The air was bitterly cold against my skin, and it had an acrid, almost death-like scent to it. I used one of my hands to cover my nose and another to rub my goosebump-covered arms to generate some warmth. I’d been walking through this darkness for a while, afraid and completely alone. I called out a few times, first for Kiyan, then Ophelia, and even for Nicholas. But I was greeted by nothing but the deafening sound of silence. Not even my footsteps seemed to make a sound. The darkness seemed to be endless, and I had no idea in which direction I was walking nor which destination I was supposed to be making my way towards. Then suddenly, flickering in the far distance I saw a tiny shimmering white light. It felt as though the light was calling out to me, inviting me towards it. At first, I was a little cautious, slowing my pace a little just to make sure I was not seeing things. I rubbed my eyes a little and prayed that when I opened them, the light would still be there. And it was. Tha
I stayed silent, running things through my mind over and over again. All of those late nights and weekends away from home. All of those long trips that lasted months on end and her general illusiveness. Ophelia was always constantly busy and always constantly travelling. Of course, I sometimes had grown suspicious, but to believe that it had been because she was Raegan Kane would have been far-fetched. However, now that I gazed at her guilt-filled face, I couldn’t deny how plausible it seemed.Ophelia sighed before explaining further, “After I’d taken you and your brother in from that… situation, I knew that there would be others like you, doomed to the same fate. So many lycans had been mistreating humans for centuries and that was not going to stop anytime soon. And so, I made up my mind to do something about it. I was well connected in the lycan community and so I caught wind of the servant markets and tried to intervene and save as many humans as I could. But I didn’t stop there,
It had been weeks since the engagement and the funeral. And although the entire world knew that I was engaged to Nicholas thanks to the announcement he’d made, in reality, I did not feel engaged to him at all. We hardly got the chance to see one another with him off with Theo and Ophelia, trying to make good on the promises that were given− freedom to the children. They were constantly in meetings and a lot of the time they were away from home. I suppose somewhere in my mind I assumed that I’d be going along with them wherever they went, like a well-running team. But they were so worried about my safety and sanity that they instead kept me locked away. Melissa and the rest of my friends had been dismissed from the house, though they were still paid each and every week. The only people I’d been left with were the guards who stood outside and Kiyan. He’d begun to come and visit the house more often, making my loneliness his excuse. But I suspected there was another reason…“For someone w
“I have a condition,” I said, gazing down at the ring and then into his curious grey eyes.“Name it and I’ll fulfil it,” he earnestly said.“I want to help you, Theo and Ophelia. I want to travel with you and sit in boring meetings and−”“No.”I frowned and narrowed my eyes at him before folding my arms over my chest, upset firstly by him abruptly cutting me off and then by his answer to my request.“Why not?”“It’s a safety issue Ariya. We’re going out into the real world, away from the protection of these walls. I can’t take you anywhere if I’m not guaranteed that you are safe.”I tried to understand, I really did− I was human and they were lycan. Yet, it still did nothing to convince me to change my mind. I was the person who had come up with this idea and I also wanted to see it through and be a part of this instead of finding myself locked up almost every day. But still, even after I explained this to him, he seemed hesitant to agree. And so I let out a deep sigh before shaking m
Silence ensued and the both of us just stared at each other cautiously. I didn’t know what to say or what to think. I was in a state of disbelief, unable to comprehend that he could have killed his friend whom he loved. Perhaps, I thought to myself, it had been an accident, just like with me. But that didn’t make it any less eery. At least with me, Nicholas hadn’t actually killed me. My body had been in a state of in-between, drawn to death, but able to come back to life. And so, I wondered if Theo could still bring someone back if they’d completely crossed over. If they’d already been kissed by death and embraced it openly. Was that what had happened to Portia Knight, or was it something else, something more sinister… “Say something, please…” Nicholas said softly, breaking the silence between us. There was a sense of desperation in his voice and his eyes were ashamed and seemed to be eagerly searching my face. But I couldn’t find my words. “I… I−” Suddenly, there was a loud, despe
When my eyes opened, I was met with a pair of dark brown ones. A sense of confusion crept up on me and I whispered out a soft, "Dante..." His eyes furrowed and his lips parted as he took in a sharp breath and gazed down at me. Then, his brown eyes filled with a conflicted look, as though he were contemplating something very deeply. That was when realisation dawned on me, and I shook my head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Daniel. You just... still remind me of your brother," I said softly. Daniel smiled and gave a soft and awkward chuckle, "It's alright, I'm glad I remind you of him. You always seem to speak of him so fondly." His smile was genuine and bright and the previous feeling I'd had of discomfort when he'd brought me to my room almost completely vanished. But I couldn't help but wonder why he was currently in my room. And so I questioned him. Daniel's face turned a little more serious and he let out a deep sigh. "Melissa... was poisoned. She's unable to wake up.”Immediat
“You know what,” Daniel said, “now that I think about it, there was a man that used to come to visit Melissa. I saw him once or twice.” “What did he look like?” I asked curiously. Daniel fell silent for a moment as he sat and thought hard. Then his eyes brightened, and he nodded to himself before saying, “I didn’t get a good look at his face. He wore a shroud of dark cloth that covered most of it. The only feature of his that I could see was a pair of dark brown eyes… Oh! And on the clothing he wore was a purple flower.” My hands shook and my skin became covered in goosebumps. My mind was brought back to an interaction I’d had a while ago with a man who matched that exact description. It was Hawk, the leader of Wolfsbane. I wondered now if Wolfsbane really was responsible for this, but for a completely different reason. Perhaps Melissa had been a part of Wolfsbane after all. Perhaps something had transpired between her and Hawk, and he needed to get rid of her. Theo watched my cont
And so, Kiyan explained the origin of his hatred. Kiyan had always hated being cooped in and so he always managed to find a way to get out during the day. Ophelia so happened to need eggs from the store that day, and so Kiyan was eager to venture out and buy some for her. Kiyan took his time wandering the aisles, until he stumbled across the eggs on the shelf. He reached up and retrieved a carton, and as he did, one of the staff members came crashing into him, knocking the eggs out of his hands and spilling their contents on the floor. That’s when the lycan owner appeared, completely set on beating both Kiyan and the employee who’d bumped into him. But, as Kiyan explained, he was left untouched once the owner recognised him as ‘Ophelia’s boy’. Kiyan recalled the shame he felt as he watched the human employee being hit by his lycan master. And that was how his hatred developed. He didn’t want to be some human favoured because a lycan had taken him in and he couldn’t take another day in
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