Chapter 206
Chapter 206
Kieran pov
Two days later.
He was scary.
That man. Zayn, he was both terrifying and sneaky. I had always thought he was just lucky to be the leader of the rogues, a lazy bastard who wasn’t nearly as dangerous as people claimed. He never seemed to pay attention to the camp, never seemed to care about anything except his sick obsession with becoming king and the twisted entertainment he seemed to get from the Lycan King. I thought he wasn’t a threat, that I could simply follow him, get my revenge, and take what I wanted.
But I could never have imagined he’d actually do something like this.
Branding every one of us with a tattoo, a curse that would kill us if we ever revealed his identity or anything he didn’t want known. He left us with two options: remain faithful… or die a painful death.
That was what he’d said two days ago. And despite everyone being clearly furious about having a curse branded into their skin, no one could speak up, no one could protest. We couldn’t.
Zayn was a terrifying bastard. Before we left, he’d warned us not to let this information get out, that even this was a secret he didn’t want anyone to know. If we spoke of it, we would die. He gave us no choice but to stay silent.
But perhaps one of the commanders didn’t believe him. He called his troupe and tried to reveal what Zayn had told us. Foolish, if you ask me. Even if it had been false information, he was stupid enough to test it. And just as you’d imagine, the moment he tried to speak, he spat blood and died a slow, agonizing death in front of everyone.
I wasn’t there to see it myself, but those who were said it was horrific, blood pouring from his eyes and ears before he collapsed, lifeless, on the ground.
Now, after that gruesome confirmation, no one dares say anything about that day. Not after more people began meeting the same fate in camp, one by one, falling to their deaths.
And now as I stared at Aria sleeping figure, all I could do was thank the goddess that I hadn’t told her or anyone else about the rogues when we were still at the Emberfang, because if I did then I wasn’t sure I would know the reason for my death.
The corners of my lips tugged into a frown as I kept staring at Aria, thinking how much worse she’d gotten. For some reason I couldn’t shake the blame, I was the reason she was in this state, the reason that bitch Nyssa had poisoned her.
She looked far worse than she had yesterday. She was barely breathing; her chest hardly rose and fell. Her skin had a dark, sickly green like a decaying corpse, and she smelled of rot. Sooner or later she would take her last breath. I knew it.
“Forgive me, Aria. I can’t even get your revenge for you… for what that bastard did to you. If I hadn’t told him to bring you back, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.” I muttered, brushing a strand of hair from her face
13:30 Sun, Sep 28 N
Chapter 206
in guilt.
20
She grunted, parted her lips as if to speak. Despite the choking stench, I leaned in, worried. “Are you okay, Aria? What do you need, water?” I asked, bringing my face close. She weakly shook her head and mumbled something I couldn’t catch. I frowned and leaned closer, pressing my car to her mouth.
This time I heard her, barely audible: “K–kill her.” Her gaze fluttered; my own narrowed in confusion as the rest of her words came. “Make her… suffer for what she did to me first. Then… torture her. Make her beg for death, then kill her in the most brutal way possible.”
I stiffened; the corners of my lips turned into a frown at her request. She drew a deep, ragged breath, her voice dry and choked as she continued, her chest rising even slower.
“T–that is my dying wish. That is what I want you to do to her.” She whimpered.
I was about to lean back and tell her not to talk nonsense, that Zayn would fix her, that she’d get better, even though I knew it was a lie. But she forced out one more thing with a barely audible rasp.
“And as for you, Kieran…”
My heart hammered; I braced for whatever her last words for him would be. I never expected those words.
“I hate you. I wish you the same pain you caused me. I wish no one ever loves you. I wish you would Go. To. Hell.”
She took one last shaky breath, and then there was silence. The world seemed to freeze. My head jerked up as I turned to look at her, she was no longer breathing. She was gone.
I sucked in a sharp breath as her eyes dimmed and the light drained from her face. I couldn’t look away; my heart hammered in my chest. I let out a long, ragged exhale and closed my eyes, trying to force my mind around the fact that she was already dead. Aria was gone, and she had left me with nothing but that string of hatred.
It was true, I deserved much of it for what had happened to her but I hadn’t meant for this. I had loved her. She was my mate. And now she was gone, her last words etched in my head.
I stayed like that for a moment, eyes shut as memories of us flashed through my mind. Finally I exhaled, opened my eyes, and stood over Aria’s lifeless form. Without hesitation I leaned in, closed her eyes with my hand, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I whispered,
“Rest well.”
Without looking back, I turned and walked out of the clinic, heading straight for the training field. I couldn’t mourn right now; I couldn’t be sad. I had to grow stronger for the coming war–I had to win at all costs.
Get my revenge against Nyssa’s father, then fulfill Aria’s last wish. I wouldn’t kill Nyssa. I would make sure she suffered until she begged for death.
13:31 Sun, Sep 28 N
Chapter 207
