⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼
The bricks of the wall behind me start to cascade down in a cacophony of thuds and cracks. In a puff of smoke, the entire section of the wall crumbles, taking down some of the guards standing on top of it, sending them crashing right on the ground.
The crack of their bodies hitting the concrete is grating my ears, but it’s doing the opposite to the wolf. It’s music for it. I can sense its dark satisfaction, rippling through its body like a wave of warmth in a bitter winter. I look to my side and see that my allies have made it down safely, but they’re still backing into the corner, away from the palace guards and away from me.
Any moment, they could be attacked. If all these guards, who are pointing their cannons and other weapons at me, turned to them and decided to hurt them instead, they would all be dead. And it would be my fault for not being strong enough to control the raging beast that’s dominating the show now.
‘Please let
Hello, everyone! I have been made aware that my chapters have been repeated for an embarrassing number of times, and for this I am sorry. The problem is fixed now and you can view the new chapters as they should have been set. Again, I am truly sorry for this inconvenience. I am currently using a very old device to write the story, and I will get a new device after getting paid here. I hope you understand. Thank you to the people who left comments and raised this to my attention. Thank you for not giving me a bad rating because of this. I really appreciate your support and your patience. Please, if you have time, give this story a review. It will help get this book a boost in the ratings and this will also give the book more exposure. So if you enjoyed it, please let me know! Also, if you have any feedback, I would love to see those as well. The book is approaching its end but this will undergo serious editing and revision, so any kind of construc
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼ I stare at the man who claims to be the King’s brother. I have seen King Odion a couple of times through images, and up close when we were entering the gates of Gailis. The resemblance between them is pretty clear. Not uncanny, but really hard not to miss. He tries to step forward, closer to me, but I stop him by raising a hand. “Do not come any closer.” Osman stumbles back abruptly and almost knocks over one of the mannequins. “I’m so sorry, please do not kill me.” “I won’t do that,” I say, making my way around the place slowly, not taking my eyes off of him the entire time, especially when he lowers his hands. “You said you’re going to show me where the King is?” “Yes!” he answers breathlessly, sinking into another deep bow and falling forward. He lands on his knees, and in the same jerky manner, he straightens up, brushes himself off, and bows again, but much carefully this time. “But I have one condition, sir. Just one
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼ Elora is here. She’s alive. Osman was lying. But he’s also about to fulfill all his lines of deceit by ending her right then and there, before my very eyes, after I worried so much about saving her. And I can’t just lay here while all of that happens. As quickly as I can, I get to my feet and intercept Osman before the blade can come remotely close to Elora. I pull her out of the way, flinging her to the side where she cannot be touched, then I turn to Osman and try to smack the knife out of his hand. However, he steps back just in time and avoids my blow, still holding on to his precious little weapon. That simple motion alone makes me realize how fast he can go, and it’s nearly equal to a wolf level. He ends up pressing himself against the wall, smiling at Elora and I. I position myself in front of her, determined to put her away from harm as much as possible, no matter what. My blood is singing with renewed fervor just s
⇼ E L O R A ⇼As soon as I say those words, a chill runs down my spine and spreads all over my body. Suddenly the memories of what I have seen in the cabin begin to overwhelm my head, making the entire room spin in my vision as I back away against the balustrade. I look up at the sky, catching my breath.“Elora,” Alistair says, alarmed. He reaches over and touches my shoulder, so gently and softly. It’s almost like he thinks I would break. Which I just might. “What’s wrong?”“Queen Zuri is pregnant,” I tell him, rubbing my hands on my face even with the blood of my Father still on it. “It’s not the King’s child. It’s Uncle Osman’s.”His shock is almost tangible. “How did you know?”Taking a deep shuddering breath, I stare at his eyes. There’s nothing but pure concern there. I know he would never judge me for making the choices I made today, but I s
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼ The path down has absolutely no amount of illumination, not even the tiniest one. The light from the throne room isn’t sneaking into the hole, which makes me think that it’s nothing but a black hole gaping at the floor of the dais, with nothing inside it. But Elora is just making her way down as though this isn’t a problem. I want to stop her and ask if she is certain, but the determination on her face and her slow deliberate movements are the answer for me. I peek down and notice that she’s holding onto metal bars and not just floating down, but this does very little to assure me. The darkness reminds me of shadows. And shadows remind me of my magic. The magic that killed those innocent guards. The magic that poisoned them to death, blackened their veins, and mangled their bodies. . . . “Are you going to follow me or not?” Elora’s voice, thin and fragile and barely audible, snaps me out of my reverie. I quickly nod
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼The Queen holds out her arms for me to bind them, but I’m empty handed apart from the cannon I stole from a guard just moments ago. I look at Elora, and she cuts off a strip from the hem of her shirt and ties it around the Queen’s wrists before pulling her up to her feet.Around us, the handmaidens all get to their knees, touching the ground with their foreheads as they face us. For a brief second I have to wonder what they are doing exactly, but then it occurs to me that this is their sign of surrender. They are changing their allegiance. They are showing that they are now ready to serve us since we basically dethroned the Queen and invaded the whole palace.To be frank, I don’t know how to feel about all of this. I want to tell them that it’s alright, that they don’t need to bow, but I can’t find the right words to say.Would it even be alright to show some kind of consideration or sympathy after I
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼The way to the prison cells of the palace is steep, dark, and incredibly eerie. Jossie and Kalem are right beside me as we walk along the narrow hallways leading down, but I feel alone. I feel cold. It’s as though this part of the palace is full of invisible hands, slowly pulling me under a pool of freezing water.After my talk with Elora, Jossie found me and informed me that I must oversee what’s being done to the new prisoners.“We need to know how we’re going to do all these things and just . . . make a process,” she said, her confusion very apparent on her face. “I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do with all these people, Alistair. I don’t know if we can trust them to be here when there are still soldiers around. Even the soldiers of their own city-state are here too.”“I understand, and don’t worry, I will find a way,” I told her then, pretty con
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼The sheer shock that thundered inside my body is enough to make time seem to slow down. I watch numbly as the Queen’s hand, still clasping the fork, draws closer and closer to her swollen belly. . . .I sweep closer, landing on my knees in front of the prison cell. I slide my hand through the metal bars just in time to move my hand right between the fork and her pregnant belly. She ends up stabbing my hand with enough force to let the tines sink into my palm with an abrupt squelching sound.The pain makes me gasp, but I take this accident as an opportunity to grab the fork and take it away from her.With my hand dripping blood, I turn to Jossie and Kalem, who are both horrified at the scene. “Do you have the key? Let’s take her—”“NO!” Queen Zuri shrieks, ramming against the metal bars. “It’s evil! Evil, I tell you! Get me out of here, please . . . I am begging you. Just take