[Zeve’s POV]“An invisibility barrier… it’s ok, I respect his privacy. Could you please call him here?” I said, looking at Hikari.He nodded and using the muter ring; he told Zahir to come to the palace.“Overlord said he would be here by tomorrow. Until then, luna, please give the Kazumi pack an opportunity to serve you,” Hikari said, getting up from his seat and bowing slightly with his palm over his chest.“Yes, luna. Hikari sensei cooks some really amazing food,” Morfan said excitedly.“It would be my honour, but I do not wish to bother you…” Hikari interrupted me before I could complete. “You are never a bother and everyone in our palace has actually been waiting for this opportunity. Please accept our hospitality.” He said and this time I couldn’t say no.“It will be my honour,” I said with a slight bow. “I am in your care.”Hikari showed me to the room where I would stay. It was a room right in front of Hikari’s room. He said for security, it would be best if I stayed close to
[Zeve’s POV]Zahir sat quietly, peering at the table while Hikari, Morfan and I waited for Zahir’s reply.“Overlord, there must be a strong reason for doing it, right? Please tell us what it was?” Hikari said.Zahir glanced at him and then looked at me. “I fell in love,” Zahir said. “That was my reason to take luna to Mayavi. To protect my son and my wife. I knew about Alpha Amor’s strength and also I thought you might be able to use magic in a dire situation like that and help me protect Polaris and Venus. That was my reason. It was an impulsive decision, and I didn’t think it through. I just hoped things would work out.”“Oh. But it’s a little difficult for me to believe that Zahir, who was so protective of the cores for so many years, put them on the line for love that he felt for one or two years. That’s so not you. The way you trained Hikari and made him stay away from attachments doesn’t really go with this love concept you are giving me right now,” I said.“But that’s what lov
[Zeve’s POV]Zahir widened his eyes. He looked around restlessly then said, “it’s for her safety. Once this fight against Derek is over, I will free her. But… how did you know…”“Oh, I guessed, but thanks for confirming,” I said with a smile. “But aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You have locked up your wife in a cage, taking away her freedom and existence, and you say you did all this for love? Love is not bondage, it’s freedom, Zahir.”“I know, but I have lost far too much to be strong enough to take the right path to love.”“Your definition of love has gotten twisted over all these years…”“You think I am enjoying locking her up like that? It’s excruciating to see the gaze that once had unconditional love for me, filled with hatred and hostility. But I have no other option. I have fallen in love with Venus, after all,” he said in a quavering voice.“And I can’t let Venus stay with you after knowing how you are treating her. So I am sorry, Zahir… but your love is only coming in my wa
[Zeve’s POV]Zahir set the coordinates of the place in his mind and Hikari used his magic to teleport us in front of a gable house constructed in aesthetics of blackish green, black, white and golden. I looked around and there were over twenty houses identical in design, but different in colour and precincts.A thing that stood out about Zahir’s house was — golden spells beautifully and aesthetically carved all over the house in the Maziki language. That house had small windows but no doors.“How do you enter this house? It had no doors,” Morfan asked.There was a magic circle drawn on the entrance platform. We walked into the circle with Zahir and were teleported inside the house. We didn’t need to supply magic into the circle to activate it.Such magic circles were known as conscious circles. They were connected to the consciousness of the one who created them. Such magic circles were used in ancient times to watch over dangerous criminals and also to safeguard higher officials and
[Zeve’s POV]We sat on the sofa arranged in circular fashion in the living room. Venus talked normally, as if she was happy with Zahir and that made me sick to my stomach because I knew the truth she was hiding behind that smile.I didn’t know what made me angrier — the way Zahir silenced her or her decision to remain silent. I was there, Hikari was there, and even Morfan. I knew my knowledge about magic and curses wasn’t as vast as Zahir’s, but I was confident that if the three of us worked together, we could free her.But then again, I was unsure about Hikari. The way he considered Zahir as his mentor and respected him regardless of how coldly Zahir treated him was no joke. There was a strong possibility that Hikari would take Zahir’s side.Meanwhile, my relationship with Hikari was neither too shallow nor too deep. Making either Zahir or Hikari an enemy at the moment could cost me a lot, but I couldn’t leave Venus alone either.“Venus, do you know how to get out of this house?” I
[Zeve’s POV] I returned to the Aura palace. Amor wasn’t in our room. So I asked Lexi where he was and she told me he was in the torture cells in the dungeons. I took a bath, where I talked a little more about what had happened while I was gone. Lexi informed me about the riots that had broken out in various parts of the pack. Amor had been enforcing law to maintain peace and also using army and force to neutralise the violent elements in the population. Amor hadn’t returned since the time I left the palace. He asked Lexi through a mind-link about me and she told him where I was, but after that, Amor hadn’t contacted her again. I could understand how busy he would have been. The situation was indeed concerning. How did riots break out? Could they be related to the civil disputes Amor was talking about earlier? I thought. “Alpha had recently got his hands on the people who are suspected to be the initiators of the riots. He is questioning them himself,” Lexi informed. “Is LKS loo
[Amor’s POV]I wiped the blood off my hands in my white handkerchief. The only thing I abhorred about torturing was blood splattering with no sense of direction. I didn’t want Zeve to see me like that, although she had already seen me slaughter her entire pack, but the torture differed from killing people. Torture was killing their hopes, which was far worse than killing itself. But then again, she could easily read my memories. I sighed. There was nothing I could do about my dark side. It was what it was, and I knew my wife would accept it and love my dark sides like she loved my bright side. She would, right? Or maybe not. I sighed. I shouldn’t expect too much.I entered our room and Zeve was sitting near the window, peering outside as her elbow rested on the table.I stayed near the door, not wanting to go near her stained in their filthy blood. I took off my tunic.Zeve turned and looked at me. She got up from the chair as her gaze travelled over my clothes and body that was sta
[Zeve’s POV] I walked over the fallen walls of the public library and picked up a book that was buried under the debris. I dusted off the dust just to see the book cover stained with blood and the pages half burnt. As far as my eyes could go in that area, all I could see were demolished houses, fallen walls, burnt trees, dug up roads and a heavy haunting silence blanketing the riot affected area. I couldn’t stop the fear from clenching my chest even when I was surrounded by heavy military forces and, above all, Amor himself was standing beside me. Amor said we would visit an area that was affected less badly. If that was less bad than I wondered what would be the condition of the badly affected areas. Trent and my knights were keeping a watch around us at all times. Yet… even after all that security, I felt vulnerable and defeated as the memories of the people being slaughtered and sheer demonic violence rushed into my head as I leafed through the burnt pages of that book. The bo