Chapter 27 – Identical
“You can’t think that I would actually fall for that did you Moira?” I snapped at her, and rolled my eyes. “Everyone in the kingdom knows that Devin is an only child. The king’s pride and joy.” I spat, and turned away from her, leaving Moira doe eyed behind me. I stepped back over to one of the chairs, and sunk back into the soft cushions, folding my arms over my chest as I looked at the three people in front of me. All of them looking back at me with their mouths hanging open like fish; stunned at my reaction.
“I-‘m not lying!” Moira barked at me, and I raised my eyebrows at her. This day had been too eventful already to throw some mysterious brother into the mix. She wanted to protect her cousin, and I understood that, but making something up about a lost brother was bordering mental.
“Alright, Moira. If you’re not lying, then where is he?” I asked with a half-smile on my face, enjoying watching her squirm. She looked a
Chapter 28 - Threader “You want to kill the king?” I felt my heart come to a stop in my chest as I watched Simon slowly nod his head at me as if he was explaining it to a child. I looked between Marcus and Moira, looking for some reasoning in the nonsense, but both had a determined glint in their eyes as if there were no other options. “Are you all insane?!” I all but squeaked out, as my voice had gotten so high it was barely there anymore. Droplets of sweat were starting to slide down my forehead, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the spewing fire, or the consistent rollercoaster of my emotions. “We’re not insane Aspen. You’ve seen what he is capable of.” Moira said stiffly, and Marcus nodded his head to agree with her; both of their faces grim with solid understanding. “Did you already forget about the law that sent you here in the first place?” Nausea turned my stomach at the thought of the fate that I just had just ba
Chapter 29 – Again Moira and I slid silently through the halls of the castle. Listening intently for any sudden noises or footsteps, and moving as quickly as we could without being spotted. The sun was just starting to set, and deep orange light was cascading thick shadows over the stone. We were moving back towards the cave of the lost children, and even though it was late enough that most of the staff had gone home for the night; there were still many guards milling about the castle. They had kept me in the hidden infirmary room for the twenty-four hours I was supposed to be with the children, as we prepared a plan. It wasn’t anywhere near perfect, or really a good plan at all, but it was all we could do with the little information that we had. It consisted of very few, but precise steps that could either save the entire kingdom or get all of us slaughtered. Either way we wouldn’t have to see what was to come, and I was beginning to accept eith
Chapter 30 - NightmareWhite hands were reaching for me through the darkness, as I ran down a long hallway. The sickening smell of death followed me, and I gagged as I tried to move as quickly as I could away from the beast. My foot caught on an uneven stone, and I stumbled and fell to the floor, landing hard on my side. I scrambled to get back up and keep moving, but was not quick enough, as thin bony fingers wrapped themselves around my ankle and dug sharp claws into the soft skin.“We found you.” The voice high pitched, and blood curling. As a monstrous face with white eyes appeared from the darkness behind me. I screamed, and clawed on the stone underneath me, but it was no use as it began to drag me towards its lithe figure. Opening its wide mouth into a guttural laugh; sharp teeth gnashing together in victory. My heart was beating fast as I fought to get away; reaching to pull on the gnarled fingers, but they had too tight of a grip arou
Chapter 31 - BareMoira burst into my room carrying a large pile of cloth that seemed to be in every color and style. Her face wash flushed as if she had been sprinting through the castle, as she struggled under the weight of the fabric in her arms.“We have four hours to get you ready for dinner. That’s not nearly enough time.” She huffed at me, and threw the pile over the large couch in front of the fire place. I rolled my eyes, and reached out to rub a particularly ugly green colored fabric between my fingers.“I don’t feel the need to impress the king.” I replied more sharply than intended. It was the truth though; forget his rules of formal clothing, I would much rather stir his pot than entertain his ideas. Moira glared back at me; obviously in no mood to deal with my black cloud.“Remember that that we need-“ Moira started.“We need to keep up our front, ye
Chapter 32 - GamesDevin took a step towards his brother; his hand outstretched as if he could reach him from where we were standing. His face was set in stone, but I could see his eyes as they flashed between fear and anger as he looked in at his little brother bleeding from the wall he was chained to. I remained still as I watched; my entire body unwilling to move towards the revolting scene, as I my heart pounded audibly in my chest.“You’re close enough son.” A voice rang out from the back of the dining room, and we both whipped around to look at the person speaking. The king stood at the large wooden doors at the front of the dining room, a large inhumane smile plastered across his fat features. He was holding what looked to be a large syringe, full of a silver-colored liquid, and was looking at Devin with a humorous glint in his wicked eyes. The king was enjoying this, watching his sons suffer under his hand; his twisted mind
Chapter 33 - RunA loud bang erupted through the dining room, and the eye contact between the king and I was broken as we turned to see that Devin had slammed his fists into the table. Dark red wine spilled over the bare wood as the glass chalices toppled over. One rolled to the end of the table, smashing to ground, sending crystal shards spraying in all directions against the gold flecked marble floor.“I AM NOT A WOLF!” Devin snarled, and kicked his chair away from him, sending it flying back into one of the awaiting guards who managed to catch it with a loud grunt. He lifted his arm to point a shaking finger towards me, his blue and brown eyes flashing in anger. “She, is not my mate. She’s barely-“ Devin’s words were lost when a loud hiss sounded at the front of the room. We all turned our heads just in time to see a bright white light encase the entire dining area, followed by a loud earth-shattering boom.&nbs
Chapter 34- RoyalThe road was uneven and pitted, causing us to ricochet around the little black car as we flew down the long dirt road through the thick and deepening woods. We had one mile to go before we crested the border of Ben Avon’s territory, and we all held our breaths as the reality of escape sat just barely from our fingertips.I was gripping the leather seat of the car so tightly that my knuckles were beginning to turn white, and I didn’t know if it was because of Simons reckless driving, or the fear that I would be dragged back into that castle kicking and screaming all the way to the cave of the children. A shiver ran up my spine as my thoughts began to fill with milky eyes, and stretched skin.“We’re going to the Gold Moon pack.” Simon’s voice cut through the silence, pulling me from my thoughts, and breaking the tension that sat thick in the air. I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me behind
Chapter 35 - WolfEverything moved in slow motion as Keagan began to open his eyes. Simon slammed the brakes on the car, swerving us to the right of the highway, and coming to a dead stop on the side of the road. The sudden deceleration causing me to jerk backwards into the car seat, as the tires screeched across the slick blacktop.Moira’s door flew open and she jumped from the car, moving herself as far from the wolf as possible, as Simon ripped himself out from the driver’s seat. Leaving the driver’s door open as he scrambled from the car and into the cool night air.I stayed where I was though, frozen in time, as I watched the drowsiness visibly clear from Keagan’s mind. His molten gold eyes sharpening as he began to realize that he was not only far from home, but now surrounded by strangers.I didn’t have enough time to react as those liquid eyes slid to me, and he let out a low and dangerous gr