Chapter 112: The Rift.
Raphael's POV
Ava was gone, again. I frantically searched around. She was here just now. Alasia... She did this.
" The witch took her!" Grey roared inside me. " Must kill her." I tried ignoring him. Remembering the heartbreaking scream of my mate.
I could still hear her scream, the way it echoed through the air, raw and broken. The sound of it broke something inside my skull, I feel splitting headache incoming.
The palace ground had trembled beneath my feet when she vanished, and now, everything in me feels wrong.
For a moment, I had hoped. I had hoped, I could finally hold her. I was so wrong. Grey was fighting me with everything he had.
He didn't care anymore. He was tired of waiting. He wanted blood. He wanted vengeance. He wanted to rip apart anything that stood between us and Ava.
" Must Kill. Destroy. Let them suffer."
My claws had already begun to extend, my breaths coming too fast, too shallow.
The rage inside me rose, stretching wide, tightening around my ribs, squeezing the last remains of sanity out of me.
I was tired. I wanted to give in. But the face of Ava held me. I wanted to see her. I kept pushing back against Grey.
Unable to anymore, I relented. Thinking, he I had finally won, a firm hand pressed onto my shoulder, stopping me.
“Stop,” Drogon’s voice came through the haze, I tried concentrating on it and centering on his voice.
I turned to him, my vision blurry at the edges, darkened by the beast digging its way to the surface of my soul. I barely registered his presence, barely cared.
"Get your hands off me," I snarled. This wasn't what I wanted to say.
But Drogon didn’t let go. His golden-red eyes locked onto mine, firm and unrelenting “You will do exactly as she wants if you lose control now. Is that what you want?"
No. That's not it but I couldn't help myself. I continued focusing on his voice, pushing against Grey as he pushed against me.
“Alasia is watching,” he continued, his grip tightening. “She is waiting for this.”
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt, as I tried holding onto anything to keep me from breaking. My breath rose, and sweat beaded on my head. I knew he was right.
But knowing and accepting were two different things.
My hands trembled for holding together so for so long. My claws itched to sink into flesh. My entire body ached with the need to do something, to unleash the wrath burning inside me.
And then, The great doors to the hall burst open. Caleb stormed in first, followed closely by a group of ministers. Their expressions were filled with alarm, their voices already rising in demand.
“What was that tremor, your majesty?” one of them shouted.
“Your Majesty, what is happening?”
“Your majesty, hope you are not practicing the dark to bring her back.”
Their voices grated against my ears, their unwanted presence unbearable. I could barely focus on their words, too lost in the battle between Grey and I.
I must not give in... I kept chanting in my mind. I must not give her what she wants.
Drogon stepped closer, voice low and calm. “Do not react.”
I turned my head slightly toward him, my muscles tightening.
“What?” I didn't understand.
“They are not in their right minds,” he muttered. “She is using them. Do you not see it?”
My gaze moved back to the ministers. Who were still arguing and murmuring within themselves. Caleb just stood still watching me. To make matter worse, I could read their thoughts.
So it felt like prickling needles crawling through my skull. I held my skull. The pain now unbeatable. They were still murmuring. I could still hear them.
" Silence!" I bellowed unleashing my mana. It hits them and they fall on their knees.
Anastasia and Caleb shields the others. I turned to look at them. Their faces were twisted with fear.
But in there was something else in their eyes. Their inner eyes were dark and their movements were stiff, their emotions looked controlled.
I instantly understood what Drogon was trying to say. Alasia was doing this. She wanted me to snap.
She wanted me to lose myself again, to fall deeper into the madness I had barely crawled out of. Just like what happened in Mesodomica.
And if I did, if I gave in, she would win. And I will destroy everything. Grey snarled, still fighting, still thrashing against me I was barely holding together.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my fists to unclench. Not yet. I will not lose myself completely again.
“Leave,” I ordered the ministers, my voice cold.
They hesitated. One of them opened his mouth to argue.
I stepped forward, and said. “Now.”
They did not need to be told twice.
One by one, they hurried out of the field, their fear swallowing whatever courage they had spelled with.
Caleb remained behind, watching me closely. He had always been the only one unshaken by my presence, but now, even he looked wary.
I turned back to Drogon. “Tell me what we must do.”
Drogon studied me for a moment before speaking. “Grey must stand down.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “You think I have not been trying?”
“He does not listen to you because you let him control your rage,” Drogon said. “He feeds from it. She feeds from it.”
I clenched my jaw, holding myself from snapping at him. He sounds so emotionless and make it seem as if I am not trying.
Drogon took a step closer, his voice dropping lower. “If you lose yourself to him, you might truly lose her.”
A warning and a reminder. And one that made whatever I was going to say freeze inside my lungs.
Grey suddenly stops fighting inside me, his growl turning into quiet one.
Drogon’s words struck deep, deeper than I wanted to admit. Ava.
If I kept letting this darkness consume me, if I kept giving into the bloodlust of Grey. I might never get her back.
I inhaled shakily, pressing my fingers to my temples. “Then tell me, Drogon. How do we fight her?”
Drogon's golden-red eyes gleamed. "We find Ava's body before Alasia tightens her hold. And for that, we must go where she is."
" Where do we go then?" I asked. I was willingly ready to go the abyss.
" The rift."
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
