Page 70 of Lethal Souls
Hassha flinched and felt Yuri’s gaze on her. She didn’t dare look at him.
“You wanted a place where you could be the ultimate leaders,” Selah ranted. “We were the first of the deities, and how sad it was to be made from salted tears and anguish. We were sent to Earth to assist Kronos and the Titans, but instead, you deceived him. You saw the Olympians and became cowards. There is nothing here for me, but I had everything there!”
“The Titans were not for the people,” Korah exclaimed. “They were banished, and the same would’ve happened to us had we assisted them any longer. Have you seen what we’ve created here? This world is ours. No one can take it from us! There is no feuding between us, no fighting. That’s much better than anything we ever had on Earth.”
“You’re wrong,” Selah growled. “I’ve been forced to stay here because I am bonded to all of you. If I stay on Earth now, I’ll lose most of my power. You knew this would happen, yet you said nothing. You made a choice without me, and believe me, you will pay for it.”
With those final words, Selah vanished.
Hassha, Korah, and Yuri didn’t know where she’d gone, but they searched endlessly for her.
Whenever they found her, she’d vanish again. And to make matters worse, she began her whispers of evil and placed them like worms in the commoner’s ears.
She whispered to The Council to take full control of her people and set a new order to strip most of their freedoms. She whispered to the appointed monarchs so they could vehemently start wars. She wanted nothing more than chaos, and chaos is what Vakeeli became.
Soon enough, the people began hunting The Regals, hoping to steal their blood, to use them, drain them of all energy.
And because there was so much hatred and murder, The Regals limited their access and hid themselves from everyone.
FORTY-THREE
THE REGALS
PAST
“We must find a way to kill her.” Yuri clenched a fist as he sat with Hassha and Korah around a fire. They’d settled in a forest close to Vanora, far enough away from commoners to be alone.
“We kill her, and we’re all dead,” Korah said, side-eyeing him as she tossed a thick, snowy braid over her shoulder.
“Perhaps it’s what we deserve for lying to her.” Yuri’s voice was solemn.
“I will not end my own life because we made a choice to save hers,” Korah declared. “She was naïve, reckless, and stupid about Kronos. We saved her! If she’d died with him, we would have too. We don’t deserve the sentence of death because of her poor decisions.”
Silence rained down on them, the flames of the fire crackling in the pit. The Cold Tethered children were tucked away in a cottage a short distance away. They were close to toddlerhood now, stumbling here and there, full of energy, full of purity.
The Regals made it their mission to protect the Cold Tethered children for now because one day, those children would become a saving grace.
“We cannot kill her,” Hassha said after some time. Her eyes glistened, and the reflection of the flames made them appear as bold as Selah’s. “But we also cannot let her and Decius tear through these lands together. She must be the one to kill Decius, and we all know she won’t do it because he’s fueling her wicked agenda. Soon enough, she’ll direct him to the children again. We must protect them. They were made from what remained of Selah’s kindness, which makes them just as powerful as their parents. We can use that to our advantage.”
“What do you suggest we do then, sister?” Korah asked with a weary sigh.
“We combine some of our power to strip Selah of most of her energy and put her to sleep. Forever.”
“And Decius?” Yuri inquired.
Hassha sighed, chin dropping. “We figure out what makes him weakest and use that against him every chance we can. With Selah put to rest, maybe that will be enough to weaken him—or make his actions predictable at the very least. Then we can guide those children, bring them up, and teach them to defend our lands like their parents.”
Yuri and Korah nodded, finding some relief in Hassha’s plan.
But hidden in the depths of the forest with her presence and energy veiled, Selah heard every word.
As her traitorous siblings huddled together, a bout of rage coursed through Selah. She hurried to the cottage where the Cold Tethered children were hidden.
Beneath streaks of silky moonlight, she studied their pudgy faces and miniature hands. She wanted to kill them all and take yet another good thing away from her sisters and brother…but she did something else instead.
After hearing their plans, she knew a time would come when she’d be caught and forced into the eternal slumber Hassha mentioned. She could only run for so long, and Earth was out of the equation because she refused to live in weakness.
If she were to be forced into an eternal sleep, she needed someone with the purer parts of her energy to eventually tap into corruption so they could awaken her. Decius was born wicked and was attached to her completely (a privilege she had not given to the Original Tethered), so he would not do.