The Royal Curse

Eleven - The Black Corner

Zian Austruc

My legs shook with every kick. I could hardly stand as I took all my pent up anger out on the sack of styrofoam.

I wanted this to be over. I wanted her dead. Truly dead. Yet, somehow, I knew she was alive, but her magic was making my mind go more insane by the second. That dragon should've burned her alive.

At least the root of the problem was gone, albeit temporarily. Where Valarya was going now would be worse than here. And Nicholyn... Well, she'd take care of him when the time came.

Cadice was right: she would kill him. She had to.

Even as I was bombarded with thoughts, memories of Adonia made my chest tighten more. She was gone. Really gone. Somehow I let her go, and knowing Thresan, he'd be coming back for her, and I'd be the fool that had to watch.

She was too good for someone like me. The countless amount of times I wanted to tell her, show her, be allowed to love her—it was enough to kill a man. It killed me, no doubt.

This was the first time I realized it. I loved Adonia so much it was killing me. Driving me insane. From the moment I saw her. Yes, I was insane, but it wasn't me.

Please... she had to know.

*~⚜️~*

"You let her get away?" Peris groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"She kicked my fucking face," I retorted. "You know what, the fact I got her downed in the first place should be honorable. That little gremlin is vicious." I held my wrist up, showing off my nasty bite mark. "Sorry if I couldn't fight off this leech."

"And this is why he shouldn't have came." Princess Manea threw herself on the couch next to her precious girl and my sister Peris.

Nicholyn sighed, throwing a file that he spent ages rifling through. "Don't blame the man. That woman is borderline insane."

"Yeah, because she fucking bit me," I reminded them. "And anyways, where were you all? Aren't you trained in beating the shit out of insane people? I think Dial qualifies."

Peris and Manea scoffed in synchrony.

Nicholyn gestured to the back window of the small hut. "Well, she's not that strong on her own without her men."

I nearly fell off my chair. "So she's in a street gang? You had me chase a thug? I could've died—"

"But you didn't," Nicholyn kindly pointed out.

I had an itch to slap him.

"You were planning to chase after her and hope for the best? How ridiculous—"

I leapt off my chair when glass shattered behind me. Spinning back, I caught sight of a hooded man, his back covered with small knives. A part of me began questioning if I was only interested in women after meeting Nicholyn and now—him.

He flung his hood off, kicking away pieces of the window he broke in. "She's hiding in Pladow. The way I almost fell of every roof was ridiculous." He quickly glanced my way, narrowed his eyes, and pointed. "Is he the new man?"