AsherWhen I wake, I barely feel rested at all. Maybe it's because I haven't slept well? The night seemed to drag on for hours, and every time I settled into sleep, the whispers began again."You kept waking," Zyra's words are quiet.Turning, I smile at her. "Sorry if I woke you." Leaning forward, I kiss her."It's fine. You have me worried, though. So, we're not going back for a few months. My brother can deal with it, and then maybe you won't be so exhausted."She's too kind. "If you want to go home, we will go Zyra; I can't keep you to myself, not when your brother wants you home with him."I feel selfish for having her here."No, I want to be with you, and I want you to be healthy. So if that means not seeing my brothers, I won't." She climbs onto me and smiles. "I'm happy to stay here. It's not like there aren't enough high places here to make it feel like home.""We currently live on water, and it's hardly anything like the Dragon Kingdom at all. Your palace is built within the
AsherI walk into the office and see Elijah sitting with my parents."Are you okay?" My mum looks at me, and I nod."Totally. What's the plan for today?" I sit and wait. I'll discuss my plan after we do the necessary work."You're planning a giving event," Darius smiles at me."Are we doing the event?" It's usually them that do it."Yes. The plan is for you and Zyra to do half the day and Elijah and Seraphine to do the other half. We will be close by for any issues, but it's one of those events where you have to think on the spot and consider everything." My dad hands me papers."It will also give the kingdom a chance to see how you both are doing at taking over. Let's be honest. If you can sit there for hours, listen to people, and act—help them—then you've proven enough." Darius looks at me, and I nod."Are you and Zyra ready?" Elijah looks at me."Yes, we've spoken about it a lot. We've taken part here and in her own kingdom. So we will be fine." I glanced through the papers. These
AsherI walk through the palace and go to the west wing with the maids. It will do for now. It will give us the space we need. I help the maids to get things set up. It's my idea, so I won't sit back and watch as the maids do everything.All I need to sort is a place for us to sleep and the kitchen area. The rest can be sorted tomorrow or through the night. I'll still have my maids and guards, but they know to stay back far enough from us."Shall I begin cooking?" Eloise looks at me, and I nod."Yes, please. Other than lunch, we will be eating here alone in the future." We can at least have two meals a day sitting alone without my family present and involved.An hour later, the maids have gone to clear my room and bring things here, so I walk off and go through the palace. As I enter the sitting area, Elijah looks at me."I thought you were joking.""Why would I joke?" Zyra deserves time with me without everyone else there as well."I find it ridiculous, that's all. How can you be Kin
Asher POVEveryone is waiting for me to explain when they will see me.I don't have an answer, not an easy one. "I'll be in the palace all day like I always am; just in the morning and evenings, I will be in the west wing." They are acting like I'm moving to the Dragon Kingdom, which seems ideal right now. At least there, we get time together and alone."That's until the new palace is made in the mountains, right, where you plan to live." Elijah snaps, and I sigh."What is your issue? Keep going, Elijah, and I will leave you with the burden of being King alone! I agreed to become King as well to help you. How have you helped me!" I shout, and everyone stares at me, shocked. "I'm sorry, but you're selfish. You said you would never be like your dad, right? Well, you're worse."He is; all he has in his mind is him and Seraphine, how to make their lives easy, how to have the perfect life with her even if it means sacrificing us.He stands and walks towards me."Go on, hit me." I wait, and
Zyra POVWe sit and eat, and Asher talks about the plan for the future. He seems so normal right now—nothing like before. I've noticed it. I think everyone has noticed it. Asher and Elijah seem to be at war with each other.Part of me wonders if they resent each other, resenting the fact that they are having to carry the weight of the title of becoming King. Asher never wanted it, and then Elijah was going to give up."Asher," I look at him, and he smiles at me. "You and Elijah need to fix things."He sighs and looks away from me. Something has changed, something has been said, or something happened to cause the arguments. "Asher, why do you two keep fighting?"He turns to face me. "That doesn't matter anymore."I laugh at him. "Yes, it does; how can you think it doesn't? You two physically fought. Your wolves fought. Today, you were close to fighting again, so what happened?""After your mother died, we spoke. Elijah does not like your brother at all. He doesn't believe that Drakon s
Asher POVEverything felt perfect. Every reason I have given for how I feel and what is going on is wiped away. I thought it was keeping it hidden how Elijah felt about Drakon, but it wasn't.At that final moment, I smiled. I imagined our life here, with our child. Everything felt perfect, then all I saw was blood and Zyra lying dead under my wolf.The images are so sickening I run to the bathroom, lock the door and begin being physically sick. The image seems to be so profoundly routed into my mind it's impossible to get rid of."Asher?" I hear Zyra and the quiet knock. "Please, what's wrong?""I'm fine, Zyra." My words are quiet; sitting down, I rest against the wall and close my eyes. I can still see it. That image isn't going to go easily. Rubbing my face, I try to compose myself.Standing, I walk to the sink and turn on the tap. Looking into the mirror, I jump back. Blood covers my face, and my eyes are black. Looking down, I see blood on my hands.Panicking, I turn on the shower
Asher POVThey are waiting, but there's nothing I can tell them that won't make them realise the truth. I consider what I can say that will make them believe me. Then, I can focus on reading up and finding out the truth."I'm adjusting." That isn't a lie. "I never wanted to become King. I agreed so that Elijah could have time with Seraphine and go back to her kingdom. This isn't easy; I'm going to mess up, have moments where I feel like I'm failing or like everything is too much."Becoming King now isn't the right choice, but I can't back out. Not until everything is confirmed."That doesn't explain tonight." My dad looks at me."I don't know what happened tonight. I think I was so focused on the argument with Elijah. I had just told Zyra the truth that Elijah dislikes Drakon. I was rushing to eat and get the conversation finished. Part of me felt sick, and I never shifted just after eating, but I had. It was too much at once for my body to handle."The loud sigh from Darius tells me
Zyra POVA month it's been a month since Asher had his weird breakdown, and things continue to get worse. He rarely spends time with Storm. He hasn't seen the girls in weeks. He's cut off all contact with his family, and I'm lucky to even get in the room with him.Smiling, I sit on the bed and wait for him. He went for a walk, but he said he had to go alone. He took the Beta with him, but he insisted he needed to do this alone. He's been gone all day and has again avoided Elijah as well.All duties have fallen on him recently, and while Elijah seems to be getting better, Asher is getting worse. The sound of the door has me smiling. It opens, and Asher walks in. He glances at me briefly before walking towards the bathroom."Asher," I call out, and his body stops by the door. He begins walking again. "Please, I need to talk to you." I plead and wait. He stops and looks at me.It doesn't even look like him anymore. He looks so ill; his face is pale and withdrawn."Go back to your room, Z
Asher POVI look down at Katla. She's only a few days old. After speaking with Zyra, she decided that the space in the mountains would be a retreat—a place for us to escape to, somewhere Katla could get used to what it is like to live in the Dragon Kingdom.We have spent a few days there, but not many. Apparently, she wants to be in the palace close to the others. Part of me feels like that's because they were her support while I was hiding away.It's shown her what having a family around can do. We're close, minus Aurelia. She seems to be thriving with the Bears and keeping her distance. Other than returning that day when I was going crazy and needed help, she rarely came back. We've adjusted and got used to that, however.She wants her life away from here; she wants her own life, not one that is connected to us. She should have that if she wants it."Hey."Turning, I see Elijah walk to me.He laughs slightly and takes Katla from my arms. "You look exhausted; fun night?"It's only 4
Asher POVI walk out of the room and go to where I know they will be. As I step into the office, they turn to face me.Darius shakes his head. "You should be with Zyra.""I was, but considering this is brought on by the Dragons, I should be helping." I walk further in and look at the papers."Nothing to help with," my dad shrugs. "His son is clean, Seraphine can tell. Things were explained to him. He had no idea about the arranged marriage and, to be honest, was shocked, as he apparently had a mate."So the son won't be an issue. Is that what he's saying?"Look, both Eliphas and Durnalin are in the cells, away from each other. The son has gone. Apparently, he has a whole life with his mate. His dad told him the dragons had requested their presence at events." Darius explains.It makes no sense, though. "Why? Why would the dragons want the warlocks there?" How didn't his son question it?"Apparently, because Eliphas and his son are the strongest warlocks, they invited them to make a un
Asher POVI wait and watch."Prince Asher, soon to be King, tell me something." He walks to the bars and leans against them. "Where do Warlocks belong?"My head tilts; they belong wherever they want to. I don't understand his question."See, there is no answer as we don't belong anywhere. There is the werewolf kingdom, fae, dragons and everything else. Witches and warlocks are forced to live in one of those kingdoms, with no real power."So this was all about getting power? My body is pushed back, and my eyes widen as I see King Drakon reach through the bars—his hand clamps around Eliphas' neck.I guess he's fixed, and his curse is gone. My dad and Darius drag him away, and I watch Eliphas drop to the floor, clutching his neck. The blood runs down from where King Drakon's nails dug in."We need answers; killing him won't get them." My dad turns and faces Eliphas."Apparently, this was all for power." Which still makes no sense."It wasn't just for power. We wanted our own kingdom, our
Asher POVI'm anxious. It's been two days since the curse was lifted, and I'm glad to be back to normal. All that is at risk, though. Tonight, I have to be close to whoever is pretending to be King Drakon. That then risks it happening again, and if it does, will it start slow again or begin where it was removed?I've noticed Elijah, Storm, and Aurelia are quiet. Whatever was done has worn them out, which I didn't want."Are you ready?" Zyra hugs me, and I nod. I'm not. We need answers and to figure out who it is."Be careful, okay?" I don't like that I'm not going to be there."It's you who needs to be careful. You will be in a confined space with him. If anything goes wrong." She looks at me worriedly.Wrapping my arms around her, I smile. "I'll be fine; once he's in the cell, he can't do anything." I kissed her and gave her a final hug before walking away.Getting to the cells, I sit in one and wait. I'm hoping the plan works. If we can get him in the cell, then his magic and power
Asher POVI can see Zyra is struggling, and I don’t blame her either. She just found out her brother is missing.“Look, when Seraphine checked trying to find out the issue with him, she saw King Drakon, but it wasn’t him. Whoever it was is who we believe Cursed Asher.” My mum grasps her hands and smiles. “We’ve got people tracking down where your brother really is. There’s a reason for this, and it’s you, Zyra. Seraphine could sense the curses were put on Asher and Elijah to try and push you to return home.”Zyra looks around the room and seems increasingly worried. “What about Ryker? Is he okay? Does he know?” She waits, and I don’t know the answer to that.“I’m sorry, we don’t know. You need to stay here, Zyra. We have a plan, and we’re hoping Seraphine can uncover more when the person comes here.”She nods and sits, looking lost.“We are expecting Seraphine to return late tonight or early tomorrow. If they can’t fix the issue, then we will keep working to.” My mum smiles and hugs h
Asher POVAfter about an hour of sitting in the cell with Zyra, I ordered her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, but she shouldn't have been sitting in the cells with me.So, I've been alone for hours, waiting to find out their plan. They hadn't thought this through. I need to leave the cell to go to the room. As soon as I step out of this cell, it will come back. Then what?I'm willing to agree to anything right now if it gets me out of this cell and back with Zyra. The footsteps have me standing, and I watch my dad and Darius walk towards me."What's your plan? How am I to do this?" They haven't thought it through."You need to shift." Darius looks at me.I laugh at him. Is that some kind of joke? "You want me to shift, so that what? I can kill people easier?"My dad sighs and steps forward. "Please do as you're told. You won't understand why we're saying you can shift, but shift. Into your wolf, not dragon."Of course, I won't understand; they haven't explained it to me. If
Elijah POVI sit in the office; Seraphine has left. She's meeting her family halfway in the hopes they have something that can help. Merfolk are powerful creatures with extraordinary abilities.Curses and such are something they specialise in."We're going to request that King Drakon attend a celebration for Zyra's pregnancy. It means we can get what we need and figure out who it is and what their aim is." My dad looks at me, and he makes it sound so simple. This isn't simple."He's going to ask why Asher isn't present, then what?" We can't lie and hide him. "It will look suspicious.""Not if Zyra invites him, she won't know, remember. She can invite him, and whoever is portraying King Drakon won't suspect anything. We're going to be honest and explain something is wrong with Asher, and he's not well."So we're not hiding the issue."He could be in the cell for weeks, so we've had things moved down there for him. The plan is later to test how he is with someone in the cell with him. T
Asher POVI watch as Elijah glares at everyone and backs up more."Elijah, we need to know." My mum steps towards him."I saw him once, just once! You all need to focus on Asher, not me! He's the one that is cursed, not me!" He shouts and steps back. He backs into my dad, and he grabs Elijah as Seraphine steps forward and grips his head.His screams echo around the cells, and it's all over just as quickly as it starts. His body falls to the floor, and he cradles his head."Well?" Darius looks at Seraphine."You're going to need a warlock, or I'll need to contact my family and see if they have something to clear the curses." Her words make me look towards Elijah. So, he is also cursed."Asher's curse is to make him push everyone out and make him think he has a mad wolf so that Zyra leaves. Elijah's was to hate Asher, likely to intensify it." Seraphine smiles slightly. "There's no mate, Elijah. The curse is what's stopping us from having a baby. There's no third mate." Her words have hi
Asher POVNo one speaks, likely because they know what I said is the truth. I need to die; there is nothing they can do to change that."Explain the process, what happened, how it started, when it happens." Darius pulls a chair over and sits outside the cell.I laugh. "Why do I need to talk? Why do I need to explain? You're proving you believe me by keeping me locked in here and being too afraid to come near your own son."Nothing I say can change that."Asher, I'm not opening the cell because I don't trust you to try and run. So explain it to me, tell me how it's progressed, and let's be sure that is what is happening." He waits, and I watch my mum, Elijah, and dad sit with him."It began with whispers. The words were barely audible, but I heard whispers in my ear. They got louder and began to sound like words. Whispers were one thing, but then I began to see people dead and my wolf above them." It was a warning to me to hide, to push them away, and not let them close to me."When do