We walk down the stairs to the large room and I try not to let the fascination in my eyes show. It's hard to not get fascinated by something like this and my heart feels like screaming at the finery this room has been decked out in.The man my eyes had landed on earlier is now out of my field of vision, but the rest of them are fully in it.There's Drakon, Aviana, and Raymel, all of them people Cain had pointed out to me that day in the restaurant. I wonder if they recognize me for a while but when we are fully descended I can see that they have no recollection of me.Either they don't or they just want to act like they don't. And whichever one they've chosen doesn't diminish the fact that I've recognized them.'Raymel is the one you want to keep your eyes on. Grab his attention, make him start talking, and he'll tell you anything you want to hear.' Cain's voice is like a whisper at the back of my mind and I have to fight a smile crawling up my lips. I wondered what I would use that
For the rest of the night, I and Raymel talk. I find it ironic that he sees me as suitable company, even if he wants to get back at Lyros who seems less concerned about whatever it is I might be doing.He's always at the periphery of my vision, just out of plain sight but yet not quite fully hidden. He stands like a still boat amid a raging ocean and he almost steals my attention away from my new acquaintance a couple of times."Have you tried the fish, Adelaide?"Raymel's voice is like honey rolling off the tip of his tongue. I focus on him fully and there he is, copper brown hair and handsome features, a slightly clipped accent that makes his voice exquisite and his words interesting to listen to, and a smile on his face that reaches his eyes.I take this all in and begin to wonder what the hell his former bride was thinking. Lyros is hot and all, but I don't think that would count when I look at how nice Raymel is. I take the kebab from him, something I had no clue what to call u
"Is there a reason you're following me?"Leah shakes her head and looks away, inspecting the same wall she's probably seen since before I was born yet following my every step with a persistent sort of doggedness.I turn a bend and she turns with me.I climb the stairs and she climbs with me.I take a detour into one of the multiple toilets the warriors use while they're here. It's fully equipped with bathing stalls and lavatories and lockers for changing. I catch the mischievous look in Leah's eyes when she tries to follow me in but a glare keeps her out. I lock the door and I'm met with the sight of a wet Rhys and Lorelai, under one of the showers. Her hands, buried in his hair, and her legs, around his waist.Rhys grunts and she moans and I wonder if both of them were not assigned rooms. Rhys is one of the resident warriors so he certainly has a room.They take no notice of me or rather don't care enough to. I go back out and Leah is still there, a brown-haired lady with a face as
This hall is rocking with the sound of thumps and I feel I'm the only one who can't sleep. Shit. I look over to the bed to see the Lycan king's form already sprawled out. He's sleeping, soundly too if i'm not mistaken, but he shouldn't be able to. If he's able to sleep in these conditions then that would mean the man has an exceptional ability when it comes to being able to ignore things, and almost like he wants to mock me, he's asleep because he knows i don't and i can't. My ears pick up the sound of low moaning and then the thumps become faster. I feel like suffocating myself with whatever I can find if that'll help me ignore what I'm hearing for at least a minute or two. The Lycan king shifts on his bed and a thought suddenly pops into my head. I could kill him. My eyes widen with the realization but that doesn't diminish the fact that I actually can. Right? Right here and right now. I could sneak up on him and climb softly onto the bed. The pillow by his side should be ok
"Get up weakling."The Lycan king's voice is the only thing that makes sense to me right now.I sit up and try to get on my feet but I find myself falling back down. I hit the floor with a thud and i stay there for a while. This isn't half as hellish as the training I had to endure at Cain's hands and I know I should be thankful for it, but I'm not. I think I would take that training any day over this. What is this even? I still don't know what we're here to do, just that i got saved from being poisoned and saved the man sneering down at me too.I don't even want to think of what Raymel might think of me after all this. I know it won't be anything nice so that's a bummer.I try to stand up again and this time I actually get onto my feet. The man named Lyros shakes his head and scoffs before he walks past and heads for the door.My eyes widen in panic and I almost scream for him not to open it, but he does and nothing happens.I'm not hit by any odor so strong and foul that I collap
I watch as she walks away with Raymel and Raymel's father walks up to me.Galan has always been an oddity among the rest of the Lycan tribes. The others think he poses no particular threat to whatever it is they're cooking up in their clans but I know reverse is the case.Galan might be the deadliest of them all and unlike them, he doesn't wear his power over his shoulders. Not in his stance and not in his gaze. Not in his appearance and certainly not in the color of his eyes.He's standing beside me, leaning over the rail, in a shirt and shorts."Aren't you going to acknowledge a fellow king, Lyros of the north?"Maybe in his tone one could catch a glimpse of the power this man wields but even then, his tone is light, jesting, testing, waiting for an entry."Good morning to you, King Galan of the corridor."He chuckles and shakes his head ruefully."I think it's better if you omit the title and stuff. I'm still regular old Galan.""You sure don't look like you're old."Another chuckl
Raymel's dancing lessons come in handy two days later and I count down the days as I count down my steps.Seven days.I'll be here with the Lycan king for seven days. It doesn't feel like so much time but i feel it is. My father as the Alpha had never left the pack for a day or more. First of all to make sure he didn't find it in the hands of someone else when he came back, someone who could mobilize the wolves of his pack against him and force him to concede the pack to them.The fact that he knows the pack can be taken from him in his absence always made me see him as not as strong as he always portrayed himself to be. Of course I always kept my thoughts to myself on that, but Lyros, a Lycan king, leaving his realm and staying in another for a whole week..... i don't know what to say about it, just that it feels risky and unusual at the same time. Cain can hold down the fort in his absence but i don't remember him being that nice to Cain too. He might go back home to meet an uprisi
"You brought me here to help you steal something."I turn back and she's standing there. Fake Bravery on her face and her stance set to flee at the slightest sign of danger.I move back to what I was doing earlier and ignore her. "I can help you steal it Lyros."My name on her tongue sets a reaction off in me and in a split second, she has her back on the wall, her eyes wide open and her hands clawing at her throat as she struggles and gasps for breath. I retract my hands and she crumples to the floor, gasping for breath, and the gown she's wearing pooling around her like purple clouds.She's wheezing when she looks up at me and I meet her hard glare. Something inside me tells me this is wrong, that I'm not meant to treat her like this, but it's been a rough day for me too and I am not in the mood to be disturbed."Get out.""No."My eyes widen just the tiniest fraction and she stands up under my stare. There are imprints around her neck and I know her skin must prick her but she sti