A Dance Of Crowns & Thrones | Book I

Chapter 137 | Crawled Inside My Bones

This becoming will ask for your breath, patience, and for your fight, and perseverance.

Transformation is made of both surrender and strength.

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Matthew's gaze shifted to Jasmine, Mya, and Jasmine, giving a firm command, "Fan out, watch your six." With three nods of acknowledgment, they dispersed, navigating through the grand palace ballroom.

Meanwhile, Matthew's attention remained fixed on the woman before him. As he took another step towards her, he witnessed the transformation—the now pacing and volatile Eko, muttering to herself. She clutched her catania staff tightly, deep in contemplation about her next move.

"Eko?" he called gently, the concern etched across his face. A damaged and tormented presence had taken hold of her, and he feared the consequences of this profound shift in her demeanor.

"NO! THEY NEED TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE, THEY NEED TO SUFFER FOR EVERYTHING! I WILL DESTROY THEM ALL, MATTHEW!"

"I know," he cooed, "they took everything from us. I know."

"NO!" she screamed, pointing accusingly at him, her rage escalating, tears streaming down her soiled, blotchy face. "THEY TOOK HER BECAUSE I CHOSE YOU—SHE FORCED ME TO CHOOSE, AND YOU TOLD ME TO STAY WITH HER, BUT I CAME AFTER YOU! NOW, SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD BECAUSE... BECAUSE... I WAS SO GODDAMN FUCKING WEAK! GOD!" Eko's screams echoed, resonating with anguish. "THEY AREN'T EVEN HERE! THEY WERE NEVER HERE!"

"This wasn't your fault," he offered softly, "baby, this wasn't your fault. It's not because you weren't strong enough... Eko... look at me," he pleaded, wanting her to gain control over the powers igniting around her.

However, she didn't hear his words, nor the world around her. The woman had just inhaled the deep air of pain before she whimpered out. The truth was, she felt weak at this moment, as if she were losing the fight against their enemies, and each punishing move they made came with some sort of sacrifice.

Then it gripped her like a vice lock. What if she lost them all? What if she lost him? Sky blue eyes turned to the blue steel of his own, as though he could read all of her anxiety.

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her. "Eko, look at me, and breathe."

She was hyperventilating, because here she stood, needing to tell him, this was her moment. Her opportunity to tell the person she loved the most in this world the unbearable truth that she feared. She knew what she was being hunted for.

It wasn't merely because she was the princess; no, it was much more intricate than that. She was hunted because she was a child in a field, touching a pulsating and humming crystal amidst a sea of peonies at her home on the palace grounds.

A child fifteen years ago, who took hold of a crystal without ever knowing what she was doing, and in turn, forced a war on all of them.

A child who witnessed the skies above her crack open.

A child that grew up and met a man that started to make her world look a whole lot less scary the longer that she remained with him.

Oh god, her subconscious cried, what if they were all next? What if loving her meant their destruction? If they died, these people she loved before her, it would all be her fault.

"Eko?" the conflicted man tried again, witnessing her immobilized state, watching as all the horrendous things consumed her.

"NO!" her powers flared suddenly in anger, "No, no, no..." and her outburst caused the palace's walls to vibrate.