Chapter 32
Trent
Our headquarters on Earth smelled like smoke, power, and lies.
Perfect.
“Trent.”
My brother’s voice echoed through the hollow chamber—cold, impatient, oil-slick smooth. Remus Storm stood at the center of the obsidian table, flanked by the three pretenders who helped him poison the Factions that had found a home on Earth.
Sylvester, Claudia, and George, all high-ranking DF operatives. All of them cowards pretending to be someone important.
I sprawled in my seat, annoyed that I had to be here when I could be in Bellona, tormenting the warriors in—well, not the coliseum—since it was destroyed by she-who-shall-not-be-named.
Instead, the battles were taking place in the new-old-school arena (a dirt circle).
My Cryptfiends had been undefeated so far, but today was a new day, so anything could happen.
I needed some entertainment because the injections weren’t effective enough to keep the voices at bay.
Torren was supposed to be just a means to an end for torturing—you know who—but lately, he had found his voice and was torturing me daily.
“Trent!”
“What?” I blink, snapping back from my thoughts.
Claudia folded her hands. “The attacks on Earth have ceased.”
“Randall had a lot to do with our defeat at Langley. I think our control over him is slipping. Especially since Adelaide has gotten Sly back. You know, he and Sly were friends back at Emberhold.” Sylvester added nervously.
Remus continued to stare at me, “I gave up my position on the council to help stop suspicion falling to me.” He frowned.
“Now with my own son tied to that bitch’s daughter, I’m sure he’s given them any information he has.
And with you playing childish games with the girl, things seem to be unraveling. ”
Oh, here we fucking go.
I smiled—sharp enough to draw blood. “I don’t expect you to understand, but the information that I retrieved from those ‘childish games’ was invaluable.”
“You sound defensive,” George muttered.
“I sound bored,” I corrected.
But the truth was it was hard to concentrate with this connection to her. Burning through my veins like wildfire.
The fucking serum wasn’t dampening the bond like I hoped it would. I think it was actually making it worse. Torren’s voice clawed my brain, causing a headache I couldn’t seem to get rid of.
My vision flickered. For a heartbeat, the room tilted sideways.
Remus’s eyes narrowed. “Trent. Focus.”
I straightened, power crackling at my fingertips. “The attacks failed because your Cryptfiends are incompetent.”
George bristled. “You gave us use of those Cryptfiends.”
“Exactly my point. So, the failure belongs at your door.” I smirked, loving the mad hatter act I had going on. These dumb fucks were getting on my nerves, and I had more important things to do.
Sylvester swallowed. “We need her back.”
I froze.
Claudia leaned forward. “Reverie Hawthorne must be recaptured. The DF cannot progress without her.”
Torren snarled in my mind.
I didn’t bother holding it back.
“No,” I whispered.
Sylvester blinked. “N-No?”
“She is not to be touched without my say-so.” I stared them down.
George scoffed. “We command you to bring her to us.”
Shadows erupted beneath my feet as my chair scraped violently against the floor as I stood. “You command nothing.”
Lightning forked up the walls.
The chamber lights flickered. And with a slash of my hand, George’s head rolled across the floor.
Claudia gasped, grabbing the table to steady herself.
Remus finally spoke, voice calm but edged with anger and a hint of fear.
“Trent. Control yourself.” His jaw tightened.
“You’re going to clean up that mess.” He grimaced in distaste at the pool of blood growing on the floor.
“She is a threat, and without her, we have no control over Adelaide’s Faction. ”
“She is MINE!”
Silence.
Pulsing.
Heavy.
Terrified.
Remus was the only one who dared meet my eyes. “Is the serum working? Is the bond still strong?”
That motherfucker. I’d told him to keep that confidential. I should have known he’d not abide by my wishes. He still thought his control of me was absolute and that Ubel and Selene were holding my chains.”
“No.”
Claudia’s lips thinned, and she squeaked out. “Then take more.”
“I have,” I growled. “Every damn hour. It makes it worse.”
Claudia trembled. “Worse how?”
I stalked toward her. “Worse, like I can feel her screaming at someone right now. Worse, like the bond wants to rip out of me. Worse, like Torren is clawing at the edges of my skull.”
Claudia backed away until she hit the stone wall. “I—I didn’t mean—”
“I know,” I said sweetly, “because you don’t think.”
She slid down the wall, hyperventilating.
Remus’s expression didn’t change. “Then we accelerate the plan. Find her. Bind her. Use her.”
Something inside me snapped.
Lightning exploded outward. The table split down the middle. Claudia shrieked. Sylvester dove under a chair. Even George’s body twitched on the floor.
I didn’t give a fuck.
Turning to Remus—my brother—the man who thought he owned me. “You cannot bind her,” I growled. “You won’t touch her unless I allow it.”
“You are losing control. Everything we’ve worked for will be destroyed if you don’t pull yourself together.” Remus spoke softly.
I grinned—feral and fractured. “Finally.”
“Finally, what?” Remus was confused.
The bond surged—
Hard.
Violent.
Electric.
She was coming.
Reverie was coming for me.
And Torren purred inside my skull, Ours…
I dragged a hand through my hair. “The attacks will begin again. But this time they will be aimed at the resistance.”
Sylvester squeaked from under the table. “Why not here?”
I smiled, teeth bared. “Because she needs to see that insubordination will not go unpunished and the best way to do that is to target the ones she loves.”
Claudia whispered, horrified, “And what happens when she reaches you?”
The shadows coiled around my throat like a lover’s hand. “I stop pretending to be sane.” I smirk, “And everyone learns just how much I’ve been holding back.”
Istalked back into my chambers, bloody and exhausted. I decided to fight with my Cryptfiends and destroyed quite a few of the warriors hoping to find Factions.
Ubel had been pissed, but fuck him. If they were this weak, then we didn’t need them.
I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. I’d get cleaned up in a moment. The headache had come back and was blinding me with pain.
One instant, I was thinking about my plans to attack the tunnels in Nyberie.
The next?
A blinding flash of white.
Then gold.
Then blood.
Then her. Lilibet. The Queen.
Crowned in starlight, gown rippling like living magic, bare feet on the marble floor of her throne room. She turned toward me slowly, as if she had been waiting for this moment across centuries.
“Kratos,” she whispered.
And the world split open.
My knees nearly buckled. “No… no, don’t call me that—”
“You were always Torren Kratos,” she said gently. “And you have always come back to me.”
Her voice carried memories—
Mine.
Hers.
Ours.
A violent pulse cracked through the dream, and the throne room dissolved—
—becoming a battlefield of shattered marble.
—torches blown out.
—abilities screaming in the air.
—and five men lying at Lilibet’s feet.
Her Faction.
My brothers.
Broken.
Dying.
Because of me.
I staggered back. “No—NO—I didn’t do this—”
“Yes,” she said softly. “You did.”
A younger version of me—Kratos—kneeling in front of her, begging her to run.
Another flash—me raising a protective ability that wasn’t natural.
Another—the Ancestors screaming warnings I ignored.
Another—
A prophecy carved into the wall: “One life must be given to save the realm.”
Lilibet’s life.
The Ancients' balancing law required her sacrifice to prevent all Aurathions from losing their abilities.
The other five Faction brothers fought with me at first to change her mind, but then eventually gave in and chose to die with her.
They loved her, as I did, but the difference was that I refused to believe this was the only option.
The rest of the Aurathions in the realm could go fuck themselves as far as I cared. I wanted to live out my life with her now.
I loved her more than I loved the realm.
More than I loved fate.
More than I loved my own soul or those of my brothers.
More than she loved herself.
Kratos gripped her arms. “I won’t let you die.”
Lilibet cried softly. “Kratos… we were chosen for this together. Please—don’t fight it.”
I watched myself refuse.
Kratos cupped her face desperately. “I would burn the realms to keep you breathing.”
Then he used an ability that was forbidden, one that he’d kept hidden until this moment. He forged a shield meant to redirect the will of the Ancients and force it onto the Faction instead.
To save her.
It detonated.
The whole of Aurathia seemed to scream.
The bond convulsed.
The air cracked like a dying star.
The other five Faction members' marks shattered—not by design, but by the backlash.
Ambrose died instantly.
Merritt and Bren fell gasping.
Zenon and Larkin crawled to her, reaching—and collapsed.
The realm trembled.
Lexith, Cassian, Viktar, and Soren crumpled to the floor trying to reach their queen. Her faithful Varruk warrior and Fellat dying before they could stop me.
The ancestral tether broke.
My attempt to save her went horribly wrong.
Lilibet hit her knees, face streaked with tears. “Kratos,” she whispered, touching the bodies. “You killed them.”
“I tried to save you,” he pleaded. “I did it for you.”
She looked up at him with a heartbreak so deep it carved itself into my bones. “Kratos… love was never the realm’s enemy. But your fear was.”
He—I—reached for her.
She stood. Her abilities rising around her—silver, cold, holy.
“Then curse me,” he said, choking. “If it keeps you alive—curse me.”
Her lips trembled. “I don’t curse out of hatred,” she shook her head, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I curse out of knowing.”
Lightning cracked overhead, shadows writhing on the ground. She placed her hand over his heart. “You will return in every lifetime,” she spoke softly. “You will remember me too late. You will find me only in rebirth. And the girl who carries my soul—”
The dream trembled.
Her face blurred—
Reverie’s face phasing through it like a ghost.
“—will see all of it when the time is right.”
My breath caught.
“And Kratos,” she finished, tears still falling, “When she remembers what you did… only will a great sacrifice make things right.”
The dream shattered—
And I woke up screaming.
This changed everything. I knew what needed to be done.