All Chapters of Bound to the Hybrid King: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The Royal Palace of Iskeld had a hundred rooms built for luxury and life but to Theia it was a cold and miserable place.She resided in the East Wing, separated from the main residential West Wing. In Theia’s wing, the gleaming palace hallways narrowed, and the stone walls became worn and damp. Still beautiful because everything in her father's house had to be beautiful, that was its curse, because the beauty of the place was just another thing that stung her heart. She was always just on the outskirts of it.Ivy crept along the outer walls in a slow, creeping green conquest. Frost etched the windows each winter in patterns that no one other than Theia seemed to admire. She had learned to love the East Wing the way one learns to love a scar. Not by choice, but because it was hers, and little else that was.She rose before the sun most mornings and stood at her window watching the light climb over the eastern hills. It was, she thought, the only part of the day that belonged entirely t

General Callan stayed. Theia was aware of his every moment. She was so tensely wound she thought she might break, and Callan was so easily calm and casual she wanted to scream. Wanted to rage at him for intruding on their sacred time. But she did non of those things. No, instead she smiled and played and pretended it was all normal.They spent the whole hour before the twins' supper in the garden. Theia was weaving a crown of daisies for Isme and Callan watching Theia intently through side way glances as Mikka narrated an elaborate battle against invisible foes and Callan indulged the make-believe story.In the end, both children were talking over one another in the joyful, chaotic way of siblings. Theia listened to all of it and tried to interact with the General as little as possible. It was a balancing act, not to outright ignore him but not offer too much either. She had so very little left of herself as it was.She had grown skilled at observing and listening, it was, perhaps, th

Theia went to that place inside her mind. Where she so often retreated to when the room became somewhere she could not afford to be. It was no longer her on the bed, it was no longe her body being touched. She was still and somewhere far away.Callan weight came down against her body and his grip moved from her wrist to her hip and the words continued, whispered with a closeness she had no way to increase the distance from.You’re mine, do you understand that? You've always been mine.He yanked her nightdress off, ripping it. Forcing her legs apart with his own.No one is coming for you.No one else wants you, Theia. Be a good girl.He gripped her hair so tightly her scalped screamed as he yanked her head to the side and he kissed her hard.You’re nothing without me, nothing at all…He undid his belt and pulled his pants down and then pushed himself into her hard and with all his anger. Pinning her wrists above her head with a hold that felt like he might snap them. She yelped despit

All thoughts eddied out of Theia's brain. Her heart stopped. The only small mercy was her face remained blank.The Hybrid Kings name whipped through the hall like wildfire. Theia had heard of him before, in fragments. Nikolai Ashryn the king who united the wolves and vampires after centuries of bloody conflict. It was long believed impossible, but he had done it. Had done it, they said, through sheer force of power, with blood and violence. He was rumoured to be truly monstrous. A male without an equal and as such he ruled without mercy. A half vampire and half werewolf, who had ended a war between his own two peoples in less than a decade with one of the bloodiest rebellions Aretrea had seen, was now using a far less violent means to find peace with humans. Something about that did not sit right with Theia.Theia had heard a serving girl whisper once that Nikolai had not smiled in a hundred years. She had not believed it at the time. Now, for some reason, it was all she could think a

Theia took a deep breath and forced herself back into the present, her head was spinning with too much information. She didn’t want to be distracted by it right now. Instead, she focused her mind on the here and now. To Isme and Mikka.She found them already waiting for her, and she smiled as Isme ran and greeted her with the same massive, forced smile she had for the past week. Theia’s heart broke a little more each time. Mikka's quiet had turned into brooding, if almost five-year-olds could brood.Theia had to be careful not to bend so neither of them could wrap their arms around her ribs. Instead, she let them wrap their little arms about her legs and held their heads gently to her hips. They stayed like that for a few precious, quiet minutes. She soaked it in. This is what she would miss the most. The quiet surety that they were safe in her arms. Eventually, Theia softly encouraged them to go play in the garden.After a while, the twins settled on the grass. Theia had snuck some c