CHAPTER 5
ONE HOUR EARLIER
I am off searching other territories and no-man’s-land when my mates contact me, telling me they think they found her.
Matitus ran into her on the streets. I have my doubts, of course.
We have searched for her for decades trying to find this Chosen One the Oracle promised would come.
Surely, we weren’t that blind, and she wasn’t under our nose this entire time, living in our city.
Yet they are both insistent that she is the one.
They called for all women to be brought to the castle, and that’s where they captured her.
Dragus too confirmed, saying he felt a strange pull to her.
I head home straight away. Flying back was easy for me, yet my mind kept going back to the Great War and the destruction caused ever since. What I wasn’t expecting when I get home is everyone frantically looking for her. I land in the back gardens. Matitus and Dragus run out to greet me.
“What happened?” I ask as I see convoys loading up and heading out the gates. It is already dark, and the night is becoming cold.
“We lost her. I think she ran,” Dragus says, pinching the bridge of his nose. Matitus growled low, making me look at him.
“Are you fucking serious, how did she escape the fucking castle with you two here?” I ask.
“We don’t know, but we have found where she was living along with another dead Fae at the house. The elderly woman appears to have slit her own throat. She was there; her scent was faint. We have sent trackers after her,” Matitus explains.
“Then why are we standing here for, fucking find her!” I scream, taking off.
There is only one choice for her, she would have to leave the city.
So, I head for the northern border. Guards are everywhere on high alert.
When I fly over a small clearing, though, I have this strange pull to land.
Something is tugging at me, telling me she is somewhere hiding.
Landing near the border fence, I make my way into the trees, Dragus and Matitus not far from me.
I can’t smell anything. That doesn’t mean she isn’t hiding there. Something is telling me I am in the right spot. I just need to wait. After a few minutes, I see a figure amongst the trees, running straight to the border.
“Dragus, she is heading straight toward you,” I mindlink to Dragus. I catch a glimpse of her running and my heart nearly stops. Her purple eyes glowing brightly.
“Aziza?” I whisper, shocked. I didn’t think anyone survived from that bloodline.
I feel anger boil inside of me. Of course, what a fucking coincidence that the very bloodline that started the war was the one meant to end it.
I watch her from the trees when she suddenly slows down, looking around her surroundings.
I look at her angelic face and feel rage burn within.
It couldn’t be, that wasn’t possible. I killed her myself, watched that bitch die in my arms. The fates are fucking cruel.
I chuck to myself. She looked exactly like her, a perfect reincarnation.
Her black hair long like a veil hanging to her waist and then amethyst eyes blazing brightly.
Her plumb pouty lips quivering from the cold and the fact she is wet explained why I couldn’t pick up her scent.
She keeps running—until she slams straight into Dragus.
The impact knocks her back, sending her to the ground.
Scrambling, she pushes herself backward, desperate to escape.
Fear pours off her in waves, thick and suffocating.
She staggers to her feet, only to run straight into me.
She freezes. Takes a step back.
The closer she is, the more I see it—the resemblance. Too close. Too familiar.
If I hadn’t killed her myself, I would swear they were the same person.
Fury coils inside me.
The fates—cruel, twisted fates—mated me to someone who is identical to the one I despise most.
My beast rages within me wanting nothing but to rip her to pieces. She is definitely the one we have been looking for. I could sense it with every fiber in my body, that doesn’t stop my burning hatred for her. History seems to be repeating itself, and no way am I letting her get away this time.
Grabbing her, I throw her, and she hits a tree. My anger fueled my instincts making me act impulsively. I want blood, and I don’t care she is our mate, I want revenge. For what she did to us, what she did to the Dragon Kingdom.
She screams loudly as a stick goes through her hand. The noise leaving her lips is melodious and sweet to my ears. I lose control as I advance on her again, grabbing her.
“You think you can run, think you can fucking leave me?” I scream in her face.
She cowers, shrinking away, and that only fuels my rage further.
I grab her by the throat, slamming her to the ground, her weakness infuriating me.
She’s nothing like her ancestors—no entitlement, no fight.
Before I can do more, Matitus tackles me, knocking me to the ground.
I jump to my feet and punch him, fury in every blow.
“Silas, stop. You’ll kill her.”
“That’s the fucking point, Matitus. She destroyed us.”
“It’s not her. They’re not the same,” he argues, landing a kick to my stomach.
I growl, pushing through the pain, then kick him hard, sending him crashing into a tree. The trunk cracks under the impact, splintering as I throw him against it.
I turn back toward her, this time—she’s clinging weakly to Dragus.
I grab her, wanting nothing more than to break her like a twig.
“Let her go, Dragus,” I scream as he holds her tighter. I grip her hair, ripping her head back, making her scream.
“Leave her, Silas, she is barely conscious.”
“She sounds conscious enough, hand her over,” I tell him, He doesn’t let go.
“Silas, she can’t take anymore, let her go, now,” he demands.
“She should have thought about that before she ran from us. I will make sure she doesn’t fucking run again.” I punch him when he doesn’t let go, making him stumble backward. She would be lucky if I let her walk again. How dare she think she could run from me?
I pull her to my chest, wrapping my arm around her neck. Her body is small against mine, yet so warm as I feel my skin burn from her touch.
“Fucking Aziza’s thinking they can always get away with everything,” I growl to her as she struggles against my firm grip.
I let her go, and she falls to the ground.
“Please, just kill me” she breathes out. Death would not come easily to her. If I kill her, it will be slow and painful.
“Silas please no more,” I hear Matitus say, stalking toward me. I can feel their worry through the bond, they had already grown attached to her. I let their feelings flood me, willing myself not to complete the task.
Kneeling beside her, I gripped her face, forcing her to meet my eyes.
My breath catches in my throat as I stare at her hypnotic purple eyes.
She is just as beautiful as her, too; I loved that woman and she destroyed me, and now the fates were cruel enough to bring her back.
Yet I could sense they weren’t the same.
This girl is weaker, more fragile. There is a sense of purity about her.
“Run again and I will fucking kill you, understood?”
“I won’t run,” she whispers, frightened, and I almost feel bad for hurting her. Picking her up, she goes stiff like a board in my arms, her entire body tense. I pull her closer and after a few minutes she relaxes, her head falling on my shoulder heavily as she goes limp in my arms.
“She needs blood Silas, I don’t even know how she is still alive,” Matitus says, brushing her hair from her face.
A lump forms in my throat, making it hard to answer, so I nod.
A sudden sense of guilt weighs heavily on me.
I had no intention of hurting her. I am excited to finally have found her.
I wasn’t prepared for her, wasn’t prepared for her to have the same face as the woman I despise so much.
My hatred for that wretched woman overpowered my rational thinking.
Staring down at her bruised and battered body in my arms, I know I fucked up.