In Ernest palace, Raphael is waiting for a call from Angoori.'it's already mid-day. He should be back by now. He said he will start searching for that forest early this morning. I specifically instructed him to search in the area around that lab. It shouldn't take him this long. Is he alright? Why is his mobile not reachable ' he wondered with worry. He knows how dangerous the dark forest is. He also knows that those souls will not let him speak if he goes there himself. Those souls are angry at Irina. They wouldn't want anything to do with her son. They prefer to kill Raphael rather than speak with him. He thought Angoori would be safe. So far he hasn't heard anyone complaining about unnatural deaths in the forest. So those souls are not hurting common people. 'Angoori is a member of Irina's team. Did those souls recognize him? If they did, then they will kill him' That realization made the fine hair at the back of his neck stand tall.'No, he cannot die. Oh god, what have I done?'
Raphael is standing near the ashes that belong to Irina's lab. He looked around the lab with his heightened senses. He doesn't want to waste time by searching for the forest. Every second he is wasting might cost Angoori his life. So he wants to find the dark forest as fast as he can. "Come this way, Prince Raphael" a chilling voice whispered in his right ear. He knows whose voice it is. His title sounded like a mockery. He turned to his right and started walking. Now he is understanding that the souls wanted him to come here. This also means that they planned this. 'I will come searching for you' Valerie's words rang in his mind. 'This is a trap, Valerie. But I cannot let you come here. Especially when I know that these souls want you desperately and they hate me with a vengeance. But I promised you that I would come back. I will come back for you. I can't become the reason for your misery this time' he vowed. He thought that Angoori must be in trouble. He came here thinking the
'Looks like we misunderstood the prince. He is genuine. How did Irina give birth to a person like him?' the souls spoke among themselves. 'No idea. But this prince looks more like his father than his mother. I don't see any similarities between him and Irina' some other souls shared its opinion. 'Do you think he can help us?' one soul asked with hope. 'If he can risk his own life by coming here alone for his servant, then I am sure he can understand our misery and will help us ' someone else said. When Raphael understood that Angoori will not leave without him, he stopped trying to make him leave and gave his attention to the shadows around him. "I understood that you want something from me. What is it?" he asked without beating around the bush. A face appeared in the shadows. It moved forward and stopped in front of Raphael. "Are you sure that you can help us Raven Prince?" the face asked. Raphael frowned at its question. He is not too arrogant to think that he can anything.
"Thank you. Tell me what I should do to help you" he asked, changing the subject.His heart is heavy to the point that he is experiencing immense pain. For as long as he remembered, he only ever heard good things about Irina. But little did he know that she is an evil woman under the mask of being sweet. He wanted Valerie. Only her company can make him feel marginally better. Nothing and no one can ease the pain he is experiencing. The soul is kind enough to try to console him. But nothing matters now. Things are gone too far. He has to make his heart hard and do everything that is for the betterment of his people.The souls are taken aback by his abrupt change in subject. They too felt sad for him. But they can do nothing to ease his burden."Irina tied us to this land and to this world. She made sure that we can never cross to the other world and meet our maker. She will take us all inside her body, soon. If that happens, we will become her slaves forever. And she will become unstop
"Then why did you wait until now to do that? Why didn't you offer this solution when you visited us the first time?" they asked with confusion. Waldorf looked around the darkness in the forest. "Because even I needed help from someone to do that" he confessed. Now he has everyone's attention. "What kind of help?" Raphael asked. He understood that Waldorf needs help from him. And he is ready to do anything to help. Waldorf signed heavily. He has this unfocused look in his eyes. "This is not easy Raven Prince. Your sanity will be threatened. If you fail to control the darkness that is going to be left behind by the souls, you would forever turn dark. If that happens, you will be stuck in this forest forever. This dark forest will flourish with only darkness. If it detects darkness in anyone, it will suck them in. Darkness in a person would be his anger, resentment, his dark thoughts, and his rage. All these souls are angry with Irina. They always wanted to kill her for she did. No
In the Ernest palace, Valerie is feeling uneasy. The sun has gone down for the day. The darkness has descended upon them. The moon is nowhere to be seen on this particular day. The early mornings and the evenings always give her a pleasant feeling. Unlike every other day, she is feeling a sense of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach, as if something bad is going to happen. Her thoughts are filled with Raphael. She is worried about him. "Where is he?" she thought out loud worriedly. Prince Hector promised that he will be close by and her security is increased as well. The corridor outside her room is filled with the Ernest guards, who are there for her protection. As Blake is not here to resume his duties, her father arranged for tens of guards to replace her bodyguard. Her eyes caught the commotion outside the palace gates. She noticed that her senses are growing stronger by the day, and now she can clearly see the man standing outside the gates. He is saying something to the guar
"Here, this is it" Angoori pointed at the dark forest. Hector, Valerie, and Angoori are now standing in front of the dark forest. The forest looks normal. There is no darkness or anything that is making Angoori anxious or uncomfortable. The place looks as normal as the rest of the forest. "This doesn't look as scary as you described it is" Hector murmured looking around the forest with his keen gaze. Angoori is confused as well. The air doesn't feel so heavy and no shadows are dancing in front of him. He can breathe easily. But he notices one thing. Everything is quiet. Too quiet to be normal. "This place doesn't look normal as well. There is some stillness in the air. This is a huge forest, but there is not a single bird, animal, or insect anywhere. I cannot even hear anything. Isn't it too strange, Prince Hector?" Valerie asked with a frown. Hector is thinking the same. "Yes, it's kind of strange. Everything is so quiet. As if someone or something dangerous is residing here an
"No, please don't kill him" Her voice is like music. Her words feel like music. Her scent feels so soothing from the darkness that is trying to pull him down into its dark embrace. He is trying to stay afloat. But the struggle is becoming tiring. He wants to give up until he feels her presence. He doesn't remember who he is. Everything feels like a blur. The only thing he is feeling is rage. His need to kill someone is like a living and breathing thing inside him. He wants to see blood. His gaze is focused on the angel in front of him. So pure and so beautiful. Her eyes, they are focused on him. Her eyes are filled with tears, but there is not an ounce of fear in them. But he saw fear in the other two people.Now, he is close to her. His senses are filled with her scent. The darkness seems to be going down. Glimpses of the same girl flashed in his mind. Her smiling face, Her red-tinted cheeks, Her anger, she looks breathtaking in every way. He lifted his hand to touch her cheek, onl
After one year....Raphael wanted to hide everything Irina did, because she was once a queen of the Raven clan. Her black deeds will forever become a black mark on the Raven clan. The hard earned reputation of his ancestors would be ruined, which he doesn't want to happen. So he hid her death when it happened. As everything happened in the middle of the night and as the Raven palace is sitting at a fair distance away from the town, no one knew what happened or suspected anything. By morning, only ashes were left behind. The dead army and even irina who brought them to life are all gone. Cadmus lied to everyone that irina went on a spiritual journey to find peace. Everyone believed that lie as Irina made sure to keep her reputation spotless when she was alive. Only peace was left behind after she passed away. "Raphael? What are you doing here?" Valerie asked from behind him. He is standing in the palace court yard while looking in the exact place where his mother died. Valerie noticed
Raphael and his men together surrounded the dead army from all four directions. They start to burn the dead army with their dragon fire. As Irina is momentarily disoriented, the dead army stands still like statues, while their bodies are burned down to ashes. When Irina realized what was happening, she gained back the control she has on the dead people again. "You dumb idiots, attack" she screeched loudly. At once the dead army started charging toward the Raven palace again. As their bodies already started burning, they are now walking fireballs charging towards the Palace gates. At once the palace gates shook with the force of the dead army. It creaked loudly, protesting from the force with which the dead army was pushing at it and trying to breach the palace walls."Guards, shift and stop them from entering the palace. The gate will not hold that much force for longer. Barricade the gates with sandbags. Quick" Raphael instructed his men while he resumed burning their decayed bodie
"Your Highness, dead bodies are walking," he said in a rush. The guard is pale and looked scared. Raphael and Angoori ran outside and were shocked to see an army of dead and decaying people walking towards the Raven palace. Their bodies are muddy as if they just came from inside a grave. Bones can be seen in their half-decayed bodies. Most of them are just walking skeletons, and the rest are in the process of decaying. Irina is leading them in the front. She looked happy at herself. Raphael thought he was prepared to deal with anything Irina threw at them this time. But no amount of mental pep talk would have prepared him for this. 'How does anyone fight with already dead people?' he thought while taking in the walking dead steadily approaching the palace. The Raven guards look scared out of their minds. But the guards are trying to look brave and do their part by locking the tall wrought iron palace gates and positioning themselves to shield the entrance with weapons. That dead ar
In the dark forest, Irina is pacing the uneven land with fury. She is furious with Raphael who destroyed her lab and then ruined the souls for the dark powers. Out of all her enemies, she never imagined that it would be her own son who would destroy everything. The years of planning, pretending and after a million cunning ideas, everything was burned down to ashes because of Raphael."No one, I mean not a single soul dared stand against me. But now, after twenty-five years of unhindered rein of only victories, my own flesh and blood is standing in my way" she screeched with anger and frustration.The dark forest shook with the intensity of her anger. "After everything I gave you, you decided to take up my enemy's side and betray me. Now, after I learned that you stole my dark powers, there is no going back for you from this betrayal. You have to join your dear Father in heaven. You never really saw my true nature, Raphael. I only ever pampered you and hid my true self from you. I onl
Cadmus understood what Raphael meant by 'Our plan ' after half an hour. They are standing in the palace Courtyard and all the Raven guards are standing in front of them. Confusion is seen on their faces. It's almost midnight and a meeting with their king at this hour is not common. But Cadmus understood why Raphael is doing this now. Because they cannot afford to waste any time, especially when they don't know where Irina is and what she is planning. "You must be confused and thinking about why your new king wants to speak with you all at this hour. But I understood that this is the best time to speak about things that all of us want to hide from others" Raphael spoke.His words left everyone confused in the beginning, but then the men who are loyal to him understood where this was going. So they looked at each other and nodded their heads in understanding. Stealthily they changed their positions in such a way that they are now surrounding Irina's loyal men whom they are sure would g
After her failed attempt to threaten her enemies, Irina left the Coronation party in a fit of murderous rage. "No, if they think that they can intimidate me, then they are dead wrong. Raphael might not know about me, but Arthur, how did you think that I would let you go so easily? We grew up together. You know how stubborn I am. If I set my eyes on something, then that should either belong to me, or it should be destroyed. Just like you. I wanted you, but you rejected me and married anesthesia. I thought of killing you, but that would be an easy punishment for you. I want you to suffer. And your suffering would only end on the day you die. Now, your daughter made a huge mistake by taking over my position as the Raven Queen. You made my son go against me. That is a sin deemed to be punished by death. Now she will die, and so will you. None of you know what I did for two years after I left the Ernest palace. I practiced dark magic. All these years I was trying to amplify my dark powers
Irina has a malicious smile on her face. She is hiding how angry she is. She never thought that there would come a day when she might have to see her son laughing and chatting with the people she hates the most. What's worse is, he made her the worst enemy and made Arthur's daughter his Queen. "Hello Eugene" Irina greeted the Nester king. She intentionally skipped his title. This is the same way she used to address him when she used to stay in the Ernest clan. But after things turned bad between her and Arthur, she distanced herself from Eugene as well. Because she knows that he is loyal to Arthur.Eugene became stiff and so did the others. Raphael tightened his fists. Valerie's eyes flashed with anger. Anesthesia, Arthur, and Liliana have matching frowns of disgust. Hector and Cadmus look uncomfortable."Hello, Irina" he replied with a blank face. Irina turned her gaze towards Arthur. She wanted to disturb their happiness. "You look happy Arthur. I saw this kind of smile on you on
After the coronation of Raphael and Valerie as the new king and Queen of the Raven Kingdom, Cadmus is given the respectable position of the Royal advisor and the Royal godfather of the Raven clan. He is given the power that he can involve in every matter that concerns the Raven clan. His position is equal to Raphael and Valerie's. He is overwhelmed with joy and his happiness has no bounds. But the same cannot be said about Irina. She is not at all happy. Raphael gave her no position to hold in the Royal court. He decided that it was time for her to rest. He made it look like he is doing her a favor and all of this is for his good..'The previous queen of this clan has given her everything for the well-being of this clan. After my father's unfortunate demise, she took it upon herself to take this clan under her care. She worked restlessly toward her goal. I think it's time for her to leave these heavy responsibilities to us and rest. She deserves this more than anyone ' he announced.
The entire Agnes clan bowed their heads when Valerie approached them. They don't have a choice. Going against a gold dragon is like going against a mountain that is taller and stronger. It's useless to fight with a mountain when you clearly know that you cannot win that battle. A gold dragon's wrath can destroy an entire clan. Her blessing would help any clan flourish and grow. The land that she touches will be greener than any other land."I am not killing you merely because I don't want my mate's coronation to be remembered with a blood bath. Ravens are known for their hospitality. You came here as a guest. I don't want to hurt a guest. But be aware, Princess Tasha. I will not tolerate disrespect either. If you open your nasty mouth to pass cruel comments, then I would not hesitate to kill you in the future. Keep your judgments to yourself. Me, Valerie Ernest, daughter of King Arthur, princess of the Ernest clan, and the mate of the Raven King here by declare you, Princess Tasha as