Chapter Four
1239 Words
LUCIAN’S POV
The chanting had been going on for far too long and I was beginning to lose it.
Every passing second made the heat inside my body worse. The ritual should have ended by now, the Vessel should have been here already, the power boiling under my skin should have been contained already.
But it wasn’t and my control was slipping quickly.
I growled before I could even control it.
The priests didn’t pause their chanting, but I saw the nervous glances plastered on their faces as they circled the circle.
They knew it, and they could feel it too.
My fingers folded into fists as I tried to stop my claws from forming, but that didn't help as I could still hear my skin tear through regardless.
The pain barely registered anymore, it had been building all night.
My breathing got worse and suddenly the chamber began to feel hot, like there was a suffocating presence in the room.
The moonlight that shone in through the windows felt more like heat rays than light.
Another growl left my chest, this time deeper and more animalistic. Nothing close to an ordinary wolf.
One of the younger priests faltered during the chant and the High Priestess gave him a warning look.
The chanting grew louder as they were trying to stabilize the ritual.
But it was becoming too late.
A dark haze began forming around my arms.
At first it looked like smoke rising upward from my skin. But the longer the ritual went on, the thicker it became.
The black aura moved from my arms to down my shoulders and spread quickly across the stone floor beneath my feet, they moved like long poisoned vines.
The priests noticed immediately and swallowed in fear.
Another one hardened his grip on the ritual staff in his hands.
I stretched my fingers out and the claws extended further.
My wolf, or rather the cursed wolf was coming out.
The delay had broken the balance of the ritual.
The power inside me had nowhere to go and the longer it stayed trapped in my body, the harder it became to hold it back.
I lifted my head slowly and looked toward the High Priestess.
“Where—” I said in annoyed desperation, “is the Vessel?”
The chanting continued but Valla answered calmly.
“She is being brought, Your Majesty.”
I growled again, that answer wasn't improving my mood.
My eyes felt like they were on fire, and I knew by now that the color had changed because the priests avoided looking directly at me now.
Smart choice.
The black mist around my body became even thicker again and crawled across the chamber floor, creeping out of the doors.
The flame torches on the wall went off, one after the other.
The ritual circle began glowing lighty as the carved symbols in the stone reacted to the unstable energy.
The priests chanted louder and in even more panic, sweat ran down the side of one man’s face as he struggled to keep up with the rhythm of the chants.
Finally the doors of the ritual chamber opened and the guards dragged a girl inside.
She fought them the entire way.
“I told you I’m Wolfless,” she shouted. “You’ve made a mistake!”
Her hair was a mess, her were clothes covered in dirt and hay. The guards hauled her forward without saying a word.
They shoved her toward the stone platform at the center of the circle.
“I didn’t do anything,” she insisted. “You can’t just drag me in here!”
The priests didn’t even look at her, they were too busy watching me.
The guards forced her onto the platform and put the metal cuff restraints around her arms. But she struggled immediately.
“Let me go!” She shouted in panic as she tugged at the chains.
“They’ve got the wrong person!”
But the chanting continued. My claws grew out another inch, becoming longer and sharper.
The girl froze when she finally looked up at me and fear filled her face instantly.
But I barely noticed.
All I saw was a body placed exactly where the ritual required. The pressure inside my body increased again and another growl came through.
This time the black mist around my body extended out even further, thrashing violently.
One of the priests stumbled backward in fear.
“Your Majesty,” he said nervously, “we must proceed.”
No one needed to tell me that. I stepped toward the platform. The girl’s breathing became faster as I approached her.
“Stay away from me,” she said.
The chains shook as she tried to move away. “You’re going to kill me.”
This delay had gone on long enough and anything more than this would cause the death of everyone in the room and beyond.
I reached the platform and grabbed her.
My hand closed around her throat and pulled her upright before she could say anything and the moment our bodies came in contact, the ritual properly began.
Unimaginable power flowed through the chamber in a violent act.
The symbols on the stone platform shone brightly, lighting up the room.
The priests’ continued chanting louder as all the cursed energy came out of me like a leaking dam.
It slammed into the girl’s body with great force. Her scream filled the chamber walls.
She shook violently as the excessive power from me flowed into her body.
The energy leaving me didn’t slow down, I kept forcing it out.
The pressure inside my chest began easing for the first time all night.
While another agonizing scream came from her and then blood ran down her nose onto her lips.
Her fingers folded into a tight fist against the cuffs as her entire body vibrated under the force of the power moving through her.
The priests kept chanting and no one could stop the ritual now.
The energy continued pouring out of me and more places on her body started bleeding.
Blood dripped from her ears, the corner of her eyes, and more from her mouth.
She jerked her head sideways as another scream from her ripped through the chamber.
For a moment I wondered if her body would survive the surge.
But the power kept leaving me and the wolf inside my mind slowly began retreating.
The black aura around my body began to fade, my claws slowly went back inside and my eyes returned to normal.
The pressure I felt in my chest started fading. The girl's voice became a weak cry and then—her screaming stopped entirely and her body went limp.
The last ounce of cursed energy left me and the chambers became silent.
All my claws had gone and I was back to normal, my vision no longer clouded with red.
The priests’ chanting had died down and I released the girl and stepped back.
Her head was hanging on one end, her face was covered in blood.
The faint breathing and beating from her chest was there, which meant she was alive but unconscious.
One of the priests stepped forward with caution and then he paused.
“Your Majesty…”
I followed his gaze to see a small violet symbol carving itself on the side of her neck.
The mark forming was unmistakable.
The Queen’s Mark.
- Writer
