Liora went still.
It would have been a lie if she said that she wasn’t scared, aware that it would have been a different case if Aria could save her. Her fingers twitched at her side, nails digging slightly into her palm as she forced herself not to move. Fear crawled up her spine, cold and persistent.
Worse, Zyren continued to kill anyone that ca too close. Her blood ability was dangerous and the attack force imnse, but if she couldn’t end Zyren in one go, she would die. There would be no second chance, no ti to recover, no rcy given.
Slowly, she retracted the step she had taken forward and stepped back to exactly where Aria stood. The air around them felt heavier, thick with the stench of blood and burned flesh.
Her gaze widened more than usual to ensure that she didn’t miss a single part of what was happening. Every movent, every breath, every flicker of energy mattered now.
Aria too paid attention like her life depended on it, doing her best to look for any survivors she could heal. Her eyes darted rapidly across the battlefield, hands clenched and unclenched, light flickering faintly beneath her skin. But it soon beca very clear that Zyren went out of his way to make sure that everyone he tortured died before he let them go.
There were no survivors.
But at the sa ti, it was becoming extrely obvious that Zyren was becoming weaker—and more importantly was the look of pain on his face, one that Aria enjoyed more than she thought was possible.
I shouldn’t feel this way, she thought fleetingly, yet her lips pressed together to keep from smiling.
Recalling all the tis she had felt helpless and he had been her lord.
Yet at the sa ti, at the sa place where the joy she felt was, there was also a pain she couldn’t understand.
One she instantly ascribed to be from the bond between them cause why else would she want to jump forward and desperately save him.
Sothing that was completely inane.
He looked like he was being burned from the inside as he groaned out loud, which was probably what was happening since that was what King Jared was convinced would happen. The artifact’s power pulsed invisibly through the air, biting into Zyren’s very essence.
Zyren had been standing even as he intermittently killed people one after the other, only for the next second to drop to one knee with everyone’s gaze fixed on him. The impact cracked the ground beneath him slightly, sending dust and blood misting into the air.
Clearly, whatever the sa contained was toxic to him as blood slowly dripped down his nose and mouth in thin strips, staining the ground beneath him.
The werewolves and hunters carefully looked on even as they tightened their hands on their weapons, ready to use them. Muscles tensed, teeth bared, eyes sharp with anticipation.
But the vampires now had a dilemma in their hands.
Zyren was weak and strongly wounded, monts away from being besieged by the enemies around him.
If they joined and stood with him, they would die like dogs considering the fact that they were outnumbered and could be easily taken down once the cloaks and clothes they used in covering themselves were torn.
Yes they were strong but even they knew that they couldn’t fight against hundreds especially for a man they weren’t even sure would survive.
Zyren had killed a huge number of people—but even more remained.
The lords glanced at each other one after the other, almost like they were quietly communicating amongst themselves without words. Silent decisions were being made in those fleeting looks.
Lord Virelle and Lord Noctare in particular had taken huge steps back, directly stating their stance and where they stood. Their retreat was deliberate, unmistakable.
Lord Drehk was yet to move.
Lady Lythari stood beside him as she whispered urgently into his ear, her fingers gripping his arm tightly.
"Zyren is strong, but even he can’t overco an artifact! If we join him, we’ll die!" she said, her voice trembling despite her effort to remain composed.
"King Jared won’t kill us. He needs us to join him to fight the Zygons!" she added.
But she might as well have been speaking to the wind.
Lord Drehk, without saying a word, stepped forward.
Slowly but sure, until he got to where Zyren half-knelt on the ground, blood still gushing out of his mouth in a way that showed that he was terribly wounded—and it was getting worse with every passing second.
Lord Drehk drew his sword.
The tal sang softly as it left its sheath, catching the dim light. At the sa ti, he heard Zyren speak in a low tone, too low to be heard by anyone else but him.
"You fool!"
Rymora stood not too far away from Aria but closer to where the bulk of the vampire soldiers were. She did her best not to stand out, since the last thing she wanted was to be identified by anyone she previously knew.
Her cloak was pulled tight, her posture unremarkable, her expression carefully neutral.
Her mind went over her plan to escape and where exactly on the journey back she would do it, including the city she would settle in. She replayed the routes again and again in her head, refining each detail.
She had even gone as far as to plan what job she could do—one that wasn’t physically dangerous and at the sa ti safe for the baby.
I could work at an apothecary... or a small shop, she thought absently.
Her plans were enormous as she planned back and forth for what was going to be her future life, even as she watched Zyren suffer—soone she did not care about.
Neither did she care about the werewolf realm, so much so that the only thing she cared about and was intent on putting her focus on was her baby.
That’s all that matters now.
Yet she was still staring ahead, her thoughts elsewhere, when she heard a low murmur that brought her mind back. She fixed her gaze forward, her eyes widening ever so slightly.
She was stunned to see Lord Drehk standing mighty tall right beside King Zyren, who was about to be killed and already dying.
Her heart couldn’t help but skip a beat as she focused her eyes on him, even more stunned when she watched him shift his gaze toward her.
Their eyes t.
Her heart thumped faster than she would have liked even as she quickly shifted her gaze away from him, trying to calm her racing heart down.
This is foolish, she told herself. Dangerous.
She knew she cared about Lord Drehk, but never did she think she cared about him enough to want to step forward and drag him away from the stupid decision he had just made.
Why would you do this? she wondered desperately.
Yet no matter how much she wanted to, as tears welled up in her eyes, she knew she wouldn’t.
She had already chosen her baby, which ant that she also had to make sure her safety ca first.
Holding back her tears, she watched Zyren still killing people—but it was clear that he was struggling much more than usual simply to kill one person. Each movent was slower, each strike less precise.
But monts later, sothing changed.
There had been a boundary none could pass.
Until soone stepped forward.
Closer to Zyren, with barely steps between them—and nothing happened.
He himself had been stunned, ready to be decapitated and die for the werewolf realm like those before him.
The last thing he expected was for nothing to happen. For nothing to change.
Instead, more blood gushed out of Zyren’s mouth as he coughed violently, his body jerking with the force.
The person who had stepped forward aid a dagger straight at Zyren.
And threw it.
Everyone watched in amazent as Zyren couldn’t even dodge it.
At the sa ti, Lord Drehk moved.
He was the one who deflected it on Zyren’s behalf, his blade striking the dagger midair and sending it clattering harmlessly to the ground.
At that exact mont, everyone could feel the shift in the air.
The balance changed.
All at once, Zyren beca nothing but prey.
And everyone on the opposite side turned into a hunter.
King Jared also chose that exact mont to finally step forward, a grand grin on his face as he stood proudly in front of Zyren, barely two steps away.
His presence alone seed to press down on the battlefield.
His smile was wide, almost pleased—but his eyes were cold as ice. They were still gold-colored, but his gaze was dark in a way that said that he would like nothing more than to slice Zyren into pieces.
The air seed to freeze as he spoke.
"You’ll die, and it won’t be quick!"
He said it calmly.
He said it like it was a declaration.
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