Chapter 24
Chapter 24
WADE
I’m back in the garden again.
The sun’s warm on my back, dirt stuck beneath my nails as I pres a petunia into the soil. The scent of earth and grass clings to my skin. I hear her before I see her–light laughter, like she’s ways been able to find joy in the smallest goddamn things.
Sorin’s kneeling across from me, her long hair falling forward as she digs with her tiny hands. She’s got soil smeared across her check, like war paint, but she doesn’t care. She looks up, holding out a lily, roots dangling, petals brushing against her
wrist.
“This one’s for you, Wade,” she says, proud as though she just discovered gold. “When it blooms, it’ll be a symbol that I love you. One day, you’ll be my mate p>
Her smile’s wide, innocent, so certain of a future she has no clue will fall apart in the ugliest ways.
I laugh, boyish and dumb, clutching my own flower like it’s some priceless treasure. “And this petunia’s for you. I’ll grow an entire garden out of these, just for us. A whole kingdom of flowers p>
Behind us, my mother crouches, her soft hand patting both our heads. She smells like lavender and home. “You’ll both be great rulers one day. Together p>
I’m smiling. Sorin’s smiling. My mom’s alive.
It should end here. The dream always ends here.
But it doesn’t.
The sky darkens. The garden shifts. The warmth drains, replaced by the crackling roar of fire. Flames eat up the lilies, the petunias, the soil itself. The heat slams into me, blistering, choking.
I turn, and my mom’s caught in it. Fire swallowing her whole. Her scream tears through me, sharp and raw. I move, but Sorin’s faster. She bolts toward the blaze, barefoot, fearless, the ly still clenched in her hand.
“No! Sorin, don’t-” My voice breaks, my throat raw with smoke and panic. I grab her wrist, but she twists, slipping through my grip like water.
Her eyes meet mine, and she smiles. Calm. Always so fucking calm, even when the world’s burning.
“I have to save her,” she whispers.
“You can’t–she’ll kill you!” My hands shake, pulling at her, begging.
She presses the lily against my chest, her little palm hot with sweat and ash. “Then let me burn with her p>
And then she rips free, running straight into the inferno.
“Sorin p>
The fire swallows her whole.
“NO p>
I jolt upright, lungs seizing, chest heaving like I just inhaled half he flames myself. Sweat drenches me, dripping down my temples, sticking to the sheets. My heart’s a hammer in my ribs, bounding so loud I can’t hear anything else.
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Chapter 24
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My hand shoots to the empty space beside me out of habit, expeting her. Expecting the quiet way she’d roll toward me. shove her icy fingers into mine, and mutter that I’m a dumbass for letting a dream shake me like that. Sorin had a way of talking me down, dragging me back to earth when my head was
But the hand I grab isn’t hers.
iness.
It’s smaller, too soft. Painted nails dig into my skin as she shifts oser, her scent wrapping around me–cloying, wrong.
Ariel.
Her chest presses into my arm, her breath brushing my shoulder as she clutches me in her sleep, like she owns the right to
My stomach twists.
Fuck.
I peel it off, careful not to wake her, and slide out of the bed. My legs feel heavy, like I’ve been running for miles, but I drag myself toward the water pitcher sitting on the table near the window. My throat burns, dry as hell, so I pour a glass, the sound of water hitting crystal louder than it should be in the silence.
I bring the glass to my lips, and that’s when I see it.
The flame.
Not some weak flicker–no. Yellow fire, big and violent, roaring against the night. It spreads, eating up stone like it’s paper, but only in one place. The dungeon.
The glass slips from my hand. Shatters against the floor. The sound rips Ariel out of her sleep.
“What was that?” she snaps, voice sharp, eyes blinking open in the dark.
I can’t answer. My tongue feels nailed to the roof of my mouth a I stare at the fire, heart hammering.
A knock slams against the door before I can speak.
Ariel sits up, hair tumbling over her shoulders. “What is it?” she calls, because I’m still too busy staring like an idiot.
One of my attendants stumbles inside, face pale, words tumbling out of him in a rush. “Alpha–it’s the dungeon. It’s–there’s a fire. We p>
Ariel gasps, her hand covering her mouth.
The words barely process. My ears ring. My gut twists, sour and harp. My eyes don’t leave the flames clawing at the night sky.
“Put it out.” The words scrape out of my throat, low, quiet.
The man blinks like he didn’t hear me.
I snap, my voice ripping out of me this time. “PUT IT OUT. NOW p>
He jumps, nods furiously, then bolts back into the hall.
I don’t think. My body moves on its own, legs carrying me through corridors, down the steps, through doors flung wide. The air changes the closer I get–hotter, heavier, thick with smoke. 13 the time I reach the grounds, my skin is already damp
with heat.
Chaos everywhere. Warriors rushing with buckets, others barking orders, and right in the center of hell–him.
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Chapter 24
The Lycan King.
Alaric fucking Hayes.
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He’s in the middle of the flames like he’s untouchable. Black shit clings to his body with sweat, his massive shoulders lit up by the blaze behind him, golden eyes glowing like they belong to the fire itself.
He carries a body in his arms. A woman–limp, burnt, her hair barely clinging to her scalp. He lays her down gently on the ground where another man crouches, checking pulses, checking faces.
Then Alaric turns and goes back into the inferno. Like he’s immune. Like the flames part for him.
I can’t tear my eyes away.
“What the fuck is he doing?” I ask, voice hoarse, directed at the nearest guard running past.
The guy spares me a glance, sweat streaking his soot–stained face “Looking for the body of the former Luna. Sorin Carter p>
The name punches through my ribs. My mouth goes dry. “He’s looking for Sorin p>
The man nods before sprinting off again.
Sorin.
The fucking dungeon.
My heart slams against my chest, harder and harder until I can hear it in my ears. Sorin. She’s in there.
For hours, it feels like, Alaric goes in and out, dragging out women one by one, some still breathing, most not. The stench of burned flesh clogs my nose, sticking to the back of my throat until I think I’m going to throw up. Sweat drips into my eyes, stinging, mixing with ash floating through the air like black snow
I pace. My boots crunch over charred dirt and broken wood. My hands won’t stop shaking.
Sorin’s voice echoes in my head.
I’m tired, Wade. I’m tired of us. Of this. Of you.
I drag a hand through my hair, gripping hard enough to rip some out. I told myself she didn’t mean it. Told myself she’d come around. She always came around.
I spot a patch of lilies by the garden wall, untouched by the fire. My chest caves in as I pluck one, twirling the stem between my fingers. I picture her wearing white again, her hair braided with these same lilies on the day we-
I shake the thought off. If Alaric pulls her out of there alive… maybe I can fix it. Maybe she’ll understand I was just angry. That I didn’t mean the things I said. Maybe I can take her back—not as Luna, Ariel has that title now, she’s carrying my heir -but maybe Sorin can still be mine. A concubine. Something. Anything.
I can’t finish the thought.
Because the examiner–the one cataloguing the bodies Alaric lays out–stops. He crouches over a charred figure, blackened to the bone, but something glints at the wrist.
A bracelet.
My breath stalls.
The man lifts it carefully, eyes grim. “This one… the former Luna
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Chapter 24
Alaric freezes. His back straightens, golden eyes burning through the night.
The examiner bows his head. “My condolences, Your Highness.
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Silence crashes down. Not a word. Not a sound. Just fire popping in the distance, smoke biting the air, and my pulse hammering against my temples.
The lily slips from my hand. Falls into the dirt.
Dead.
Sorin is dead.
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