Marked by the Cursed Alpha

Purification the Soul

It started again and I could barely breathe, this time the burning in my veins grew stronger silver light crawling under my skin like liquid fire. I reached out weakly.

“Rhydian…”

He looked at me once, and something inside him snapped.

He drew his sword, slicing through the circle that held me.

The moment the blade broke the line, energy erupted, a flash so bright it threw Mara back and shattered half the candles.

The humming stopped and a heavy silence fell in the room, when I looked down, my blood still glowed faintly on the floor.

Rhydian knelt beside me, his face wasn’t angry anymore. Just afraid, afraid for me.

“Ayla, are you okay?” He brushed my cheek before he cuppedit in his big palm, and I felt the tremor in his hand.

“What just happened?” Kael said shock evident on his face.

Behind him, Elder Mara rose slowly, her red clothes stained with ash. She stared at me, not with anger now, but disbelief.

“Her blood,” she whispered.

“It’s not human.”

I froze. “What?”

“It bears the mark of the Moonline,” she said, almost to herself. “A bloodline thought lost before your King’s crown was ever forged.”

Rhydian turned sharply toward her. “That bloodline was wiped out centuries ago.”

“Then tell me why it answers to the curse you carry,” she said, her voice soft but filled with knowing.

My vision blurred, the room swayed.

I could hear it, the sound of my heartbeat syncing with his, a low echo that didn’t belong to either of us alone.

“I was the cure to his curse?” I asked myself.

When I looked up, the mark on his arm was glowing again, but this time, it was cracking, like something bound too tightly was beginning to break. Then if stopped glowing.

Elder Mara exited the room with haste but Kael still stood there.

“What is the curse, Rhydian?” I asked him but I saw his distaste with my question, he didn't want me knowing.

“You don't need to know that” he said firmly, helping up from the ground and scanning my body to see if I was injured elsewhere.

“I need to know, for God’s sake. How am I supposed to help if I don’g know what is going on here??” I said obviously frustrated with how difficult he is.

“I don’t need you to help me, I can figure it out myself” he said and I snapped, pulling myself aways from where he held my hand.

I could see the disappointment flash through his eyes for a second but I didn't care.

“What is the curse Rhydian?” I asked him again, this time with a stronger resolve.

“You need to calm down, Ayla. This is a sensitive matter” I heard Kael say.

“Leave us, Kael. Leave us now” Rhydian said with a stern voice and Kael exited the room.

“Ayla.. I” he didn't complete his sentence instead he stared at me.

“Rhydian, I demand an answer” I said and he finally spoke.

“One man, two souls, three bloodlines” he said and I knew that I was about to hear the most soul-shattering tale I had ever heard all my life.