LOGINLucian’s POVSIX YEARS LATER“Dada! The sun is out!”I was deeply asleep, the kind of sleep that had become normal over the years because I haven’t had to worry about a long-lasting problem like Vera or Axel. Other than the rare attacks of stray rogues, we haven’t had any critical problems.The thirty-five pounds of my four-year-old daughter landed on my back just like I expected and she balanced her weight there.“Kimberly. Good morning to you too.” I said with a sleepy voice.“Come, let’s go. Mom wants to give us food. She made pasta!” She yelled and at that, I got up and sat in a way that she was sitting on my lap.“Pasta?” I repeated after her she nodded her very small head.I gently placed her on the bed and went to do my morning routine quickly then went downstairs with her sitting on my neck, her hands splayed across my head.Only goodness knows where Selene got the recipe for the pasta she makes. It has been the best I have ever tasted. But sometime last month, I went against
Azriel’s POVI should have left the kingdom since the moment Selene got back, because a part of me knew that Axel might have told them at the verge of death. He’s the only one who knows the truth, and I didn't even know how he got to find out.“The observers” is a very secret organization that a whole lot of people don’t know about. The day he called me aside to tell me that he knew, I was more than shocked.And he didn’t call me for any reason, it was that he wanted me to spy on Selene and, by extension, the king.I declare because I was already getting struck enough with the guilt of knowing that I didn’t come into Selene’s life as a friend but a spy. Though I forgot my primary obligation at some point and really did become friends with her, the fact remained that she mustn’t know that I was a spy.And of course, Axel wasn’t very happy with my refusal, he threatened to rat me out to the king. The threat was very scary because I knew that he’d have evidence to back up the claims but
Selene’s POVI was discharged in the morning and Lucian negotiated the discharge paperwork that was handed over to us. He spoke to the healer, the healer’s supervisor, and the supervisor’s supervisor, all because he wanted to be sure that I wasn’t being released prematurely.I watched everything unfold from the bed where I was still sitting because he ordered me not to move. I barely have any more injuries on me anymore but I still have bandages all over me. I was too tired and sore in the chest to argue with him this morning.He finally came back to me and just like I predicted, he didn’t allow my legs to touch the floor at all. I also didn’t argue with him, and even when we got into the car and saw that he had a driver there so we could sit side by side and he’d hold my hands in both of his.I was so certain that if he had the chance, he’d cradle me on his lap.“I’m fine, Lucian. I’m really not going to die if you look away from me for a second.”“You were struck in the chest and at
Lucian’s POVThe nearest medical facility with enough equipment to handle dark magic and the kind of injury that Selene sustained was on the neutral grounds amd it was three minutes away from where we were. I had never wished that I knew medicine like I did at that moment.I carried her, half Kairos and half my own form. I could barely see through the tension rising in me, nor could I hear her heartbeat well over my racing one.I didn’t wait to use a car, Kairos was two times faster than any car we’d find. So, we cut down the three minutes to one minute and thirty seconds.When we got to the hospital and I was told to place her on a stretcher, I refused. “Where’s the room she’ll be taken to?” I asked them, knowing they’d be so slow that Kairos might fully shift right there in that hallway.They seemed to understand what was going on and really pointed me to the room that they intended to put her in. I dropped her there and only then did I look up to look around the room and it was to
Selene’s POVHe looked at Vera on the ground and the look on his face wasn’t one that I was familiar with.No one answered the question he just asked, we were all just staring at Vera’s body on the ground. More black blood pooled out of her body.I looked back at Axel and saw that he didn’t even look like what he was when he was the council head, nor did he look like he looked when he sat across from me and Lucian and confessed to being willing enough to assist with taking down Vera.He looked like a man who was consumed by guilt instead. The real and unmanaged kind of grief that didn’t care if anyone was watching.“What have you done?!” He yelled.I straightened and stood up properly, “She’s dead, Axel.” I said, still trying to figure out why he looked like he had just been told very bad news.He looked up from Vera to me and the expression on his face was no longer grief but… anger.“You killed her.” He said in an accusing tone.“She would have killed everyone in this room,” I said
Lucian’s POVShe rose up and the feeling of familiarity struck me hard. I had surely seen her before. That, I was sure of.Vera’s eyes moved from mine, going past mine to Selene who was a bit beside and behind me. She had just the exact hatred of a woman who has spent thirty years hating another person and has just gotten the opportunity to come face to face with them.“And you…” she trailed off, pointing at Selene. “You who walked in and took everything that was meant to be—”I cut her off and shook my head, “This ends tonight.”She did not come at me quietly. I swiftly moved Selene behind me while Vera stretched out her hand and moved with the speed of someone who has been using dark magic as their supplement for years, one that wasn’t in any way similar to natural speed but rather the one that seemed borrowed and was burning hard.The same vessel that she used on Selene — the dark magic — was pointed at my warriors and two of them flew across the room, hitting the wall. Selene yelp
Lucian’s POVThe proposal didn’t put me in a good mood, as I just got information about an investment that was meant to be done in the kingdom, so I just waved it off, thinking it was one of Elysia’s silly tricks.But colour me shocked when another warrior approached me with another letter, or rath
Lucian’s POVI really wished that yesterday never came to an end. And the aftermath? I walked out of the room this morning with a smile on my face — a smile that I had no idea was there at all. It was when a guard who was at the corridor the momemt I walked out.A mortified look came up on his face
Selene’s POVI didn’t know how, but I had one of the best sleeps last night. It wasn’t even meant to be so because I was sure as hell that my mind was in a big chaos before I finally closed my eyes. Last night ended in a weirdly good way.And on waking up, the first thing I felt was the mark. It wa
Lucian’s POVAn uprising. It was the last thing that I needed on my table at the moment. After everything that went down in the last couple of weeks, I had been doing everything within my power to get my people together again.An uprising wouldn’t just scatter everything, it would also make it all







