Aralyn’s POV I woke up in that bloody white room again. Luckily, no one is around. But fuck my luck. I am strapped with silver shackles again. I looked at my hands, and apart from a few almost-healed bruises, I looked as if nothing had happened. Oh God, don’t tell me I was out for a few weeks again? I tried to move my jaw, and it worked amazingly, as though it wasn’t broken two times in the past few weeks. Is this the Lycan healing at work? I know I was a mushed mess of meat and broken bones when I was awake last time. I was lashed, scalding “soup” was poured down my throat, my whipped body was dipped in wolfsbane, and then I was beaten to the pulp when I was conscious last time. Now, my body looks as though I was on a spa holiday. Whatever, as long as I am alive and healthy, and as long as I can find a way to get myself lost from this fucking mess. I remember hearing Sentaya’s voice when I was out, but I can’t remember what she said. If I manage to get myself out of here, I will go
Naevres POV“Fuck! No! Bitch!” I screamed after her. I stupidly believed her. I could feel unknown magic before hearing the brief commotion and those very words: “Fuck you, Marcellus, fuck you, Wengarthria. See you never again.” The bitch fucked me up. I believed her, and she signed my death sentence without even thinking of the consequences of what will happen to those who stayed here after her escape. Marcellus will have my balls fried for this. He had acted overly strange since she was dropped off in the dungeons weeks ago. He was babbling about unresolved childhood issues and vendetta occasionally when someone mentioned her. Still, I felt like there was way more behind this. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something is fishy here. Well, either way, I am dead meat.What a fuck am I going to do now? Shall I try to escape too? Fuck no, with his abilities, Marcellus would find me in one breath, and when he would, I would be in an even more fucked up position than I already am.“
Aralyn’s POV “I am Nethanaiah of Charterwallis, one of the elder mages of the land of faes. I mean no harm, especially not to the daughter of Malleteagan and Larissa,” she said, watching me with bright citrine eyes. Her eyes sparkled like the eyes of an owl on this gloomy night. Platinum blonde hair falling on her shoulders carelessly made her look angelic.“How do you know who I am? Where am I?”“I can smell your father's magic blood running through your veins,” she said, and I cringed. “I can also smell your Lycan, powerful, primaeval and of the royal bloodline, sitting in the pits of your mind waiting to awake for the first time. She will be awakened tonight. So, to answer your question, it is not hard to put two and two together, Aralyn, especially when you are an ancient, almost primordial mage like I am. In these many centuries that passed by, I have seen it all. There are not many stones that I have left unturned and not many things that I haven’t seen. There are no many thin
Aralyn POV I woke up in a charming little cottage near the lake where Merlius beat the shit out of me. I have heard Merlius and Nethanaiah trying to whisper in the distance. Probably to not wake me up. “You have to control your Lycan, Merlius. You could have killed her. I thought you could help her understand her Lycan side as I cannot help her with that, but now I am not so sure anymore. You cannot control even your own Lycan. How will you be able to help her then?” she scolded, and he hung his head low, eye cast down as a little boy who was embarrassed after being scolded by his parents. They were sweet.“Sorry, sweets”, he sighed and kissed her forehead. ”look, I went out of my mind when I sensed your scent on her, and she did not smell like a rogue but did not smell as if she belonged to a pack either. And then your scent all over her was enough to make my Lycan go bat-shit crazy….” he sighed and continued. “I did not even register that this was the scent of a female Lycan and no
Marcellus POV ***Trigger Warning: scenes of physical violence I barely got rid of that pesky whore Noosha and the pestering nags of my father. He is absolutely ruled over by that whore. I scoffed and rolled my eyes whilst dashing through corridors to get to the bloody room. Naevres will beg for death because of this, that stupid, incompetent fucker. I came into the room. It still smelled like lilies of the valley, hyacinths and roses. This minx had such a unique and potent scent, so mouthwatering and mesmerising. Speaking of little bitch, why did I feel that I was hurting more than her each time when I inflicted pain on her? Each fucking lash on her body ached worse than it would if it was inflicted on my own body. It appeared as if I was reliving every second of her misery and pain when my boys tortured her. Forget about it. Focus. I came to my senses and saw the idiot sitting on the chair next to the bed, hands tucked in the head, elbows on slightly spread legs, and he was rock
Marcellus POV“Noosha”, I nodded. I looked like shit. My suit and shirt were drenched with twats blood, and my face was spray painted with it. I finally looked like the devil everyone portrayed me to be. Noosha, the bitch, on the other hand, you would never think that she is my stepmother. She looked more like my younger sister. She looked like she was barely 20, all pampered and pristine. But fuck that. Not relevant. I was about to close the door, where semiconscious Naevres was still wheezing and gargling, and to walk away, but she grabbed me for the shoulder. I momentarily froze, trying to stop the anger, bile and disgust brewing again. God, how I want to kill this fucking bitch. I first pulled out a handkerchief from my blood-drenched trousers and wiped the blood sprayed on my face. Then I dusted away invisible dust from the shoulder she had just touched. She raised her eyebrow and looked at me murderously, with malice, but just for a second, and then she masked it to her usual
Malleteagan’s POVI cannot stand this fucker. At all.But I need him. And he knows that. And he will use that shit against me for sure.“ Malleteagan, my dear old friend, long time no see. What brings you in Netevalia.” the dickhead said with his preposterously courteous voice. “Yes, Kandreah, I think we haven’t seen each other for, what…four-five centuries?Now, let’s cut the crap. I am here because I need you. My...umh…daughter…is captured in the underworld, and Sentaya refuses to hand her back. I must gather the army to take over what belongs to me.” I said in one breath, knowing that this bastard probably knew more about this than I thought. Also, I hate sucking the ass of the fucking leech, but I have no choice. “Now, quite a heartbreaking story, my old friend. Given that you ask me for help, I must say that I have a couple of questions for you. Firstly, and…” he stood up, and somehow, in the next second, he transpired crouched next to my ear whilst dismissing his lackeys with
-Three months later-“Aralyn, that’s enough for today,” Merlius said. Thank God, I thought this tyrant would never say this. He is a pain in the ass with his strict training schedule, but I must say that I have improved my strength, stamina and combat skills to an exceptional standard. Nethanaiah taught me how to summon and control my mage and elemental abilities while Merlius was helping me with embracing my Lycan. Apparently, due to my mother’s lineage, I can control weather, earth, and water, whilst due to my father’s lineage, I can control the moon, wind and air. I can also paralyse the one in time and space as I did to Malleteagan when he chased me through the desert. Nethanaiah says that there is way more than that. Meena also became more attuned to me. We can now shift to human or Lycan form without pain or issues with taking control, and we become one body and soul. Her combat skills are more controlled, calculated and brutal. “Soon, I will not be able to train you anymore,” h
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
Erzelus’s POV The racketing pounds of the gatekeeper demon’s drums became faster with each second. When we finally stepped into the gloom and darkness of the main encampment of Macabantran fortress, the grounds were soaked with a soggy mush of supernatural innards and well stocked with their scattered corpses. Bones of cadavers were cracking as we crushed them on our way. Their flesh was squelching and producing squealing sounds under our feet as we trampled over them. A chaotic blend of whooshing sounds of magic, which was bursting from Wengarthrian mages, clashed with the magic of our witches and mixed with clanks of weapons, and rumbling thuds of fistfights, death rattles, and last exhales of those warriors who were losing the battle. Manic cackles of Wengarthrians who were attacking and fighting from every corner were adding to the clamour and havoc of this place. Macabantrans drubbed our warriors because they failed to see Macabantrans's fighting tactics. Macabantrans
Erzelus’s POV We crept and crawled like sodding spiders through these long-forgotten, dusty, stinky, dirty passageways. The stench of dampness and decay was making my eyes bleed. Being a big bad wolf and a burly bloke trying to squeeze myself into these was a job and a half and now even a greater slog as I am holding this little scrawny child in my arms, trying to lug around with him. Initially muffled and distant, echoes of soldiers defeated in the battle of the main Macabantran Fort grew louder as we funnelled and snaked our way through narrow passages which led from dungeons to the main encampment. Sounds of destruction and the desperate battle between the two armies became more intense and louder as we neared the encampment. It almost felt like the noise and ruckus were palpable. The strange creatures, which reminded me of some demonic, infernal rat mutation, lurked from every corner and occasionally scurried past us as we were breaking through. We'd bump into them every now