Kandreah’s POV“…I know the feeling…” I said while watching in the distance. “What do you mean?” Erzelus looked at me with a puzzled expression. He looked funny with dust smeared on his face. He looked like the guy who was maintaining Victorian chimneys. I am doing my best to keep my face straight. “I have killed my destined mate twice, Erzelus. The first time, I didn’t fight for her and allowed her to be offered to Hades because of the political ambitions of her parents. The second time, I killed her when I didn’t protect her and her son the way I should have. You see…Noosha’s dogs raped, tortured and slaughtered her before the eyes of her son. And I was weak, a coward, unable to stop it.” I said while swigging more of that godawful golden liquid from the bottle and allowing stray tears to roll down my eyes. “You had a mate? Who was she?” Erzelus asked. “Her name was Minthe. She was the nymph of Oribus, daughter of Denexus and Sentaya. You know, the Sentaya with screechy voice an
Chaister POV “Oi, Lartellan, can you get your pretty boys off the doors, please? I came to see your old ass. I think you want me to mansplain myself.” I chirped with a tone which I knew would tick my little cousin off. Gosh, if you’d ask this guy if ten times ten is tenty ten, he would say yes. But what I always liked about Lartellan, our favourite god of war, is that his anger and temperament are equally big as his stupidity. So, it was always such fun to rile him up. Not to mention that it was child’s play to get him annoyed. So, I never missed a chance to do so. It’s fun! And it also always served a good purpose. Whenever I wanted to start a war, I just needed to piss off the big, old, grumpy brute.“What do you want Chaister? Fuck off!” He yelled from the insides of his palace. “Well, bro, first of all, this is not a way to welcome the God of Chaos, not to mention your distant relative. Did you skip the lessons when they taught hospitality in school? Can you tell your fuckfac
Kandreah POVI was quite unsettled, to say at least, after our close encounter with Nahevra’s shadows. I had a foreboding feeling that sent shivers down my undead spine. And I find myself as a being who had seen it and felt it all—the death of my mate, the death of my twin. And still, Nahevra instilled some foreign sense of fright within me with her words. I lifted tipsy Erzelus from the shattered ground of Konneyard. He still swayed while walking with me towards the encampment. He was plastered. I held the stupid Lycan king to prevent him from stumbling and falling. “Hey, leech, Malleteagan is wrong. You ain’t that bad if I don’t think of the sucking blood part, that’s just yuck. Oh fuck, I ain’t feeling too good…” Erzelus said and vomited all over my fucking shoes…again. I am seconds away from tossing the stupid wolf on the ground and beating the shit out of him. The dickhead is as heavy as a dead whale. I was just thinking of dropping off or beating the shit out of the stupid wol
Omar’s POV The scent of disinfectant lingers heavily in the air, sticking to my nostrils, feeling the same as if someone stubbed a towel soaked with bleach over my face. Its suffocating scent irritates, triggering gag reflex, tears and the urge to sneeze, all at once. It is mixed with the faded smell of rotting and soil, although this other scent seems to waft from somewhere in the distance. I feel paralysed, incompetent and helpless. Useless. That’s what I am. I am a poor excuse for a mate. I couldn’t even protect my soul mate. The last thing before my very eyes were hers. Beautiful ambers encrusted with a thousand tears that shone around her eyes, making them look like a jewel with a halo effect. And those tears were not spilt because of her pain and fear. No, she cried for fear of the future that is to be bestowed on her sisters, on her coven and…I felt it. She cried because she was afraid for me, too. She was mortified when Alpha beat me up. I? I wasn’t afraid for myself. It wo
Erzelus POV A few moments earlier- I feel like shit! So dazed and…hungover? The taste in my mouth is as if something had died in it. My eyes are sticky. I can’t open them. The buzzing sounds in my head are as if fucking ambulance sirens are blaring. My body feels like the train wrecked over it. Oh, fuck. I remember it now. I drank some shit dwarves gave me. What was that fucking drink I snatched from them? Oh fuck, I hope that Malleteagan didn’t take over the control of my body while I was out. I tug on my bond with stupid Malleteagan just to figure out that bastard is shoved down and wrapped up tight and nicely in the depths of our consciousness. Good! I hope he stayed there while I drank that dwarfish gasoline shite until I obliterated myself. The only problem is the events after drinking that shit from dwarves are pretty blurry. That was fucking reckless. To drink to oblivion in the underworld in the midst of the fucking war. Well done, Erzelus, well done. I don’t know should I
Erzelus’ POV I left flabbergasted Omar and Rowena in their tent and went out without a word. Thersar and Kandreah, who were nearby, were the first to come to my sight. “Oh, moon princess, did you get enough of your beauty sleep? Good morning.” Thersar said, smirking. Just great, the fucking headache which is about to split my head in two is growing. “…the bit about the princess- I will not even comment on this Thersar. Just be reminded: I am not Malleteagan. My intelligence is way higher than yours or Malleteagan's, and my tolerance for mockery is very low. If he allowed you to talk like that with him, do not think for a second that I will allow it, too. You have been warned, fairy king. Next time, I will not warn. You will be wiped out. Gone. Capisci? Also, the bit with the greeting is a bit out of place given that it is not morning and especially given our shitty surroundings in this hell hole. So, wrong person, time and space to take the piss.” I said, pointing at the
Omar's POV-back to the moment when Erzelus left the tent- I am looking at Alpha’s retreating frame in shock. What a hell!? What does this mean?!Just when I think that I understand him, he does something that completely knocks me off my balance and makes me realise that I don’t know a shit about him. My gaze wandered off from the flailing flap of the tent towards my mate's hand. She silently gazed at me with tears that kept rolling off her eyes. She cupped my face. Her soft and soothing touch was reassuring, but it also awoke desire and hunger. I got up in a sitting position and looked at her mesmerising face. I dared to touch her. Her tears made her look so beautiful, but seeing her crying made me want to crush the world and put it beneath her feet just to make her smile. I brushed the teary jewels of her eyes with my thumbs and pressed my forehead against hers. Her skin was so soft and tender, her scent sending my lust into overdrive. I couldn’t resist the temptation anymore, a
Rowena’s POV“I want to speak to your human. Please bring him back,” I said to the big hairy wolf that laid on me. He scratched his neck and huffed. In the next moment, he started to shift back to his human form. Oh fuck, I didn’t count that he will be naked when he shifts back to his human. I felt every tout muscle of his robust body pressing against mine. Oh, fuck, what now? I haven’t thought this through well. I see that shifting to Lycan actually helped his healing process, as many of his wounds that were covered by dressings before were now almost healed. His bruising faded even more just because of these few seconds he spent in his Lycan form. Well, it is true what they say about Lycan healing, then. It is way faster than human healing. Very impressive. It looks like all he needed was Alpha’s command to regain his consciousness and to shift back to his Lycan form to heal faster. However, I had no time to dwell on the magic and mystery of Lycan’s healing. My mate was lying on to
Elantra’s POV I was unable to bear this tension, danger and peril as I watched the cold steel of the blade pressed against Malie's skin and her life hanging on a thread, depending on the whim and mercy of mercurial vampiric Fae. With determination, I spoke out: "King Kandreah, I, Elantra Proserpina Morterey of Wengarthria, am hereby granting you permission to enter the main Macabantran encampment and any of the subrealms of Wengarthria, which are under my jurisdiction! I have done what you asked for, now leave my sister alone”. As I uttered those words, I heard Malie crying out a desperate “no” to me. I could see the relief, hope and determination surge in his eyes as he realised he had been invited. Without a shred of hesitation, he turned around with an obvious intention to leave both of us as if nothing happened, as we meant nothing to him. He obviously didn’t give a damn about us or about the mate bond. We were liter
Elantra’s POV What is your name, love?” he asked me with a palpable rage and an undertone of mockery in his voice. “Elantra,” I responded obediently as if I were the little girl in front of the executioner and not a daughter of the lord of Hell. I knew that the knife on Malie’s throat was a promise that he would kill her on the spot if I didn’t comply. Yes, Malie can be a handful, but she is my twin sister and soulmate, and it would break my heart if something happened to her. I love her, and I want her to live regardless of her being a bitch most of the time. "That is too long for my liking. Ella…darling, I wanted to share something with you and your sister…. Ooh, sorry love, I didn’t quite catch your name…” He smirked and turned his golden-eyed gaze to Malie. She told him to fuck off while struggling in his embrace, trying to set herself free. He whispered something to her ear so quickly and under his breath that I couldn’t even catch what he said despite my c
Elantra’s POV Malie nagged me to visit the battlefield for days, telling me she had found her mate. It was useless to remind her that we Mortereys have little to no chance of finding a mate. I have told her that she is delusional, but when she wants something, there is no way to set her mind off that. And now she had one goal - to visit Macabantrah and test the mate theory out, and for some reason, she is adamant that she want to go there with me. I don’t know what this all was really about: did she want to test the waters of mate bond? Did she want to convince me or herself that this is possible and that maybe she really found a mate? Whatever the reason, I could see that she was consumed and perhaps even excited with the idea. I mean, who could blame her; we spent eternity doing our “job” as dark celestials, daughters of rulers of Hell and Wengarthrian royals. I don’t blame her for wanting some sense of normalcy and to break this millennia old cycle of loneliness. But I als
Kandreah’s POV When I saw Hades’s twin daughters together, I finally understood what people think when they say they can’t see the difference between me and my brother. These two look like doppelgängers! They were as alike as two peas in a pod, and both looked exactly like the woman my warriors described to be seen during the Sanguineabbys and Konneyard battles. Both had ash blond hair smeared with subtle shimmers of lilac - as if they spent all day rolling and rubbing in the field of lavender in full bloom to achieve this hue in their hair. They had those same daunting eyes: one lilac eye like Noosha and one cobalt blue like Hades. Both were as slender as a whippet and had faces that could launch a thousand ships, but their aura stank worse than a fish market on a scorching summer's day. They radiated wickedness, danger, and spite like a pair of black cats crossing your path under a ladder, setting my skin crawling like someone tossed a bucket of spiders on me. To te
Kandreah’s POV While standing helplessly in front of the Macabantran gates, I went through all the stages of grief in the blink of an eye. I went through denial when I managed to work through my pain and drag myself while being pain-stricken with Thersar’s torment in front of the Macabantran gate. I was appalled with horror in front of my eyes. As Thersar’s demise-ridden pain wrecked through every nerve of my body, I watched his last moments with disbelief. Just when I thought that this was the final blow, which would be my undoing, the closeness of my soldiers who died in the battle started to shatter my body inside out, gnawing at my mind and soul. The death of every single soldier in my army was a new blow to my already broken body and heart. After initial shock, denial and disbelief, uncontrollable rage erupted from me. I screamed and tried many ways to break in and barge into the castle, but nothing worked. Even what it meant to be an attention-seeking roar of rage came
Kandreah’s POV We were passing through this infamous shortcut, which was more like a sewage-like labyrinth if you ask me, when I bent over and stumbled with an unwilling groan before I fell on my knees and stubbed my hands into the dirt and mud of Wengarthria. I felt so weak and dizzy, as if I was just seconds away from collapsing. The high-pitched, blaring sound grated through my ears, threatening to split my head in half. It reminded me of the ringing of life-supporting machines when someone dies, but as if someone put amplifiers on them. Beads of sweat protruded along with searing pain, the ache like no other which surged through me, piercing and rippling through my body. Every drop of blood in my body felt like it was scorching, sizzling, and as if it was about to combust in flames before turning to ashes. The agony was unbearable. It felt like I was dying. Only once before, I felt the pain like this, when I lost my soulmate. Regardless of the severed bond between
Erzelus’s POV But it looked like someone in the background had greater control over the forsaken Lycans than I did because drums rattled again in the next moment, along with a command rumbling to forsaken Lycans to attack. It overpowered and overrode the natural inclination of forsaken Lycans to submit to their Alpha. I am not their Alpha anymore. They do not answer to me anymore. They are not part of our pack anymore, and if there was even a smidgen of doubt in their logic, reasoning and where their loyalty now lies, it all became clear when they started attacking Lycan troops. My Lycans were over-excited with my comeback, and this idling is not something we can afford. This can cost us battles and lives; we have no time for this. Because, on the other side of the castle, dwarves, Fae, and witches were still in the ruckus of the battle against Wengarthrians. I stepped in while handholding Lev and roared: “Drop the fucking formalities! Lycans, regroup! Flank the Allies! Shield the
Erzelus’s POV The interior of the encampment was a vast, oval-shaped, dark and massive hall the size of a coliseum. Instead of walls, the encampment was enclosed with grand window-like structures, which seemed impenetrable. These window-like walls didn’t allow even a figment of light to protrude. Each window was adorned with vile and despicable frescoes depicting the destruction, apocalyptic violence and scenes from the underworld. In every corner of this eerie city-sized castle, there seemed to be an attempt at creating a macabre amphitheatre. It was as if a disturbed and malevolent architect had deliberately sought to challenge, mock, distort, and contrast every conventional thought, philosophy, aesthetic, and norms in rational thought, art, architecture, and culture, transforming them into something dark, ominous, and bizarre. This colossal castle seemed like an erratic response of a sinister rebel in architecture, a hub for defying the traditional building. Every corn
Erzelus’s POV Mark's contorted body serves as a testament to his tragic death and grim fate, symbolising just one of too many lives that have been and will continue to be lost in this relentless battle. The weight of lives lost became heavier as I scanned through limbless, scavenged, deformed and mutilated remnants of warriors from both sides, which hung from the ceilings. The cadavers blanketed the grotesque frescoes and icons of the Macabantran encampment. Bodies were strewn everywhere, suspended from ceilings and windows, littering the ground— that is the grave extent of casualties that this battle yielded. And many more are to yet die before the battle finishes. The windows were sprayed with blood and innards of diverse creatures who lost their lives, looking like someone had a paintball battle with leftovers of burnt shepherd pie. Corpses and bodies of soldiers from every walk of life were flailing across the Macabantran fort; mush and gore were everywhere, littering th