Chapter 4

Jules POV

I hung helplessly, my body shaking in fear as he loomed over me, his cruel expression and amused gaze making me beg in a barely audible whisper.

He narrowed his eyes a bit, watching me hang there, defeated and exposed. Then without saying anything, he took a step forward. It was his moment. Like a storm, a calamity waiting to happen. I was pathetic, too easy for him, now the monster in front of me loomed directly above me, his face obscured by the darkness of his cape.

I felt my heart race, but couldn't bear to move. My body shook as he lifted his forearm. Without a thought, he took my wrist and sliced open the rope with his dagger with one gesture.

I slammed back to the ground as my knees gave out below me. Before I could get my bearings, his hand clamped down on my arm and he pulled me up to standing with a strength I couldn't comprehend.

I gasped and panicked with my fast breath, knowing i could not get away. I was trapped.

The king looked at me as unattached as chimps might look at a dog that was just hurt. He smirked with a twisted mouth all of a sudden.

I opened my mouth to say something, to plead, but the words didn't come. I had no more strength to lie, to fight him. The coldness of his face relieved me of my purpose and made me feel small and weakened, and all I could do was shake my head and tremble my lips.

"Please...." I finally managed to hiss out. "Please, don't hurt me. I'm not who you think I am."

The king's golden eyes glimmered with dark amusement. "Oh, I think you are precisely who I think you are. The question is, though—how much will you beg before I set you free?"

"Please... I am not an assassin. I—I am only trying to find a place to hide. I... I am not your enemy." My voice broke as I spoke, clearly demonstrating the weight of my desperation.

The king's smile deepened, the cruel glimmer in his eyes fully awakening. "If you were not my enemy, you wouldn't be here. But now...,” he leaned closer, his voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "I will decide what you will do."

I simply stared at the ground, my heart racing and my body shaking with fear. In that moment, my pride and defiance evaporated.

"Tell me," he said softly, "do you want to die in a quick way? Or shall I make it more fun?"

My mind raced, it was not working properly. I wanted to scream, beg, do anything to make this stop. But the words wouldn't come. They were stuck in my throat — frozen by fear.

Finally, i forced her voice out, dry and shaking. "Please… don't..." It tasted like ash in my mouth. My pride had disappeared. My rebellion had disappeared. They had been replaced by fear and an instinct to survive. I didn’t want to die. Not here, not now.

The king's lips twisted into a dark smile. The look in his face was one of cruel amusement. His dark gaze flickered down to me as he studied me with calculating eyes. Then, without warning, his sword moved closer to me. The cold blade pressed against her neck and I could feel my heart quicken with panic. I felt the slight pressure against me, and knew in an instant it would be over. The air was heavy, oppressive with uncertainty.

Then, the atmosphere shifted.

For a heartbeat, he flinched. He lowered the sword ever so slightly, though it hardly changed position. He looked at me, and his gaze held depth, intent, and somehow... something else.

I couldn’t comprehend it, but for the briefest of seconds, i could feel it, an indication of sorts. As if - and i couldn’t explain why - there was an electric charge passing from one to the other, though it was extremely faint. It wasn't a zap, not even an itch, just a hint. I felt, almost tellingly, as though something passed through my veins.

He was immobilized, and for a heart-stopping heartbeat, I felt like I saw something flicker behind those cold eyes filled with mal intent.

Could it be - hesitation?

My heart jumped, and panic gripped me. Had he found something? Had he changed his mind? My skin began to tingle and... I have never felt someone watching melike this.

But then… it hit me.

As if struck by sudden lightning, the feeling in the air shifted again, but with a sudden, violent intensity. There was a tug, a deep pull in my chest that i could not explain. Not physical, not really but there was no mistaking it. I knew.

My breath went dry in my throat with my revelation.

He knows.

His eyes widened so fast, a flash of something played out on his perfect face. And it was gone; replaced by something darker, more predatory. But i felt it. That unrelenting force, like a magnet pulling us together.

It made my stomach churn.

I wasn’t ready for this. Not like this. Not when my life was hanging by a thread.

“Mate.”

The word flashed in my mind. It was nonsensical. I could barely get a breath as the feeling rushed through me, like a dam breaking from deep inside me.

But then, the king's reaction changed. His face went sour, his mouth twisted in a hard, almost disgustful sneer. His eyes narrowed, and an immediate tension went through him, almost a shiver.

“No,” he growled, almost spitting it, like a terrible growl from some great dinosaur. “No. This can’t be…”

I felt my chest tighten painfully, and breath was getting much harder as the draw between us stretched tighter.

But just like that, it left. His eyes darkened with chill rejection, and he backed away, an expression of disbelief on his face. He re-gripped his sword in his hand, almost squeezing the hilt in his hand, face contorted as he seemed to fight off something deep inside.

I lay there confused and gasped for air, the gravity of the moment weighing down on me like crushing underwater pressure. I wasn’t sure at all what had just happened to me. I knew only one thing for certain:

“This man, this king was my mate”

He stood with his hands balling into fists at his side rigid as stone, taking a rude step away. Lucian's eyes, still cold and now even more contemptuous, with hatred told me everything i needed to know about his feelings. But i knew the fight he was having with himself. I could see him struggle, fight, even. His body had reacted to me still.

"I will not accept this," he muttered, his voice cold and rough, practically spitting the last syllable as if having to scoop the very words from his mouth. "I'm not"

My heart raced still, but not just from fear. Something deeper had shifted in me, something instinctual and primal. I had no idea how to contain it, but i could feel it.

He was my mate.

And he just rejected me.

King Lucian turned his back on me and walked away, the ground shaking momentarily with the weight of his feet thumping against the ground. The tension was heavy, rapidly filling the air around me like a tornado sucking up everything that mattered to me.

His footsteps faded, departing from the scene, leaving the air in palpable tension. The thoughts ran wild inside him, a strange chaos of emotion that i could feel myself, almost like an echo of my own thoughts. I couldn't fathom what was happening; never have i experienced anything like this before. It felt as if he was speaking to me, but he was not using his voice. No. This... this was something other.

His voice intruded in my thoughts, brusque and wrapped in disgust, and underlying it all, tension. "This cannot be real. He cannot be my mate..."

My heart seemed to pause as panic flooded in with colours of disbelief, uncertainty, and terror.

“What the hell is happening?”

I could hear him. I could hear his voice in my mind

“No, this is impossible, he continued, his thoughts twisting with denial. I cannot be Mated to a boy, the Moon Goddess couldn’t have cursed me with this. No, I won’t accept it.”

My throat constricted as i felt the weight of his rejection. His mind was clear and sharp, a fortress of power and control. And yet, the pain, the repulsion i could sense in him, made my heart clench painfully in my chest.

But before he could finish, the connection snapped, as if the invisible thread that had briefly linked our minds had been severed with brutal force. The silence was deafening. I was left gasping for air, my chest tight, my whole body trembling with the overwhelming sensations.

His rejection felt like a physical blow to me, and yet i still couldn’t bring myself to stand. The emotions swirling inside me were alien, confusing. I didn’t understand why this bond, this thing between us felt so vital, so real. But he didn’t want me.

Not because i wasn’t enough, but because i was something he could never accept.

His voice was cold, indifferent, as he addressed his men. "Enough. Let’s head back to the palace."

The men, still alert, nodded in recognition, but there was hesitation from one of them, as he looked down at me, still on the ground, in a pile of dirt and blood. The question lay dangerously, "What shall we do with him, Your Majesty?"

The king's back stiffened. He didn't turn to look at me, but his voice rang finality, cutting through the air like a sword slicing things in two. "Bring him."

The word strangled for only a moment, confusing me, “What did he say?”

The King rarely had command questions. The guards exchanged glances, none daring to speak against him. One of them moved forward, grabbing me by the arms tightly, lifting me at will. The iron shackles of bonds held me captive to his joints.

I felt myself pulled to my feet, taking each step painfully.

I was dragged along, my legs barely carrying me and my head spinning. “What did he want from me now?”

And the king was ahead, still with his back to me his voice carrying in the cold air.

"He's a potential threat but I'll keep him where I can see him. If he's an assassin... then I want to see what he can really do."

"But we both knew that was a lie."