Chapter 99:*LYCIA*“N-No… No! What did you do!” she shouted, stumbling backwards as she peered at the stones hanging around her neck. She must have been able to feel something inside her change because her body shivered and rumbled with fear.I had left the chain with Seff so that I could distract her but to think she would actually fall into our trap must be a stroke of luck for us.“This can’t be! Where did you find this! How dare you keep this a secret from me!” she shouted out something to Alora who in return only weakly smiled back at her.Craning to look at me she huffed, “Lycia cast the strongest shield that you can around us.”Saying that she leaned against my shoulder watching Spirit while trying to catch her breath and get it back to stable.Doing as she had said I summoned all the power that I had and focused it to cast a barricade so strong that I felt the skin of my fingertips burn and the flesh char away at the magic that I cast out of my body.I didn’t know for how lon
"Lycia! Oh, my goddess! You are back!" Dad's worried voice fell on my ears like a salve, and tears spurted to my eyes like those of a child. I turned around to let him gather me in a hug."My sweet child, I am sorry. It's all my fault. Are you alright?" he asked, his shaky hands reluctantly pulling away from me to look me over. I could see in his eyes that even as I stood there, he found it difficult to believe that I was before him, safe and sound."Why are you covered in soot? Did she try to burn you?" Roz's aggravated voice roared out his anger and concern as he grabbed Seff by the shoulders and turned him around to check on him."We are fine, but let us talk about everything after Lycia and I take a bath," Seff said, pointing at his attire and our state."Yes, of course, but first, tell me, are you both hurt anywhere else besides this?" Dad asked, still anxious as he examined my burnt hands. He didn't wait for my response as he closed his eyes and started working on healing my han
*LYCIA*They knew.It was apparent by the silence that we now sat in after having just finished our lunch. We had been late because of obvious reasons, and by the time we came, dessert was already served to Dad and Roz, making us quietly hurry through our meal."Since we couldn’t talk while having lunch together," Roz said, looking at the two of us pointedly, "We should continue our conversation in the sitting room."Oh my goodness, I could see it from his gaze that he knew we were late because we were busy fucking each other.‘This is so embarrassing,’ I said, following King Roz to his sitting room, who was now talking to Dad again.‘Is it? I feel quite content, though,’ Seff grinned, glowing from the post-orgasmic bliss.‘Don’t joke about it! I can’t even look Dad in the eyes,’ I said, groaning as I remembered Dad politely smiling at me when I walked in and apologized for being late. ‘We should have stopped right there in the bathtub. Why did you have to seduce me to do it properly
*LYCIA*"So you finally got rid of the Luna training, huh? Wasn’t this a bit extreme, though? You didn’t have to go and risk your life for it."At the words, I turned around to finally see the man who had been missing since yesterday after our return."Reemus! Where have you been?" I asked, rushing towards him. I had wondered about his whereabouts a few times but had forgotten to ask Seff about it."While a certain someone freed herself, I am still bound by my duties to get the Luna ceremony prepared for her," he said with a sigh. Then, with a small smile, he let go of his pretenses of being annoyed and said, "It's good to see that you are fine. I heard what happened, and it must have been really scary for you.""Of course, almost getting transformed into a chimera with my mate wasn’t the most pleasant of thoughts," I joked. But even as I said it, I felt my bile churn at the thought of it actually happening."Spare me from having to imagine that again. If that human hadn't already bee
*LYCIA*My heart felt like it would beat out of its cage and run all the way back to Amoret. Amoret was a small coven, so its population was small too, but with the way things had been in Darrow, I didn’t know how to face such a gigantic crowd.“Nervous?” Mom asked, coming to my side where I had been waiting to be called to greet the crowd of Darrow.“How could I not be? There are more than a thousand people out there waiting to see me, and millions more watching me back at their homes,” I said, feeling the anxiety eat at my nerves. "I knew what was coming for me, yet when I peeked out and saw it in reality, it was unbelievable. I can’t believe I am a part of the royalty of such a big kingdom."“Regretting being mates with that boy now?” she asked with a wicked smile on her face. She was teasing me and enjoying seeing me squirm, as if taunting me to have listened to her and stayed within the protective walls of the coven.“Never,” I admitted, “I almost died, fought a crazy manic culti
*LYCIA*There was a still silence that hushed the people as they stared at the scene before them.“Your Highness,” the priestess started at the sudden change of the happy scene. “We shouldn’t do something like this on such a joyous occasion like today.”“It is exactly why it should be done today, in front of all these people, to show them their fates if they were to try to harm the crown and the royal family,” Roz said, his voice naturally reaching far and wide even without the microphone as people listened in on what their feared leader had to say.“But this is an auspicious occasion, shedding blood today…?” The priestess trailed off hesitantly, voicing her thoughts and those of the others who had been raptly looking at the scene before them.“Are you questioning your king right now?” Seff asked, looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.The question chilled my blood; there was rage behind it that couldn’t be masked even with the calm demeanor he had used to ask those words. He abho
*LYCIA*So maybe I was wrong. The reason why Mom wasn’t worried wasn’t because she had been hiding her fears; it was because she had been working on it. So far, she had put ten tracker witches on Alora’s case to find her, and although they hadn’t been successful, she had been putting all her time and energy into bringing her out of whichever hold she had been hidden in.“It feels weird to be back here,” I commented from my spot on my bed, where I had been lying flat on my belly while Seff was seated on the sofa of my room, holding a cushion to his chest and taking in the room.We had decided to stay the night at the palace yesterday after the ceremony and had only returned back home just two minutes ago after having breakfast with Roz and freshened up.“Yeah, it does, but also kind of nostalgic and comfortable,” he said, picking at a stain on the wall of my lipstick form when I had once thrown it at him, and the stick had smeared red on the wall. “I can’t believe so much time has pass
"Give me some space and move as far away as you can," he said, motioning for us to stick to the walls and keep our distance."Are all magicians this strong?" Seff asked in my head. "I feel like every witch and wizard that I have seen so far are phenomenally strong.""No, I think it's just Lars who can get off a hospital bed and start to wield such strong and difficult magic like that," I said in slight awe at the power he held."Alright, I will start now. Don't try to intervene in between," he said, and then closing his eyes, he started chanting a spell in the old witches' language.Electricity crackled in the air around him as the clothes on his skin started to lift in the air from the waves of magic that he was sending out from him. Slowly, he was lifted off the floor, and just when we thought something would happen, he was plopped down to his feet, making him open his eyes and shake his head."Ah, I think I have become a little rusty not having used magic in so long. Don't worry, j