At first I thought I was hallucinating or perhaps seeing a ghost. But when Melissa uttered what we were all thinking and Nicholas began to glance at the body on the bed and then back at the doorway, I knew that the man before us was all too real.He chuckled and the scratched then back of his head before saying, “Uh no, you called me on the phone earlier. I am Daniel, Dante’s twin brother.”They were identical with each feature exactly the same from their dark hair to their perfectly chiselled noses.“W-wow… Dante never mentioned that you two were twins,” Melissa said, visibly still in shock.Daniel glanced at his brother solemnly and then gazed back at Melissa before saying, “I didn’t think he’d mention me at all. We never really got along too well. It’s a shame that he passed away before we could change that.”A moment of silence passed before Daniel smiled and then pointed to the body on the bed. “I guess I will take him. I shall hold a funeral for him at about 5 p.m. today if anyo
Melissa’s words never left my mind, and Dante’s death consumed my every thought too. If I was correct and Dante’s death was an attempt to sabotage this engagement, it meant that someone close to me was responsible. The only Wolfsbane interaction I’d had was the short introduction yesterday. No one else knew that Dante was my friend except for the people in this house and… Kiyan.I shook my head the moment my brother’s name entered it. There was no way my brother would kill Dante. Then again, I was slowly beginning to realise that I barely knew the man my brother had become. And as I thought of our argument yesterday, I couldn’t deny that the man who’d once been my naïve, sweet and kind brother had become something twisted by hatred. A part of me believed that such a man had the capability to kill Dante in the hopes of ending my engagement and getting me away from the royal lycan siblings. But a bigger part of me believed t
Slowly I opened my eyes and the moment I did, I let out a little gasp. Nicholas was standing right in front of me, facing Aura. Drops of red blood fell to the floor and I stepped aside to look at his face. His flesh was cut from the top of his eyebrow, through his cheek and right down to the jaw. Blood was gushing down his face, falling onto his clothing and then onto the floor.Aura’s orangey eyes had a striking look of fear in them, and she almost instantly retracted her hand and stuck it to her side. Nicholas on the other hand had his red eyes locked on hers. And in the next moment, the sound of thunder boomed throughout the entire house and the windows shook, the glass rattling inside the windowpanes at the sheer loudness of the thunder.“I… I am sorry Nick,” Aura whispered softly. It was the first time I’d seen her so frightened and fragile. And that was when I realised just why she kept him under such a tight leash. Out of all of the siblings, Nicholas was by far the most powerf
“So, you’ve made your choice to continue with the engagement?” Aura asked the moment I entered into the room. She stood beside Nikita who had busied herself with some of my notebooks. I snatched them from her hands and then placed them in my cupboard so she wouldn’t be tempted to touch my belongings again.She gazed up at me with a guilty look on her face and then smiled shyly, “Your writing is pretty good.”“Don’t touch my stuff!” I hissed, then I took a glance at Aura and nodded.“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. You do your part and I do mine. Now, go and scrub yourself clean, I can smell my brother all over you. Once you’re done, you can wear that robe.” She pointed to a silky blue robe that she’d draped over one of my bedposts. She then smiled at me and sat on my bed expectantly.“You’re just going to wait here?” I questioned with annoyance.Aura nodded, “I will bring my stylist in as soon as you are ready and then I will oversee the process.”I wanted to argue with her, but
I noticed now that all the plants in the house had changed. All of the vases were filled with bright pink roses and these roses seemed to follow us right to the foyer, out of the door, and then, their petals formed a path around the house, leading to the backyard where it was beautifully decorated. A wooden canopy stood in the centre of the yard, surrounded by the strangers who’d come to live stream this engagement. The canopy was draped in vines of pale pink and bright white flowers and surrounded by pink petals. They were gently illuminated by the soft rays of the sun and for a moment, I admired the beauty of the set up. It was something out of a dream, one which I’d never even let myself dare to dream before. I was getting engaged today, and although it was something arranged, I realised in that moment that, to me, it had begun to feel a little more real. I didn’t love Nicholas. I was only starting to like him and warm up to him, but for once I was happy that it was him.The warm t
Tension hung in the air, thick enough to choke on. This was a live broadcast and the moment Stacey had made herself known, the cameras were on her too. It was a spectacle for the world to see, this seemingly scorned woman, fighting against Nicolas’ guards just to get her hands on the ring that supposedly belonged to her. There was, however, no doubt in my mind that the ring belonged to her. It was extravagant enough, and dainty enough to embody everything Stacey seemed to exude.Aura held her hands up and quickly directed the production crew to cut their cameras. She was threatening enough to make them adhere to her commands almost instantly.“How dare you show yourself here. Did my brother not pay you enough yesterday?” Aura yelled, with her arms folded in front of her chest and an angered look on her face.So that was where Nicholas was off to yesterday… and that was where he retrieved the ring from. The thought unsettled me and made me sick to the stomach.Stacey finally shook hers
Kiyan and I rushed inside with him eager to get away from Ophelia and me eager to get away from Aura. But we didn’t get very far before we stumbled upon an unexpected familiar face.“Have you seen my mistress? She told me to wait here.” It was Stacey’s servant, the one Kiyan had tried to rescue that day in the restaurant. He didn’t look any better now than he had back then, in fact, I could see a few new bruises on his pale skin. His dark hair was dishevelled and he looked thinner now too. He looked so lost without her and at the same time so relieved that she was not near him.“She just left not too long ago. Did you… want to go back with her?” I asked. It was out of pure curiosity and concern.His eyes widened immediately, fear consuming the blue of his irises. “Y-yes of course! It is m-my duty to serve my Mistress. I *must* go and find her.”He attempted to push past us, but Kiyan gently grabbed at his shoulders and shook his head.“There is absolutely no way that I am letting you
His resemblance to Dante was still as uncanny as ever. He was dressed in a black suit which seemed slightly too big for him. His brown eyes were widened, and his lips were pulled into a nervous smile as he gazed at Kiyan who held the knife to his throat. “I thought you were dead!” Kiyan said, his eyes widening too as he gazed at Daniel in shock and confusion. “This is not Dante, it’s his twin brother, Daniel!” I shouted, grabbing the blade from Kiyan’s hand. Kiyan turned towards me in disbelief and then set his eyes back on Daniel. “Twin?” he questioned. Daniel nodded and smiled. “And you two are? I remember seeing you at the King’s home,” he said gazing at me. I nodded. “I’m Ariya. I was a friend of your brother’s. This is a friend of ours named Parker and the man who so enthusiastically put a knife to your throat is my brother, Kiyan.” Daniel gave a bright, friendly smile. I began to notice that he was a little bubblier than Dante was. But his polite bubbliness seemed
My hands wrapped around his neck and he pulled me closer towards him until I was in his lap, my legs on either side of his and my hips pressed against his hips. And that was when I felt it. A hardness right against me. Immediately, I pulled away from our kiss, slightly surprised by the sudden hardness. My eyes couldn’t help but wander down his body, to that spot between his legs.“I’m sorry… you—”But at that point something insatiably lustful had taken over me. I silenced him with another kiss and that was when the sexual tension in the air only intensified. It felt as though I couldn’t get enough of the heat between us and the addictive feeling of his lips against mine.“I’m just following your lead… so if you want something, tell me,” he said softly against my lips. It was the way he said it, and the reddish hue in his eyes that completely enraptured me.“I want you…” I said softly, barely able to stop myself.Suddenly, his face became a bit more serious, and he asked in a firm ton
I hesitated for a moment before I got the courage to push further and ask, “What do you mean you don’t have one?”He sighed and then placed a hand on his face as he contemplated deeply.“I’m not sure how to describe it exactly… but I guess you can say that my siblings and I weren’t really born. We didn’t start off as cute little babies and develop into full grown adults. We’ve always been this way.”I couldn’t help but become feverishly confused and surprised. The norm and natural order of life started with birth and developed to maturity with growth. But what Nicholas was telling me was completely unheard of and completely unnatural. Then again, the lycan kings and queens had always been anomalies.“So… where did you come from?” I asked curiously.“Each of us come from different places. I came from the sky. A humble cloud brought to life with Zues’s lightning. Theo was made from fragments of lost and broken souls which were fused together into a single, individual person. Nikita was
With the number of rumours buzzing around on the internet, it was slowly becoming apparent that Nicholas and I would need to announce that we were in fact, not dead. Though before we did, we’d need to think about the way we did it very carefully. At present, Dante had a lot of influence over every human that had been subjected to the servitude implemented by the lycans and any wrong move on our part would be detrimental. And so Aura had decided that she’d be joining Ophelia on her trip home later. After Theo had conveyed the news to Nicholas, his mood completely soured. He spent a lot of his time brooding in the room while I grew more and more uneasy and frustrated staying in the house.“Perhaps you’d like to go out and explore a little?” Theo suggested after I’d begun pacing around.“I can? Won’t people recognise me?” I asked, a little concerned.Theo shook his head, “Even if they do, they won’t care. Remember, the other Lycan royals have absolutely no effect on Bouvardia. It’s the o
I took the papers from him, unable to believe that he’d actually managed to get my novel notes.“I… I don’t know what to say! I thought I’d lost everything!” and then I paused and tilted my head slightly as I thought a little more deeply about the stack of papers. “How’d you get them?”His eyes widened and he nervously chuckled. “I saw you writing the night of the fire, just before you fell asleep. I couldn’t contain my curiosity, so I took a peek with the intention of returning it in the morning. Then, when the fire struck, I couldn’t bear to leave them there and I hid them in my clothing.”I gulped, now a little self-conscious about him having read my work. It was always an embarrassing thing for me to let people read what I’d written, even more so when they did it without my prior knowledge. And so, I asked, rather meekly, “W-what did you think?”“Well… I liked it…” he said, almost unconvincingly.I sighed and grabbed a pillow before placing it over my face and screaming.“You hate
Once the excitement in the house had subsided, I made my way to Nicholas’ room, taking care to creep into bed as quietly as I could. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, and when I awoke the next morning, some part of me wished everything that had happened, had all been a terrible dream. But Nicholas’ snoring state and the unfamiliarity of the room around me, only seemed to remind me of how nightmarish reality had become.I found Theo in the kitchen, dressed and sipping a cup of coffee as he stared out the window, seemingly deep in thought.“You’re quite scary when you’re serious,” I said, breaking the silence in the living room.He turned to me and offered a small smile, “I’m sorry, there’s just a lot to think of.”His face then fell into a look even more serious than the one he’d worn before and it was followed by the question, “I must ask you though… have you and Nicholas had sex?”I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks, and I began to choke on my saliva.Theo rushed towards
Dante had set the whole of Zestonia in uproar, rallying up rebellion and calling other humans to his cause. It was amazing to see so many humans come together. But it was terrifying to see them all under Dante’s control. He didn’t seek to free them. He wanted to use them, to draw attention to himself and he hoped that his uprising would spark more uprisings in other regions. It was diabolically clever and it’s what I would have done if I was Dante.“We’ve killed King Nicholas and his traitorous mate! We’re taking back Zestonia and everything else that the lycan scum have taken from us. And we won’t stop here! Join us! Rise up from your shackles! Down with the lycans!” he yelled, with the rest of his Wolfsbane members yelling in unison behind him.“I can’t believe he’s doing this! First he poisons me and then tries to kill Nicholas and you. Why?” Melissa asked.“Vengeance.” I said, letting the word hang heavily in the air. That was when I explained to Melissa all that had happened thus
They’d killed all of the guards. Every single one of them, all grossly disfigured with body parts strewn along the gate. And then, as though to serve as an example, Lovita and Floran were impaled on the palisade fencing, their blood pooling onto the floor. It was almost too unbearable to even gaze upon, and the images of blood and bodies occupied my every thought on our journey to the airport, right until we boarded the private plane with Theo.“I’m truly surprised that you called,” Theo said after about an hour of silence. Nicholas was unconscious and sprawled out on one of the seats. I was surprised that he was breathing after last night’s debacle. He’d pushed himself and used up all of his reserves and now, his body was suffering the consequences.“I… I had no other choice. After I found out about Dante’s absurd plan I knew we would need an escape plan. You were the only person I… trusted.” Kiyan said with his head lowered and his eyes cast down to the ground. His words, however,
“Dante… what have you done!” I yelled out as the flames began to engulf the outskirts of the house.He frowned and shook his head, “You don’t look nearly as impressed as I expected you to be. Did you want it grander?”“Grander… you’re a sick bastard!” I said before spitting on the floor next to him. Then, I attempted to near the house to head inside, grab Nicholas and drag him out. But just as I reached the door, Dante grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Immediately I retracted my free arm, ready to punch him in the face. But someone else beat me to it, smacking him in the side of the head and causing him to fall onto the ground.“K-Kiyan?” I gasped out.“No time for questions! Let’s get your fiancé out of there before the rest of them come!”The rest?But he dismissed my words and ran into the house immediately. I followed suit, rushing towards the bedroom.“Can you stand?” he asked Nicholas who seemed half asleep still.“Sort of… what the hell is going on… and what’s that smell?” he
I fell asleep in the warmth and comfort of Nicholas’ arms, but my sleep was a restless one. Something had begun to worry me. It rang over and over in my head, nudging me with extreme caution. It was the words that Daniel had said earlier on today, “You wouldn’t by any chance need a bandage, would you? I always keep some on me, in case anyone has bruised knuckles…” And along with these words came a memory of the first night a spent here. It was a memory of Dante who had bandaged up my bruised knuckles. And although some part of me wanted to pass it off as some kind of strange coincidence, my instincts were telling me differently. Although they were twins, Daniel was too much like Dante. And so, a glaringly obvious deduction began to swirl around in my mind. And as outrageous as it sounded, it was the only one clear thought I’d had these past few weeks.Suddenly I was awoken by the loud sound of tapping on the windowsill, coming from outside and the harsh whispers of “Ariya! Ariya!”I ga