AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know he would, but can I knowingly put him through that? It’s impossible to break a deal with the fates.”
“Some believed it was impossible to kill an immortal, yet you carry a sword that will. Nothing in this world is impossible, Alice. The sooner you accept that, the sooner things become easier.” His hand connects with my forearm again, pulling more power to get us out of this castle. “I agree that we should go, because if you want to save your friend, the clock is running out. But once he’s safe, you need to tell him. Let my brother make the decision for himself.”
I nod, taking a deep breath, and trying to push my power into him. I’d try anything to make this process quicker.
He’s frozen as his eyes fall to the floor. It’s not until we reach the door that he can gather the nerve to speak. He doesn’t say another word until light floods in around us and my feet land somewhere I’ve never been. Solaria.
16
Alice
“Congratulations, you’ve officially crossed the realm of monsters,” Asmo says, holding his hands out and twirling like a lunatic on the hilltop overlooking the golden city.
“This looks nothing like the pictures I found in books at Hell Hold’s library.”
The castle stands in all its looming glory in the distance, jutting up from the black glass sands. The ripples of waves crash at its feet. A bridge connects it to the cliff side that’s littered with small buildings, much like the market and town surrounding Hell Hold. Only there’s no bright sun here, or colorful flowers in decorative window boxes. It’s overcast and gloomy. The only tinge of color comes from the orange flames of torches, casting long shadows on the stone walls of the castle, and flickering here and there within the town.
“That’s because the pictures you saw were taken before this place became a prison world. The High King has added his version of flare, but it’s otherwise the same.” He points toward the castle. “Like the bridge, for instance.”
Squinting to look closer, it’s made of some kind of ivory colored bones, stacked upon each other. The columns are formed by twisted vertebrae, holding up the large platform. Curves loop across the top, making a railing to keep those who dark cross from falling over the edge and into the chasm, but the most daunting part of it all, are the small skulls hoisted on pikes. A single row lines both sides of the bridge from the edge of the cliff, all the way to the castle’s front door.
“They’re dragon skeletons. The king’s responsible for wiping out the entire race within these parts,” Asmo says, and the curved portions of the railing click in my mind. Their wings… Dragon wings.
“He’s going to be pissed when he realizes how abundant they are in the rest of Hell. The moons are covered in them. One sits on the council of lords and the man is surly as ever.”
Asmo’s lips twitch up for a moment. “He’ll just see it as more bodies to add to his collection.”
“What does he have against dragons? No one goes through that much trouble unless they have a vendetta,” I gesture to the bridge.
“More like a mission. He’s spent his entire life trying to sire an heir to his throne. He has an entire island inhabited by messed up attempts to spawn powerful children. You see, he can only have girls, and in the old days, there can’t only be a queen. So, he’s started altering them, trying to make the biggest and baddest monster alive. Almost all of his daughters are part dragon, and he continues to marry them off the moment they come of age to the most ruthless creatures in the land, in hopes that they’ll give him a grandson.”
“But you’re his grandson… Why wouldn’t he just hand the throne over to you or Kai?”
He turns to look at me for a moment, as if I should already know the answer. “He’ll never hand it to Kai, for obvious reasons. His feud with the Devil is partially why he’s so deranged about finding another heir. As for me, he accepted me with open arms after my mother cast me in here, but I turned him down. I have no wants to ever rule a kingdom. All I want is a quiet life somewhere.” He picks at his metal cuff, falling silent for a moment. “Obviously, he didn’t take well to the rejection,” he says, holding it up.
A quiet life… I can see that. He’s not like Kai, who was practically born to rule. I’m pretty sure he wore a crown in the womb. Asmo, on the other hand, he’s much more introverted. I can see him wanting to stay to himself. “So, his daughters are part dragon. That doesn’t explain a need to kill them all.”
“You’re missing the point.” He shakes his head from side to side. “The king auctions off his beastly daughters to the strongest man in the realm every time one comes of age, in hopes that one of his girls will give him a grandson. Dragons have the strongest mate bond there is, and there’s no controlling it. If a dragon bonded with one of his daughters, he wouldn’t be able to auction her off. His entire system runs off the basis that his daughters play their role and stay in line. If they mated, he wouldn’t be able to get them to do what he needs them to. They’d only take commands from their alpha, and no one else. Meaning the precious weapons he created wouldn’t be his, any longer. And dragons are some of the strongest creatures out there, beside first generation nephilim. If they all rose up against him, alongside the daughters he created, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“So he killed them…” I mumble, staring at what remains of their king in this realm.
“Not just killed, but betrayed. He caught wind that they were going to overthrow him. Their numbers were dwindling and a female dragon hadn’t been born outside the king’s family in centuries. So, he called them all to the castle, bartering peace. And by peace, I mean his daughters. He promised to let two alphas marry their choice of his daughters. And he did allow them to mate and marry, but he poisoned them at the wedding, and none of them survived. Then he built that bridge to warn his people not to step out against him again.”
“What happened to the two daughters he married off?”
Asmo’s eyes darken for a moment as he glances at me over his shoulder, then they return to take in the sight of the bone bridge. “You’re looking at them.”
I gasp as my jaw falls open. “He killed his own?”
“Yes,” he says, “It’s messed up to say the least. Especially since he promises each one of them that he won’t sell them off, only to change his mind the moment they turn twenty-three.”
As a biology major in college, I know exactly why he chose that age, too. Twenty-three years old is the peak in a woman’s fertility. It’s the most optimal time for her to get pregnant. He’s making sure they’re married off then to increase his chances of an heir.
“It’s why he wanted you, you know,” Asmo says, making my blood run cold. “When you trapped me in the crystals. I told you he asked me to bring either his only other grandson to him, in hopes of converting him to his side, or to bring you.”
“He wanted me as a broodmare?” I’m not sure why I’m surprised. He all but asked me to be one when we met at the boundary.
“The high king has been trying to find a way to make his daughters stronger, but like me and my brother, they’re limited to what power their soul can lend. We have to wait for it to replenish. You showed him on that battlefield that you could not only wield what’s in your soul, but you can draw on it from anything around you. You have no battery, like we do. And that makes you his golden ticket.”
