Marriage Alliance With The Lycan Monarch-Chapter 223: A Stranger From The Past

I exhaled a low breath, running a hand through my hair.

I set the goblet on the table before clutching the bottle to pour more wine. This was my third cup, and it had yet to take influence, not that I wanted it to; I just needed to feel something.

I was numb, and the only thing that could make me feel alive was having olive green eyes pinned on me, the soft tune of her voice, and her giggles. Goddess! I missed her greatly already. Wake up for me, my love.

I heard a creak, and my eyes moved to the balcony.

Hearing Snow’s growl and his gaze fixated on that spot, my instinct told me he discerned something I couldn’t. I rose to my feet.

The closer I got, the more I could see a dark figure standing outside.

I stepped through the doors without hesitation and found a man wearing the same mask as Corvin’s, but white.

"Greetings, Father of The Endless."

"I take it you’re Zevrin the White."

From the eye slits of the mask, there was a wild glow of violet.

"Corvin the Black," he uttered in frustration. "He may seem like he’s on your side, but he’s not. He’s the worst of us. He was once a High Warlock of the Order... Now he walks as a Forsaken. How can you trust someone who has forsaken his own people?"

"I have no intention of heeding anything you say. Your words or advice do not matter to me."

"Indeed, you needn’t have to. The last time we met, you were just a boy. Yes, a boy, but I’d be a fool to have viewed you as such, for in those crimson I saw not a calm crown prince." His glow dimmed. "But a terror waiting to be unleashed."

Suddenly, it was as if I could see myself in the grand corridor.

I was nine years old, watching as Father was already in, and a man followed, a man I discerned to be a warlock.

He halted and turned to me, allowing me to see his plain white mask. We locked gaze for what seemed to be a minute, but it was the longest engagement I have ever had with a stranger.

And then he lowered his head in a bow and stepped into Father’s study, and the doors slammed shut.

I blinked away from the memory, the image too clear and real to narrow down as a recollection. Zevrin must have shown it to me.

"Do you remember me now, boy?"

My look turned dark. It was him. He was the warlock I saw years ago.

"You do," he declared.

"I applaud your bravery to stand before me," I said in an icy tone. "Or pure foolishness."

"I see... I guess it’s time to push reminisce aside. I had in mind that if I wanted my prize, I’d have to go through you. Did you think I wouldn’t be prepared?" He flicked his finger.

I was suddenly in a corridor, but strangely it didn’t feel like it belonged to the castle, or maybe it was, but it was altered. The space around me wobbled from an effect.

"I can trap you here for a very long time. When you do break out, it’ll be too late," Zevrin said at the end of the hall. "By the time you’re out, I have already—"

I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"How did you—"

I grasped his hair and pulled until I tore off his head from his shoulder, blood spraying to the ground.

"You’re not called the terror of the snowbloods for nothing. How darkly great the boy has grown."

I cast a look over my shoulder and found Zevrin unharmed, hands behind his back.

I looked at my hand where I thought his head would be, but it dissolved into ashes.

"I was hoping we’d come to some understanding, but just like the Mother of the Endless, this is going to be difficult. I only wanted to make it easy—"

"You talk too much." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

He laughed but then it ceased. "Next time, I won’t talk."

Everything sunk into darkness and the next time I opened my eyes, I was on my bed.

A dream.

~•~

I had Celia check Eloise, and she told me I had nothing to worry about, that she and the baby were fine.

"How’s the progress?" I asked her when we got to the corridors.

I’m still rattled by what happened. I haven’t done anything except watch Eloise, but there was this bizarre fatigue that clung to me. No doubt the effect of Zevrin’s tricks.

I charged Garrick with knights to patrol the city, but it was a discreet movement; even the castle grounds had more eyes now. The warlocks may be using the magic, but I could still find them as long as they exist. They were already in the empire, and pinning their location was crucial.

"I had some examinations done on her blood."

"What did you find?" I dragged my attention back to her.

Celia looked apprehensive, and I wondered what the problem could be.

"To determine the cause of her lingering ailment, the examinations were crucial to find the origins."

"And?"

"I proceeded from there and found out the cause of her ailment."

"That is good news; this means you’re closer to making a cure now that you know the origins."

She halted before facing me. "My liege, the cause of her ailment originated from the traces I found in her blood. She has magic in them."

It took a second before I spoke. "Magic?"

"Very low, and rather than dwell, it eats away at her system, causing her ailment. The effect is unlike anything I have ever seen. If I may show you..."

"You’re not making any sense. If Eloise has magic in her blood, then that means—"

The dots connected, and Diana’s words found their way back to me. That’s why the oracle saw a vision about Eloise and our child; that’s why the warlocks were involved.

Richard Ravemont was a warlock.