Kael's POV It had gotten to a point I couldn't number how many things have shocked me this very night.One of them that hit the most was Hood — my friend, my beta, my brother-in-arms — had just thrown himself at Magnus like a lost child and called him father.Even a friend to my enemy was definitely my enemy, let alone one who calls my enemy father—whether biological or not.I couldn't bring myself to understand how betrayals were flying everywhere as though they were free gifts of nature. Father.The word kept echoing in my head, over and over, louder than the roar of any battle, until it felt like it would split my skull open.I stood there, rigid, the cool evening air chilling the sweat on my skin, unable to move or even draw a full breath.But as I thought about it again and recalled that Magnus ' entire being brims with magic, I reckoned this had to be some kind of spell. Some dark sorcery that Magnus had woven over Hood. Because there was no other explanation.Because I rememb
Lyria's POV The moment Magnus uttered those chilling words — that there was more about myself I didn’t know — something inside me snapped.I didn't even care if he was telling the truth. I didn't want to know. Not from him.Not from the man who had destroyed everything I once held dear.Every word that fell from his mouth was a venom I refused to swallow.Rage burned through my veins like wildfire. My hands curled into fists at my sides, trembling, itching to strike him. My body vibrated with a fury so intense that the very air around me seemed to crackle.I snapped at him, my voice loud and cutting through the heavy silence like a whip. "And what makes you think I am ready to listen to a godforsaken lecture from someone like you?" I spat, my chest heaving. "You cruel monster!"The words tore from me with the weight of years — years of pain, of memories that haunted me in my sleep, of a childhood that had ended far too soon with blood and fire staining everything good.I didn't have
Lyria's POVI had already closed my eyes in fright, bracing myself for the inevitable. My heart pounded so loudly it drowned out every other sound. I clenched my jaw, preparing for the sharp, unforgiving pain I was sure would come when the spears tore into my body.But then… I landed.Not with a jarring, flesh-tearing pain, but with a thud — firm, yet strangely gentle.There was no agony searing through my back, no sensation of cold steel ripping through me.Confused and trembling, I hesitated for a moment before daring to crack my eyes open. My heart still raced wildly in my chest as my gaze adjusted to what was around me.And there he was.Kael.Holding me tightly in his arms.I gasped, overcome with shock and disbelief. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. His arms, though trembling and weak, were wrapped protectively around me. His breathing was ragged against my ear, and he staggered a little under the weight of both our bodies — but he was alive. Alive
Lyria's POVI gasped for air, clawing desperately at Magnus’ arm locked tightly around my throat, my boots scraping against the broken earth beneath us. His breath was cold against my ear as he hissed the question again, low and mocking, "You still don’t know who you are, do you?"I wanted to scream, to fight, but my body betrayed me, freezing under the weight of something vast and terrifying inside me. Something that had been slumbering, waiting.A sudden sharp light erupted between us.It started as a glimmer — a thin pulse of gold radiating from the spot on my neck where Kael had once promised he would mark me when the time was right. But Kael hadn’t marked me yet. We hadn't completed the bond. So why was it glowing?The light seeped through Magnus’ fingers, forcing him to release me with a sudden grunt. He pulled back, studying his hand with a dark smirk, as if he had expected this all along. I staggered, dropping to my knees and coughing as I clutched my throat. My legs shook vio
Kael's POV I had passed out for a moment but it was as though a certain alarm suddenly went off in my head and reminded me that I had a mate to protect. My eyes fluttered open and I watched in horror as Lyria collapsed, her body hitting the ground with a soft, broken thud that echoed louder in my ears than the roar of a thousand storms. Her eyes — gods, her beautiful eyes — flickered between their normal color and a glowing silver, the light pulsing in sync with every shudder of her fragile body.I could feel it.The dark pull of Magnus' magic coiling around her like venomous vines, tightening, squeezing, claiming."No," I rasped, blood thick in my mouth."No!"I staggered, every nerve in my body screaming in protest. The stab wound at my side burned like fire, the blood loss making the world tilt and spin violently. But none of it mattered. None of it would ever matter compared to the terror clutching my chest.He was trying to take her.And there was only one way I knew to stop it
Kael's POVLyria’s words — “Surrender, Kael. Surrender the throne to Magnus.” — echoed in my mind like a death knell.It wasn’t just the betrayal that tore at me.It was the clarity behind it.The grim, cold finality in her tone, as if she truly believed it. As if surrendering everything I had fought for — everything we had fought for — to Magnus, of all people, was the only right course.It was an additional confirmation that proved that Lyria was under the influence of Magnus' charm. If she had said, Give me back my throne, I would have understood. Hell, I would have welcomed it. I had never wanted the damn throne anyway. I hadn't taken the throne because I was hungry for power. I had believed that I was the last man in our bloodline so I was the only one that could take the throne. But little did I know these two old fools would come back from the dead.If Lyria had demanded it for herself — demanded what was rightfully hers — I would have dropped to my knees and handed it to her
Kael's POV Magnus’s scream ripped through the clearing like a wounded beast as Lyria drove the blade deep into his chest.The force of it—the magic, the pain, the betrayal—sent a tremor through the earth beneath us. The ground quaked, stones split, and an invisible wave of power burst outward from Magnus’s crumbling body.I stumbled back, struggling to stay on my feet, my wounds throbbing, my blood slick against my skin. My heart pounded painfully in my ears as I watched the curse that had bound Lyria to Magnus snap like a chain pulled too taut.The bloody magic he had stitched himself together with—the sacrifices, the dark rituals—it began to unravel. I could see it: black veins of energy splintering in the air around him, fading, disintegrating into nothing.But even as his body convulsed and his blood soaked into the cracked ground, Magnus smiled.A slow, horrifying smile. One that chilled my battered soul to its core.“This isn’t over,” he rasped, blood gurgling from his mouth.A
Kael's POVFor a heartbeat, none of us moved.It was as if the very earth held its breath, caught in the throes of something too wicked to comprehend.Lyria’s gasp shattered the silence."No... no, Hood... no!"Her voice cracked like glass under pressure, disbelief and horror woven tightly into each syllable. Her hands, once balled into fists of fury ready to strike, trembled at her sides.My own body refused to move. My knees buckled beneath me, but I was somehow still standing, frozen by shock more than strength. Hood who I just thought about, who I still believed cannot betray me in any way, who had been my beta for years and had even unknowingly proved his loyalty to me with the mere fact that he hesitated so much to use the bow and arrow to kill me when Garrick held his mate hostage and commanded him to kill me. Hood who likes to put life to the atmosphere with all manner of jokes.The idiot who once smeared berries across my sleeping face, who laughed the loudest during victor
Lyria's POVIt was well into the night by the time Kael returned, but everyone had stayed awake all along. Even before his return, right from the time Magnus was killed and defeated, and everyone got to know, the whole palace had become a beehive of activity. While some got busy taking away Ivy's body which Magnus used, some took care of the mess that had been created in my room, while the rest even came up with a little plan, deciding that if the king did not return soon, they would go all out into the night to look for their king. Thank goddess Kael came back just when they were planning it. Now, Kael stood before a crowded hall, his hands intertwined in mine while we had Mira and Hood flanking us as Kael prepared to address everyone who had been jubilating for the final victory that came from Kael and I. Soon, one of them shouted, Long live the King! Long live the Queen! Another followed, and another, till I lost count, till everyone of them started chanting it. I couldn't he
Lyria's POVThe metallic tang of blood still hung in the air, staining the wooden floor and seeping into my senses even though I had already left the room. I stood just outside the threshold, trembling slightly, not from fear, but from the aftermath of what had just unfolded.Hood stood by me, his broad frame solid and unmoving, acting as a silent shield. Mira soon joined us, her face pale and her eyes reflecting the swirl of shock still settling inside her. Behind us, the hallway was chaotic. Warriors murmured to one another, confused but ready for action, and palace workers stood stiffly, waiting for instruction. The eerie silence that followed the confrontation had now morphed into hushed chaos.Hood finally raised his voice, commanding with the same strength he had used when leading warriors in battle. “Drag her out,” he said flatly, motioning to the twisted, bloodied body that had once resembled Ivy. “That’s not her anymore. That was Magnus.”The warriors hesitated for a beat, a
Lyria's POVThe letter shook in my trembling hands, its corners crumpled from how tightly I gripped it. I had found it under the pillow, as though Kael couldn’t bear to place it anywhere else, as though hiding it there would soften the blow. But it didn’t. It shattered something deep inside me.He was gone.He left without taking a single warrior, without so much as a whisper in my direction—no warning, no goodbye. Only a letter. One that didn’t even say where he was going. It only spoke about how he didn’t want me to get hurt. As though I would be fine watching him walk straight into danger alone. As though my heart wouldn't tear apart with worry.He must be far away now. Far enough that the bond between us had dulled to a fragile echo, a dim hum instead of the steady, grounding presence I was used to. That bond was my compass, my anchor—and now, with it so faint, I felt like I was drifting.And how do I tell him?How do I tell him that I’m pregnant? That there’s a tiny, flickering l
Kael's POV The journey to the seer felt like walking through a tunnel with no end, the terrain familiar and yet stretched endlessly under the weight of my thoughts. I knew I didn’t have the luxury of time, but each step closer to the seer’s dwelling made me feel heavier. Like the very act of seeking answers was slowly anchoring me in a truth I might not be ready to face.When I finally reached the seer’s small hut nestled between withered oaks and whispering moss, I didn’t bother knocking. She was already outside, sitting cross-legged before her fire, her eyes half-lidded as if she'd been waiting for me since the beginning of time."You wish to chase a shadow that refuses to die," she said, before I could utter a word. Her voice was raspy, like dry leaves dragged across stone.I froze. I shouldn't have been surprised. She always knew. "Then you already know why I’m here."She nodded once, the motion slow and eerie. "The man you seek now wears two skins."My brows creased. "What does
Kael's POVThe dull light of dawn filtered through the curtains, casting a gentle glow over the room. But I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I lay there, glued to the edge of the bed, my back turned to Lyria. My body still ached, not just from the war, not just from the fight, but from something heavier. It was fear. The fear of uncertainties. Fear that the danger that still lingered out there, if left uncurbed, will come back in a more deadly wave The sex Lyria and I had last night felt great—intense and raw, and for a moment, it had numbed everything. Her touch had silenced the voices. Her breath on my skin had reminded me I was still hunan—still hers. But come morning, the weight returned with cruel clarity.Magnus wasn’t dead.He’d vanished. Again. Like a cursed shadow slithering into the cracks of the world, waiting to reform. I could feel it in my bones, in the dread pooling in my chest. This wasn’t over. It was just delayed. And I couldn’t stomach the thought of him coming back—to hu
Lyria's POV I woke up the next morning wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and soft sheets, Kael’s arm draped protectively around my waist, his breathing steady behind me. The first rays of sunlight streamed through the slightly drawn curtains, casting golden streaks across the room, bathing everything in a tender glow.For a fleeting moment, the chaos of the war, the bloodshed, and the pain from the night before slipped from my mind. All I could think of—feel, even—was the raw intensity and depth of what had transpired between Kael and me last night.My body still tingled with the memory of his hands on my skin, the hunger in his kiss, the fire in his eyes. The way we came together like two halves of the same soul desperately finding home in one another after being torn apart.I smiled to myself, a slow, dreamy kind of smile. My fingers traced over the crook of my neck where Kael had marked me—his mark. It pulsed faintly now with a warmth I couldn’t explain, like a star lodged under my sk
Kael's POV The moment we got into the room now after leaving the palace, Lyria slumped unto the bed tiredly and I sat next to her. “You were incredible back there,” I murmured, still trying to believe everything I’d seen with my own eyes. “They were dead, Lyria. Some of them were gone. But you brought them back.”She gave me a small, humble smile. “I didn’t bring them back, Kael. The moon goddess did. I was just a vessel.”“But without you, they would have stayed gone,” I insisted.Lyria didn’t argue—she never took credit—but she also didn’t deny the truth. Instead, she stared at the floor for a moment, her fingers tightening around mine.Then, after a few paces of silence, she spoke. “I’ve been thinking about Hood…” her voice was low, laced with sorrow. “If he had known that Ivy would still come back to life—even if just unconscious—I think he might have held on. Might not have run into the remnants of Magnus’ magic.”I looked at her. Her expression was steady, but grief shimmered j
Kael's POV I watched with swelling pride as the warriors—those who had once laid still in pain or death—staggered forward, their expressions a mix of awe, gratitude, and disbelief. Some had risen from death itself, their eyes wide and trembling with the weight of life returning to their bodies. Others who had been too injured to move now stood tall and whole, like they'd never tasted the edge of death.And they all came to Lyria.One by one, they approached her—some kneeling, others bowing their heads, a few clutching their chests in reverence—as they thanked her over and over. Their words were thick with emotion. But Lyria only offered them a warm, gentle smile and said, “Thank the Moon Goddess. She chose you to stay.”The humility in her voice stunned me. Power like that could easily corrupt someone, yet she wore it like a gentle blessing. Not a crown.Lyria and I continued walking together, hand in hand. Mira had summoned a few of her assistants, and I glanced back to see them ge
Lyria's POVThe moment Kael’s eyes fluttered open, I forgot how to breathe.For a second, I thought I had imagined it. But then his lashes trembled again, slow and uncertain like a dream rousing itself to life. I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth as his chest rose with a deep inhale, and color returned to his face like dawn breaking through a long night. The gaping wound that had spilled his life onto the earth was gone. Not a trace left. Not even a scar. The ground where he lay was wet with blood, but his skin now bore no sign that he had ever been touched by death.My heart exploded.“Kael,” I whispered, the name catching in my throat like a prayer half-formed.His eyes opened. Fully this time. Slowly. Those familiar, warm eyes that I thought I’d never see again blinked up at the sky before they turned toward me. For a beat, he just stared—confused, dazed, like someone waking from a deep slumber. Then his brows furrowed and his lips parted slightly.“Lyria?”A sob tore out of me