MasukThere was still the issue about Elera, and adding this now … goodness I was getting insane. How do I manage all this at once? What would I even say to Risa when I finally go in to see her. I do not know…I felt awfully stupid for not being watchful enough that I had to be betrayed like this. A heavy knock on the door shattered the silence of the room and brought me back out of my spiraling thoughts. I didn't open my eyes, I still rested my head as I murmured. "Enter."The door groaned open, and Axel stepped into the room. He had told me he was going down the mountains too to look for Zara. He also was beyond shocked about what had happened but he was convinced Zara must have played a trick on Risa. Looking at him now, his clothes was damp from the mountain mist, and his face was hard. He didn't speak immediately, he could feel the dark energy circulating me, so he cleared his throat first. "Just give me the report," I commanded, my voice a low rasp that sounded barely human. It wa
We were searching for them all over the cliff but we couldn't spot them.I was seriously getting uneasy, what if something bad has happened? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself and I doubt I would be able to sleep easily again. I was never one to sleep easily, but I trusted Risa with my life, and she had done this. We kept looking, then, the spotlight caught them behind a massive boulder. I watched through the high-powered thermal scope as they began to argue. I saw Risa lunge at Zara, saw Zara strike her in the abdomen, and saw them both roll down the crumbling cliffside path, rolling into a violent, chaotic heap on a narrow dirt right over the edge and if they move roughly, they might fall.They began to fight each other and it was a desperate brawl. Risa grabbed Zara's hair, pinning her down, her lips moving in frantic screams that were drowned out by the rotors."Descend! Now!" I roared at the pilot, unclipping my seatbelt.The helicopter tilted, the wind buffeting my face as w
With the scent of her skin filling my senses and the beat of her heart against my ribs, the tension in my shoulders finally melted away. She was safe in my arms, and that was all I needed to rest easy. I closed my eyes, letting the heavy darkness of sleep claim me, trusting the silence of the room.All of a sudden, an unnatural chill woke me.My eyes snapped open in the darkness and my heart was beating so fast as if I was in a marathon. The moon had shifted, casting long, pale beams across the duvet. The room was freezing, but it wasn't the temperature that made my breathing hard.The space beside me was cold. I reached out a hand, my palm hitting the empty sheets where Risa should have been. I sat up in one violent motion, my heart thudding faster than when I had woken up. "Risa?" I called out, but there was no answer.I threw the duvet aside, stepping onto the cold stone floor. I strode to the bathroom, kicking the door open. It was also empty. I checked the small adjoining parlor,
~ Kael's POV ~“Witch!” they had shouted. Every insult they threw at Risa felt like a stone cast at my own flesh. They didn't see the fragile girl who loved the sun and the quiet but they saw a threat to their archaic blood-laws, a wildcard they couldn't control. And when Elder Thorne had brought up the ancient text of the myth of the Speaker…my heart had stopped for a terrifying beat. The old man’s words had been a death sentence wrapped in a nursery rhyme and I would never want Risa to go through such a terrible thing. Such weapons always bring fire…but Risa can never be a fire that consumes. She was like a beautiful summer day that warms my heart. I had lied to them without blinking. I had used the absolute authority of the Alpha Command to suffocate their dissent, forcing my aura down their throats until they flinched and Valerius choked on his own rage. But as the heavy doors had slammed shut behind me, the mask of the iron King fractured."Thorne knows," I had muttered to Axel
The world was narrowing down to a single, agonizing pinpoint of dark gray as the edges of my vision were no longer just blurry, they were completely black. Zara’s fingers were tight around my throat, crushing my windpipe until the thrumming of my pulse was a loud thrum in my ears.Beneath the steady thud of the helicopter blades and the wailing palace sirens, a deeper, more permanent sound filled the void, the roaring sound of the waterfall far below the cliff. It sounded like an open grave, waiting to swallow me whole."Look at you," Zara sneered, her face a distorted mask of triumphs hovering directly above me. She tightened her grip, lifting my head slightly before slamming it back down onto the dirt. "The great Risa of the north. A divine weapon that the king has chosen himself. Dying in the mud because you trusted a snake like me.” She laughed hysterically. “I’m going to drop you into that water, Risa, and by the time Kael finds what’s left of you, the North will already be pre
I threw my entire body weight into her back, tackling her to the ground.We collided with a heavy thud and began to roll down the path, hitting woods and rocks along the way. The world became a sickening blur of dark sky, sharp stones, and tearing thorns as we fell down the steep mountain path. My shoulder slammed into a protruding root and Zara’s knee cracked against a boulder. We groaned in unison as we finally came to a halt on a narrow dirt plain right at the edge of the mountain.The wind was howling over the drop from the mountain, a hundred-foot fall into the rocks and waterfall below.I didn't give her a chance to recover. I crawled over her, my hands scratching through the dirt until I grabbed a fistful of her thick, dark hair. I yanked her head back roughly, pinning her torso down with my knees."Tell me!" I screamed into her face, my voice cracking with desperation that didn't sound like mine. It sounded like the ancient, heavy thing that had awakened in t







