Page 34

Cyrus

H istory repeats itself. The small bit of mercy I allowed has come back to bite me in the ass. I am once again up against the hunters who have been bred into existence using beast power. Creatures like Annalise, except unlike Annalise, I have no control over them.

I should have wiped them all out when I had the chance. But I didn’t. I allowed them a place within my kingdom as slaves. And this is how they repay my mercy when their fate should have been death. They repay me by becoming allies to my enemy—a beast who infiltrated my kingdom, stole my queen, and ripped my child from her womb.

My blood grows hot just thinking about it. I know Anna is right. He deserves a fate worse than death. But I am no longer the immature beast I once was before all of this began. That beast is the cause of every problem that has occurred since. I am now the king, and I have more to think about than my own personal revenge.

I have my kingdom’s future, my people, and my family. And leaving Elias alive for the sake of making him feel our pain is a risk I cannot take. He is too much of a threat. He not only infiltrated my kingdom once but twice, this time managing to round up an entire army on top of his own. He cannot be left to live. None of them can.

But even as I think the words, Anna’s face appears in my mind, heartbroken and disappointed in my decision.

I can’t let her sway me. Every decision I’ve made based on mercy has come back to affect me negatively. I tried to rule in the way my father did, and it cost me. I tried to be merciful and patient, and it once again cost me. Even showing mercy to Annalise has cost me. I can no longer try to live up to my father. I cannot. He was a beast born to rule a different time. My rule will not be like his, just as Anna’s will not be like my mother’s. Cruelty is the only way to ensure a bright future for my people with so many enemies appearing as of late.

“Your Majesty, the scouts have returned.” I keep my eyes focused on the map as Felix enters my war tent with the news.

Elias has left a trail of his presence behind that I have had the pleasure of tracking down. Elias wants revenge for what I did to his kingdom. His plan to make my home his own is ambitious even for him. But he has settled on the edges of my kingdom, hoping the men he commanded to take down each province will distract me, preventing me from discovering his location so far on the outskirts.

“Send them in,” I say as I mark the map in another province where his kind was reported and taken out.

For the past few weeks, we have been silently wiping out the threat that is Elias’s army. He made a mistake when embedding humans like Annalise into his army. He isn’t aware of how my kingdom’s hierarchy works. And humans like those should not be in certain provinces, even if they are seen briefly in the forests. Now that I have located Elias, come dusk, I will eradicate him and all that’s left.

I look up as the scouts enter my tent, ready to give their report, when my skin prickles from the familiar feeling of my seal activating. I pull in a sharp breath from the amount of power it’s commanding, confusion washing over me.

“Your Majesty?” Felix pulls my attention, his expression shifting when he senses the panic in my gaze.

“What…” I trail off as a scout enters my tent, panic on his expression.

“There’s been an incident, Your Majesty! Foreigners have attacked Elias’s camp!” he shouts.

I step from behind my maps.

“Foreigners?” I ask as my confusion mounts.

My mind immediately shifts to every possibility as I try to understand why foreigners would appear in my kingdom but only to attack Elias. And why the hell Annalise used my seal?

“And there are no reports from the palace?” I ask, looking at everyone in attendance. But everyone shakes their head.

“Ready my horse. We will see these foreigners for ourselves,” I say.

I don’t know what to feel as we speed through the forest to Elias’s last known location. Foreigners are something I’ve never had to worry about. My kingdom stretches into the mountains, a natural barrier for the edge of my kingdom. And while I know beasts travel to and from, none have ever been hostile.

None of it makes sense. Why would a group of foreign beasts attack Elias? What do they have to gain? Could they have mistaken him for me and are attempting to start a war?

That can’t be. My scout said a limited number attacked. Whoever they are, they must be powerful to be confident enough to attack an entire army. I tense as the thick stench of blood assaults me. We’re still a few miles away from Elias’s camp, and yet the blood is a mix of beasts and hybrids…and something else.

What awaits us is a massacre.

I flinch as a familiar scent drifts over me, slowing my horse. Felix adjusts his speed next to me, pausing as well. He smells it, too.

It’s Annalise’s scent.

I look at him in confusion before shifting away from the main road to follow her scent.

“Come with me,” I say to Felix. “The rest of you wait here,” I call to the beasts I brought with me.

My chest squeezes as Anna’s scent becomes stronger. But that’s impossible. She can’t be here. She is in the palace under guard. Our location is a multiple-day trip from the palace. She wouldn’t disobey me again, not after everything we’ve been through.

Felix goes in the opposite direction of me as I continue to follow Anna’s scent to the top of a hill. My heart beats faster when I reach the top. It’s a perfect view of Elias’s camp. It takes an immeasurable amount of control to remain calm as I think of the use of my seal earlier and what that could mean if she was caught in the battle below trying to capture Elias for herself.

I should have known better than to trust Annalise. She is more headstrong than she let on initially, and she has shown me that from the moment I tracked her down in Elias’s kingdom. I just chose to ignore it. Having Ciel changed her—or maybe she changed in the hunter’s camp, witnessing the corruption she was born from.

Whenever it was, I ignored it. I desperately wanted things to return to how they were—when I had her loyalty above all else. When I could release her to do my bidding, and she would do everything she could to return to me. But I see now I allowed myself to become blinded by that desire. I don’t recognize her even if her memories have returned. And now she has placed herself directly in harm’s way, putting herself and whoever else she dragged into this suicide mission in danger.

I hear Felix call to me a good distance away as I try to control myself.

“Cyrus! She isn’t traveling alone! I have their trail!” he shouts.

At this point, I don’t know if I am angrier at Annalise’s betrayal or my own soldier’s as I realize there are more scents mingled with her own. She had help. All this time I thought Anna would have a difficult time becoming part of the beast culture and being accepted as queen. But these beasts have committed treason to follow her, placing me in a difficult position as a ruler.

I turn my horse away from the bloodbath below to head in Felix’s direction as I try to separate my desires from what needs to be done when suddenly, I sense an attack coming at me from above.

I lift my gaze just in time to see a beast coming at me with a wicked grin, his sword drawn. I don’t have time to pull out my own weapon, so I shift slightly, my nails lengthening as I intercept the beast’s attack.

The scraping sound of my talons against the metal echoes throughout the forest, but the strength of the attack forces me from my horse, and both of us go tumbling to the ground. I cry out as I collide with the ground at the pace I was atop my horse, and I know instantly that things have broken internally, but I don’t have time to focus on it as the beast lifts his blade, his smile crazed as he aims for my throat.

I hear Felix shouting ahead just as the beast’s blade comes down. My bare hand collides with the steel, and to my shock, the blade slices through my palm, shattering the bone in my arm up to my wrist, effortlessly slicing through my flesh.

“Argh!” I cry out.

I use the blade’s position in my arm to force this beast off of me, my claws digging into his flesh for a split second before he’s thrown into the nearest tree. The trunk creaks and shatters from the force of my attack, the slow rumble of it collapsing, filling the air.

I quickly stand, gritting my teeth in pain as I rip the blade from my flesh, focusing on my wounds to heal myself as I look for the beast who attacked me. He slowly pulls himself from the rubble, and I am forced to hide my shock as I take him in. He shares the traits of my mother and I. His white hair is cropped, his dark blue gaze sharpening into a threatening form as he studies me with the same curiosity.

“You are strong for someone raised among the inferior.” The beast is already exiting the thick layer of dirt in the air from the collapsing tree just as Felix approaches. I hold my hand up, immediately stopping him as the beast focuses his attention on Felix, his gaze narrowing in disgust.

“This is the problem. You surround yourself with lesser creatures and allow them to co-exist as if they should breathe the same air as you,” he growls.

“Find Anna,” I murmur to Felix.

“Your Majesty—”

“That is an order,” I snap, my attention remaining on the beast to ensure he doesn’t attack while I’m somewhat distracted. He is strong—stronger than any enemy I’ve ever faced. And he can easily kill any of the beasts behind me without so much as breaking a sweat.

The beast chuckles, pulling my attention. “Majesty? Don’t tell me you rule these lands and have allowed this infestation under your reign,” he says.

He points his finger at me, his talons elongating as black smoke pours from his skin.

“You should be stripped of your title for letting this go so far,” he growls.

I slowly release my own smoke, ensuring I block his path to Felix, and he notices, his smile widening.

“Infestation?” I ask, hoping to give Felix time to make it a safe distance away.

“The unholy mixture of whatever was used to breed these hybrids that run rampant within your borders. Their existence is a perversion of nature,” he says in irritation. “Surely you are disgusted by the mere presence of them… it is in your nature, regardless of where you were raised,” he says.

I have no interest in speaking with this beast, as he’s confirmed my fear. They have somehow become hyper-aware of the hunters’ breeding over generations and have come here because of it. Unfortunately, Annalise is part of that population. And she had to have been in the surrounding area when they appeared.

But I can’t move. I don’t know how many of them have come. And if I allow him past me, he will slaughter my men.

So, I’ll just have to kill him.

“I am here, am I not? I don’t recall asking your kind for help,” I say.

“Ha! My kind? We are one and the same, Your Majesty ,“ he says mockingly.

“And yet you’ve chosen only now to reveal your existence to me,” I say.

The beast shrugs. “You’ve caused quite a stir among us, Cyrus. We can no longer leave you to your own devices.”

I hide my shock from him knowing my name. I don’t give him a chance to say anything more as I attack. My body shifts mid-stride, becoming one with the smoke inside of me, and I revel in the feeling of becoming the creature I keep at bay for the sake of society.

Shock crosses the beast’s features, and he barely has time to shift as I crash into him, my teeth sinking into his shoulder. I use my claws to dig into his flesh, holding him firm as we tumble through the brush, our forms killing anything within a few feet of us. I’ve been in control of my beast for long enough to know how much of myself to release, even when I am battling. And as we come to a halt, the beast rips himself from my teeth, lunging at me to counter.

His teeth are bared, but his movements have become hesitant as I have now shown him how strong I am. He’s relentless, his movements wild as he swipes at me, his claws coming inches from my form. He is like a wild animal, and I find myself intrigued by it, my excitement coming to the surface at having an opponent who matches me. He once again attacks, and I dodge, using his momentum to land a blow on his leg, my nails gripping his form deep enough that his wails of pain echo through the forest brush. My nails come into contact with his bones, and I grow eager to destroy him.

I lift him easily, smashing him into the ground as I crawl over him, my teeth bared as I let a vicious roar rip from my throat. The grass around me shrivels and dies as my threatening demeanor grows, and I stand tall, taking in his wounded form as I slowly lose myself in the same place I did when destroying Elias’s lands.

I feel free. Nothing can hold me back, nothing can hold me down, nothing can anchor me. I am power, and nothing can stop that.

My form grows as the black smoke fills the area, covering it further than I meant. But the more of myself I release, the more euphoric I feel.

The sound of his cries breaks through my euphoric state, and I feel irritation. In this form, I know exactly what that cry is—a cry for help.

I smash my fist into the ground, leaning over as I let my animalistic instinct kick in. And as the black smog emitting from me connects with his, something happens that I never knew possible. I absorb it. His form becomes weaker and weaker until he is wailing in pain, and his body is forced to shift back into his human form.

He’s watching me with a crazed expression—fear mingled with disbelief as he clutches his mangled body in terror. He tries to speak, but blood spills past his lips instead. I lean closer to him, inches from his face, to enjoy the look of fear in his eyes as death stares back at him.

“If you kill me… you won’t be able to save your precious Anna,” he coughs out.

I continue to study him. The words are important to me. I know it. But I find it difficult to focus on anything other than ending his life at the moment—ending all life.

“I heard you command your man to find her. Is that whose scent lingers outside of the pen in that camp?” he manages, wincing in pain as he continues to strain himself just to survive my wrath. “You’ll only find corpses in that war camp.”

He smiles at me, blood drenching his teeth as he does so.

“But we did notice a rogue hybrid… not part of the camp. It took off after their leader escaped… in the same direction… If you kill me, you will lose any chance of saving her from my brother’s sword,” he chuckles.

He groans in pain, sitting up taller as my form slowly retreats, my mind coming back to me.

“You don’t have much time, Cyrus. I suggest you pull yourself together…or it’s her head.”