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2 - Star-Crossed Lovers
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2024-06-07 17:20:38ARAH
“Still at the coroner’s office.” She threw him a puzzled look. “Why?”
“Nothing,” he said, returning to his dinner. “And no, I won’t come.”
Her shoulders slumped. “It’s Plumber Paul’s funeral, Gildeon,” she said, frustration slipping into her voice. How many times had he let her attend community gatherings alone?
“Will it kill you to show up just this once?” She stabbed her fish harder than necessary. “I’m sick of making excuses for you.”
And sick of the gossip that she was an incompetent wife or that she was trapping Gildeon in a loveless marriage. If only they knew what was really going on within these walls…
The irony made her want to bang her head on the table.
“I’ve got better things to do,” he said dismissively, not even bothering to look at her.
“Like what?” She scowled, feeling the air thicken. “You never tell me what you're up to when you're not at home or at school.”
His face froze, his eyes darting at the space surrounding her like he was seeing something she couldn’t.
“Whatever I do is for our protection,” he said firmly as he finally leveled his gaze at her.
She was reminded of his story about how they used to be star-crossed lovers, born into feuding families from the Middle East. Eventually, they’d defied their parents, eloped, and married in secret.
“How did I lose my memories again?” she demanded after a moment.
His chiseled jaw ticked, his mouth twitching tensely. “How many times do I have to tell you this?”
“Indulge me, Gildeon,” she insisted, lightly scraping the tips of her fork against the edge of her plate.
He held her gaze before resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. “Our parents were hellbent on breaking us apart,” he began, sounding as if he were in his class, giving a lecture. “Your parents sent henchmen to assassinate me, and mine did the same to you. We were driving away from them fast, but I lost control of the car and we flipped over.” He paused, watching her reaction closely. “You were unconscious, but I got you out in one piece.”
The rest unfolded: a friend helping with fake passports and documents, arranging a secret trip on a private plane to Caylao Island...
The more he told the story, the more it sounded rehearsed. She still couldn’t wrap her head around waking up in this house as her first memory. She’d been in and out of consciousness during their travels, he said. That the meds had somehow messed with her head.
She believed some of it, but she knew he was hiding more. And if she was going to figure out his secrets, she needed to start with that study room he kept locked at all times.
“This is the last time I’m going over this, Arah,” he warned before taking another bite of his tuna.
“Can you blame me?” she retorted. “I don’t have the memories you have.”
“We’ve been under the same roof for half a year now,” he said pointedly, his knuckles white around his spoon. “What’s it going to take for you to trust me?”
“You’re not making it easy.” Her voice rose, frustration bubbling up. “You don’t talk to me. You hide things. You haven’t even done anything nice for me—” She paused, her breaths jagged. Her free hand clutched at her skirt as she went on, “And you expect me to submit like a mindless sheep?”
The tension was thick enough to cut. Her heart jumped as Gildeon pushed his chair back and stood, leaning over the table. Damp hair fell over his eyes—eyes that reminded her of a snake and something ancient she couldn’t quite place.
“Don’t make me force you to sleep in my bed, Arah,” he said in a low, ominous tone that made her skin tingle.
“You promised we’d have separate rooms until I’m ready,” she reminded him, her throat dry.
“I’ve granted you liberties.” A faint, predatory smile curled his lips. “I won’t be patient for long.”
As he walked away, she let out a shaky breath. Barky came up to her, rubbing his face against her leg as if to console her.
She smiled weakly. “Hey, I’m okay,” she reassured Barky, petting his head.
The sound of the door closing from Gildeon's study eased her chest. Her husband had never forced himself on her. Never. Except maybe for that other thing he made her do whenever he wanted to punish her.
But what was she supposed to do once he finally grew tired of waiting?
Latest chapter
MAD END'S DECEPTION 315 - Kill The Rest
GILDEONHis heart hammered harder, faster, every beat slamming power into the walls of whatever cage Haemos’s weapon had built inside him. The siphoning pull of the spear met a rising, furious tide pushing back from the opposite direction.He was not done. He would not let them take her.Heat roared through his veins, different from the usual burn of his fire. This was sharper, heavier, threaded with the same power that had once poured out of Arah and into his core now rose like a storm from within.The metal impaling him began to glow.Scales broke through his skin in jagged lines, black and gold flaring across his shoulders, chest, and arms in a pattern he’d never worn before. Bones shifted, thickening, reinforcing. His silhouette swelled, became something larger, more dangerous, like the outline of a form he hadn’t fully grown into yet finally forcing its way out.With a sound halfway between a growl and
MAD END'S DECEPTION 314 - Let Him Rot Here
GILDEONHis senses cut out before the rest of Haemos’s words could register.Everything collapsed into a heavy, smothering silence. Then, feeling bled away from his body, leaving him hanging on the edge of nothing with only one clear sensation: something hooked deep into his core and started dragging his spirit out of him.Was he dying?No. He refused. He hadn’t clawed his way through centuries of war just to let it end like this, pinned on some cursed weapon while Arah was still out there. She needed him. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t give her up to anyone.But wanting to fight and being able to fight were two different things.Seconds slipped by. Pain had flattened into a distant, throbbing awareness somewhere below his ribs, where the three-tined spear had run him through, but it felt far away, like it belonged to someone else.Then a voice cut through the dark.“My Lord?”Roselia.The name
MAD END'S DECEPTION 313 - Too Far Gone
GILDEONEverything Drusden’s memory fragments had carved open for him slammed back into place at once.His father, Daego, and his wife, Ragina. The clash with the Greater Beasts. His father stumbling home with an infant in his arms. The Dark Plane yawning open like a wound.“You’re the one who lied to me,” Gildeon growled. “About who my parents were. About how my father—General Daego—died.”Haemos’s salamander eyes narrowed to burning slits. “How did you know about that?” he demanded.Heat flickered harder around the commander’s scaled face as he shook his head. “Kohina wouldn’t dare. She swore a seer’s vow.”“It doesn’t matter how I knew,” Gildeon said. “Tell me why you’re calling my father selfish. He sacrificed himself to save the salamanders.”“He doomed us,” Haemos snarled, “by bringing you back with him after his disappearance.”Gildeon froze.“Your father was given a choice,” Old Man went on, flam
MAD END'S DECEPTION 312 - As Selfish As Your Father
GILDEONHe’d dropped his guard.He hated admitting it, but there had been plenty of times Old Man had slipped past his defenses over the years—appearing out of nowhere, catching him off balance, reminding him who had trained him in the first place. Usually, Gildeon only realized it when it was already too late.This time was different.Not just because half of his mind was still locked on Arah—on her safety, on her pulse in the distance—but because Commander Haemos felt heavier, meaner, more dangerous than anything Gildeon remembered.Salamanders didn’t bleed aura like other beings. One could only see their true level in battle. But Gildeon carried a dragon spirit. Just standing this close, it could taste Haemos’s threat level like metal on the tongue.This version of Old Man was more formidable than the one he’d sparred with before.“You had me fooled, little bastard,” Haemos rasped, lips peeling back from his beast’
MAD END'S DECEPTION 311 - Echo Of His Heartbeat
ARAHDanger prickled the back of her neck a split second before her mind caught up.Her body moved first.The wind tattoo on her forearm peeled away from her skin, snapping into the air like a released whip. In the same breath, her owl sigil burst free from her abdomen, the tiny inked shape stretching and unfolding mid-flight. Wings widened, bones and feathers building themselves out of glowing sigil lines until her female owl was a colossal bird above her, shadows of its wings swallowing the moonlight.She felt the rush of air before she heard the shrieks.The owl beat its wings hard, each powerful stroke throwing knives of wind across the sand. The front line of salamanders jerked back, their flames guttering as the gusts shoved them a few steps away, buying her a heartbeat of space.Arah spun, heart hammering, eyes automatically searching for him.She found Gildeon in the distance, and her stomach dropped.H
MAD END'S DECEPTION 310 - You Leave Us No Choice
GILDEONHis eyes went wide, pulse punching hard against his ribs.He’d always known this was a possibility. Some part of him had been waiting for it, braced for it. But he’d still hope it wouldn’t happen. Tonight, his guard had been down in the worst possible way.Multiple platoons. A full company at least. Probably more hidden beyond the reach of his eyes. The fact that this many salamanders were standing on open sand, in front of lower mortals, told Gildeon they weren’t fucking around about taking Arah at all costs.From the corner of his eye, he saw Yadira and Eitan shoot up from their seats, chairs clattering to the sand. Their shocked gazes snapped from the salamander line straight to him, waiting for orders.“I don’t get it,” Arah murmured beside him, fingers digging into his arm. “I thought the portal was intact.”“I sent Ghulik there days ago to make sure it
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