Fantasy

OPHELIA
The dish slips from my fingers and shatters on the floor. Porcelain shards pierce my flesh. But that pain is nothing. Everything hurts. Blinding light flashes behind my eyes.
Inhale. Exhale. Each breath is harder than the last. The window behind me explodes.
Malachi’s pained cry fills my ears. “Ophelia!” He staggers into the kitchen, his hand clutched to his chest.
“D-do you feel that?” I force out the words, unable to use my mind to speak through the pressure threatening to crush my skull.
An anguished scream erupts from somewhere. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The same sound continues, and I am certain it’s coming from Axl. Xavier’s agonized cries add to the cacophony inside my mind. Where are they? They left the house a few minutes ago. Was it for pizza? Ice cream? I can’t focus. Everything hurts so much. A vise squeezes my heart. Crushes it. My soul is being 

The intense wave of Kameen’s fury washes over me before I step foot inside our mountain hideaway. The stone beneath my feet shakes with the ferocity of his rage, and I close my eyes and prepare myself for his wrath. As truly saddened as I am to have defied him so blatantly, it had to be done. And whatever my punishment, it is a price I have always been willing to pay. For too long, our world has existed in chaos and disharmony. Ophelia Hart will bring balance and, with it, peace. Magical creatures of all kinds shall thrive once more.
“Nazeel!”
I bow my head in deference as he approaches.
“What have you done?” His growl is low and dangerous. Accusatory. Designed to bring lesser immortals to their knees. But it has no such effect on me.
“I did what was necessary, Kameen. To unlock the girl’s⁠—”
“You did what you wanted,” he bellows, his deep voice echoing off the old stone walls of the grand entrance hall. “Why could you not just leave it be?” His jaw tics, his dark eyes imploring me to tell him what he wants to hear. If I begged for his forgiveness, would he show me any mercy? No, for he cannot. His position within the Order does not allow for favoritism.
“The Skotádi grow in power, Kameen. I feel their darkness closing in, and I know that you must too. If they were to intercept the girl before her powers were fully formed … If they had even a chance to corrupt her …” I ball my hands into fists at my sides. How can a man so wise fail to see such obvious truths?
“If they corrupt her, then it will be because that is the natural order of things, Nazeel. It will be because she was always meant for the dark.”
“No.” I shake my head, refusing to believe his nonsense. “You know what the prophecy says. There is a chance for her to be swayed to either good or evil.”
“And why are you so quick to assume that her bond with the vampires places her on the right side of the line, my little witch?” he scoffs.
My lip curls back, and I have to work to tamp down my frustration, for it will be of no use to me where he is concerned. He does not respond to emotion. Only cold, hard logic. “You know she is an elementai, and therefore, a vampire is her only true mate. Vampires are not inherently evil, as you are well aware. In fact, some of the best men I have ever known have been the most bloodthirsty.”
He arches one thick eyebrow. “Men like Giorgios and Alexandros Drakos?”
I roll back my shoulders. “Exactly.”
He traces a fingertip over my cheekbone, causing a shiver to run the length of my spine. “Perhaps you are not my caring little witch, after all, Nazeel. You claim to care for this girl, yet you were willing to cause her immeasurable pain in order to further your own ends.”
Anger prickles beneath my skin. “To enable her to fulfill her destiny.”
His eyes narrow on my face with laser focus. “You know I will have no choice but to punish you for this.”
I lower my gaze, saddened that even for me, whom he loves beyond all others, he will not bend. “I know, my lord and commander.”
He grips my jaw and squeezes hard. “Do not mock me, Nazeel. It will bring me no pleasure to cause you any pain.”
My eyelids flutter, my gaze flickering over his handsome face until I meet his eyes. “I know, Kameen. And I know what you must do. I am ready to meet my fate.”
“You could have run from me, little witch. You believe in this girl so much you are willing to face whatever punishment I see fit?”
“I do. But regardless, I would never run from you, my love.”
His features soften a little, and he lets out a long sigh full of anguish and frustration. “How did you do it? How did you convince Giorgios Drakos to betray his only brother?”
“Giorgios knows who Ophelia is, and any fool can see Alexandros’s love for the girl. Protecting her is the ultimate act of devotion to his brother, even if Alexandros did not see it in such a way.”
Kameen tilts his head, still scrutinizing my face. “And the boy? What are his intentions toward the girl?”
I blink, confused. “You heard me talking with Lucian?”
His nose wrinkles. “As with every single time you have met with him these past five hundred years, I can smell him on you.”
I take a moment to gather my thoughts. I was not surprised to see Lucian earlier this day. Since the greatly exaggerated rumors of his death, he has taken a distant interest in the Order and in my quest to restore balance to the world. Although he has never spoken of that grave day over five hundred years ago or any of the circumstances which led to it, there is much to learn from him. However, he remains frustratingly silent on anything related to the Skotádi or the elementai downfall.
I am still unclear on his role in the upcoming war, for that is surely what we are headed for, though I am certain he has one—one of the utmost importance. Whether that be for good or bad, I cannot yet tell. “I do not know of his intentions,” I admit. “He still refuses to discuss his past. Still so untrusting of me even after what my sisters did for him.”
“Is he aware of the girl? Of who she is?”
I nod. “He has been watching her for many years.”
His disappointment in me is so acute, and it weighs as heavily as a cloak made of iron. Despite my belief in what I did this night, it still pains me to betray him so. His expression remains stern, unyielding, but his eyes can never deceive me. Can never hide the depth of feeling that exists between us. My mate of over a thousand years, the other half of my being. His fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck, and I am suddenly enveloped in him, in his scent and his arms. I bury my face in his cloak and soak in his comfort. Whilst my actions were necessary to tip the weight of the scale in favor of the light, they still weigh on my heart.
He rests his lips on the top of my head. “You are grounded until I decide what to do with you.”
“I know.”
A second later, he removes a bronze collar from his pocket and slips it around my neck. It locks into a place with a deliberate click, and he traces a fingertip over the metal band. “It was made in the sacred forge of our ancestors and is imbibed with old earth magic. It will not permit you to leave this mountain.”
I nod my understanding and return my cheek to his chest. He wraps his arms around me in response, holding me tightly to him. “It will all work out, Kameen. The prophecy will be fulfilled, and all magical beings shall flourish once more.”
He murmurs something I cannot quite catch, but he continues holding me. I close my eyes, content in his arms. Content that Ophelia Hart will claw a path through her pain and that it will make her the woman she was born to be. For one day, she will realize that her importance to this world was too great to risk, even for true love.

ALEXANDROS
The trees flash by in a dark blur of muddy brown as we run through them toward the mountain that looms over the valley like a portent of doom.
My anxiety grows as we draw nearer. Which is surely to be expected at the prospect of finding my son and not knowing the state he will be in. In my mind, he is a grotesque version of his younger self. Dark holes where his eyes once were, crawling with maggots that feast on his soul. His black lips curled back over a snarling set of fangs, face twisted with vengeance and hatred. That is the only version of him I can easily recall. Despite him never actually having looked like that, it is all I see when I think of him. It is much harder to find images of his true self. The one who looked so much like me.
Giorgios slows his pace until he comes to stop, and I do the same. He pulls up the hood of his cloak and nods to the foot of the mountai

OPHELIA
The dish slips from my fingers and shatters on the floor. Porcelain shards pierce my flesh. But that pain is nothing. Everything hurts. Blinding light flashes behind my eyes.
Inhale. Exhale. Each breath is harder than the last. The window behind me explodes.
Malachi’s pained cry fills my ears. “Ophelia!” He staggers into the kitchen, his hand clutched to his chest.
“D-do you feel that?” I force out the words, unable to use my mind to speak through the pressure threatening to crush my skull.
An anguished scream erupts from somewhere. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The same sound continues, and I am certain it’s coming from Axl. Xavier’s agonized cries add to the cacophony inside my mind. Where are they? They left the house a few minutes ago. Was it for pizza? Ice cream? I can’t focus. Everything hurts so much. A vise squeezes my heart. Crushes it. My soul is being wrenched from my body.
I stumble into Malachi’s arms. “K-Kai.” I choke on a sob.
His arms squeeze ti

Chapter 102