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?

looked up at

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,

asked, and I nodded, tilting my head to the side as I let go of a

males I didn’t know–guards, royal guards, by the looks of it. They crossed through, and they were the last to come. I waited

“Why did you wait?”

I breathed. I had no tears left to cry. My body and mind were numb, emotionless;

shifted his weight, flexing his

told me the king still had warriors in my own realm. She said there would always be conflict between the two

“You were going to–”

was going to stay, and close the portal

his face void of expression but darkening around my words

had told 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

I didn’t move. I refused. The beautiful, terrifying woman in front of me pleaded with me, begging me at one point on her knees. A Goddess in her own right, on her knees in front

king one day,” she’d continued. “Your rule will be

joy,” I had replied, growing furious at her bribery, “if I have no mate to rule beside…. And if my cousin

suffer another loss,” she

my mother, my father… my brothers. Will would likely not even care, no tears staining his cheeks. But

and Hanna had lost their only daughter–their

thing that 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

the mate bond tug one more time as I looked over my shoulder into the realm of the vampires, and then I

the refugee camps and our warriors were doing

scream, sensing the death and suffering of the people she had loved. She’d never been their

why not here? Was it because the portal

Narcissa run toward Crimson Creek, her silver dress billowing out behind

recovery in front of us. We’d have countless dead to bury, countless children

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