Page 5 of Twisted Souls (Twisted Souls #1)

Xavier

The beautiful stranger vanished before me, leaving a crisp, wintery scent behind. It was undeniably the scent I’d been catching traces of over these past weeks, though she was far from what I had imagined.

She had long chestnut-brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders like silk. It had framed her face, highlighting her pale skin. Her angular cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes made her look both enchanting and intense. Her full lips had been set in a stubborn line, and her long, toned legs hinted at hidden strength. From the confident tone in her voice, I could tell she had to come from a privileged family. Yet, I hadn’t been able to fully assess her, as her lack of clothing had been… distracting. The lacey black fabric she wore had barely covered her full breasts, which had threatened to spill out with every movement. It had taken every ounce of my control not to stare.

My stalker was undeniably feisty, and her shadowing proved she had magic, but there was something about her—something off. I had lunged forward when the shadows encircled her, but from the look on her face, I wasn’t quite sure she knew what had been happening.

I stood rooted to the spot, lost in thought. Why was this girl following me, and how had she been getting through our wards? The moment she had fallen on me out of the literal sky, fates be damned, I was sure it was some sort of attack.

But then I saw what she wore, and I shouldn’t have assumed.

It was stupid of me to put my guard down, but why had I put it down? The fact that she had no weapons shouldn’t have made me lower my dagger. Weapons don’t mean anything when it comes to the Fae, yet I somehow felt it was okay to lower my guard.

That was a problem.

I stared at the now empty spot in the tent where she had been just moments prior. A knot formed in my stomach, and I shook my head from my thoughts. Turning, I walked to the end of the cot, where a large, ornate wooden chest sat. I opened it and grabbed another shirt, quickly putting it on before grabbing my daggers and storming out of the tent.

I didn’t have to go far; Julian’s tent was just a few steps from mine. The night breeze tossed strands of my hair into my eyes, and I shook my head to clear my vision. Red clay from the ground caked onto my boots as I walked, marking my path to his tent.

I walked in purposefully, and Julian, seated at a small desk, looked up at me through his squared lenses.

I stopped beside him, where he had been combing his blonde, curly hair with a handheld mirror. His dark eyes narrowed with annoyance. “Nope, whatever it is, I am not in the mood,” Julian said, turning from me and running the comb in his hair again. “Turn right around and go buddy it up with someone else tonight. I have a date with a gorgeous man two tents down and have been looking forward to it all day. I don’t need you to come in and ruin my good mood. You have that face.”

“Although I'm happy for you finally growing a pair and talking to Randy, we have a problem,” I said grimly.

“No, no problems today; sorry,” Julian said, setting down the mirror and adjusting his glasses with a sigh. He rose from his seat and shrugged on a navy-blue jacket that had been draped over his chair.

“We’ve been on the road for months with nothing to show for it. And Randy over there,” — he gestured dismissively toward the side of the tent—“is my reward for this fruitless endeavor, which, I might add, I advised against.”

Annoyance surged through me at his dismissive tone. “Julian, listen,” I snapped. “Do you remember me mentioning that I’ve been sensing someone around our camps these past few weeks?”

He narrowed his beady black eyes at me but continued preparing himself, unperturbed. “Yes, yes, the elusive stalker who manages to slip past my wards and vanishes the moment you detect them?” He raised an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder at me, clearly skeptical.

“Yes, it’s a girl,” I retorted sharply, my irritation evident.

He let out a sharp, barking laugh. “It sounds like you haven’t gotten laid in a while, and it’s starting to mess with your head.”

“Julian,” I hissed, my patience wearing dangerously thin. “She shadowed into my tent—literally fell from the sky and landed right on top of me.”

“Well, lucky you,” he mocked with a smirk, and my patience snapped.

I slammed my palms onto the desk, making the wood shudder beneath the force, and yelled, “Enough!”

Julian’s eyes widened in shock, meeting mine with an expression of disbelief. The smirk faded from his face as he took in the gravity of my gaze.

I ran my hands over my face in frustration, then grabbed the chair he had been sitting on, pulling it toward me and straddling it. “She shadowed into my tent, landed right on top of me—barely dressed, I might add—and then vanished.”

He blinked slowly again, his eyes shifting as he finally processed what I was saying.

“I know how this sounds, but you need to take it seriously. If she bypassed our wards and got that close…others could do the same.”

Julian’s eyes narrowed with disbelief. “That’s impossible,” he snapped, his voice tinged with irritation. “I designed those wards myself.” He began rifling through the papers and objects on his desk, clearly agitated by the implication.

“Just check them.” I sighed again, running a hand through my hair.

His gaze snapped to mine again, eyes wide and face twisted as though I’d slapped him. Julian, my closest friend and advisor, clearly felt that my doubts were some sort of personal attack on his spell-weaving skills. Having apprenticed under Lord Gunnar, the greatest Weaver in our lands, Julian took immense pride in being his most esteemed protégé. The thought of his wards being compromised clearly unsettled him.

Julian bristled again and walked over to a pile of books on his desk. He flung one open in irritation, and I ground my teeth, trying to suppress my anger at his childish attitude as I watched him flip aggressively through the pages before landing on one.

His eyes went misty, and his hands moved as if flickering through an unseen book. After a moment, he flinched, his eyes clearing again as he looked at me. “Impossible. The ward is… shredded. It’s completely gone, all of it. Our entire defense…” Julian repeated in disbelief, his voice faltering. “Fuck.”

I nodded grimly.

“Were you attacked?” Julian asked, his tone now serious and concerned.

“I’m fine,” I replied, still irritated that he hadn’t believed me.

“Damn it,” Julian muttered, collapsing onto his cot in frustration.

“There’s something else…” I hesitated, and Julian glanced nervously my way. “I think she’s from the human realm.”

His face scrunched in confusion. “You must be mistaken. If she were human, that would mean—” Julian’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening as the realization hit him.

“He opened the door,” I said with certainty, watching as he processed the new information and came to the same conclusions I had.

“No,” he breathed.

“It makes sense,” I said, the weight of my revelation hanging heavy in the air. “No one has seen him. We have no leads, and now this girl appears out of nowhere? You don’t find that strange?”

Julian’s face twisted in confusion, his shock evident as he stared at me, his mouth slightly agape. “Yes, I do,” he said finally, his voice edged with disbelief. “But how could a human shadow?”

I ran a hand through my hair, my brows pinched in thought. “I don’t think she’s fully human,” I admitted. “Her scent—it’s… confusing.”

“He wouldn’t,” Julian breathed again, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why would he put the humans at risk, especially now with these attacks, the Daka?!” His voice grew louder with each word. Julian’s eyes widened as he stood up, disbelief etched across his face.

“I don’t fully understand it myself, but I’m sure he opened that damn door,” I spat out, pushing out of the chair I had straddled and starting to pace.

“He can't be that delusional.” Julian's voice was shaky with anger. “What he did to you was unforgivable, but this? This is far worse. We know nothing about humans. We have no way of closing that door again—he’s put both our realms in danger!” Julian hissed, starting to pace himself.

“I need to find him,” I said firmly, locking eyes with Julian.

Julian threw his hand to his forehead in frustration. “Go to the human realm? Are you out of your mind? What if it’s a trap?” Julian’s voice rose in alarm. “You can’t risk getting trapped there. You need to go back home and—”

“And do what?” I interrupted, my anger flaring. “He stole my magic, Julian. My own damn brother!” I loomed over him, my voice a fierce growl. “This girl was a sign. We know where he is now!”

“Xavier—” Julian started, but I cut him off again.

“We have Daka destroying villages and witches uprising, and I need my powers to stop this before it escalates into another full-blown war! He’s left us exposed at the worst possible time, and we have to find him if we stand any chance of stopping this before it's too late.”

“We can't let the witches know the realm to the humans is open,” Julian spat. “Those rumors…You can't go anywhere near that door.”

“My brother—” I began, but Julian cut me off.

“Your brother is on his own now. The witches track your every move; there are spies everywhere. We cannot risk drawing unwanted attention to that realm. Not now.”

I growled, clenching my fists as the weight of his words sank in. The witches. After all this time, they still worshiped their dead queen, still clung to Morgana’s twisted legacy. Four centuries… and peace was still a distant dream.

Morgana nearly destroyed us once. Her thirst for revenge against our kind, fueled by dark magic, threatened to annihilate us all. She tore open a rift to another realm, unleashing the Daka—poisonous creatures that still haunt our lands to this day. Their twisted forms spilled into our world like a plague, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake.

But my parents stopped her. They took her spellbook, drained her magic, and stripped her of her immortality. In his final moments, my father created a rift to a non-magical realm, trapping Morgana there—the very realm my brother has now recklessly reopened.

That day, my parents and the book were lost, leaving me and my brother orphaned. I was only five; my brother, three. But before they died, they managed to seal the human realm, saving us and our kingdom.

The rift that allowed the Daka to enter however, remains a festering wound in our world. And without the book, there’s been no way to close it.

Despite the fragile peace my uncle was able to obtain following the war, unrest has stirred once again. The witches have been gathering, whispering rumors of Morgana’s return. Fear has spread with their whispers, but that was all they were—rumors. Morgana would be long dead by now.

Yet the witches found power without her. They'd learned to tame the Daka, now riding them into our villages, spreading chaos. What was once a scattered threat has now turned into organized assaults. Their control over the Daka transformed them from a nuisance into a veritable army.

With these rumors circulating… if they discovered her prison was open…

“This is bad, Julian,” I growled.

He nodded, eyes glazed with thought before clearing his throatandbreaking the silence. “Aria will be here in the morning. Should we inform her about the situation?” he asked nervously.

“Not yet,” I said firmly.

Julian nodded, his expression reflecting his understanding. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

I shot Julian a sidelong glare. He knew how much I loathed being called that, but that was what I was—King of Nexia. Three territories under my rule, under my protection, and my brother just endangered us all.