Blood Dynasty

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CHAPTER TWO: At The Battlefield Again.

I opened my eyes slowly, taking in the environment around me. It looked familiar, too familiar.

The same heavy grey clouds sitting low over the field, the same smell of rain and ash and something metallic underneath it all. The same cold wind cutting through my jacket.

I blinked twice to be sure I wasn't seeing things.

I was standing exactly where I was standing the first time I met Darius, the battlefield.

At the front of my line, my second in command Rowe just behind my left shoulder, the rebel soldiers stretched out on either side of me with their weapons ready and their faces tight.

My tight armoured suit shielded my body from up to down like a form of protection.

I turned to look at my soldier, they stood ready to fight and defend their people.

I have seen all this before.

I have lived this moment.

My hands are at my sides and they are completely still. That surprises me a little. I thought waking up here would make me feel scared but there is nothing like that. Just the cold air and the grey sky and a steadiness in my chest that was not there the first time.

I felt a lot more confident

The first time I stood here I was twenty three years old and exhausted down to my bones and I wanted the war to be over so badly I could taste it. I was not careless. I was not stupid. I was just so tired of watching people die that when something that looked like an ending appeared on the horizon I walked toward it with both hands open.

I will not make that mistake again.

As crazy as this might look, I don't know how but I am not dead but now I have somehow come back to the day everything changed.

And this time I was going to attack my killer before he ends up killing me.

I was going to make sure I ruin every of his plans.

I saw him before he reached the halfway point of the valley, his broad shoulders making him look elegant and strong at the same time.

Darius.

He was walking toward us under a white flag, two of his wolves flanking him at a respectful distance, and even from here I can see the way he carries himself. Like the ground belongs to him. Like he is doing us a favor just by showing up.

He is tall and broad and his dark hair catches the wind and I remember the first time I saw him I thought he looked like someone who had never doubted himself a single day in his life because he moved with so much confidence.

I still think that. The difference is that now I know what it means.

I watch him come closer, the image of him pointing a gun to my face with a deadly look in his eyes flashed in my head.

There was a tree line to the east, about forty meters behind where Darius's main force is camped. The first time I stood here my eyes never went there. I was too focused on him to notice.

Seraphine was also standing just inside the shadows of the trees.

She stands perfectly still, which was why I missed her before. She was not with his flanking wolves so she didn't come to fight or negotiate. She just came to watch.

Darius's eyes flicked toward her for less than a second as he closes the last stretch of distance between us.

He stopped a few feet in front of me and he smiled, and I will give him this, the smile is very good. It looked almost genuine but I knew it wasn't.

"Commander Mara," he said. His voice sounded low and steady. "I didn't come here to fight."

"Then why did you come?" I asked

Same words as last time.

I began to explain everything to me, how he wants us to create an alliance, to come together as one instead of fighting and I stood there listening to him with my arms crossed and my eyes on his face.

He talked about creating a new world. About howeverybody deserved better, both humans and non humans.

He was too good at this and now I understood why I believed him immediately the first time.

Because as I stood in front of him listening to everything he had to say, despite knowing exactly what would come next, I almost believed him.

"What exactly are you proposing?" I asked.

“I want you to be my Luna, I want to change the world and I think with a human as Luna the warewolfs and humans would get along well, together as one we would be unstoppable. Your people would never have to suffer again.”

I stayed silent after he finished, Long enough for him to think I was debating the offer in my head.

I looked down at the ground for a while and then look back up at him.

Giving him a look that shows I'm not fully convinced but I need sometime to consider the offer.

"I'm willing to meet again," I said.

"Somewhere neutral. Just you and a small number of your people. Same from my side."

He gave me a satisfied smile, like he liked the fact that I was even considering to meet him again.

“Thank you for considering the offer, I just want peace.”he said.

He extended his hand. I looked at it for exactly the right amount of time before I taking it. His grip is firm and warm.

He walked back to his line and I watched his retreating back.

Rowe leaned in close behind me.

"Do you trust him?"

I kept my eyes on Darius's back. On the tree line to the east where Seraphine had already melted back into the shadows like she was never there.

"No," I said quietly. "But he doesn't need to know that yet.”