Chapter 50
(Lily’s POV)
I didn’t realize how fast I was walking until I ran out of breath.
The King’s words still rang in my ears “She’s my daughter now… hold me accountable,”
In a room full of powerful elders who wanted me gone, the king hadn’t hesitated but stood for me. It meant everything.
I slipped farther into the shadows of the court room, but before I could take another step, an arm reached out and yanked me into a hidden spot behind a pillar.
A strong hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shhh,” Lucien whispered, and I stopped struggling.
Finally he let me go, and I stumbled back with a glare. “Are you insane?!”
He looked shaken too, but there was relief in his eyes. “If you hadn’t left the corridor just then, the King and those elders would have seen you. You were too close.”
I peeked back through the gap and he was right, the King and the elders just passed the hallway I had abandoned. Their voices were low and serious. It could’ve gotten bad if they saw me.
I let out a slow breath. “Thanks,” I muttered, still rattled.
We stepped out from the shadows and I expected him to walk off, but instead, he just stood there looking at me.
His expression had changed into a soft, uncertain one. “Lily… I still love you.”
I blinked. A part of me wanted to laugh. “Don’t be stupid.”
He flinched like I’d slapped him.
“You have a mate,” I added. “Or did you forget? How can you be so unfaithful!”
That shut him up.
We walked like that for a while, the silence stretching awkwardly between us. I didn’t want to hear anything else. I didn’t want to deal with the ache in my heart, or the weight he carried like he was the victim.
We turned into a corner when we ran into Aria and Tobe. Their eyes immediately scanned from me to Lucien.
I braced myself for the questions and judgement, but Aria only stepped forward, “Can we talk?” she asked me softly, ignoring Lucien completely.
I stared at her. “It’s not me you should be talking to, it’s him!” I said flatly, pointing to Lucien.
Her brows pulled slightly in confusion, but I didn’t wait for a reply. I reached for Tobe’s wrist and pulled him along.
He followed without a word- but not before turning and giving Lucien a hard glare, raising two fingers to his own eyes and
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then at him to say “I’m watching you.”
Lucien didn’t say anything. He just stood there, watching us walk away.
Tobe and I hadn’t gone far when we heard growls and screams.
“A fight’s breaking out!” a maid’s voice echoed in the hallway. “The Prince is fighting a silver–haired boy!”
Tobe and I froze, then exchanged glances.
We broke into a run, cutting through the corridor and back into the west courtyard. There was already a large crowd gathering of our schoolmates, nobles, guards… I pushed through as quickly as I could, and then- my stomach dropped.
Zion and Dev were in a bloody fight. They had both shifted into their beasts; Ragnar and Vorren.
While Vorren was smaller with his silver–streaked fur, he was fast, and I could tell by the twist of his snarl… he wasn’t thinking anymore.
He had lost control.
Ragnar stood tall, and towering. His black form pulsed with raw power, claws carving into the stone tiles with every movement… and in the middle of it all Zelda was crying helplessly.
“Stop! Please!” she shouted, “Dev, Zion, don’t do this!”
But they didn’t listen.
Tobe leapt forward to try to get to Vorren. To snap Dev out of whatever rage he had let himself fall into.
No one else knew what we knew.
Dev wasn’t just a teenage werewolf. He, Aria, and Tobe also had little Demon sides. They were children of Pison’s trusted circle… and were touched by darkness. Their demons didn’t take form, not fully but when their emotions spiral out of control, they become lethal.
Tonight, it had. And it terrified me.
I wasn’t scared for Zion, but rather about what the elders would do when they found out about them… my friends‘ identity.
The crowd pressed around me, panicking, and somewhere in the chaos, the Queen had emerged, her gown sweeping through the courtyard. The King followed closely, the elders and guards behind him. I saw Principal Thamior yelling, but no one listened.
Everything was chaotic. I stepped back, trying to find an opening toward Zelda when it happened… A sharp metal sting at my neck.
My hand flew up instinctively, but I was too late.
I gasped as my knees buckled.
The last thing I saw was the sky spinning above me, and Ragnar’s growl reverberating in the distance…. Darkness called, and I succumbed to it.
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12:55 Wed, Jul 30
