Page 93 of Forgotten Fate

I could have made the kill right then and there so easily, but something about that scent was driving me fucking mad. I had to figure out what it was. I sniffed at the air, only to find the scent coming from her bed. Perhaps they washed her sheets with some sort of rare fragrance only a king could afford. That’s how delectable it was.

I stepped closer, my senses going wild, and I gently reached for her blanket. I pulled it to my nose, careful not to wake her. Hm. The scent was strong on the sheets, but that wasn’t the source. What the fuck could it be?

Dammit. Did it even matter? I was here to kill. Volund gave me weeks, but it only took me one – a few days to travel to Rimor then a few days to find and kill her. Maybe I should have waited longer, soaking in my freedom while I had the chance.

I looked down at her body. “Make her death clean and silent,” Volund had ordered. Those were my favorite kind of kills – when he wasn’t too specific. I could virtually kill her how I wanted, and make it quick and painless so the target didn’t have to suffer. Sometimes Volund’s demands were far more merciless.

Strangulation would take too long, and possibly alert the guards outside her door if she made any noise. A stab in the neck or heart would be quick and quiet, but would have too much blood. I decided I would have to break her neck. With my lycan strength, it would be easy to snap her delicate human bones, and there would be no blood. I just had to make sure I did it quickly while she slept.

I stepped over to the edge of the bed where she continued to toss and turn under the covers. Maybe it wouldn’t be easy after all. Did she always sleep this restlessly? I reached my hand to pull the covers down so I could see the fragile neck that I was aboutto snap. As I pulled the blanket off her face, I was hit with unimaginable grief.

As I saw her face for the first time, I watched in horror as small tendrils of golden energy began to swirl from my body into hers. It was like waves of silk made of gold, floating through the air, with rainbow hues reflecting in every direction. The waves flowed into her skin, her hair, her lips.

She was fucking beautiful. And that sweet scent I had been smelling began to overwhelm my senses. It was her. The intoxicating scent was her the whole time. And that’s when realization struck.

The magic that floated around us was undeniable. She was my fated mate.

I stumbled backwards, my back hitting the stone wall of her room.Fuck. FUCK. I…I couldn’t kill her. Could I?

I didn’t know what to fucking do. I tried to think for a moment.

I should just kill her – sever the bond before it began to set, then go back to my miserable life.

But then I would never get to know her. Never get to see why the gods chose her for me.

I took a step forward and stared at her, her brows furrowing like she was dreaming of something unsettling. My instinct to protect her, to calm her from her nightmare, immediately rose to the surface.

No, I growled in my own head.You need to kill her. But as I stared at her gorgeous features, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Shit. Volund gave me a few weeks, and it had only been one. I had time to decide. I didn’t have to do it tonight.

I realized I needed to leave quickly, before I let my emotions take over. I quietly strode over to the open window, and climbed onto the windowsill. I decided to look over to see her once more, but as I did so, she shot up in her bed, sweat lining her brow. My body stiffened.GO, I tried to tell myself. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t help but stare at her and the golden energy of the mating bond, only visible to me,that danced between us.

Then, she noticed me. I stared into her emerald-green eyes, unable to look away. But when she finally moved, darting down and reaching for something beneath her bed, I forced myself out the window and climbed down the castle wall as fast as I could. Then I ran. I ran back to the shitty little inn Volund barely gave me enough money to pay for. And I couldn’t sleep that night – only thinking of her.

Daylight came and went, but I still found myself frozen in the room at the inn, inner turmoil eating away at me every second. I couldn’t make up my mind. Kill her, or let her live? If I killed her, the job would be done, and Volund and his evil witch would force me back. Even if I went back willingly, I’d only be sent to my dungeon cell, chained to the wall for years until they needed my skills again.

But if I didn’t kill her…if I let her live…then what? Volund would still find and torture me for disobeying, then possibly find someone else to do his dirty work. She’d die anyway. Or maybe her father would keep her safe. Maybe there was a reason he was so overprotective of her. I was living proof of that.

I slept on it another night before I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to see her again. Maybe if I looked at her one more time, my mind would be set. If I decided to kill her, at least I knew I could make it quick and painless for her.

It didn’t take long to reach the castle. I attempted to force her beautiful face and sweet scent out of my mind, to no avail. When I arrived, I was shocked to see a silhouette of a woman scaling down the castle walls towards the ground. I recognized her immediately by that delectable smell of hers. Intrigue mixed with worry hit me as I watched her take slow, calculated moves to climb down the castle. Why was she sneaking out?

I observed her every move until she reached the ground. She must have been very strong to be able to scale that tower as a human. Forme, it was effortless.

She was an easy target now, alone on castle grounds in the middle of the night. I could kill her now, and make it look like an accident. Like she tumbled out of her window. But…where was she going?

For the second time, curiosity got the better of me. I decided to follow her, interested in learning what the hell a princess would be doing sneaking out of her own castle.

I followed her to an old theater that appeared abandoned. The princess looked back every step of the way as if she sensed me, but I was quick to hide in the shadows. When we reached the theater, she entered through the front door, and I climbed up the back wall into a window on the upper floor.

I jumped onto the ceiling beams and walked to the ledge. There she stood, sparring with a man twice her size and maybe twice her age. I held back a growl, seeing the man as an immediate threat, only to quickly learn that she was familiar with him. Friendly, even. “Uncle,” she called him.

My overprotective rage subsided. I watched them spar for hours, the uncle teaching her new things along the way. She was sneaking out to train.

Something like pride hit me, and I immediately forced it down. No. She was a target. I could not have any feelings towards her other than that. But I found myself watching every move she made, finding awe in her strength, her speed…and in the curves of her body.

Shit. I was fucked.

I forced myself out of the trance and left, but remained behind the building, their voices now too muffled to hear through the thick walls, even with my advanced hearing. But before long, it sounded like they were getting into an argument. When the princess left, I could practically feel her anger seething in her. I followed her back to the castle, the instinct to protect her overpowering my thoughts.By the time she scaled the tower back up to her bedroom, I realized that, once again, I hadn’t killed her. And in that moment, I knew I couldn’t fucking do it.