Snarling, he spun away from the balcony with renewed rage, his cloak whipping behind him. His boots slammed against the marble as he stormed back to Ivone, who still sat shackled to the bed, staring at him with narrowed eyes, one wrist chained, her body tense with uncertainty.He crossed the room in swift, angry strides. “You won’t be here for him to find,” he spat, grabbing the chain and unlocking it with a swift flick of the key he pulled from around his neck.Ivone jerked back, but he caught her before she could react. His hand clamped around the back of her neck, fingers digging cruelly into her skin as he yanked her from the bed.“Let go of me!” she screamed, struggling to pry his hand off.“Quiet!” he barked, dragging her toward the door.She kicked against him, twisting her body, but it only made him grip tighter. “You think he’ll save you?” Reyes growled. “You think I’ll let him take you from me after everything I have come to learn?”“Triston will kill you,” she spat, breathl
Triston and Xaren moved like shadows under the blood-soaked sky, their paws pounding against the earth as the sounds of battle grew fainter behind them. They had broken through the thick of the fighting, carving a path of fury and vengeance through the Nyxorian ranks, leaving bodies in their wake. Triston had left Jaxon in charge of leading the troops, knowing that he could do a good job of it.The scent of ash and iron clung to the wind, and though Triston's wounds throbbed with every stride—his leg still bleeding from Dathan’s arrow—his resolve never faltered. They shifted back into their human forms once they reached the tree line that marked the castle’s outer perimeter, cloaked in the sharp scent of pine and smoke. The towering walls of the Nyxorian stronghold loomed in the near distance, dark and unwelcoming, like a beast watching them approach.“We're close,” Xaren said, wiping a bloodied blade against his already-stained trousers. His eyes burned with the same mixture of rage
Ivone didn’t flinch, didn’t speak. Only the faint sound of her breathing moved between them. When she finally spoke, her voice was low. Cold. Distant. “If you’ve come to gloat,” she said, her eyes still fixed on the horizon beyond the balcony, “you’ll have to try harder. I can’t hear you over the sound of your army dying.”A muscle in Reyes’s jaw ticked, but his voice, when it came, was smooth and measured. “On the contrary,” he said. “I came to give you a gift.”He smirked as he strode across the room, the heavy fall of his boots softened only slightly by the ornate rugs beneath them. He paused by the balcony, parting the curtains with one hand to glance out at the hazy horizon where distant fires and smoke curled into the pale morning sky. The faint clamor of battle still echoed from beyond the castle walls—shouts, steel, the raw sound of chaos.Without turning to face her, he spoke, his voice dripping with mockery. “Still hoping your precious Triston will come riding in to save you
“Look at me,” he said softly.Zina tried to turn her gaze away, ashamed, but his grip tightened just enough to still her. Her eyes, bloodshot and glassy, met his. She looked utterly broken, yet beneath the tears and fear, a flicker of something else—guilt? regret?—still lingered.Reyes smiled, though there was no warmth in it. “Is this what you’ve been reduced to, Zina?” he asked, his thumb brushing a tear from her cheek. “The proud serpent of my court, now weeping in the dirt like a child?” he murmured, tilting her head slightly. “Look at you. Groveling.”She flinched, more at the tone than the words.“I—I never meant to betray you,” she stammered as her voice broke. “I was misled. Confused. I only ever wanted to serve you, I thought I was doing what was best—”“What was best for you,” Reyes corrected, his voice dipping lower. “Not for me. Not for Nyxora.”She blinked rapidly, tears spilling again. “Please… give me a chance to make it right. I lost my way but I—I’ll prove myself, I s
Reyes rode hard from the battlefield, his cloak snapping behind him like a war banner soaked in the fury of the day. The castle loomed ahead, dark and imposing, its spires cutting into the overcast sky like jagged blades. Even from within its stone walls, the distant cries of war—clashing steel, anguished screams, the rhythmic beat of war drums—bled through the air like ghosts refusing to be ignored.He dismounted before his horse had fully stopped, boots slamming into the gravel with controlled urgency. His guards rushed forward to take the reins, but Reyes waved them off with a sharp gesture. His face was tight with simmering rage, the kind that made even his loyal men shrink back instinctively.“Seal the gates,” he snapped to the nearest guard. “I want every man who can still grip a sword ready to ride again within the hour. No exceptions.”The soldier gave a sharp nod, turning at once to carry out the order. But before he could disappear from sight, Reyes called after him. “The El
“Don’t you dare die on me,” Triston ordered, his voice trembling with fury and desperation. “Hold on. We’ll get you out of here. Jaxon, Xaren—get the damn arrows out of the way! Clear the field!”But Revin shook his head weakly, his breath rattling in his lungs. “Listen… to me.” His fingers twitched, barely gripping the front of Triston’s torn tunic. “Ivone… she can’t stay there. Don’t let… don’t let Reyes keep her… not a day longer.”Triston’s throat tightened, his jaw clenched as he fought to hold back the emotions clawing at him. “I swear it. I’ll bring her back. You’ll see. We’ll—”“No,” Revin whispered, his voice breaking. “It… it gets worse for her. If you don’t… stop him now… you’ll lose her.” His eyes clouded, his strength slipping like water through his fingers. “Promise me…”Triston swallowed hard, the world around him narrowing until there was nothing but Revin’s face, pale and bloodied. “I promise,” he said, voice like a vow carved in stone.Revin exhaled—a final, shudderi