ARTEMIS’ POVThe doors to my cell finally pull open after days of confinement for my misdeeds: standing up against the imperial council, defying the king's orders, and of course, daring to use my Alpha dominance against the king himself, forcing him to his knees. I suppose if it were anyone else, they'd be locked up in confinement for the rest of their lives. But because of who I am and the blood we share, it would be impossible to keep me inside for long. Or perhaps he knows that flimsy door wouldn’t be able to contain me for long, and if perhaps the third day had come, I'd have forced my way out of here one way or another. He knows what I am capable of now, especially when it comes to my mate. In an attempt to save face and secure his throne, knowing no one else could possibly rule, he has to comply, only a bit. Cowards… all of them.But it’s pointless if it means having Sera remain in confinement, wherever the hell they're keeping her. And I know none of the bastards ar
ARTEMIS’ POV My search for Seraphina has brought me back home, the last place I want to be right now. Standing just outside the large doors of my home, I knock on the thick wood, stepping back and waiting for a response while taking calming deep breaths. If I want my father's cooperation, I need to remain calm and reasonable, giving him no reason not to tell me where he has her. That, or I could threaten it out of him. I don’t want to be forced to, but damn it, if it came to using threats against my own father, I would, just to find her and get her to safety. It takes a few seconds before the doors open, and I’m grateful it's fast enough before I'm tempted to tear it down myself. The butler stands in my way, his eyes widening the moment he recognizes me, and he takes a quick bow. I walk right past him. "Where is father?" I ask, walking briskly. I haven’t been home since the last time Seraphina was here. Her very brief presence here has somehow changed the way I view the entiret
SERAPHINA’S POVKamila hasn’t shown her face, not after being brutalized by her father and revealing her greatest weakness to me. Instead, he sends his goons to take countless syringes of blood for his 'experiments,' ensuring I'm fed enough to produce more for him afterward. And while I’m appalled by whatever the bastard is planning to do with that much blood, my mind drifts to thoughts of Kamila. I doubt I’ll ever understand it, but it was clear as day that she wasn’t loved by a man so vile enough to beat his daughter like dough while she looks like a sick and shriveled piece of carrot.Though I’m in no position to pretend to understand what she’s been through, in some way it explains her maniacal obsession with Artemis, and how the end of their mate bond has pushed her sanity to its brink. I fear for her… and hope that if this truly is the end for me, she’d find a bit of peace she hoped for. Look at me, scared for the girl who put me through so much and turned my friends
SERAPHINA’S POVThe place where our connection rests, close to my heart, turns ice cold instantly, and pain suddenly ripples through every bit of my body. I scream in agony, falling forward and onto my knees, trembling from pain that melts everything in my body yet freezes my heart into hard ice, coughing and wheezing for air while vomiting nothing but bile from my stomach. It hurts horribly, feeling something die so gruesomely from within me… until it doesn’t, and then I feel nothing… I don’t feel the mate bond. I don’t feel Artemis. I only feel a void so deep, so devastatingly dark and endless, swirling inside me.“You feel it, don’t you?” Gideon asks, standing over me, staring down with contempt. “…you feel what it is to lose your mate.” Nothing he’s saying makes sense, even while my world spins. I look at Artemis again, not moving. Why isn’t he moving…? This can’t be the end. Isn’t there some kind of werewolf thing that can mend his heart back?Artemis can’t be
ARTEMIS’ POVI'm floating in an abyss of nothingness, my consciousness no more than a stranded soul with nowhere to go and no place to return to, my existence but a distant memory of who and what I was, what I was fighting for. I feel and see nothing except the heavy feeling of regret and loss, like a dark hole inside me that only seems to grow with every moment. I don't remember anything except a desire to fight, to protect something precious, and a single promise to someone I loved.A light appears in front of me, beckoning my spirit to draw closer, to rest and let go of all my worries, of every single one of my desires, and to find peace. The light, emanating nothing but peace and happiness, something I've yearned for more than anything, engulfs me whole as I reach for it, shining as bright as the sun. Blinded by it, I close my eyes until it subsides, and when my eyes open again, a new presence stands in front of me, a woman adorned in white light as if a garment, her eye
ARTEMIS’ POVBoth her hands come up in surrender. “Relax… please,” she says, trembling with a hint of fear in her eyes yet with a little softness. She hangs her head low the next second. “I was trying to save your life; that’s why you’re here. Though I didn’t think it would work. Your heart was gone,” she says, a hint of disbelief in her voice and the way she stares at me like I'm some ghost. Even she wasn’t expecting me to be alive, and truly, all of it feels strange. The sudden energy in my blood, the sensitivity of my eyes and ears picking up the slightest sensations quickly. I can feel the change, doubting if I truly am a Lycan or if I was just dreaming the whole encounter.“I don’t need saving, especially not from you,” I say, rushing to get up before the pain from my wound hits hard. I wince from the pain, unknowingly grabbing too hard at the headrest of the bed frame. It shatters with ease in my grasp from the little force, crumbling like sand. I stare at my han
ARTEMIS’ POVI gently drop her thin, cold, lifeless wrist by her side, brush a lock of hair away from her face, and stare at her for a moment. Long enough to feel too much and to wonder what could have been. If I had been nicer to her, if I had helped her fully escape the influence of her father and realize her own self-worth. If we could have been real actual friends, simply existing side by side as comrades, what would it have been like? I clench my fist, turning away from her. It’s too late now, and there’s no more time to wonder and regret. Sera’s in grave danger, and every moment I spend wallowing in the what-ifs is a moment more she spends in that hellhole. I allow myself to dwell in the pain of her death and my regrets before I move forward, deciding the time to mourn could come once all of this is over. Once I make Gideon pay for all his inhumane crimes. I make a solemn promise to her lifeless form to take him down and bow my head forward before I walk towards the
SERAPHINA’S POVI am nothing… nothing but a pound of flesh, an offering meant to strengthen the enemy and bring more suffering to the remnants of a world that once meant everything to me. I lack the strength and the will to shed even a single tear; I dare not cry for myself, for the end that looms ominously close, nor do I mourn for those I've inadvertently harmed by merely existing, by believing I had any right to the breaths drawn from the universe. I exist in silence, awaiting my tragic conclusion.All I feel is Grendaline, like a restless soul hovering around me, basking me in warmth that desperately tries to reach a heart I no longer possess. Though she does not speak, I feel her—her fretting and sadness, her worry for me when there's no point. I was never a good witch, despising what I was whenever the opportunity presented itself, fleeing from the power in my blood. Then again, I was never a good person either, bringing death wherever I went, ruining the lives of ever