Chapter 34 Trent
Trent
The forest slept.
The Aurathions in it did not.
I could feel her pulse through the bond—wild from the dream, shaken raw and aching in a way that made something inside me turn animal.
She’d seen it.
The throne room.
The blood.
My sin.
Kratos.
The name hissed through my skull like poison.
She knew.
She knew.
And before she could run from me—before her men could hide her away—I moved.
I slipped between shadows the way Torren used to, when he was still just a mask I wore to torment her and not a fracture in my mind.
The camp came into view, fires low. Everyone is quiet. Bodies still.
Reverie slept between her men with Tanya, Razor, and Malik, Chloe, and her men arranged like wolves guarding a queen.
Like Aegisworn.
Her parents slept curled together, trusting Mira, Pantar, and the Varruk to keep watch.
Unfortunately for them, I had an ability that none could withstand, not even a Fellat or a Varruk.
I exhaled.
Then let the ability loose.
It spread outward like a dark mist—soundless, formless, a psychic hand closing over their minds.
Unconsciousness rippled through the camp.
They all succumbed except Oren, who tried to fight it, shadows curling around him like claws and sparks coming to his fingers, recognizing what it was too late. He managed to whisper. “Rev—. And then dropped.
I almost admired the big bastard. Maybe if things had been different, we could have been friends.
I stepped into their sleeping ring.
Reverie’s breathing hitched—she felt me even unconscious.
Her mark glowed faintly under her shirt, broken crown pulsing like a heartbeat.
Mine answered.
Violently.
I knelt beside her.
“Reverie,” I whispered. “You shouldn’t have seen that.”
She didn’t wake—
My ability held too tightly—but her fingers twitched toward me, as if her soul knew mine.
Tanya stirred beside her, brow furrowing. She wasn’t strong enough to break free… but she resisted.
Good. I respected her more knowing she was a fighter.
Razor and Malik had the same faint tension—warriors with instincts too sharp to succumb fully.
I brushed a hand above their foreheads. “Sleep,” I commanded.
And they obeyed.
I slipped my arms under Reverie and lifted her against my chest. Her long dark hair spilled down my arm and onto the ground like ink.
She felt… right.
Too right.
A centuries-old ache softened in my ribs—
Kratos reaching across time,
Torren whispering “mine”,
My heart is pounding harder than it should.
“No more running,” I murmured.
To her.
To myself.
To the curse.
To the past.
I know how to fix this.
Transporting them was effortless. The ability that rendered people unconscious also let me move through space—not teleportation, but a slipping between shadows that bypassed physical distance.
One moment, I stood in the camp. The next—stone, cool air, and the soft hum of the wards I’d created years ago.
My stronghold.
My sanctuary.
Her prison. At least for now.
I placed Reverie gently on the cot in the center of the room. Her hair mixed with mine, falling like dark fire on her pillow.
Tanya, Razor, and Malik, I arranged in the adjoining chamber—close enough to control, far enough that they couldn’t interfere.
I activated the sigils on the floor.
Light spiraled around the room—soft blue, locking them in, locking us in.
I felt the curse thrumming beneath my skin and realized it had always been there. I just hadn’t understood exactly what it was.
I felt Kratos whispering, “You failed her before. It’s time to redeem yourself.”
Torren sighed, “This isn’t the way.”
My own voice muttered out loud, “I won’t lose her again.”
I sat at the edge of the bed and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “Reverie,” my voice cracked. “When you wake, you’ll hate me. But I promise this is the only way.”
The bond pulsed painfully—no, not hate.
Fear.
Confusion.
Grief.
I closed my eyes and bowed my head. “I don’t want to be him.”
Kratos.
The man who chose love so fiercely that he destroyed everything.
I’m smarter than he was, and I believe I can break this curse. Restore Aurathions to their former glory without the evil my brother spread through our people like confetti. I wasn’t ignoring my part in it; this would make everything right.
Make me worthy of a queen.
After all, every king should have a queen. I was the most powerful Aurathion alive, and I could keep her safe— from herself, the Ancestors, and even myself when it was called for.
Tanya was paramount to my plan. But I knew she wouldn’t do it without me holding something important over her head. Thus, I took both of her men.
I paused in my thoughts—Reverie was starting to move.
Her breathing shifted—she was waking.
The bond yanked tight—violent, electric, inevitable.
Her eyes fluttered open.
And the first word she spoke, “Torren.” broke me cleanly in half.