Chapter 19
Elariya
“Of Chains and Crowns”
Wolfe’s jaw was set in a hard line, his blue eyes burning with something dangerous.
Golden afternoon light streamed through the tall windows, catching the sharp angles of his face and turning his long raven hair to polished obsidian where it fell over his shoulders.
His hands were braced flat against the table, and his stare made me forget we weren’t alone in the room.
“Please, sit.” He gestured toward the end of the table, indicating to both of us.
I noticed the tension in Arielle’s shoulders as she moved ahead of me. Then my attention shifted to the others—the Bloodsworn.
Bastian didn’t look at me.
Alaric remained stoic, but there was a sharpness in his eyes that tightened something deep inside my chest. Actually, on seeing him closer, he looked like he was about to snap. Like he was holding himself together by sheer will.
Garrick sat rigidly, shoulders locked in place. Still, he offered me the barest crack of a smile as I pulled out the chair and sat.
The moment I sank into the plush cushion, my focus snapped back to Wolfe. I watched him, waiting.
Silence stretched, until it became almost painful.
At last, Wolfe lifted his chin, straightened, and cleared his throat.
“I have considered the matters at hand and decided it was time we addressed them.” His voice was controlled and measured, the tone of a king reminding his court who held the power.
“I have thought on the situation in Galaythia, the mortal lands, and the concerns between us.”
He paused, his gaze lingering on me. Everyone in the room seemed to lean in.
“I have decided that Elariya will stay here in Galaythia.”
For a beat, I didn’t understand what I was hearing. It felt like he was talking about somebody else.
Then it hit… He meant me.
Shock snapped me to my feet, my body trembling with a mixture of fury and terror. I glared at him. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me.” Wolfe’s gaze didn’t waver. “You will stay here in Galaythia.”
A cold knot formed in my stomach and dragged me under. I shook my head hard. “No. I won’t stay here. I was very clear. I only came here on the promise that I could return to my family.”
“I understand that.” There was that word again—understand—and I hated the vague way he wielded it, as if it softened what he was about to do.
“My original plan was to send you home, but it appears the enemy used Thayden to reach you. That means it is no longer safe for you to be in the mortal lands.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
Something dangerous flickered across his face—a flash of the predator beneath the prince. “I don’t believe my assumption is wrong. There is no way Thayden could have gotten to me otherwise. He definitely had help from the right people.”
My chest rose and fell rapidly, panic clawing at my throat. “I need to go home.”
“The enemy knows you can find the ring with your powers,” Wolfe said, unflinching. “They are aware the ring hides on a temporal plane. You are the path to finding a relic that holds the fate of Galaythia. I cannot, in good conscience, send you back.”
I balled my hand into a fist and slammed it into the table. “Damn it. I don’t fucking care about any of that. My family need me. They think I’m coming back. How dare you do this to me?”
Wolfe stood, too, rising to his full, imposing height. Shadows gathered around him as he regarded me with an unrelenting stare. “I said it's dangerous.”
I pressed a hand to my stomach, fighting the rising nausea. “What about my family?”
“I will figure something out.”
“Are you serious?” Rage roiled inside me, shaking my voice. “Telling me you’ll figure something out is not good enough.”
“It has to be.” His tone sharpened. “I refuse to allow the enemy—and Thayden—to get what they want. That motherfucker took you and tried to kill me with dark magic. He broke into the magical realm with an army of Scabbards with the intention of killing Galaythia’s heir. That cannot go unpunished.”
“This is a mistake,” Alaric spoke up.
Wolfe snapped his gaze to him, eyes wide and damning.
“We spoke about this at length, brother.” Alaric levelled Wolfe a hard stare.
“You say it’s dangerous in the mortal lands.
But we agreed it was more dangerous for her to be here.
If our assumptions are correct, the enemy knew you were going to send Elariya home.
That’s why they tried to take her and kill you.
Since you’re alive, their defenses would be weaker if they tried to take her from the mortal lands now. ”
“Weak until they’re not.” Wolfe’s voice rose, rattling the ornaments on the shelves. “The Seer warned that would change. The enemy—whoever they are—will grow stronger. We don’t know when.”
“And when they do,” Alaric pressed, “keeping Elariya here in the magical realm will be the worst place for her.”
Wolfe cut him a stare so sharp, Alaric would be dead if a look could slice a throat.
“That is my decision.” He turned to the rest of the room.
“That is my final decision. Anyone who disagrees is free to leave. I will not hold it against you. However, I must remind you that I handpicked each and every one of you here, Bloodsworn and Veythral alike, to back me up even when my decisions seem far-fetched or you don’t agree with me. ”
His words shut Alaric down.
And no one left.
So, I guessed that meant they were staying. Standing with Wolfe. In league with him.
I looked at each of them, my gaze catching on Arielle. Fury simmered in her expression, but she was bound to him.
I tore my attention away and faced Wolfe again. “I want to go home.”
“No.” Wolfe’s voice cracked like the tip of a whip. “I’ve made my decision. Meeting dismissed. You may all leave.”
Slowly, and without another word, everyone filed out of the room.
Everyone except me.
I wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t going to take orders and let him decide my fate—and my family’s.
The moment we were alone, I marched up to him.
Wolfe glared down at me, those piercing eyes boring straight through my soul. Up close he was terrifying.
I didn’t care.
“You bastard. This is insane. I don’t care what you say or how much danger I’m in, this is insane.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing I don’t care that you think my orders are insane.” His jaw clenched.
“You are not in charge of me.”
He smiled, and I didn’t know if that was worse than the heavy scowl he’d worn before. “The curse may have taken your memories, but I’ll remind you that you are bound to me through your father’s sins. So, I will do as I see fit with you.”
A tremor shot through me. I couldn’t believe someone who claimed to love me would do this. How could he?
“I have said repeatedly that my family need me, but it means nothing to you.” My throat went dry. “They’re going to die. If I don’t return to the mortal lands, they’re going to die. Thayden will see to it.”
“I will do what I must to protect your family from here.” He pointed down at the stone beneath our feet. “I will not give in to the demands of a villain who tried to steal you from me. Never.”
"It was you who stole me in the first place," I hissed.
"I don't fucking care about that." His voice made my nerves scatter.
“But you took me, and you’re doing it again. I—”
Something snapped in his expression. Before I could blink, he moved toward me with that inhuman speed, and shadows erupted around us like living smoke.
I didn’t even realize I’d moved until my back hit the stone wall hard enough to steal my breath.
Then suddenly, he was there, mere inches away from my face, caging me in with his hands braced on either side of my head.
“Do you seriously expect me to hand you over and not fight for you?” His razor-sharp tone stole the little breath I had left, each word cutting through the space between us.
“This shouldn’t be about fighting for me,” I rasped.
“Yes, it is.” His eyes blazed with something fierce and unhinged, burning brighter with every second that passed.
Caught between his writhing shadows and the hard planes of his body, I glared up at him, unable to keep the tremble out of my body. I searched aimlessly for a spark of compassion in his eyes but found none.
His shadows writhed around us, cutting out the light, making the world disappear until there was nothing but him. Nothing but those burning blue eyes boring into mine.
This close, heat radiated from his body, and that intoxicating scent of cedar and storm paralyzed my senses.
"You. Are. Mine." His voice turned dark and claiming, each word landing with devastating certainty.
My heart drove against my ribs, responding to his proximity, but I still lifted my chin in defiance. "I'm not yours."
He leaned closer, his breath ghosting across my lips.
"Yes, you are. You may not remember, but you are mine.” His gaze pinned me, and a treacherous part of me wanted to surrender to his darkness.
Surrender to him. “I told you, you could never leave me. That the only way you could leave my side is if I allowed it. So, here we are, Elariya Grayson. And I’m not allowing it. End of discussion."
Blessed Mother. What had I done?
I’d walked right back into a trap, falling prey to the devil once more.
And what could I do?
Nothing.
Not a godsdamn thing.
I was weak again and at the mercy of someone worse than Thayden.
Wolfe’s shadows pressed against my skin, a juxtaposition of silk and chains. I shook my head, forcing back the tears. "I hate you for this, Wolfe Nightblade."
That uncanny smile returned, revealing sharp canines, but something raw flickered in his eyes—a flash of genuine anguish beneath the predator.
He pressed his thumb to my jaw and traced along my skin with devastating gentleness.
"Hatred is better than the void, Ziyka.” His voice cracked almost imperceptibly on the pet name he’d christened me, and he searched my eyes with an intensity that bordered on pleading.
“I'd rather look into your eyes and see hate than nothing at all. It hurts less."
My breath hitched, and for a heartbeat, I saw past the devil to the male beneath. I saw something broken, desperate, terrifyingly real. It made my resolve waver when I needed it most and my heart stutter with something that wasn’t hate at all.
The space between us crackled with tension so thick I could taste it. Then his shadows swirled, and he was gone, leaving me gasping and fractured against the wall.