Chapter 05

Zorina's Pov

I was an adult, I was of age. And yet my choices were being unrecognized. Father never used to be this controlling, never this irrational. But now, he pointed a finger at Lux and demanded that he left.

Which Lux stood firmly and refuted. 

A dark cloud gathered above our residence like a draped cloak. I could tell that a storm was upon us, the thunder rumbled very close to the tower. 

The mood was set, but for what?.

A whole alliance?

Or fresh death?

"You put your own daughter in a tower and lock her up like some sort of prey?" Lux seethed.

Father scoffed,

"It is rumoured that you are a fatherless bastard, so I do not expect you to know the extent of a father's love for his offspring." 

But this wasn't love, 

My eyes hardened and I grabbed the window rods.

This wasn't love!.

The archers on the rooftops drew their arrows as Lux stepped closer to my father.

"I don't want to frighten her by spilling blood today. So I ask, let her choose."

A mocking laugh rang through the field.

"Frighten her?, c'mon show us your best strike killer. Show me the best you can do," he pushed on Lux's chest, "and I'll show you the experience I've gathered from spending decades on the battlefie-"

Swipe.

In one single movement, Lux held my father's shoulder and flung him twelve steps back. His back collided with the cemented walls and the archers released their arrows.

I could barely see what came after, 

The fog had joined, arrows were flying in the air, people were groaning, attack cries, spurts of red liquid soaking the earth beneath them.

Few scratch sounds could be heard, in near proximity to me. A hand shot out to grab my wrist.

I yanked it backwards with a yelp.

"Sshh," he whispered softly, "it's me."

His red eyes came into view, silently apologizing for startling me. Lux's face was shadowed, rain dampening the edges of his cloak. His hand still cradled my wrist as I walked closer to him, careful not to hurt me.

"You came," I whispered, trembling.

"When you didn't come to the ridge, I had to trail your scent and find you." He glanced over his shoulder. "We don't have time. I don't want my men to have to kill your father's soldiers if they regroup fast." 

He pulled out the window bars with a harsh tug. He punched through some of the stone and made an expanded space big enough for me to fit through.

"Climb out, so we can leap off."

I looked down at the base of the tower, it was far, he was balancing perfectly on the stone wall. But I had no balance or fight sense, I would fall and crack like an uncooked egg.

"I can't......" I shook my head, "maybe if we could get the keys then-"

He dragged me out and just as I was about to slip off, he held my waist and leaped to the ground with me.

I know this was the wrong time, but goddess his scent was intoxicating.

When we reached the base, the thick fog parted around us as if recognizing him. Dead silence hung just beyond the tower walls, broken only by occasional clatters of weapons and the barked orders of fleeing guards.

The courtyard was in ruins. Arrows stuck out of walls, bodies lay limp, not dead though, and the storm raged above, like it too had been called by Lux's anger.

Just as we reached the outer gate, the storm peeled open above us, the gates stood in front of us, flanked by four armed guards.

A familiar voice boomed from behind us.

"Not another step!"

Father.

He was alive. Bruised, limping, but very much alive. His sword was already drawn.

"I'll have no child of mind disgrace me by fleeing with an outcast?"

Lux rolled his eyes, his arms still very firm around my waist.

Lux stepped in front of me, partially shielding my body with his as if instinctively bracing for the fight. The storm crackled above, thunder snapping so close it sounded like the sky itself had split in two.

"I was hoping," Lux said calmly, " that we could part with fewer bodies than necessary. But you seem determined to leave a trail of them."

"Spare me your dramatics," Father spat, dragging his injured leg forward. "Drop your claws and return my daughter. This is her last warning."

I stepped out from behind Lux. "No, Father. This is my choice, he isn't abducting me, I just don't want to stay here and be forced to mate with another."

His eyes widened, stunned that I'd spoken. Truly spoken. Not crying, not begging, not pleading.

"If you leave now," he said, his voice very low. "You are no daughter of mine."

"Then so be it."

I uttered those words before I realized it, but I could not take it back. He was making me choose, in the past, I would've chosen him. But now, he was a different man, he didn't care about him.

He had no right to be prioritized by me.

He charged, out of anger. Coming straight for me.

Lux shoved me back just as the four guards drew their weapons. The gate, our last way out, stood behind us. Lux unsheathed one of his blades, catching Father's strike mid-air. 

The fight was fast. Lux dodged the second guard's swing, spun low, and disarmed him in one smooth motion. 

But more guards were coming from the outer yard.

"We can't hold this gate alone without me getting provoked to cut off heads." Lux snarled.

"Please don't," I begged, I didn't want bloodshed.

~

Lux's blade flashed once more, deflecting another strike as the guard stumbled back, groaning. He didn't kill, but he was getting close.

"Damn it," Lux muttered, eyes sweeping the courtyard. "If your father rises again with more men, I'll be forced to retaliate. I need something....something that'll make him stop. Permanently."

I stepped beside him, breathing heavily, my heart racing, not from the run, but from what was about to leave my lips. "There is one thing,” I whispered.

He looked at me, brows narrowed.

I took a step closer, lifted my hair, and bared my neck to him. "Mark me."

"What?" His voice dropped, eyes flaring crimson for a second.

"If you mark me, I'll belong to you officially. No one except me, not even him, can be able to mess with it."

His jaw clenched. "That's not how this should happen. You're not a child, you're a grown woman, my Luna to be. You deserve the full ceremony, the courtship, the rites-"

"I don't care about rites," I said. "I care about this moment. About us. I'm not some impressionable girl. I know what I want, and it's you."

He looked like he wanted to curse the skies. "You think I don't want you? I've wanted you since the second I smelt you. You're my match, my mate. But I want you to choose me without blood trailing behind your feet."

I reached up, heart pounding. "I am choosing you. But if you don't do it now.....he'll come after us again. I know my Father. He'll never stop."

Still, he shook his head once. "Not like this."

So I made the choice.

Before he could stop me, I gripped his shirt, leaned in, and sank my teeth into the side of his neck.