The next few days passed quickly and quietly.Fenrir was almost always nowhere to be seen, but not one of my meals passed that he didn’t dine with me. He was always there when I needed him. He would always be one call away. But for the rest of my days, I spent them quietly recovering my lost strength. It was a new experience, doing everything myself. Though I would accept Ellie’s help any day if only she were hre. Only now did I realize how big of a help a maidservant like her is—for Gods’ sake, it was so difficult putting on a dress by myself, even if it’s the simplest dress ever made. I felt handicapped without Ellie. However, it also led me to learn more things about myself.And of course, my newly awakened wolf.On some days, I would go out of the cabin and call for Celeste. We would cultivate and refine our power by learning about one another, strengthen our compatibility by practicing together, or simply stroll around the woods and enjoy as the snow falls on her thick coat while
The Marquis’s smile falls. “An army is marching towards the pack, led by the Crown Princess.” I shift uncomfortably, my heartbeat racing. “She went against the King’s orders and marched with a fifth of the Crown’s army, demanding they return Princess Akira.”Beside me, Fenrir snickered. “Took them long enough. I thought they’d march to the pack a few days after her disappearance. To think they took a fortnight…” He sarcastically turned to me, feigning pity. “Your family must really not love you.”I roll my eyes.“Does that not spell danger for you instead? It’s your pack against my family’s army.” And if Deyanira is spearheading the attack… this will not end without blood being spilled.He shrugs. “You’re humans. We’re werewolves. There’s a significant strength difference.”“I wouldn’t underestimate the House of Men if I were you,” Marquis Johanssen interjects. “They have an abundant supply of wolfsbane. Even I don’t know where they’re getting it. And it’s not only wolfsbane. They hav
“Deyanira! No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs when I found her body drowning in a pool of blood. She lay on her side, clutching her abdomen with one hand and her sword with the other. Her eyes reddened as blood slowly consumed her irises. She was in such a state that my tears could not be controlled. They poured down freely like a waterfall as I kneeled beside her. “No… Please…”I choked on my own tears.She weakly blinked and found my eyes. “You’re alive…” she whispered, a trail of blood escaping her mouth and trailing down her jaw. It was a painful sight; I felt horrible too, for not realizing the lengths she’d go to find me alive. I have been underestimating my sister’s love for me and now, she’s proven it at the cost of her life.“I-I am... I am.” I nodded through my tears. “Thank you, for fighting for me. I will definitely repay you.” I took her in my arms and cradled her body tightly. I had no intention of letting go until I made sure she’ll be fine.Celeste. I called for he
Akira’s cries stopped the battle between man and werewolf. The soldiers recognized the death of their Princess, while the werewolves recognized their successful defense. Both races kept quiet, as the fights ceased and all came to surround the woman hugging her sister’s lifeless body. A few feet away from them were the Alpha and his brother, sharing deathly glares before simultaneously turning to Akira.Flavian was visibly guilt-stricken as he hung his head. However, Fenrir knew he was free of regret because he did it for the pack. He knew his brother very well. He knew he did do the killing blow to the Princess, but he also knew he did it thinking it was for the pack’s safety. Because of that, his actions are always justified.His older brother shook his head.A man stepped forward from the defeated army and kneeled in front of the Princesses. “Your Highness, I am General Liefeng,” he introduced. “We must return you home. I will finish the crown princess’s mission, now that she is gon
The envoy to the palace was somber. Dark clouds dimmed the night sky, obstructing the stars from being viewed, the full moon peeking through the heavy clouds. The carriage did not feel like it was carrying only one Princess. It was as heavy as carrying a catastrophe to come. My hands were fisted inside. My jaw would clench and unclench. My eyes never ran out of fresh tears.I have been betrayed. By the only man I ever loved.I have been wronged. By the cruel fate that tied Deyanira and I’s life together.I have been misled. I regret not spending more time with my sister all these years.There couldn’t be a being more foolish than I at this very moment.The night deepened, but I could not find it in me to rest. My shoulders were up and guarded, my breathing tense. I sensed something will happen. And a few moments later, deep into the forest, I caught a whiff of multiple strong, bloodstained scents. Scents that smelled like danger.There was rattling and suddenly, a ruckus. Blades were
Furious is an understatement to describe Lord Ren de Bach’s mood today.After his dozen squad of elite trolls vanished with one survivor, he realized he lost significant military power. Losing them was never part of the plan, after all. The message that the surviving troll relayed is hair-raising. A Princess as an annihilator? One does not hear that every day.The other Lords were sent a missive to come quickly, for a sudden threat had appeared that may significantly affect their course of action. And when Lord de Bach explained it to the other men, they agreed. Things will inevitably change. Because…“There is a new variable in the game.” Lord Stuart from the House of Sorcery spoke calmly, his demeanor unfazed but his eyes shimmer with amusement. “A new chess piece. A new player in the mix.”This is becoming interesting. Princess Akira disappears as a human but a fortnight later—she reappears as a powerful being of questionable origins. How bizarre. His wife, Clara, has introduced Ak
“What are you thinking about?”His voice pulled me back to reality as I drowned in my thoughts. We were seated in the gazebo, a day after we arrived in the palace. I am still yet to know why he came with me. It seemed he secretly follow our envoy and only appeared when we were ambushed. I stared at him, attempting to decipher his thoughts, but he was almost impossible to read. He looks easy at first, but he actually has a thick and tall wall built around him. And being easygoing and simpleminded was his façade.He smirks, noticing my stare. “A meek, pathetic girl stares at me and I can see that vicious little mind working through your eyes.”“Do you know what I came here for? Why did you follow me?”“Why, did you want me to stay there? I am an exile. Even stepping foot sentences me to death in there.”“I know you have plenty of other places you can go to.”His smirk widened. “Why would I, when all the fun will be here?”He’s talking about the uprising. It is a brewing war between the
“Akira?” The King tilts his head.He’d never pondered about the possibility of Akira being his successor. For one, she was incompetent. She never preferred the spotlight, so she was always in the background, thus earning her the moniker ‘Wallflower Princess’. And he never saw her pick up a sword, only books. Yes, she was smart. But that was all, as far as he knew.But he does not particularly favor her nowadays, with all the trouble her marriage brought. Why her, so suddenly? “Yes, Father,” Aesira affirms. These two had a determined expression as if they had put all trust in their sister.“Akira has changed. We met her again when she returned yesterday, and we felt it. She is now a different person.” “Hmmm…”King Macmillan brushed his beard, pondering deeply. “But her husband killed the Crown Princess. That is treason, no matter how we put it, and we shall punish them accordingly. Akira is not excused from the punishment.” The two Princesses heave a deep breath. “We know it’ll be
Well, you've flipped to the last page of this book. Thank you for seeing it to the end with me. I'm sorry for the errors. I will edit it diligently now that I've completed it. Please leave your thoughts in the reviews! I'd really appreciate it, constructive or negative! I'll read it all. ^^ Love, zav
Spring has arrived. Its breeze welcomed the new blooming flowers in the flower shops, the redolence of the Capital’s symbolic flower, a daisy, circulating down the streets of the city. It was the perfect weather for a festival, a rather young festival only celebrated for three years.Amid the bustling townspeople, a young girl wandered around, her simple straw slippers softly hitting the cobblestone as she glanced around seemingly lost, eventually stopping in front of the flower shop to admire the daisies. Her wide, curious eyes neared the daisy and sniffed it, sighing at its alluring scent.The old man running the shop spots the young girl, wearing nothing but a humble dress and straw slippers, visibly a farm girl. He smiles, plucking a daisy from its bunch. He hands it to the girl who looks up at him, surprised.“Happy cleansing day, lassie.”“Eh?”He chuckles at the girl’s tilted head with confusion spelled out on her face.“Don’t ‘ya know what day is today?”“Uh-uh.” She shakes he
“She’s taking too long, is she not?” Flavian wonders aloud as they look up at the sky, violent and storming with frequent flashes of lightning and thunder. It had been thirty minutes since they took to the sky. The vampires and trolls are all absorbed and rotting in the clearing, ending the battle. But they were still yet to see even the two’s silhouettes in the sky.Beside him, Fenrir was frowning quietly. He could not feel her. Something… or someone, was intercepting the bond.“What if the purification failed? Will she be alright?” Phaedra worriedly asks and turns to her mother. “Does it really take this long, Mother?”Priscilla crossed her arms, a similar frown on her face. “Let us wait a while longer. It is no easy feat, but I believe in her. What do you say, Fauntleroy?”Two ears perked in her direction. She clears her throat and clarifies, “The older one.”“What?”“Do you still feel your mate?”Only the rustling leaves of the trees answered her. All heads sharply turned to him a
My mind drifted back into the discussion we shared between the advisors, before everything.“Thank you. I’m feeling well enough to hunt down the plague again.” She meets everyone’s eyes. “But I doubt I’ll get lucky and find it at the first forest I go to. Do you have any ideas where it would likely be?”And just like that, the table was open for discussion.The hunt for the plague continues.“How about this?” I pitch in. Expectant eyes meet mine as I continue, “We take a different approach. If I absorb any more, I’m afraid I will explode.”“That is realistically possible,” Priscilla confirms, and my face blanches.“Then, what approach do you have in mind, Your Majesty?” The generals ask after darting a narrowed glance at the retired priestess.I shrug. “Anything that would not include me having to ingest any more power is preferable.”It’s true. I felt like puking the day after I absorbed the plague. It was like eating a dirty cloth, with all the corrupted souls it absorbed. It was no
“Aren’t you tired?” I ask, my eyes warily scanning him from head to toe. He really is here. Right in front of me. In the flesh.That same tall, slender, build with a ghastly white complexion and gravity-defying black hair.The same man in my dreams—nightmares, rather.He looked as if he was swallowed by darkness, with the smoke all around him. He was a terrifying opponent. But I was not one to back down. I bared my fangs and summoned Celeste’s eyes, making mine slit and glowing a brighter purple. If I could, I would’ve sneered and tested the firmness of his will, just to see if I could do to him what I did to my past enemies.Hearing my question, a slow grin spreads out on his face, sending goosebumps down my spine. I felt Flavian flinch from my left.He spoke, his voice thick and yet silky smooth as if he hadn’t been around for centuries.“The pursuit to a peaceful world is a tedious task, thus one must not feel lethargic.”I narrow my eyes at him. “Pursuit to a peaceful world? You m
Expert bodies move out of the way with a smooth tilt of their body, easily evading a lethal charge to the shoulder. Xiao’s murderous glare pinned on the vampire that dared to charge at him.“How foolish,” he remarks and brutally stabs its chest with his wooden staff’s pointy end.Despite the chaos that ensues around him, he keeps his cool demeanor and composure as he breezes through the swarm of enemies that outnumbered them. Realizing a stab to the heart that was long done pumping would not kill the vampire off, he calls for the attention of the wicked witch on his back.“Do finish off this one, Priscilla.” He flings the vampire overhead, using the poor soul’s attempt to charge on him another time as momentum to take him flying.She scoffs from behind and he could already imagine a scowl on her face.“You cannot even finish a mindless vampire? Tsk. This is why I do not desire to live too long,” she says just as the ground that the vampire landed on was scorched. There was no need to
The crisp leaves of the Witches’ Forest greeted us as we arrived, the rich, wide forest being the place we theorized would house the world’s oldest living plague. It made sense. This forest was rich with the energy of the witches, and the coven was temporarily abandoned for the sole reason that the plague was strongest in the forest.Priscilla told me during our meeting that the number of victims in the coven never decreased when the rest of the world did. When I absorbed a fraction of the plague’s strength and weakened it, I thought it gave the world a few weeks of respite. But it never reached the coven.After learning about it, guilt gnawed at my stomach. I immediately ordered the witches and their families to seek refuge in the palace, where the rest of the witches I took to war were. Now, we arrive at a barren coven in the middle of a dark, ominous forest pulsing with energy.I could feel the earth’s power in my veins. Pulsing. Throbbing. Like a streak of power terrorizing my blo
It was a quiet, sunny day for the palace.It was on that quiet and sunny day that the Queen’s advisors were summoned into the meeting hall. They quietly shuffled inside, Priscilla meeting Xiao’s eyes. She observes him. They had not crossed paths in the castle for weeks. She, preoccupied in the witches’ tower and he, cooped up in the archives. The two places were almost on opposite ends of the palace. And yet he looked no different.Xiao feels her gaze and turns her way. He raises an inquisitive brow and she shuts him off with a roll of her eyes. The man, confused, tilts his head. Quietly, they occupy their spots on the right and left of the end of the table, where the Queen’s seat was. That was and had always been their position—they are the left and right hand of the monarch.Two of the most unique hands, at that.All advisors rose at the arrival of the Queen.She wore a modest gilded purple gown with simple gown shoulder caps that drape to her back. Her humble tiara sat atop her bra
“Don’t you look pathetic down there?”Her sarcasm was spot on, her voice crystal clear.Perhaps he truly is nearing his demise. He yearned a little more of her tonight than usual.He waited for the pain of Rognac’s vicious bite, but it never came. It must’ve tripped or something because Flavian heard rustling and struggling. However, when Rognac growled and his heavy claws fumbled on the wooden floor as if lunging, the pain still did not come. And he heard her voice again.“Will you continue to pathetically lay there?”Puzzled, Flavian flutters his eyes open. And the scene before him just felt… impossible. As if he was hallucinating. He gaped at the situation for a while, belatedly registering to him that they were in the middle of a life-or-death situation.Against Rognac was Phaedra, in all her petite glory. She looked at an ant next to Rognac’s giant form. Yet she could still hold her ground as specks of dust of magic floated around her, her hair floating, and her hand up against R