Chapter 624
Chapter 124 : Pain of the Aftermath
*Oliver*
Xander was a f*****g mess in every way.
He was just staring at me as he sat on the cot, his eyes narrowed on my face as I did my best to explain what had happened, what I’d done, and why.
I could barely form the words. He wasn’t the only one who had lost their mate. He wasn’t the only one who’d lived, while the other part of their soul was left behind in a realm that no longer existed.
I hadn’t had a choice. It was Lena’s life or the lives of many… hundreds of thousands of lives, to be exact.
I knew in my soul that Lena would’ve wanted it this way. She made that decision for herself the moment she gripped that pale yellow stone in her hands and whispered beneath her breath to spare Xander’s life in place of her own.
I had been furious. I leaped for her but crashed into the blood-soaked ground in King Nikolas’s castle, and Lena had been gone.
It was Narcissa who whispered frantically in my ear, her long silver fingers wrapping around my upper arm. “We need to go, wolf prince. You are the one to end this.”
Me. It was going to have to be me.
A single whisper from Narcissa swept our group from the castle to the entrance of the portal in a split second. All around us the Death Walkers, those gray and molting vampires, turned to ash and dust. Their king’s death had spurred a massive die-off in that realm, but I didn’t have a moment to ponder the significance of it, not at the time.
I felt her then, my mate. It was a desperate tug on the weak bond I’d felt in my heart my entire life. I hadn’t even had a chance to lay eyes on her. I hadn’t spoken a single word to her. Until that point, her existence was just a fleeting hope in my heart. I had hoped, wished, that one day we’d meet. Maybe after the war, or even during.
She was still there, in that realm of blood.
Save one, or many?
throat as I looked up at Xander,
by Narcissa to cross over as well, and she did, tearfully, begging Narcissa for more time. I don’t know how long we stood there as the last of the lower vampires crossed that portal, running for their lives. It was the
tilting my head to the side as I let go
few lower vampire males I didn’t know–guards, royal guards, by the looks of it. They crossed through, and they were the last to come.
“Why did you wait?”
numb, emotionless; there was nothing back darkness left. Maybe it would always be like this now. Maybe that
weight, flexing his hands over his
had warriors in my own realm. She said there would always be conflict between the two realms. New kings would rise, new threats would make themselves
“You were going to–”
was going to stay, and close the portal from the… I was going to close myself
nothing in response. He continued to stare, his face void of expression but darkening around my words as
me, urging me to follow her. “It’s over. It’s done. When you close that portal, my father will destroy it all. I made him a deal. I said I would get my people out before he
beautiful, terrifying woman in front of me pleaded with me, begging me at one point on her knees. A
one day,” she’d continued. “Your rule will be nothing but peace and joy for all of
her bribery, “if I
cannot suffer
brothers. Will
and Hanna had lost their only daughter–their
got my feet moving toward that portal was the notion that it needed to be me to break the news, to tell them the truth about what Lena had done, for all of us, and
mate bond tug one more time as I looked over my shoulder into the realm of the vampires,
attacking the refugee camps and our warriors were doing their best to defend the lower vampires who had crossed
death and suffering of the people she had loved. She’d
beasts had died along with their king in the realm of blood, why not here? Was it because the portal was still open? Was it that the last remnants of the magic
dress billowing out behind her. Warriors stood
years of rebuilding and recovery in front of us. We’d have countless dead to
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