Chapter 69-

Darius:
My heart is racing, and my palms are clammy, my body feels at war with my mind. In my heart I know he needs to die, there is no limit to the evil he will do simply to gain power. The evidence of that is my beautiful queen outside chained up and mocked, but my body is having a hard time catching up. He is responsible for my existence and when I was a child, I thought he loved me. Until I disappointed him, we were close. I take a deep breath and think of Oriel and the pain he has caused her; all the doubt that had started to rise up leaves my mind. He will die, he has to. The shifters have given us the signal that everything is in place. Soon they will charge the back of the camp drawing the men there, now it’s time for me to do my part and make my father pay for his crimes. Knowing I have Rowen and Oriel’s love gives me strength, I will protect them. I failed Emma but I won’t fail again, I can’t allow him to hurt anyone else I love. After we left the main tent, my dad gave me the perfect opportunity to enact my revenge without much risk. “Darius, I need to grab my sword from my tent, and I have something I would like to ask you in private.” “Lead the way.” Liam flashes me a wicked smirk and laughs as he walks away. “Goodbye brother.” His words to me sent a chill down my spine but I don’t have time to dwell on his true intentions or plans because now that I have my dad alone it’s time to act.
“Darius, I must admit you surprised me today. I thought you would spend your life as nothing but the bitch of a weak king, but I guess with that pretty little dog in his bed he got tired of you huh. I do have to say…” He looks at me and smiles. “I hope he tries to keep his place as king and gives me the girl. She’s a feisty one and would be amusing to break. She would certainly put up more of a fight than this overreaching cunt.” Spiteful spit flies from his mouth onto a voluptuous, naked blonde chained and laying on the floor next to his bed. I have a hard time reconciling that I didn’t notice her sooner, but my mind was distracted with the plot to kill my father. I assume she is dead by the bruises that cover her body and the way she lays there silent at his insult, when his boot makes contact with her side she whimpers and tries to move further under the bed and out of his reach. Thinking about him laying his disgusting hands on my mate has me drawing my weapon. “Ending you now is the greatest gift I can give to our people; you make me sick!” “I thought your change of heart was too good to be true, you are as you always have been, a disappointment.”
I kick my father to the ground and ram my fist into his repulsive mouth over and over. I pour my hatred into every blow; I need him to suffer and feel weak like he has done to so many others. I am surprised how weak he is underneath of me, all of my life he has been this huge, dangerous presence but now he just looks pathetic. I bring my dagger to his throat, ready to be done with him and the stain he is on my life. “Please my son, don’t do this.” He croaks out as blood spills from his mouth. “Have mercy on your father. Let me live and I will do anything.” I hold my blade steady at his throat as he begs for his life. Although he has done so much evil there is a piece of me that wants to forgive him, to believe he can change. I hate the treacherous tears that pour from my eyes, I spent so much of my life wishing for his love and acceptance. Why couldn’t he love me? Why did he actively work to hurt me in the worst ways possible. I know I can’t let him live but I take no pleasure in ending him. I close my eyes and ready myself to end this when I feel a searing pain radiate through my stomach. I’m shocked when I look down and see his dagger twisting in my gut before he pulls it free. It’s so hard to breath and I can’t do anything other than fall to my side as blood fills my mouth. Why does it hurt so bad? Why can’t I move? My body is frozen with shock as my blood pools onto the floor beneath me. My father lifts his battered body up off the ground and laughs. “This is why you could never be king Darius. You have always been too weak, even as a boy. Always bringing home injured animals and trying to save them, and then whoring yourself out to Rowen. You have never had what it takes to be a man and do what needs to be done.” I grab my stomach trying to gather the strength to get back up, but my body won’t cooperate. “Thankfully your mother gave me the son I needed when Liam was born. Although you were full of deceit, you brought me what I needed. Now I not only have Rowen’s fated mate but also his only living relative. His niece will make a fine bride for Liam and will give us the support of the nobles. Now that we have her, we can kill the dog and watch Rowen die of madness, the nobles will be satisfied as long as we have Dunkan blood on the throne. Liam will fill her with child and our family will finally rule as we have always meant to. I want you to spend your last few moments knowing what a failure you are.” Hatred fills me as I watch my father walk out of the tent, my blood, the blood he gave me covers him and his weapon. I need to fight; I need to protect those I love. I need to find the strength, he can’t win.
Oriel:
I try to comfort Ayla; I know she must be scared. Seeing her covered in blood must mean that something didn’t go according to plan. I feel a stabbing pain in my stomach and fear threatens to pull me under. I can’t give into the fear for myself or my mates not when I have to get free, I have to protect Ayla and find Darius. It’s his pain I feel right now, and it terrifies me. Seeing his father covered in blood and charging us fills me with unquenchable rage. I just know this vermin is responsible for my mates pain, I have never wanted to kill anyone as badly as I do now. “It’s okay...” I tell Ayla again as he continues towards us and threatens her. She has had so much pain in her life, I won’t let this scum add to her suffering. I ask the goddess for strength and just as he grabs Ayla by the hair yanking her away from me, I hear the lock click and the heavy chain fall from my hands. The prick has her by the hair with his bloody blade held tight to her throat. “You will pay for killing my son! I will make you suffer every day for the rest of your life. If you think you’ve escaped your fate, you’re wrong. I’ll pump you full of seed myself and take the throne, I’ll make you regret killing my boy. Prepare yourself to suffer by my hand.” Hearing her sob and watching the blood drip down her neck from the struggle against him has my body shaking with rage. He is temporarily distracted when a loud, furious roar and screams ringing out in the camp. I use that as my opening.
I rush Lord Hoffer, hitting the blade out of his hand and pushing him back. As he tries to recover, I lunge forward shoving Ayla away from him and wrapping my hands around his neck. I summon all my strength without shifting and squeeze as hard as I can. He drops to his knees before me, with his black eyes building out of their sockets as I tighten my grip even more. I give him a wide smile when I see a familiar form staggering towards us with a dagger in his hands. I slowly relax my grip off of his neck and watch with pleasure as he gasps for breath, clutching his throat. “Beg.” I say looking down at the pathetic excuse for a man before me. “Beg like the dog you are. Beg me to spare your life.” I feel a strong presence behind me and smell the air recognizing my fathers and brother without even looking. “Pppp…please…don’t kill me. I will serve you…I will do anything…” Low growls come from behind me, and I smile. “You are pathetic Lord Hoffer, as much as I would love to snuff you out, your life doesn’t belong to me.” I see confusion on his face until the smooth voice of my lover is spoken behind him. “Turn around you weak coward. I want you to see my face as I end you.” Slowly and still on his knees he turns facing his son. “You wouldn’t…” Darius cuts his fathers words short when he runs his dagger through his neck without hesitation. Lord Hoffer takes his last sputtering breaths before he falls back, eyes open wide as I step over his lifeless body. The tears I have been suppressing run free as I collapse into Darius’s open arms. We stand there in each other’s embrace taking a few precious moments to gain strength from one another. “Darius all this blood…” His weight shifts and I almost drop him, I pull my hair to the side and offer him my neck. “No sweetheart, you’ve been through too much for me to take from you.” I love how even now when he is in so much pain his main concern is my safety. I kiss him deep and use my nails to tear away the skin at my wrists. “Drink Darius, get enough strength back so that you can make it home and heal. Rowen and I need you.”
I share a look with my dads after they hug me tight, telling me how proud they are of me. We all notice Ayla in Apollo’s arms and the look of fury on his face as he takes stock of her injuries. Together we walk out to the front of the camp where Rowen and Irvin stand, both covered in dirt and blood the evidence of the battle won surrounding them. Rowen’s eyes go back and forth from Darius to me cataloging our injuries. I smile at him, my king who went to war for me. Irvin runs to me, scooping me up and touching my face as if he needs to convince himself I’m okay. I kiss him deep, trying to ease his worry. “You scared me firecracker. Don’t you know I always need to be where you are?” I run my hands through his long beautiful black hair, I know it must have been so hard for him to fight alongside of Rowen and not just storm the camp. He has grown so much, and I am so proud of him. “Maybe you need to remind me where I belong.” I smile and kiss him, running my tongue along the seem of his mouth. “I have some ideas as to how we can do that.” When Irvin sets me down, I go to Rowen who is helping load Darius into the carriage he had his men bring to us. I grab onto Rowen’s hand as we both kiss Darius after he is settled in with Ayla across from him. “I’ll go with them and make sure they get properly treated back at the castle.” Darius puts his pale hand on my face. “No sweetheart you and Rowen need to stay and finish things here. Let the men see that their strong, beautiful queen was not so easily broken. You both need to stay; we will be just fine.” Irvin steps forward. “I can go with them firecracker; don’t worry I won’t let any harm come to teach over here and I can help with my sister too.” All of us turn when we hear Apollo clearing his throat. “Oriel, Irvin let me take them with a small group of my men. We will protect them and I…I want to go.” We share a look and I turn to Ayla; she smiles at me and nods. “Go on beautiful let your brother come with us. I’ll feel better with Irvin and Rowen here beside you.” I kiss Darius again and watch as the carriage disappears with Apollo following. There is something going on with him but there isn’t time to think about that now. Ayla and Darius are safe, that’s all that matters.
Rowen:
All of the anxiety and rage that has consumed me since Oriel was taken slowly starts dissipating now that she is by my side. Oriel is so beautiful it makes my chest ache, even covered in blood, clothes torn, and hair wild she is lovely. Seeing her like this makes me think of the first time I saw her and knew she was mine. She was so young and still unsure but even then, she was fierce. She is truly my equal in every way and my greatest treasure. I grab her hand and together with her and Irvin we lead our men both vampire and shifter alike back to the camp where we will deal with the traders who dared to lay hands on my queen.
The traitorous rats that surrendered when the battle was won are all lined up on their knees before us. The Nobles in the front and their mindless followers behind them. I can’t contain my smile as I watch them trembling in fear. They will know pain for daring to harm my mate. I hold up my hand silencing the crowd of our men that circle the accused. “My queen who shares all my power and authority will be the one to pass judgement on you today. Your sin was against her and thus against me and every member of this coven. Pray to the goddess that your queen will be merciful, I will save my prayers and take great joy if she cuts you down.”