Tempting The Dark King [Enchanted World Series Book 2]

Chapter 17

Lyrah watched as Dante approached and couldn't help but be curious. He had the black hair, quite long but not a long as the other Jinns'. He had an odd color of eyes, ruby, like that of a blood-deprived Nosferatu. He wore leather pants and jacket but noticed the royal blue lynak s***h-neck T-shirt inside. “I have never seen a Jinn-Mage before.”

Dante grinned and Lyrah fell in love with his babyish features and dimples. “And I have never seen the Mage of Life up close and personal. Who would have thought you would be King Rhol's mate?”

“You and I both.” Lyrah muttered to herself and turned to the books. “So, you have been in Agore all this time?”

“Nope. I have been in Ullanis, the city of the Mage of Truth and Wisdom.”

Ullanis was the city of scholars perched up in the Snow covered mountains of Carpa in the Jude District of the Northern Sector. That was where all the Mage went to study in order to become the best and also stand a chance of being selected to join the various positions in the Realm of Spells. Historians aimed to be selected by the house of Historians or become Lord Mage's advisors. If not, the High Mage were allowed to remain and train younger Mage or spread into other parts of the Realms spreading truth and wisdom. Ullanis was almost like Harvard, Yale, Preston, Cambridge and Oxford all wrapped into one. It was very prestigious city so if Dante was there then he must have been exceptional.

“Impressive.” Lyrah found herself saying. “Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help?”

Dante cleared his throat lightly. “I'm waiting for permission from my queen to join her.”

Lyrah rolled her eyes. “Come! Sit down.” She waved her hand at him.

Dante nodded and settled opposite her as he looked through the images.

“So, what abilities does Jinn-Mage have? I mean I have seen a Mage-Shifter, Mage-Fae but not a Mage-Jinn.” She frowned as she flipped through the pages to find a least one thing that resembled the symbols but there was nothing.

“Well, for one I can command my tattoos with spells.” then his dark eyebrows wiggled. “Wanna see?”

“I thought all Jinns could control their tatts.” Lyrah asked.

“Not the way I can. Watch this.” He shed his leather jacket and stretched a bit but Lyrah knew that was just for show. Suddenly, his ruby-colored eyes glowed as he chanted something softly. A red haze engulfed him and a slithering sound emerged as the tattoos underneath his t-shirt raced to his hand and elongated until eventually a black blade appeared.

Lyrah rolled her eyes. “Impressive but I know the Jinns can use their tatts to forge weapons.”

“But the tatts can never detach from their bodies...” Dante assured her and the blade dropped on the table with a clang sound.

Lyrah's eyed widened.

“I can still command them even when they are not attached to me.” The blade glowed crimson before it split into two blades, then the blades morphed into two guns and whips before finally the tattoos to re-attach themselves back on his skin.

“Incredible.” Lyrah breathed.

“Thanks.” He shrugged sheepishly.

“Are you also part of King Rhol's army?” Lyrah doubted Rhol would let such an exceptional individual like him go. He had Nosferatu, Nymphs, a Jinn-Mage was yet something else impressive.

Dante chuckled and shook his head. “I help where I can. It's entirely voluntary. I plan to take my aunt's place after she gets her hands full with the baby.”

Lyrah placed her hand under her chin and studied the male in front of him. “That's awfully nice of you.”

He shrugged again as he closed the book he was looking through and sighed. “I don't do things to be nice, just to be helpful and right now I think it will be helpful if we stopped wasting our time with these books.”

Lyrah frowned. “But we haven't even made any progress. Ancient Mage is not easy.”

“We are not going to make any progress because this is not ancient Mage. It's not even Mage to begin with.” Dante linked his fingers together and regarded Lyrah seriously.

“If it's not Mage then what is it?”

Dante frowned lightly. “Well, the symbols look Mage but they are not. It must be some sort of spells, or energy channeling crafts, I'm not sure. Then there is the mass grave of Ghouls—I'm thinking it's some sort of sacrifice—tribute or energy channeling.”

“Energy channeling? What's that?”

“Mage absorb and manipulate energy to their advantages, right? There was one other species that used to manipulate energy.”

“The Bachu'anes; The Shadow Dwellers.” Lyrah breathed. This was bigger than she thought.

“The Shadow Dwellers who are the Ghouls of today.” Dante looked down at the symbols again. “If I am not wrong, which I hope I am, this is Bachu'ane.”

Lyrah's eyes widened. “But what does it mean?”

Dante looked grim. “If it is Bachu'ane then everything has just got a lot more complicated.”

Lyrah sat up and breathed in hard. What the hell was going on? Just when they thought they were getting a lock down on an ancient sorcerer using the forbidden arts, this shows up? Did Rhol know about this? And how are these two linked? Lyrah felt a headache creeping in and massaged it away. She had to get to the bottom of this before more bizarre situations popped up.

“My King!” One of the warriors rushed into Rhol's office as he prepared to go down for a meeting with several member of his Court. “There has been another attack at the borders of the Mekkon District.”

Rhol's eyes narrowed as he got up. “Let's go.”

“But my King!” The warrior's eyes widened.

Rhol quirked his eyebrow at him and the warrior stopped. “Get Seygon. Zafrina is to remain behind.” and watch over my errant small mate. He wanted to add but swallowed it.

“Y—yes my King.” the warrior bowed and went out.

Within a few minutes, Rhol and his team flashed themselves to the scene.

Rhol felt the shift of the particles to his right side before he saw the attack. Sharp blade-like claws shredded his cheek sending him staggering for a stance. Rhol steadied himself and snapped his head towards the vile creature that had just attacked him. The Ghoul peeled back his scaly lips and let out a screech that was loud enough to make your ears bleed. More of the Ghouls answered the call and Rhol discovered that they were surrounded.

There were screams everywhere, with people running for cover. Cars had littered the streets, most of them smoking and burning. Body pieces and blood was everywhere as the Ghouls fed voraciously.

“How is this possible?” Seygon asked. “The sun is high in the sky and the Ghouls are out of their caves!”

Rhol watched as the Ghoul's stalked them and that's when he felt the subtle vibration of energy around them. It felt familiar and it was as if it was also tempering the inner beast in him. Rhol's heart began to race as he tried to pinpoint where the energy was coming from. The Ghouls were being controlled by someone. He felt it deep in his gut.

Embrace your true nature. A hiss whispered in his head. Rhol tried to shake it away feeling a little disoriented for a moment.

This is who you are, embrace the darkness in you and lead your army! The voice rasped.

“No!” Rhol roared as he reached for his blades and started hacking through the Ghouls.

The Ghouls attacked all at once thrashing their poisonous claws everywhere and chomping down whatever they could with their teeth! Seygon got out his guns and shot them, catching them between their eyes. Black blood oozed out of them as they dropped to the ground one by one—but where one fell dead, ten more took its place as more of them started pouring out of the forest.

“They are too many!” One warrior cried out. “We need backup.”

Rhol shook his tattoos free and they elongated into sharp ended tentacles. They rushed towards the Ghouls about to attack him and ripped out heads and guts, spilling them onto the ground. The tainted energy zinged even louder around him and Rhol could feel whatever it was settling deep inside his gut and take control.

He threw his head back and howled as blackness bled into his eyes and he lost all the control he thought he had.

This is who you are! You are the Dark King! Accept your destiny and lead your army!

Rhol's head felt like it were about to explode. He felt nauseated as everything around him tipped on its axis and began spinning out of control.

One moment he was fighting the Ghouls in the middle of the streets of Mekkon, the next minute he was standing in a wasteland with black clouds boiling above him and bitter-cold winds brazing his skin. A silhouette appeared in front of him with glowing red eyes. His thick black hair blew in the wind as he approached him.

“You need to act like the king you are and lead your army into war.” The male barked at him.

Rhol took a step back but the other male was on top of him before he could even move. Rhol's eyes widened when he saw who it was.

Uzrel eyed his son with distaste and loathing.

“No! I'm not like you!” Rhol barked shaking his father's grip away but Uzrel's claws sank into Rhol's skin and he let down a howl of pain.

“You can not deny it any longer. Your time is coming and you will accept your destiny!”

Suddenly Rhol felt excruciating pain go through his body and when he opened his eyes again, he discovered he was back in the battle against the Ghouls...but he wasn't fighting the Ghouls, he had two of his warriors hanging in mid air, his tattoos wringing the lives out of them. Zafrina was standing in front of him, her face pale with horror and her tattoos stretched towards him. Rhol looked down at his chest and found the source of the mind-numbing pain he was feeling. Zafrina had attacked him.

Rhol's legs bucked underneath him and he collapsed. The last thing he heard was Zafrina crying out his name.

Lyrah ran through the hallway with Dante and two guards behind her. Her heart felt as if it was seizing in her chest. Something was terribly wrong and she felt the urgency of finding where Rhol was. Tears stung in her eyes as she raced through the long hallways towards the infirmary. That dark feeling had returned in the fortress and it surrounded her like a second skin, making her very uneasy. Lyrah couldn't catch her breath when she finally arrived in the infirmary and found several Jinn warriors being attended to. Her eyes search frantically around and finally settled on Zafrina who had bowed down, covering her face with her palm. The female was trembling in her seat.

“Zafrina?” Lyrah called her.

The commander immediately got on her feet and bowed. “My lady.”

“What happened?”

“There has been an attack in one of the districts.”

“Where's King Rhol?” Lyrah watched the commander apprehensively.

Zafrina swallowed hard and turned towards the private rooms at the back of the infirmary. Lyrah didn't wait to be told twice and quickly rushed over there.

Everyone tried to hold her back but Lyrah resulted in flashing herself inside the room.

The darkness and evil was swelling throughout the room. The first thing that Lyrah noted was Rhol's frantic breathing. As she got closer, she saw the clammy, white discoloration Rhol's body had taken. His eyes were fixated to the ceiling and they kept alternating between black and normal. It looked at if he was fighting something.

“Rhol?” Lyrah approached the bed and touched his arm.

When Lyrah saw the claw marks on his cheek and the way his body was twitching, she knew he was poisoned once more.

“Dante!” She cried out rushing to the door.

Dante came charging in. “Yes?”

“He's poisoned--”

“There's something terribly evil inside him.” Dante sensed.

Lyrah nodded vigorously. “We need to get rid of it. How are you healing skills?”

“Uhh--” Dante stuttered.

“Fine, follow what I am doing.” Lyrah pulled her loose hair into a tight bun behind her and reached for the small scissors beside the bed. She ripped Rhol's shirt and discovered more of the wounds on his chest and stomach. “What the hell happened?” She whimpered.

She and Dante took their places around Rhol and started with the healing session.

Lyrah didn't know how long she was in there getting the poison out of her mate. Dante lent her most of his energy and they had to turn to even the other Mage within the fortress. Everyone was worried for both the king and his mate but no one dared to disturb the healing session.

“My queen, you have done enough.” Dante finally stated as he collapsed on the chair and breathed in hard.

The sun had long slipping down the horizon and cool night air entered the room, sweeping away the scent of decay, death and evil with it.

“The poison has been eliminated. He is safe now. The healers can do the rest.” He assured her.

Lyrah looked at the male resting on the infirmary bed and couldn't help but caress the locks from his face. He looked peaceful once again and his breathing was back to normal but his body was scorching hot, a residual effect for pumping pure energy into his body to purify him. Lyrah's body quivered with fatigue but she didn't want to leave his side. This was the second time he got poisoned. Why was he so careless?

“I'm going to spend the night here and watch over him.” Lyrah stated.

Dante got up and approached her. “You are about to collapse on your feet--” Before he even finished his words, Lyrah's legs gave way and she almost staggered to the floor but Dante was able to catch her. “You need to take care of your health too.”

Lyrah pursed her lips and nodded as Dante took her out towards the king's quarters.

“Food will be sent up for you. Get some rest and regain your strength. King Rhol is not going anywhere.” Dante smirked. “That male has nine lives. A little poison is nothing to worry about.”

Lyrah tried to smile but couldn't. “Thank you for today, Dante.”

Dante bowed. “Anything for my queen. Rest well.”

Lyrah nodded. “You too.” She closed the door behind him and sighed.

She was exhausted she wondered how her brother managed to stand after every healing session. Lyrah collapsed on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment. She was terrified when she saw Rhol on that bed. She was confused about her reaction because she didn't care that much for Rhol. She was just that mate that was rejected three times by him...yet every cell screamed at the thought of anything bad happening to him. Had she started caring for him? Lyrah flinched at the thought. Rhol was nothing but an egotistical brute!