MATURE FANTASY** slow burn* 🔥 He is a predator who thought he captured an ordinary girl... but her mind is sharper than any of his claws.
Ariana lives in the shadow of her monstrous father in a world barely held together by a treaty. Until her l...
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Distant sounds in the night caused me to stir in my sleep. A peculiar scent filled the room, burning my nostrils. It smelled familiar yet odd, as if misplaced. While I sluggishly woke, my mind was slow to think. It took me far too long to place the scent. In a mental loop, I just kept wondering what it was, for it did not belong.
When the door to my room flung open, it was as if the presence of someone finally snapped my brain awake.
I recognized the distant sounds as screams, and the smell was that of smoke.
Edda ran to me wearing her silver night robe just as I jumped out of bed. Her fingers wrapped around my wrist with iron strength and she yanked me close. Her dark eyes were wild with a mixture of both excitement and fear. She seemed oddly buzzing while I felt nothing but pure terror.
"Do not use your power unless it is absolutely necessary for you to protect yourself, and not for anybody else, not even me." Her voice took a forceful tone. It was as if the chaos bred some sort of strange dark life into her. "They will likely take you with them. If they do, then they shouldn't know what you are."
It was difficult for me to hear her over the screams outside. My stomach turned at the sounds. The cries continued to come, again and again, piercing my skull like needles.
I ripped my hand from Edda's grip and ran to the balcony. The doors crashed open with force.
My breath felt as though the sight below choked it out of me.
Chaos had been unleashed, pure and terrifying.
Instantly, my strength ran through me, ready to pour out with a single command fueled by an incredible need to protect. My will melted into the power stirring deep within. There was a pulsing in my veins, strengthening with each passing second.
Edda's icy fingers wrapped around my wrist once more. She yanked me to face her.
"Do not release your power, child. If you hope to live to help your people, you must refrain." Her hold was painful enough to leave marks.
