Chapter 21 -  Run Apollo We were escorted from the throne room, from hell. Actually, I was pretty sure the King of the underworld had more dignity than this male ever did.  It took everything in me not to lung at him just for the way he eyed Nesrin up. Like she was a fucking snack he couldn't wait to devour. I was sure if I still had my wolf, I would have snapped, unable to hold him back. But, even without him, I still had this primal need to protect Nesrin. I noticed it before all of this, but I kept pushing it down. I might have even considered choosing her as my mate if things were different.  But who was I kidding? If things were different, I would have never lost my wolf, and I would have joined the royal guards and probably never had a chance to meet he

Chapter 23 -  Beasts Nesrin Three days. We had been stuck in this forest for three days. Heading in some random direction. Without my compass and not knowing where the portal had to spit us out, we were blind.  Without any actual food and water, we were weak. I shifted when I could, but it was also a huge risk. Ahmes made our scent all that easier to track. The dark magic clung to us like a second layer of skin and made it even harder to use our own magic to help us. We were reduced to reserving our magic and had to hunt for our food without it. My feet were raw from walking barefoot, and the dress I had fled in was hardly enough to keep me warm as we walked through the rugged terrain. So far, the only saving grace was that we hadn't encountered any creatures

Chapter 25 - Shadows Nesrin It's a strange feeling, being stuck between two realities, teetering on the edge of life and death. One reality was filled with promises of freedom, happiness, and never-ending possibilities. The other was filled with truths, twisted fates, and choices that would taint one's soul beyond redemption.  I could hear the faint whispers of both places. The power of one's pull shifted constantly. I felt no pain here, but I also felt no peace. It was as if I was stuck in a dream I couldn't wake from.  I could hear shadows whispering around me as I floated in the black abyss that seemed to cover me. The air was cold, and if I had a body, I knew it would have been frozen.  The only sensation that seemed to change was the

Chapter 27 - Value   Apollo   I couldn't help but feel responsible for all of this. And honestly, it was my fault. So the feeling wasn't entirely wrong. If I had never done any of this, then maybe I would have had a little more time with Ilaria. I would have worked my way up the ranks and met Nesrin differently. We would never have come to this horrible place, and she would still be her kind, loving self, free from the horrors of this world that would now haunt her nightmares.   I understood why she avoided me all night. Why she hadn't said more than a couple of words to me this morning, I deserved her hatred. And I knew this would come, the hatred the resentment, but I didn't expect it to bother me so much.    I gritted my teeth as I turned my focus towards the straps on my saddle. The Nightrider I was given huffed impatiently as it waited for me to fi

Chapter 29 - The Abyss Nesrin  My night resulted in very little sleep as I turned over every thought of the past two weeks in my head. The eerily silent night didn't help ease my worries either. All of the Dark realms held a presence to it that made your skin crawl, but the closer we got to the North, the more unsettling that feeling became.  Everything about Sol was terrifying, which felt like a joke within itself, considering the word meant sun—besides the sky always being grey. The fog that never seemed to dissipate and the dark magic constantly weighing down on us. The vegetation and wildlife seemed to be stuck in a frozen state between death and torment. This place was death within itself, and it seemed the further we went, the more prominentnate that statement became.