullenly. "Out with it."

"I’m not going to hand you the answers like this, Daphne. Surely you’ve heard of the barter system," Jean said, with mock outrage in his eyes.

He leaned forward, and one of his hands brushed against his cheek. Daphne flinched away with a hiss as though she had been burnt. Jean Nott merely shifted his hand to play with a lock of her hair.

Daphne’s eyes flashed at his audacity, batting away his hand with her own lighted one, her flame weakened but thankfully present. Her teeth gritted at the exertion; the icy chill that invaded the skin of her palm seemed to seep under her skin, making it difficult to summon her inner warmth to banish the sudden cold.

Jean Nott’s eyes lit up brighter than the flame in her hands.

"I always knew you were special," he said with a tone of rapturous glee. "There is no one for me but you. Just for you, I’ll be willing to spill all my deepest darkest secrets. All you have to do is spend a night in the sheets with me. "

"Get. Out." Daphne hissed, outrage turning her face a burnished red.

"I’m not even asking for you to match the enthusiasm you have for your husband," Jean Nott added. "Maybe around... eight-tens?"

"Scram!" Daphne screamed, finally having enough. A sharp blast of flame shot from her hands.

Jean dodged it quickly, laughing gaily.

"Still so cruel to me, after all we’ve been through together. But you’ll see the light soon. If you love that tyrant you call a husband, you’ll have no issues loving me. You’ll come to find that he and I aren’t so different after all."

Daphne flinched as if she was struck. Never before had she heard such shameless falsehoods bandied in front of her as fact. Jean Nott was truly a dangerous man, due to the strength of his delusions.

"The both of you are worlds apart," Daphne said, once she could find her voice. Even if Atticus was not the shining man Daphne thought he was, he was far from being a scumbag like Jean Nott, a man who wore so many identities and had no qualms about turning those who wronged him into mindless creatures to get revenge. "Stop dreaming. Atticus would never lie, hurt, and slaughter innocents."

Even as she said the words, she felt the smallest hint of doubt creep into her heart.

"Do you really think that, Daphne? Your confidence seems like it’s wavering." He smirked. "My methods may seem unconventional, but your darling husband isn’t above using my methods to achieve his goals. For instance, how’s your poor kelpie friend? I saw him just now. I must say, he looks miserable without his right eye."

Daphne bit her lip so hard she felt her skin break. Her tongue tasted the faint, coppery taste of blood.

"He replaced your wedding ring with a fake," Jean Nott added. "Even I, a dastardly individual to my very bones, would never dream of betraying you like that."

He waved his hand and sent a pile of smoke into the air. It whirled around Daphne, dancing and twirling as figures started to appear. She could distinctively make out the image of Atticus and her silhouette, waltzing with one another before being pulled apart by an external force.

There was no fragrance to the mist, just the slight coolness of water against her skin. She didn’t feel funny or off, so she doubted it was spiked with anything. Nevertheless, Daphne batted it away from her face.

"If your husband loved and trusted you as much as you did him, he would have simply handed you your original ring and told you it couldn’t be fixed," Jean Nott said, his voice light. "Why the need for this deceit?"

"Shut. Up."

"I see I’ve touched a nerve. My apologies," Jean Nott said, sounding not at all apologetic. "But soon you will realize that King Atticus and I are two sides of the same coin. I would even dare to wager that at the end of it all, while both of our goals will distort the balance of the world as we’ve come to know it, you’ll find yourself standing by my side instead of King Atticus’s."

Daphne wanted to ask more, but then she heard a commotion at the window. It must be Zephyr!

She wasn’t the only one who noticed. Jean Nott’s eyes flickered over to the window, his lips curling into a smile. However, unlike before, there was no sincerity or warmth in that grin of his. If anything, it seemed only to be masking his annoyance.

"Ah, it seems like you have a visitor," he said with distaste, a slight click of his tongue. "In that case, I’ll bid you adieu, dearest Daphne. Till we meet again!"

Daphne could only scream as Jean Nott took a running start and flung himself out the very same window. She leaped out of bed and chased after him, but when she arrived at the window he was long gone.

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