Lykalis has a new obsession: a bewitching man carrying secrets stained in blood. But is he worth less than the safety of her kingdom? Or is he worth more than she could ever imagine?
*****
The King...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
———————————————————————
Prison Break
LYKALIS couldn't breathe. Darkness was all she could see as she scratched at the tendrils wrapped around her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter and– Lykalis choked, nails digging into emptiness as blackness swallowed the pale complexion of her skin. Her eyes grew wide with panic and she wondered if Ilioszo had finally snapped. But she could see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing.
Her fingers struggled to grasp onto anything tangible, heart hammering against her chest like a thousand wolves digging at the unyielding bones of her ribcage. She couldn't voice her screams as the darkness cut into her throat.
Voices whispered in her ears, taunting, hissing, snarling at her.
They spoke of untold pasts, of traumas from her father's death, of fear towards Moira's relationship with their mother, of ignored hatred towards her family and the kingdom for being so cruel to those with impure blood, of the wild desire to plunge into the deepest of waters and sink to the bottom, allowing sirens to drag her to an untimely death–
Lykalis had a purpose.
She had a reason to live; to drag herself out of the icy waters and cling to grains of sand, pulling herself to shore and breathing a deep, living breath. Her desire to live out won her desire to die as she remained purposefully ignorant to the words that spoke of her uselessness.
The darkness dissolved and Lykalis exhaled as the threatening voices morphed into squeals and cries of pain. She took a sharp breath as the tendrils around her throat dispersed, absconding her presence as her vision went white.
She cringed, rubbing at her eyes.
"Lykalis," Moira sighed, "c'mon, you need to stand up."
Lykalis snapped her eyes open, shifting her gaze all around her. A sharp breath left her lips when she saw Moira standing beside her, his wings held out. He was so short, but Lykalis was even shorter– what was happening? She looked down at her tiny hands, then to her tiny wings, her first full plumage open in a grande display. Her eyes darted back to Moira and she found his wings far more opulent than her own.
Her eyes shimmered with admiration as Moira held a hand out to her.
Anxiety curled in her chest as she looked over the edge of the castle tower, the wind whistling in her ears. She looked back at Moira, eyes wide with fear. She couldn't possibly jump off the tower– she couldn't fly yet.
