Cronus' system: Against the gods - Chapter 34: A Meeting of Hot Tempers and Cold Threats

Facing bankruptcy, a beekeeper crosses over into a magical fantasy world, gaining the ability to control bee swarms. Leveraging magic, he cultivates diverse mutant bee species: efficient honey-collecting bees, formidable combat bees, and entirely new bee species with extraordinary abilities.He explores this fantastical world, bringing back various nectar-bearing flora for cultivation, creating magical honey imbued with enchanting effects, and distributing it to all corners of both worlds. While he becomes renowned as the Honey King of his original world and an elite beekeeper, his fame also spreads in the magical world, where he’s known as the Bee Whisperer of the Black Forest.The latest edition of the “Black Forest Adventure Guide” specifically warns: “Never attempt to provoke him, or his bee swarms will not spare you! Don’t ask me how I know!”

“Stop crying. I’ll marry you. Calm down.”Cold. Emotionless.That is Duke Morvex, the monster duke whose half-blood lineage comes from the terrifying wolf demons.And I, Valerie Austin, wake up in the same bed as him, the ruthless duke who should never have touched me.But the biggest problem isn’t that forbidden night…It’s the truth everyone in the empire already knows:Duke Morvex is engaged and soon to be married.

Rhian Locke only wanted strength.To face the monster that slaughtered his parents while he watched, helpless.“I never asked to be your savior. So why should I care?”All he hoped for was to reach a decent rank, hunt that beast down, maybe become a monster hunter, and retire in peace.“I’m not a slave to the gods. I don’t exist to do their bidding.”But the world had made its decision long before he was born.“Patterns are meant to be broken.”------“Boy, I’ve bathed in the blood of your kind. I’ve crushed those stronger than you.”Lightning cracked across the sky. A hammer flew to the hand of a god.“I won’t let a deceiver’s spawn and a whore’s bastard son, stand before me and declare my end.”Rhian stepped forward, blood trailing from his mouth, eyes locked.“I’m not here to declare your end,” he said coldly. “I’m here to fulfill it.”....

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.