15.The Traitor Inside Bloodridge
1637 Words
Darkness swallowed everything.
Not ordinary darkness.
This felt alive.
Heavy.
Breathing.
Aria’s pulse slammed violently against her ribs as the corridor disappeared around them. One second she could see Darius beside her—
The next, even the torchlight vanished.
Then came screams.
Steel clashed somewhere nearby.
A body hit stone hard enough to echo through the fortress.
“Formation!” Cedric roared through the blackness.
The command was followed immediately by snarls and the sound of wolves shifting.
Aria tried to steady her breathing.
The guardian pressed tightly against her side now, massive and warm in the dark. Its low growl vibrated through the floor beneath her boots.
Then she felt it.
Hands.
Someone grabbed her wrist.
Aria gasped—
“Easy.”
Darius.
Relief hit harder than it should have.
His grip tightened instantly around her hand.
“Stay with me.”
Another scream echoed nearby.
Kael cursed somewhere to their left.
“The shadows are moving!”
Not shadows.
People.
The Order.
Aria’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness enough to see movement flickering through the corridor like smoke. Black-cloaked figures slipped between pillars impossibly fast.
Too fast.
One appeared beside a Bloodridge warrior and slit his throat before disappearing again.
The body collapsed.
Mara threw a dagger blindly into the dark.
A cry answered.
“Got one!” she shouted.
“Comforting,” Cedric muttered while something enormous crashed against the far wall.
Then silver fire erupted through the corridor.
Aria flinched.
Lucien stepped from the darkness like he belonged there.
Black coat untouched.
Silver eyes glowing faintly beneath the shadows.
He smiled when he saw her.
“There you are, princess.”
The guardian lunged instantly.
Its roar shook the fortress.
Lucien barely moved before silver chains exploded from the floor beneath him, wrapping around the guardian’s throat and limbs midair.
The creature slammed violently into the stone.
Aria froze.
“What did you do?”
Lucien tilted his head.
“You think your ancestors created only one kind of monster?”
The guardian snarled violently, struggling against glowing silver restraints that burned through its black fur like acid.
Rage exploded through Aria.
“Let him go!”
The corridor lights flashed silver.
The chains trembled.
Lucien noticed immediately.
Interest sharpened across his beautiful, terrible face.
“Yes,” he whispered. “That power.”
Darius moved before anyone else.
His sword crashed against Lucien’s silver barrier hard enough to send sparks across the corridor.
Lucien sighed.
“You are becoming repetitive, Alpha.”
He flicked one hand casually.
Darius was thrown backward into the wall.
Hard.
Aria screamed his name.
The bond between them snapped painfully tight.
Instantly.
Violently.
Something inside her surged.
Not anger this time.
Fear.
Real fear.
The kind that made breathing impossible.
The corridor exploded with silver light.
Every symbol carved into the Bloodridge walls illuminated at once.
Lucien’s smile vanished.
For the first time—
He looked alarmed.
Aria felt power rush through her body like lightning tearing through veins. The air itself trembled around her.
Everyone froze.
Even the Order soldiers.
The guardian suddenly ripped free from the chains with one violent movement.
Lucien swore softly.
The creature landed beside Aria instantly, protective and furious.
Darius pushed himself upright slowly, blood running from a cut above his eyebrow now.
“Aria.”
His voice sounded careful.
Too careful.
Like approaching something dangerous.
The realization hurt.
Lucien noticed that too.
“Do you feel it yet?” he asked softly.
Aria stared at him.
“Feel what?”
“The throne recognizing you.”
The whispers returned immediately.
Louder now.
Heir.
Queen.
Open the gate.
Aria pressed her hands against her head.
“Stop.”
Lucien took one slow step toward her.
“You cannot suppress blood memory forever.”
Kael appeared instantly between them.
“Back away from her.”
Lucien looked amused.
“Still trying to play hero?”
Kael’s eyes flashed dangerously.
“At least I’m not trying to resurrect a corpse.”
The temperature in the corridor dropped instantly.
Lucien’s expression darkened for the first time.
Interesting.
Kael noticed too.
“The first king,” Kael continued carefully. “That’s what this is really about.”
Lucien smiled again.
But colder now.
“You know very little.”
“I know enough.”
Kael’s voice hardened.
“The Order doesn’t want power. You want him.”
Lucien’s silver eyes gleamed.
“And if we do?”
Cedric stepped beside Kael with his axe raised.
“Then we kill you before you reach whatever’s buried down there.”
Lucien laughed softly.
“You think this fortress can stop what’s coming?”
The mountain shook violently again.
This time stronger.
Stone cracked somewhere deep below them.
And from beneath Bloodridge—
Something answered.
Not the guardian.
Something far larger.
The sound rolled upward through the fortress like thunder beneath the earth.
Several wolves whimpered instinctively.
Even Cedric paled slightly.
Lucien closed his eyes briefly.
Almost reverently.
“He wakes.”
Selene appeared near the corridor entrance in a burst of silver light.
“No!”
The ancient queen’s voice cracked through the fortress.
Lucien looked at her calmly.
“You should have let him die centuries ago.”
Pain twisted across Selene’s face.
“I loved him.”
“And he loved you enough to destroy the world.”
Silence followed that.
Heavy.
Awful.
Aria stared at Selene.
The grief in the ancient queen’s expression looked unbearable.
Not myth.
Not legend.
A woman who watched the man she loved become something monstrous.
Suddenly Aria understood why Selene looked at her strangely whenever Darius stood too close.
Fear.
Not of power.
Of love becoming obsession.
The thought unsettled her deeply.
Lucien turned back toward Aria.
“The crown already chose you.”
“I didn’t choose it back.”
“You will.”
His certainty terrified her.
Darius stepped beside her again despite the blood still running down his face.
“No,” he said coldly. “She won’t.”
Lucien’s smile sharpened.
“You believe you can protect her from destiny?”
“I believe she deserves a choice.”
The words hit Aria painfully hard.
Because he kept saying them.
Over and over.
Choice.
Even when everyone else saw her as power, weapon, queen, heir—
Darius kept seeing her.
Lucien noticed the way Aria looked at him.
And smiled knowingly.
“The bond deepens quickly.”
Heat rushed into Aria’s face instantly.
Kael’s expression darkened.
Ronan watched silently from behind the others.
Observing everything.
Always watching.
Lucien tilted his head toward Darius.
“Tell me, Alpha… when she commands you eventually, will you kneel willingly?”
The corridor went deathly still.
Aria’s stomach dropped.
Darius’s expression became terrifying.
“She would never ask that.”
“You don’t know what the crown does.”
Lucien’s voice softened.
“It turns love into devotion. Devotion into obedience.”
Selene looked shattered.
Kael clenched his fists hard enough to shake.
Aria suddenly understood the real horror.
Not control through fear.
Control through love.
The crown twisted bonds.
Mates.
Pack loyalty.
Affection.
Everything.
Darius’s hand brushed hers lightly.
Intentional.
Grounding.
His storm-gray eyes met hers steadily.
“You are not him,” he said quietly.
The first king.
The monster beneath the throne.
Aria swallowed hard.
What if he was wrong?
What if power always corrupted eventually?
The guardian suddenly lifted its massive head sharply.
Growling.
Not at Lucien.
At the corridor behind them.
Everyone turned.
Footsteps echoed slowly through the darkness.
One.
Two.
Three.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
Female.
Thin.
Wearing Bloodridge colors stained with blood.
Mara’s face lost color instantly.
“No.”
The woman lifted trembling hands.
“I’m sorry.”
One of Bloodridge’s healers.
Aria recognized her vaguely from earlier.
Lucien smiled softly.
“There’s our little gatekeeper.”
Darius’s expression became murder.
“You opened the eastern gate.”
Tears streamed down the healer’s face.
“They have my son.”
The corridor fell silent.
Lucien looked bored already.
“You delayed beautifully.”
The healer looked horrified suddenly.
“You promised—”
Lucien slit her throat before she finished speaking.
The motion happened so quickly most of them barely saw it.
The woman collapsed choking on blood.
Mara caught her before she hit the floor.
“No, no—stay with me.”
Too late.
The healer died in Mara’s arms.
The corridor exploded into fury.
Cedric charged first.
Kael shifted mid-run.
The guardian roared.
Lucien stepped backward calmly as Order soldiers poured from the darkness behind him.
“Kill them,” he ordered lazily.
Battle erupted instantly.
The corridor became chaos.
Steel clashed against silver blades.
Wolves slammed into armored soldiers.
The guardian tore through two Eclipse warriors at once, black fur soaked in blood.
Kael’s silver wolf lunged beside Cedric while Mara buried daggers into throats with terrifying precision.
Ronan fought like winter itself.
Cold.
Efficient.
Merciless.
And Darius—
Darius became death.
Aria watched him move through the battlefield with horrifying precision. His black blade carved through enemies effortlessly, every movement controlled fury.
An Eclipse soldier lunged toward Aria—
Darius killed him before Aria could even react.
Blood splattered across stone.
Darius grabbed her immediately.
“We’re leaving.”
“What?”
“The throne chamber.”
Aria stared at him.
“You want to go down there now?”
“They already breached the fortress.”
Another explosion shook Bloodridge.
Closer.
Lucien smiled from across the battlefield.
“He’s right, princess.”
Silver eyes locked onto hers.
“The gate won’t stay closed much longer.”
Then the mountain screamed.
Not metaphorically.
Actually screamed.
The sound shook the fortress so violently the corridor floor cracked beneath their feet.
Aria nearly fell.
Darius caught her instantly.
And beneath Bloodridge—
Something ancient laughed.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD