The first thing I heard was screaming.
Not fear.
Rage.
The guards didn’t hesitate when he stepped through the broken archway.
They didn’t shout warnings or call for backup. They shifted with bones snapping and reforming as fur tore through skin, massive wolves launching themselves at him from every direction.
Aiden didn’t stop walking.
He didn’t even look surprised.
The ruby on his ring flared like a wound torn open, and the air around him bent. One wolf never reached him.
It froze mid-leap, crushed by sothing invisible, its body folding in on itself before hitting the stone floor in a lifeless heap.
Another lunged from behind.
Aiden turned calmly and caught it by the throat.
There was a sickening crack.
Then he let go.
The body slid bonelessly to the ground.
Maelis grabbed my arm hard enough to hurt.
"Now," she hissed.
The chamber shook as another roar split the air. I didn’t know if it was dragon or stone or my own blood rushing too fast through my ears.
Maelis pulled toward the far wall, past the pedestal, past the screaming ruby that still pulsed wildly behind us.
She pressed her palm to a section of stone that looked solid, muttering words I didn’t recognize.
The wall opened.
Not smoothly.
Violently.
Additionally opening a narrow, jagged passage that dropped sharply downward.
"Go," she ordered.
I stumbled forward, clutching my belly, the pain still simring low and dangerous despite the magic holding it at bay.
Maelis followed imdiately, shoving the ruby chest ahead of us with a force that made my teeth rattle.
Behind us, I heard bone snap.
I didn’t turn back.
The tunnel was dark and steep, damp earth scraping my palms as I half slid, half ran downward. Roots clawed at my cloak, stones bit into my bare feet. Every breath burned.
We burst out into the open with no warning at all.
Cold night air slamd into my lungs.
The forest stretched before us.
And then the sll hit.
Blood.
So much blood it made my stomach revolt.
I staggered to a stop.
The ground was littered with bodies.
Wolves. Hundreds. Thousands.
So already shifted wolf. So in still in their unshifted form.
So were in the middle of shifting.
But all they had sothing in common.
Torn apart like prey.
Trees splintered. Earth soaked dark.
The forest floor looked churned, trampled, as if sothing enormous had torn through again and again without rcy.
Maelis froze.
"No," she breathed.
She dropped the chest and ran forward, her movents wild now, uncontrolled. She fell to her knees beside the nearest body, hands shaking as she turned it over.
Her scream ripped through the night.
It wasn’t loud at first.
It was broken.
Raw.
She moved frantically through the carnage, calling nas, sobbing as she searched, pushing bodies aside with desperate hands.
I stood rooted where I was, one hand pressed to my mouth, the other clamped over my belly as my baby shifted violently, distressed by the chaos, by the death.
Then Maelis stopped.
She knelt very still.
Slowly, she reached forward.
And lifted a severed head from the ground.
And I wondered who it was.
She looked traumatized.
Her hands trembled as she cradled it against her chest, her breath coming in ragged, animal sounds. Blood soaked her clothes. Her silver hair fell loose around her face, streaked red and black.
Sothing in her broke completely.
I didn’t want to believe my father was capable of such evil, but deep within , I could feel a gnawing feeling.
A feeling that tugged at that he was the one.
That no one else was capable of this other than him.
I felt terrible.
I had brought this upon them.
I held my tummy as the
The air shifted.
A massive shadow passed overhead.
The wind from its wings knocked backward a step as a dragon descended, claws tearing deep grooves into the earth as it landed with bone-shaking force.
Aiden dismounted calmly.
He looked untouched.
Not a speck of blood on his clothes.
Not a scratch.
The ruby on his ring glowed faintly, satisfied.
Maelis rose slowly, still holding her lover’s head.
"You’re a monster," she said hoarsely. "The worst thing that ever happened to our people."
Aiden regarded her with sothing like disappointnt.
"The last ti I saw you Maelis." My father said darkly. "I warned you to stay away. And you made the worst decision of taking my daughter away from ."
Maelis’s face looked like it reigned thunder
"You chose rebellion," he replied evenly. "You knew the cost."
"They were families," she scread. "Children. Mothers. They followed because you left them no choice. Because you stole their lands for them you monster!"
"I gave them order," he said. "They rejected it."
Maelis dropped the head gently to the ground and shifted.
Faster than I had ever seen anyone move.
White fur exploded outward as she lunged, a blur of teeth and fury aid straight for his throat.
The fight was short.
Too short.
Aiden caught her mid-air.
The impact cracked like thunder.
He slamd her into the ground hard enough to send a shockwave through the forest floor. She shifted back under the force, human again, gasping as ribs caved.
She tried to rise.
He didn’t let her.
The ruby flared once.
Aiden drove his hand straight through her chest.
Maelis froze.
Her eyes went wide, shock replacing rage in an instant. Blood spilled down his arm, steaming faintly in the cold night air.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.
Then Aiden pulled his hand free.
Maelis collapsed at his feet.
Dead.
The world went silent.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t scream.
I couldn’t move.
My mind refused to understand what my eyes had just seen.
My baby kicked violently, panic surging through as my body trembled uncontrollably. The magic holding the contractions at bay faltered, pain spiking sharp and sudden.
Aiden turned slowly.
And looked at .
User Comments
0 comments from readers