A Kingdom of Bloodshed

*¬*Chapter Thirty Six*¬*

Hell. That's what this feels like. Hell exploded around us as the prison crumbled, but at the last moment Flare whisked us away to safety and we spent the last several days planning our best strategy. Our attack on my sibling and his army.

Days since I've seen Thea. Since I got to hold her and tell her that I have the Blood Crown. That I switched it on her last minute in case she got kidnapped. I was right to do so.

I just wish I was there to have seen Augustus's face when the resurrection failed. After planning and waiting, we finally are at war and it's chaos. There are bodies strewn all about, blood staining the ground crimson. The skies are haunted by the screams of the dying. It's complete chaos.

I was weaving my way through a line of soldiers when I saw her. I saw my Thea being dragged by her arm into a large tent at the far end of the field by my brother and two other males. The wrath that entered my system was nothing I had ever felt before. Plowing my way through the enemy lines, I swing my sword, blasting magic and tearing into the soldiers before me.

One by one, I take them down. Never stopping, never slowing. Thea can still be seen but now I recognize one of the individuals with her, its Curseclaw. He's escorting her along with my brother and one other male that I don't know yet.

I'm coming Thea.

The thought enters my mind as I slash my sword once more, bringing it down upon a young fae male whose eyes are haunted with shock as he death is imminent. My guilt begins to enter my lungs; closing in on me. Too many deaths, so many innocents are dying for no reason.

But none of that matters right now. Right now I must make it to Thea. Her pendant bounces against my collar bone, as I push through the lines of men. My progress is slow, but I don't stop. I keep pushing, keep swinging my sword or blasting magic across the field.

One by one, men and women die. Their lives taken over such a trivial obsession. Closer, I'm closer to her. I can taste her fear, her worry. I can scent Thea again.

Should we both make it out of here alive, I am NEVER leaving her side again. Ever. Being torn from Thea so often has just about driven me mad. The battles wage onwards, more bodies fall, more fae are dying. So many lives lost already and the battle has barely even begun.

Making my way through the throng of soldiers, I find an opening and dive through it. Rolling over my shoulder and landing on the pads of my feet before launching into a sprint; aiming for that large white tent just a few feet away from me.

I can taste her concern, her worry. I can scent the fear and the anger that's coursing through her system. Bursting through the flap door of the tent, I pause at the scene I see. Thea is on the ground wrestling with a large male whose hands are around her throat, strangling the life out of her. She tries to fight him off, her legs kicking upwards into his groin and her fingers clawing at his face yet, the male doesn't let go.

I see red. I hear nothing but thunder in my mind. My sight pinpointing on that large male and his hands creating a cage around my mate's neck.

"Get. Off. My. Mate," I snarl. The male turns his head slightly to meet my eyes before smirking. His grip only tightening more upon her throat before turning his sights back to Althea. Rage. It's burning through me, building a crescendo within my bones and reverberating along every plane of muscle.

Striding forward I raise my sword and without hesitating plunge it through the males back. The tip of my sword piercing from his chest as blood spurts upon Thea's face and around her neck.

The male seems to pause, as if he's unsure if his death is real or not before slumping forward and falling to the ground. Thea gasps, her eyes wide with horror and relief. Swiping the blood from her face, she scrambles backwards as a scream begins to curl from her throat.