I felt a knot tighten in my stomach as I led them to my apartment through the wooden stairwell. The key. I lifted the drying up flowerpot of forget-me-nots. The spare key was still stuck under the bottom of the pot. But when I tried the key, I found the door was already unlocked. I clearly remember
“Xanthea… is that you?” I heard the familiar voice of the old lady who was my neighbor, Mrs Miller. Wiping off my tears, I stood up and walked to the fence between our houses that were a little more than my knee height. She was the only neighbor who talked to me. She even took care of my flowers wh
[Xanthea] “They are going to pay for this. I’ll make them fucking pay for this!” Ezra growled darkly as his eyes glowed with danger. I stepped back from him, still shielding Mrs. Millers behind me. “Ezra…” Raven stepped towards him. “No, Raven, stay out of this! They have offended me. This is pe
“Sure demon lord. I use green tea as a base and I add some herbs and dried flower petals…” Mrs. Millers wrote down the tea recipe for Asher. It looked as though for him nothing was more important than paying undivided attention to her explanation for getting the right temperature to bring out tea’s
The royal Virgo palace was on fire and so were the surrounding areas. Most areas that Ezra burned down were all high end and heavily developed and populated areas. He grabbed my chin, squeezing my cheeks. He made me look at the royal palace through my bleary gaze. “Look! Look! Look at them burn, X
[Xanthea] After our return to the Infernal pack, Ezra departed without uttering a word. Asher accompanied Ezra, while Raven brought me back to the hospital. He said that I still required continuous monitoring and medical attention to deal with the lingering effects of the carvera poison. It had b
“Really? How is she?” I asked. “Still the same, if you ask me, but Alpha Raven says she is improving. He has restarted her usual treatment. High lady’s nurse was talking to other nurses about it. She said it was like restarting the treatment all over again, but it seemed as though they started with
[Xanthea] “Luna candidate?” I mumbled to myself. “Yes, the women in line to become the next Luna of the Prime Infernal pack. There are several potential Luna candidates. Each of my brothers has a woman they would want as their Luna. So, essentially, there are top three potential Luna candidates, a
There were glimpses and unfinished sentences. Lifeless body of a child, probably a weak blood.‘Another disappointm—’Peeled skin. Severed muscles.‘Burn him, prepare the other—’Eyeballs leaking from the eye sockets. People struggling as her helpers stuffed clothes in their mouth to muffle their gr
Experimenting on living subjects thrilled her. It was all fun for her. It was astonishing how she remained utterly undisturbed by it all. She justified every action with the belief that it was for the advancement of healing and immortality.‘Thank you for your contribution,’ she would say to each te
‘And that is why they will be punished as well,’ Alpha Caelum replied coldly. ‘As for you, you are hereby expelled from the Solvaris pack — and the Celestial realm.’My mother looked devastated, but she didn’t plead for mercy.‘I accept,’ she said brazenly as she strutted out of the court.With a sl
[Xanthea]I stared at Asher, my chest tightening as his words echoed in the air, heavy and inescapable. My mind scrambled to process what he had just said.“No.” The word slipped out, trembling and frail. “That’s not… It’s not possible.”Asher’s gaze remained distant. There was a cruel pity in the w
I shook my head, tears streaming down my eyes incessantly.I wanted to deny it all, forget it all, but even a fleeting glimpse was enough to carve it into my memory forever. The horrors I had already witnessed sent shivers through my body, and just the thought of what more might lie ahead filled me
Even so, I could neither wake up nor save myself. I had been buried in a grave of my mother’s memories in the middle of nowhere. Some of them were so horrifying, for a second I thought I was losing my mind.I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t understand. I was suffocating, but I knew that even death woul
[Xanthea]‘May you find my guilt at the right time and may it save you from your own. May you find answers to all your questions in my memories and I hope you hate me a little less.’A woman’s voice echoed in the back of my mind, weaving through the symphony of shattering glass when my eyes locked w
Ezra staggered backward. His gaze flickered toward her one last time before we lost him.The next few minutes felt to have slowed and stretched into hours.With every shuffle of feet and the soldier’s attempt to minimize damage, chaos rose like doom.I glanced towards the door, opening it up. Nesryn
Ezra clenched his jaws while his expression flickered — anguish broke through the hardened lines of his face. His eyes, pained and bleary, betrayed all his senses.Unable to summon words or reason, Ezra stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.“I can’t…” His voice cracked, unguarded. “Please, d