PROLOGUE

THIRD PERSON'S POV

“Everyone is dead,” The Alpha says in horror as he stares at the dead bodies of his people.

‘The Darhk's had carried out a complete massacre of everyone present in the castle in his absence.

He should have known leaving wasn’t a good idea, he did have a bad feeling earlier but Aurora, his mate, had assured him that it wasn’t anything serious and that he should go.

But now he doesn’t even know where she is.

He speeds up the stairs desperately praying that he finds her sitting down or most likely hiding or even unconscious at worst, regardless, he just hopes desperately that she is alive.

He stands in front of his room, with his door wide open and an appalling sight is before his eyes.

The sight before him as he walks into his room shatters him internally, it is the most deadly assault he has ever received, the most lethal blow a being could land on him, his mate, his queen, and lover lay mutilated before him, covered in her own blood.

“ No!” The Alpha screams in horror and walks to the bed looking at the severed pieces of his beautiful mate, which is arranged to spell out the word 'DARHK', the collective name of the group of supernaturals who did this, right on their bed.

He stands beside her staring down at the pieces of her body unable to bring himself to touch her.

Her head is placed to start the spelling of the word and her eyes are wide open revealing an empty lifeless void that stabs his soul, quelling his source of life.

Tears roll down his eyes as he goes through the turmoil of losing his mate, he takes a hand to his chest, right above his heart in a bid to ease the overwhelming pain in his heart.

Amaeldria isn’t known to be one capable of reckless conflict, this act completely breaks the balance of peace within the realm.

The act of murdering the mate of the Alpha, the tribrid king of the entire realm, is an act of war, but the act of mutilation and fearless desecration of the Alpha's mate, rather leads to complete alienation of the species involved without giving them a fighting chance.

“ What shall we do?” Liam, a mage vampire and his closest ally says.

“ We bury the queen and then rain hellfire on all those who caused this.” He says as darkness swells around him and his eyes turn pitch black, the exact color of his soul while staring at his only source of happiness laid in pieces before him.

After mourning, comes war and after which comes expulsion.

He is prepared for the worst.

DECADES LATER

JASMINE'S POV

I have always suspected that my grandmother is sick due to the obvious signs. But whenever I asked, she’d lift her lips in a weak smile and say she was fine. For a few months, everything seemed completely fine until one night when I returned from school and overheard her weak voice over the phone.

“No doctor, I won't be undergoing the surgery. I have kids to take care of if you have forgotten. I’ll come and get the drugs tomorrow. Thank you, doctor,” Grandma says as she ends the call

“Good evening Granny,” I greet, announcing my presence.

“Welcome sweetie, how was your day?”

“It was okay, so uh, granny. Who was on the line just now?”

“Oh, nothing for you to worry about," she says with a smile while using her thumb to caress my cheek.

I smile weakly, confused about why she would reject surgery and then still try to hide the details from me. "You should go upstairs and help your brother, he has been waiting for you to come home," she completes, trying to change the topic.

“Granny, please tell me who was on the line,” I insist.

Grandma sighs, knowing that I will not let it go, and decides to tell me everything. She tells me how she is battling cancer and also about how she doesn’t have enough money to undergo any form of surgery, adding that the only things she can afford are drugs.

The greatest shock is when she tells me that she has only till the end of the year to live. I feel so shocked that I don’t even know when we both start crying until I hear myself sob.

“I don’t think it is necessary to spend so much money to prolong the inevitable and then forego you and your brother's upkeep,” Grandma says sadly with tears rolling down her eyes.

I stand still processing everything just said when I get wrapped in a hug.

“Don’t worry child, I'm not leaving you today, or tomorrow so be strong for both me and your brother, focus on your studies so that you will make me proud,” Grandma says as she soothes me while I cry.

Months pass by and Grandma starts losing weight drastically, her hair falls off, and she becomes unable to walk, automatically becoming bedridden.

I feel devastated and disbelief crowds my mind, my grandma is dying and I can’t do anything about it, my last parental figure is losing her life and I can’t stop it.

The thought of dropping out of school has crossed my mind a number of times but each time I bring it up, the dying woman forbids it, insisting that I continue schooling.

Several doctors have already confirmed that it was too late to help her and all they said was for me to take care of my grandma till the day she died.

It feels like the world is coming to an end for me. How am I supposed to take care of my dying grandmother and my little brother Raphael when I can’t work as per her wish?

I am just seventeen and my brother is five and we are going to lose our grandmother. Much to my dismay, I don’t have enough time to ponder about this as one night, grandmother calls for me. “Good evening granny,” I greet while sitting down beside the bed.

“Hey sweetie, come closer," Grandma says beckoning me forward. I go and sit on the bed, holding her hands.

“Sweetie, I have to say this before I’m unable to anymore," Grandmother says weakly.

“No granny, please don’t sound like that, “I say with pleading eyes while shaking my head stubbornly.

“Listen sweetie, I don’t have much time,” Grandma says in short breaths "In our family, we have a peculiar gift which you will soon come to find out about. You will soon turn eighteen and you will start noticing changes in your body.”

I freeze up at the statement, wondering the kind of changes she is talking about, but Grandma continues anyway. "Listen, once these changes occur, you will be looked for by a lot of people, both evil and good, some may disguise themselves as friends in order to harm you. Be very careful sweetie, you have a very great destiny, one you cannot comprehend right now but as time goes on, you will.” She pauses and stares at me with a very strict look and a stern face. “ The only person you are to fully trust is your mate. He will come looking for you and he will find you. You would know exactly who he is to you immediately you lay your eyes on him.”

Grandma says when she starts coughing severely before I can even respond.

“Protect your heart. It's your greatest strength and weakness." Grandma continues between coughs.

“Please Granny, just stay still and rest, you can continue tomorrow,” I say in haste when I see that she is about to continue talking again.

Grandma stares at me as if she is pondering over something, then she smiles.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you earlier, at least this will give you more time to comprehend everything, you will have three more years of a normal life sweetie and then you will be thrown into a life you have no idea of, I’m sorry child that it has to be this way.” She says weakly and raises her right hand, placing it on my heart.

“But don’t worry Jasmine, I will do in my death what I failed to do now that I’m alive.” She says as she begins murmuring words that I can’t understand.

Just as she drops her hand, I start getting lightheaded but I don’t fail to notice when her heart stops beating.

I cry so hard and cling to her hands when I see that she is dead. My heart feels so heavy and tears pour out my eyes freely, I feel my emotions drowning within.

The air starts becoming intense as I struggle to breathe. Slowly, I start losing consciousness as I fall against the bed and on my grandma's corpse.

***

As the air calms down, the two females lay silently. One dead, one asleep.

Suddenly, a soft glow starts emerging from Jasmine, straight from her heart till it envelops her entire body.

No one knew what happened, or how it did and the only person that knew was dead.