Page 58 of Lord of the Lone Wolf (Bonded Hearts #3)

Maseo

F ury ignited in Maseo’s chest, burning away all his fears.

He kept his blade steady and his stance firm, refusing to cower before the monster he called his father.

“You’ve tried to kill me before.” Maseo used contractions as a minor act of rebellion against his father’s strict rules about formal court language. “You failed then, and you’ll fail now.”

Nasume’s face contorted with fury. “You dare speak to me that way? You, the greatest disappointment of my existence?”

“I’m only a disappointment because you never saw my worth.” Maseo circled to position himself between his father and the bed where Kitsuki struggled against his bonds. “You were too busy chasing after someone who would never want you.”

“And he wants a pathetic half-breed like you ?”

The words struck old wounds, but Maseo refused to flinch. “At least I don’t have to force myself on others to get their attention.”

Nasume’s eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. “You understand nothing about my relationship with Kitsuki.”

Maseo tightened his grip on his sword. “I understand he has rejected you for centuries, and you’re so pathetic that you can’t accept he doesn’t want you.”

Nasume’s nostrils flared, his chest heaving with rage. “And what makes you think he wants you? Look at yourself. Weak. Human. Powerless. What could you offer a dragon king?”

“More than you ever could. Respect. Understanding. The ability to accept no for an answer.”

Nasume’s laugh was ugly and twisted. “Is that what you tell yourself? That he respects you? That he sees you as anything other than a tool to be used against me?”

Maseo kept his expression neutral, though the words cut deeper than he wanted to admit. “Whatever he sees in me, it’s more than he ever saw in you.”

“You worthless little shit,” Nasume spat, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. “Let us see how brave you are when I tear you apart.”

The wolf king lunged forward, his claws extended to rip into Maseo’s throat. But as his hand came within inches of Maseo’s skin, a brilliant silver barrier flared to life, repelling Nasume with such force that he stumbled backward.

Confusion gave way to ire as Nasume’s gaze fixed on Maseo’s hand. “He gave you a protective ring?”

“Yes, he offered me the protection you never provided,” Maseo replied.

Nasume’s jealous rage flared. “Take it off.”

“No.”

The single word of defiance seemed to push Nasume over the edge. Shadows erupted from his hands, coalescing into jagged spears that hurtled toward Maseo with lethal intent.

The silver barrier flared again, the shadows dissipating into wisps of darkness upon contact with the protective magic.

“Why would he give that to you , of all people?” Nasume snarled.

“Because unlike you, he understands what it means to care for someone.”

“Care?” Nasume sneered. “He is only using you to hurt me where I am most vulnerable.”

“And where is that?” Maseo asked. “Your pride? Your ego? Because it certainly isn’t your heart.”

Nasume sent shadows sweeping over the floor, rising to engulf Maseo. Kitsuki’s magic flared again, pushing back the darkness and keeping Maseo untouched within its protective embrace.

Frustration twisted Nasume’s features as his attacks continued to fail. “He cannot protect you forever.”

“Long enough to deal with you,” Maseo replied, his confidence growing with each failed attempt. He glanced toward the bed, where Kitsuki struggled against his restraints. The dragon king’s gaze burned with silver fire as he fought against the necromantic restraints.

Nasume followed Maseo’s gaze, his expression darkening further. “You think he cares for you?” He laughed, the sound bitter and twisted. “He is a dragon king. You are a halfling bastard. At best, you are a momentary distraction, a pet to be coddled and then discarded.”

The words touched on Maseo’s deepest insecurities, but he refused to let it show. “Better that than a millennium-long annoyance.”

Nasume’s eyes narrowed. “You have grown too bold, insolent whelp.” The shadows around Nasume shifted, taking on the taint of necromancy. The air in the chamber grew cold and heavy with the wrongness of death magic.

“Dragon magic is powerful,” Nasume conceded. “But nothing can protect against necromancy.”

Fear flickered through Maseo as he realized the truth in his father’s words. Kitsuki’s ring protected against many things, but necromancy operated outside the natural laws.

As Nasume gathered his corrupted power, preparing to unleash it against Maseo, a wall of ice erupted from the floor between them. The barrier was thick, glowing with an inner silver light.

Maseo glanced back to see Kitsuki, still bound to the bed but with one hand extended toward them. The dragon king’s face strained with effort as he maintained the protective barrier.

“How touching,” Nasume sneered. “He fights so hard to protect you. I wonder why?”

The wolf king’s eyes blazed with fury as he raised his hands, summoning a blade wreathed in writhing shadows that coiled around its length like living serpents.

The Divine weapon was one of Nasume’s most prized possessions, its celestial steel forged in the realm ruled by Powers.

But necromancy had carved corruption through its sacred structure.

“Behold,” Nasume said with perverse reverence as he lifted the sword. “True justice. This is Divine wrath channeled through death itself.”

With a roar of rage, he brought the sword down on the barrier. Where the blade touched, the ice turned black and melted into shadowy puddles. “He cannot save you.”

Maseo readied himself, knowing the blockade wouldn’t hold much longer. He glanced at Kitsuki, whose face contorted with effort as he fought to maintain the ice wall while battling his own restraints.

With a final, devastating blow, Nasume shattered the barrier. Fragments exploded outward, each piece carrying traces of corrupted divine energy that burned where they touched. Maseo shielded his face with his arm.

Before he could recover, Nasume was upon him again, but Kitsuki’s ring flared to life once more, repelling the physical attack.

Nasume howled in frustration. “Enough of these games!” He summoned a sphere of verdant light that spread outward in a complex ward, encompassing both Maseo and himself.

The light rose around them, forming a dome that sealed them inside, cutting them off from the rest of the chamber.

“I will have no more interference from your dragon protector.”

Kitsuki roared in rage and desperation. Maseo could see him through the translucent green dome, still fighting against his bonds, his magic flaring as he tried to break through it, but his power couldn’t penetrate the darkness.

Nasume turned toward Kitsuki, a cruel smile spreading on his face. “Watch closely, my love. Once this waste of breath is gone, there will be nothing stopping you from being with me.”

With a gesture, he intensified the necromantic bonds holding Kitsuki, causing the dragon king to arch in pain as the corrupted magic dug deeper into his flesh. Kitsuki’s agonized growl made Maseo’s blood boil.

“Stop it!” Maseo shouted, lunging forward with his sword aimed at his father’s heart.

But the sword grazed his side instead of finding its mark. Nasume made a smug noise as the wound dripped with black blood. “Perhaps there is more of me in you than I thought.”

“I am nothing like you,” Maseo denied.

“No?” Nasume raised an eyebrow, his shadow blade held at the ready. “We both want the same thing, do we not? The Ice King’s attention. His favor. His bed.”

Heat rushed to Maseo’s face, but he maintained a neutral expression. “Why can’t you understand he’ll never want you?”

“Do you think he wants a halfling bastard?” Nasume’s words dripped with scorn. “You have nothing to offer a king other than a handsome face.”

Nasume circled Maseo like a predator. “Power is the only reality. And I have always had more power than you.” He used his magic to strip his son of his armor before stabbing forward to slice his blade across Maseo’s ribs.

The world exploded into layers of agony beyond anything Maseo had ever experienced.

Death carved itself into his flesh with surgical precision, each tainted rune burning permanent condemnation into his ribs.

But worse was the death magic burrowing into his flesh like parasitic worms. He gritted his teeth against the dual assault, refusing to give his father the satisfaction of seeing him crumble.

Nasume’s sadistic smile widened as he watched the Divine condemnation seep through his son’s flesh. “Do you feel it? The judgment of the Powers channeled through death? How many more cuts do you think you can endure before Divine justice consumes you?”

Maseo said nothing, focusing on his breathing and maintaining his stance despite the searing pain where Divine authority and necromancy worked together to unmake him from within. He refused to falter.

“You’ve always been weak,” Nasume continued. “Even as a child, you cried too easily and broke too quickly. I tried to burn that weakness out of you, but your human blood made you soft.”

“No, it strengthened me in ways you can’t understand,” Maseo countered, mirroring his father’s movements while maintaining his distance. “It taught me empathy, compassion, and resilience.”

“Such pretty words for weakness,” Nasume scoffed. “What good is empathy when you are bleeding out? What use is compassion when your enemy shows none?”

He attacked again, unleashing a flurry of strikes that forced Maseo onto the defensive.

A second cut opened across his back between his shoulder blades, but the violation penetrated deeper than flesh.

The blade split muscle and sinew as shadows infested the wound, carrying whispers of damnation that echoed through his bones.

Where the first strike had carved judgment, it now inscribed a promise of slow destruction that would hollow him from within.