The Fallen Fire (Royals of the Realm Series #1)

Chapter 22

"A good friend will always stab you in the front." - Oscar Wilde

Werewolf Kingdom
Romanov Estate/Castle
The Dungeons

Alessio's POV

"Are you sure this will work?" I asked him for the eighth time.

The Air King nodded nonetheless, "This is the only instruction Fyrrah gave to me when she asked me for help. If we want Kalen on our side to lead us to the secret base, this is our only chance. I'm positive this will work. Fyrrah knows what she's doing."

I inhaled deeply after hearing my mate's name, calming my overly active wolf inside. Later, boy. You'll be the one to save her.

We were currently waiting for someone here infront of Kalen's prison cell. It's soundproof even with the elf's hearing so I'm sure he'll never suspect what we're trying to do. The woman Fyrrah asked Heaven Aer to protect was Fyrrah's powerful weapon against Kalen. She was the girl Fyrrah saved from Alessandro Voltaire in the underground host club. After a few minutes she arrived all the way from the Air kingdom, her short, wavy red hair reminded me of Fyrrah once again.

"Laina, it's time." King Aer nodded at her as she nervously sighed. I opened the door to Kalen's cell, who immediately looked up wide eyed. His eyes showed disbelief and confusion as he stared at Laina.

"Laina? H-How?.." He asked stammering. Both of their eyes glowed bright red when their gazes locked and all doubts cleared from his face. "Y-You're alive."

I threw a questioning glance at Aer who just smiled. "It's the elf bond. They're married and bonded with each other. It's sacred and unbreakable, just like wolves' matebond."

Laina immediately wrapped her arms around him, crying with tears of joy. "Kalen..."

"What happened? I thought you were dead. I did everything to avenge you." Kalen asked her as he cupped her cheeks.

"I was... God, I was sold to Alessandro Voltaire. He.. H-He wanted me to be his but I refused. I fought so hard, I really did..." Laina was cut short by Kalen's growling.

"Was it Fyrrah who sold you?!" He snarled and I did too, ten times louder.

"Never insult my queen, faggot." I hissed.

Laina sobbed harder, "Fyrrah was the one who saved me, Kalen. She brought me to the Air kingdom for protection. Leo sold me to Alessandro. He said I will only weaken you, and he can't have an efficient worker rusting. Alessandro was more than happy to agree, thankfully Fyrrah was disguising as a stripper to gather information. When he saw Alessandro t-trying to r-rape me she attacked and took me with her out of the facility. You were fighting for the wrong cause, Kalen. I begged Fyrrah not to kill you for me. I told her you don't know the whole truth about my supposed death."

Silence reigned in the room. Only harsh breathings were heard. Kalen was close to crying, as Laina hugged him with love and acceptance.

"We're gonna need one thing from you, Kalen." Heaven Aer started, "Tell us where the secret base is. Fyrrah's in danger."

"Even if I tell you, you can't get in." He finally spoke, "You're gonna need me."

***

Fyrrah's POV

I opened my eyes and saw the same bland prison cell I was in. The walls are metal, like the only way out - a door made of titanium. The cot smells like urine so I never bothered to use it. I prefer the cold tiles. Escaping will be difficult, especially with these enchanted handcuffs restraining my wrists. It will only tighten once you try to break free or move too much.

I heard the lock being removed before the door opened, the sound too harsh in my ears. Two rogue wolves entered the room and dragged me out to the maze of hallways outside. Finally, we reached a room with glass walls. It looks like a laboratory and so many necromancers were inside with Leo standing in the middle beside a metal gurney. The sliding doors opened and the wolves dragged me towards the gurney, making me lie down and locking me in place with chains and belts.

"I didn't think you'd stoop down this low, Leo." I snorted, throwing a glance at him beside me.

He only smiled, "You won't be saying that after the pain we'll put you through," then his eyes grew wide, "Oh! I think you won't be able to say anything. I kind of instructed them to remove your soul too, not just the firestone, then make sure you'll never ever leave the land of the living. You'll be stuck here, hopeless, alone and haunted."

I chuckled at that, "Well, goodluck to that."

And goodluck to me, too.

I've been a captive for two days. I already saw Elisa in the Nightshade Pack and thankfully she's alright. I hope she's already safe with Alessio and the rest. I know he's trying to find me, scratch that, waging war just to find me. I hope he arrives here on time. If he doesn't he'll be the first one I am going to haunt after I die. I'm not sure the firestone can still protect me if it's already out of my system.

Leo moved to the corner as the necromancers encircled me, all of them wearing black hooded capes and each holding a knife.

Fuck.

One by one they used the knives to slice my skin open in my arms and legs, allowing my blood to drip down the tiled floor as the ritual starts. Almost thirty cuts, and they're not healing. I was being injected with Chameleon every three hours to prevent me from escaping and to keep me weak. They started chanting, two spells simultaneously. The necromancers on the inner circle were chanting the extraction spell while those in the outer were suppressing the magical backlash of the first spell to prevent the firestone from reacting negatively to the foreign environment. I'm quite surprised they gave it some thought, there must be something very important here that they're trying to protect. Apparently, it's flamable. Well, it's their secret base afterall.

I gasped when a wave of pain hit me, starting from my chest and spreading like a wildfire towards my fingers and toes.

It's starting.

Golden hues were slowly leaving my body in the form of very little particles. I panicked inside. I have to think fast, do something fast to stop them. Running out of breath my gaze fell to the necromancers in the outer circle.

Magical backlash.

I need to distract them, if not force the firestone to react violently. Distracting them is too expected, and I know they're well trained to ignore some factors while doing a ritual. Forcing the firestone to react will be difficult because of the amount of Chameleon in my bloodstream. But I can try.

I closed my eyes, ignoring the pain. My aura flashed beneath my eyelids, the firestone shining in the center of the gold band that signifies I'm a royal. I summoned it, bathed in its presence.

They're trying to take you away from me...

The stone hummed in discontent, glowing brighter every second. Tendrils sprouted from it, gripping my body virtually and spreading like vines outward, as if reaching for something. Although unseen, the path it travelled alighted with flames.

I opened my eyes when the outer circle panicked and chanted louder. The flames spread, the room was engulped in flames in just a second. The spell broke.

Nonetheless, the firestone reached out spreading like a virus and scattering flames every where. I closed my eyes and saw the tendrils moving out of the secret base combining into one thick thread before bonding with the powerful aura coming towards the area. I gasped when the aura embraced mine with a powerful growl and my mind opened a door for his thoughts.

'Little elf,' his voice caressed my mind softly. I missed him. I never thought I would be this ecstastic hearing a voice in my head.

'Alessio...'

He howled with joy, his wolf growing stronger by the second. 'I'm coming, little elf. I'm gonna kill that bastard general.'