CORAThe two days of a hunger strike that I’d been punished with seemed to have gone by very quickly for me unlike the last where the days dragged out painfully. After my first experience, I’d grown a much tougher skin to being starved and dehydrated.Still, my appearance betrayed me and my skin paled terribly while my lips cracked and got scarred from the constant tears.Despite my resilience, the toughest parts of both days were the moments when I’d been dragged through the hallways just to kneel and watch Kai and Leila enjoy various delicacies that’d made my throat dry from how much I’d salivated.However, after the second meal, I quickly found a trick where I’d completely zone out of their conversations such that I wouldn’t have to be infuriated by their crude remarks toward me. I simply tuned into the memories of my family and loved ones that’d kept me going, and after repeating that at other meals, I realized that I’d found a happy place and an escape despite all the chaos.It’d
CORAI heard a series of wicked pounding in my dream, and I shut my eyes when tighter to make it go away. It stopped for a while and I relaxed a bit, but after a few minutes, I heard the pounding again and this time it felt like it was happening right inside my damn skull.That minute I realized that I’d rather be awake than stuck in such a horrible dream, so my eyes flew open, and I immediately met with the same deafening pounding that made me realize that it’d been happening in reality.As someone who’d never been a morning person, it felt like I was stuck in hell if I was being awoken to such a horrific around when the sun hadn't even risen. Someone had better call the devil and ask him to shut down hell because Kai’s palace had definitely stolen the title from him at this point.The pounding on the door came again and I groaned out in annoyance and kicked my feet against the bed before I got off of it grudgingly.“god, enough. I'm coming!” I called out as I stomped angrily toward
Cora’s POVFor about a week, I’d been slaving away as the only one on hallway duty and it wore me out every damn day. It was also the longest time I’d gone without seeing Kai but my hatred for him hadn’t waned one bit since I knew that he was responsible for my predicament where I was working as a maid and being bossed around by the matron that acted like an evil stepmother.The matron in question was also quickly making her way up the list of people I planned to murder viciously with my bare hands since she never failed to pound my door maniacally every day at exactly 5 am. What was much worse was how she rudely ordered me to mop a hallway all per again if my work wasn't satisfactory to her.Luckily for me, this morning I’d jolted awake without any pounding on my door about fifteen minutes to 5 am, and I hurriedly washed up and changed into my maid outfit. I then hurriedly ran toward the door and immediately I opened it I found the matron right outside my door and her hand had paused
Kai’s POVAs I walked away from Cora, I felt her eyes piercing into my back angrily after I’d spilled the contents of her mop bucket and it brought a huge smile to my face. It was also very refreshing to confirm that the look of hatred and pure unadulterated anger in her eyes whenever she looked at me hadn't waned one bit.Of course, I couldn't help but give myself a pat on the back for my success in preserving that look by assigning her the task of mopping the hallways very early in the morning.Still smiling, I finally arrived at my chambers and walked right into the shower to wash off the sweat that’d dried up after my training session. While I hummed and dried my body clean after getting our of the shower, an idea suddenly sparked in my memory and I knew I had to implement it quickly.So, immediately after I dressed up, I walked out of my chambers and scanned the area for a guard.“You! Come here!” I called out immediately I found one and he immediately ran in my direction making
Cora’s POVI grudgingly cleaned up the horrible mess that Kai had made of my hard work by spilling dirty water and by the time I was finished I was so hungry and drained that my stomach was growling so loudly that I was sure it was echoing through the hallways.Quickly, I packed up my cleaning equipment and headed toward the kitchen to grab my breakfast before they ran out of servings. As I entered the kitchen, I thanked my stars that there were still bowls of food left and I grabbed one hastily and made my way toward the door.However, I halted my footsteps when I felt someone’s eyes on me, and I immediately turned around to find who the culprit was.Her again?! I grumbled inwardly.The same maid that had been staring at me awkwardly like a stalker on my first day walking in the hallways was crouched in a corner staring back at me with wide, questioning eyes. And if course, like the last time it pissed me off and I decided to get to the bottom of it once and for all so it wouldn't re
Her tattoo was a uniquely carved half moon and it rested just a little below her chin, and I’d know that tattoo even if i was awoken from a trance that lasted a million years because it was the same tattoo that I’d been given the minute i clocked 16, and it was in that exact same location. My head spun as I stared back at it and I blinked rapidly to check if my eyes were deceiving me or not.All of the women from my pack that had been born into royalty or had some form of relation to the royal lineage had that tattoo, and I’d assumed that I would be the last person to ever walk the face of the earth with it.Well, until her.I watched her eyes follow mine to find the reason why my eyes had remained fixed on her neck and the minute she realized that I’d seen her tattoo, she used her palm to cover it which forced me to move my eyes from her neck and face her against my will.“Like I said, I'll tell you everything you need to know. But it's not safe to talk here, come with me to a more
Cora’s POVI’d never dwelt on the fact that after losing my entire pack to Kai’s cruelty I’d become a lone wolf who didn't belong anywhere until I heard Nina’s confession and it shook me from my core to the roots of my very being.My wolf and I had consequently been knee deep in emotions for a couple of hours after meeting one of our own when we thought we never would.However, I knew that it was extremely foolish to dwell on foolish emotions so I snapped out of it and reminded myself that I had a much greater mission, which was to get my long overdue revenge for losing my family.And if my encounter with Nina was proof of anything reasonable, it was only that she’d become an extra reason for me to toughen up and see the mission through to the end because I also needed to get revenge for the child labor she’d endured under his reign that broke her spirit and made her such a timid woman when the women from my lineage were naturally fierce.I needed to teach Kai a lesson, and I needed to
Kai’s POVToday’s training session ended quickly because I and Levi had planned to work for most of the day so we left the training room after a quick session and went to freshen up in our respective chambers.However, as I approached my chambers, I instantly felt like something was off from the look of things. There was a mop bucket that had been left outside my room haphazardly to indicate the person must’ve been in a hurry, and the tardy way it made my chambers look annoyed me but I waved it off.Then, I also noticed that my door was also left slightly open when I could remember vividly shutting it properly behind me when I left for training earlier in the morning. That alone tipped me off that my room was currently occupied by a dumb idiot who was about to feel my wrath but I approached cautiously so as to catch the culprit in the act.Right before I entered the room, Cora’s scent hit my nose, and I realized that she was the only person with the balls to attempt something so fooli
Cora’s POV“Bitch, if you don’t get back in there!” Nina caught me just before I could sneak out to Kai’s chambers. “Man, you’re such a cockblocker,” I blew a raspberry at her and rolled my eyes in annoyance before stepping back into the room. “It’s bad luck for the groom to see his bride while she’s fully dressed and you know it,” she entered right after me. Maybe If I’d snuck out the second after she left I’d have met up with Kai for a quickie and I’d be back before she could come and spew rubbish myths to keep me away from him. “That’s a myth and whoever came up with it is clearly a hater!” I sunk into my chair, fully dressed in the most stunning wedding dress I’d ever seen all my life. “I’ll let you get away with that only because it’s your wedding day,” Nina chucked a purple flower in her hair to match her chief bridesmaid’s dress. “It’s my wedding day!” I squealed so loudly that Nina had to use both palms to block her eyes while smiling at me. I still couldn’t believe it.
Kai’s POVLevi’s pain strengthened me even more, he had no idea.“In your next life, when you get an opportunity to kill your enemy, don’t be an egoistic bastard by waiting to organize a lousy ceremony first and just fucking do it!” I gave him the last piece of valuable advice he’d ever get.“C-Cora….” tears dropped down his face as he fixed his desperately pleading eyes on my woman.“You brought this on yourself, Levi. I’d never have grown to love or trust a man that could betray someone he’d sworn an oath of eternal loyalty to, it just meant that you could switch up on me someday too,” she surprised me by intertwining her fingers with my bloody ones as she spoke.“I could never ever betray you, Cora. You’re my fated true love, and it’s not too late to leave this deceitful monster and save me,” my blood began to boil all over again as I watched him plead with her.I gave him one fatal blow to the jaw and he dropped to the floor groaning.“Stop fucking talking to her, you dead meat!”
Levi’s POVIt was today.The day I’d watch Kai meet an embarrassing end just before all of his power was transferred to my deserving arms. The gods knew that I would’ve been better suited to be blessed with his boundless abilities and fate had finally turned things in my favor.“Are you prepared for the ritual?” I practically whispered as I bent towards the elderly men that were meant to perform the soul swapping ritual.They dropped their hoods at the same time and nodded in a slow synchronized movement, “As prepared as the gods permits their servants to be.”Creepily, that was also said in unison before the covered their hoods again in one swift motion and walked off towards the lifted stage where Kai’s body would be placed for the public execution. As weird and disturbing as their identical movements were, it didn’t deplete my excitement about the execution ceremony.“Welcome all,” I stood to my feet as I began to address the hundreds of people in attendance.“You have come from lan
Levi’s POVI knocked on Cora’s door again when I didn’t get a response.“It’s me Levi, are you in?” I called out.A few seconds passed and then I heard a door open that signified that she must’ve been in the bathroom when I knocked earlier.“I’ll be right there, give me a minute,” her sweet voice called out and I nodded even though she couldn’t see me.I tapped my feet on the floor as I waited for her, and then finally she pulled the door open.“You wanna come in?” she moved aside as she pulled the door open.Her hair looked a bit wet, her cheeks were glistening like they’d been oiled and she was wearing the most adorable little pink dress paired with white cute flats. Even before now, I was always eager to see what she’d wear every single day, but it was more fulfilling now because she was all mine to ogle.“Nah, there’s something I have to show you,” I grabbed her wrist and began leading her away from the room.“You mind telling me where we’re headed?” she finally asked after we’d ta
Levi’s POV“Has she gotten the bouquets?” I asked the maid that I’d sent on an errand earlier.“Yes, sir. I delivered them first thing in the morning,” she answered with a bow and I waved her off.The morning of the day we’d overpowered Kai, I remembered watching him gather flowers after he’d thought I left on a tax collecting trip. I watched him make them into a huge bouquet and I was pretty irritated that he thought flimsy flowers would fix all the damage he’d done to Cora when he regarded her as an enemy.However, it had given me a brilliant Idea.I decided that I’d send a bouquet or more to Cora’s room every morning with a heart warming note just to remind her of how precious she was to me. She never failed to thank me for it at breakfast and it made my heart swell. I loved that I’d finally gotten the chance to woo her and I knew I’d do a far better job than Kai could ever have.Speaking of that monster, Kai, I was skipping breakfast to go and see him in the dungeon, to see how muc
Cora’s POVI woke up in a pool of my own sweat.My eyes searched the room to see if the beast in my dreams had crossed into reality by some chance for an opportunity to continue torturing me, but I was lucky that that hadn't happened. The only other person in the room was Nina, not a grizzly monster.She was curled up into a ball on her mattress and she was buried so far into the duvet that I could only see her eyes and a bit of her forehead. And yes, she was crashing here because of the nightmares.The same horrid nightmares that had been recurring for a while now.After the first two nights, I’d told Nina about it because she noticed the heavy eye bags underneath my eyes and then she’d scolded me for not speaking up earlier before gathering most of her things and moving into my room.Oh, trust me, I protested. I assured her that it wouldn't happen again, but she gave me the ‘this isn't up for debate’ look and did as she pleased.Carefully, I moved off the bed and walked over to sit a
Kai’s POVI could smell her, so I knew she was near.Her scent was refreshing and intoxicating and I wished I could drown myself in it one last time, just once. I knew I looked like absolute crap but I was still eager to see her, to look at her and search her eyes for any feelings of remorse, to find out if the memories we shared meant anything to her.As much as my determination to kill Levi for betraying me was one of my driving forces for staying alive, the primary reason that I hadn't let my spirit break was because I was desperate to see Cora again.Delusions aside, I was ready to break my chains and make things right with her.I tuned my ears to the sounds of her footsteps as she neared, heels clacking on the cemented hallway she was walking down to reach the torture dungeon.One might tag me as a helpless fool, but I felt a tad excited to gaze upon her stunning face again.“You look like shit,” was the first thing that left her lipstick clad lips as she pulled the door of the d
As I walked behind her toward the dining hall, I couldn't help but admire every single detail that was in my view.Her body was clad tightly in a lovely purple dress—a color that signified royalty which was what she’d finally become now that Kai was put away— that made my insides ache as her full hips swayed in it, her legs were being carried in black heels that made her look elegant, and her hands were accessorized with pure golden bangles that matched the necklace she was wearing.The only thing that was out of place was the crystal bracelet that rested in between the golden bangles, but that didn't matter.All that mattered was that she’d dressed up for me.I remember how incredibly jealous I usually felt whenever she dressed up for Kai, especially because she was always so gorgeous and she still treated her like bird poop. I’d never make her feel that way, how could I even dare?“Have I mentioned how stunning you look tonight, Cora?” I asked as we finally stepped into the dining h
Levi’s POVKai’s face? Priceless.The mere fact that he’d been cocky enough to assume that I’d be blindly loyal to him despite how much of a monster he was made it glaringly obvious that he was nothing but a muscled idiot. So, seeing the shock on his face when he realized that I’d betrayed him was far more rewarding than I’d thought it’d be.Nothing could've prepared me for how powerful and satisfied I’d been when I saw him looking raggedy and helpless in chains.He’d brought his miserable fate upon himself and I was beyond pleased that the moon goddess had chosen me to put him in his place. I strongly believed that everything was set in stone on the very day that Kai had unintentionally exposed his weakness to me.I still recall that day like it was an hour ago.Kai had been drunk to stupor after our first major win, we’d conquered an army of almost a hundred and fifty thousand werewolves with an army of only two hundred werewolves. Kai had intentionally subdued the beast within him i