Chapter 6: Arlen's POV
1605 Words
Okay, now what do I do? I got to my room but didn't know a soul there.
Perhaps I should wander around the castle or try to find a map of this place.
Ugh!
I could teleport back home, but… I don’t want mom to worry. She can read my mind and find out what happened with Varianlir in seconds.
Dad will not be happy about it. He will definitely come and try to beat Varianlir.
I need to figure this out on my own.
But how do I do that when I am all alone?
“Uhum,” Keila cleared her throat. “Am I painted on the wall or something?”
“You want Varianlir; you are of no help,” I huffed because I knew she wanted our mate.
All wolves wanted their mates unless they did something incredibly stupid, but kissing another woman apparently wasn’t enough for Keila.
“Okay, you are right, I do want our mate,” See? “But I also think he deserves some punishment for what he did with that…”
“Skank, b***h, w***e, there are plenty of names I can call her by,” I finished what Keila wanted to say.
“She didn’t know that he was our mate; he was the one who should have shoved her off,” Keila was right on that point. “Which is why I want our mate to suffer a tinny bit.”
Oooh, I loved the sound of that.
“What do you suggest then?” I asked since Keila seemed to want to be the brain of this plan.
She smiled, but it was an innocent or cute smile.
No, no, no.
It was a smile that told me I was going to like her plan.
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We left the room and stared roaming around the place, however, it seemed that nobody lived here.
When I first arrived, there were plenty of people, but now… puff, they vanished.
Was it all for the show?
Where did I teleport then?
“What now?”
“I dunno, I didn’t expect this palace to be… empty.”
Perfect, now what do—
Suddenly…
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening, its force rattling the walls and sending a shockwave through the castle that nearly knocked me off my feet. Keila growled low in my mind, her instincts on high alert as my adrenaline spiked.
“What the hell was that?” I muttered, my heart pounding as I steadied myself against the wall.
“I don’t know,” Keila replied, her voice tense. “But it came from the east wing. We should check it out.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. My curiosity—and my wolf’s—was piqued. I took off down the corridor, my boots echoing against the stone floor as I ran toward the source of the explosion. The castle was eerily quiet, save for the faint crackling of flames and the occasional groan of settling debris.
When I reached the east wing, I skidded to a halt, my eyes widening at the scene before me. A section of the wall had been blown open, smoke and dust billowing into the air. Amid the chaos stood a figure, her back to me, brushing soot off her hands like she’d just finished a casual day of gardening rather than blowing up a castle.
She was tall—not by much, maybe an inch or two taller than me—but her presence was impossible to ignore. Her hair was a wild mix of green and blue, tied up in a messy bun with strands falling around her face. She wore a patchwork jacket covered in pins and patches, and her arms were adorned with intricate tattoos that seemed to shift in the dim light. As she turned to face me, I noticed the piercings—a silver hoop through her nose, a stud in her lip, and several rings in her ears.
But what caught my attention most were her eyes. She has red eyes, I had never seen anything like it before. They sparkled with mischief and curiosity as they landed on me.
“Whoa,” she said, her voice low and raspy like she’d been inhaling smoke for years. “Didn’t mean to scare you. You good?”
I blinked, momentarily speechless. “Uh… yeah. I’m fine. But what the hell just happened? Did you… blow up the wall?”
“What do you think, Sherlock?”
“Keila, just… shut up.”
She grinned a crooked, unapologetic smile that made her look even more intriguing. “Guilty as charged. Name’s Alix Rhynder, but you can call me Al.” She extended a hand, her fingers adorned with rings shaped like skulls and bones.
I hesitated for a moment before shaking her hand, her grip firm but not overpowering. “Arlen,” I said, still trying to process everything. “And, uh, care to explain why you just blew a hole in the castle?”
Al shrugged, brushing a strand of blue hair out of her face. “Long story short, I was trying to get in. Locked doors are such a buzzkill, you know? So I figured, why not make my own entrance?”
I stared at her, unsure whether to be impressed or horrified. “You do realize this is a royal castle, right? Like, people live here. Or at least, they’re supposed to.”
She laughed, a rich, throaty sound that somehow put me at ease. “Yeah, I noticed it’s a bit… empty. Weird, right? Anyway, I’m here for the antiques. Heard this place has some killer artifacts. Crystals, bones, maybe a cursed painting or two. You into that kind of stuff?”
They sent me to an abandoned castle?
I raised an eyebrow, my curiosity piqued despite myself. “I mean, I’ve seen my fair share of weird things, but… bones? Cursed paintings? That’s a bit out there, even for me.”
Al’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “Oh, you’re gonna love this, then. Come on, I’ll show you. Some of the dragons even say this place is hunted and are scared to get close.”
Wow, they sent me to a hunted, isolated castle.
Nothing screams more “I love my fiancé” than this.
Note the sarcasm.
Before I could protest, she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the hole in the wall. Keila growled softly in my mind, but I could tell she was just as intrigued as I was.
“Wait, hold on,” I said, digging my heels in. “You can’t just… blow up a castle and then drag me into whatever mess you’re making. Who even are you? And why are you here?”
Al stopped and turned to face me, her expression softening. “Look, I get it. You’re cautious. Smart move. But trust me, I’m not here to cause trouble. Well, not too much trouble. I’m just… a collector. A seeker of the strange and macabre. And this place? It’s like a goldmine for someone like me.”
I studied her for a moment, trying to gauge her intentions. There was something about her—something wild and untamed but also genuine. And honestly, after the day I’d had, a little chaos might be exactly what I needed.
“Alright,” I said finally, a small smile tugging at my lips. “At least now I got something to do besides sitting around, but I want to ask some questions, and if you can, you will give me the answers. Deal?”
Al grinned, her red eyes sparkling. “Deal. Now come on, let’s go find some dead things in jars.”
As we stepped through the hole in the wall and into the dimly lit corridor beyond, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of excitement. Whatever Al was up to, it was definitely going to be interesting.
And after the mess with Varianlir, interesting was exactly what I needed.
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Varianlir’s POV
“So, you found your mate,” Tristan said for the fourth time. “And instead of running to grab her and mark her, you kissed another woman.”
If he put it like that, it sounded bad…
“It is bad!” Draco growled. He kept telling me to go to the abandoned castle and get Arlen, but if I saw her again…
“I already told you why I did it.”
“Yeah, because you are a lizard,” for f***s sake. “I mean, you can kill your father whenever you want, why haven’t you?”
“Because I need to find who is helping him. I need to cleanse my kingdom, which will be harder once I’m king. Besides,” I clenched my fists. “My father has a plan, and I need to find out what it is before I make a move on Arlen.”
“Arlen,” Tristan smirked. “Cute name.”
My eyes darkened, I knew it, I could feel the anger enveloping me. “Say one thing about her, and you are dead.”
Tristan chuckled at my outburst.
That was… weird. Dragons are not supposed to be so possessive.
“Loot at you!” f**k.
To sum up, I am f****d.
- Writer
