Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 109: Commitment

Chapter One Hundred and Nine: Commitment

His heart was in a storm of emotion that he couldn't control.

He knelt there in the shadows, holding onto his sister, trying to keep her from breaking, from shattering into darkness like he once had, but he felt helpless. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what was going to happen, didn't know if this would be a joyous celebration or a funeral.

He panicked when she didn't respond.

"Who was it?!" he snarled, voice coming out harsher than he wanted it to. "TELL ME!"

Zelphira buried her face in his bare shoulder, digging her claws into his sides. The pain of her hands tearing his skin open was lost on him as he held her, fraught with this situation as he was.

He swallowed the panic rising in his throat and held her close.

"Tell me, Big Sister," he murmured, trying to keep his voice calm. "Please."

She dug her claws even harder, then loosened her grasp and looked him in the eyes.

Tears had made them puffy, had flushed her cheeks, and the sight made his heart stop.

He had never before seen Zelphira cry.

Not once in her life had she ever shed tears.

"The p-prince," she finally hiccuped. "I've imprinted on the Prince of Adanac... little brother, what am I to do?! He has consumed me! I do not know him, do not understand him, and yet I... I desire to be in his arms! My heart bleeds from not being allowed to have him! Help me! Please!"  

Frantic rage slowly bubbled up his throat, but it was overwritten with fear when she broke down again and started crying even harder, actually letting out soft mews and sniffles of sadness.

A sound he'd never heard until that moment.

A display of weakness she'd never before shown.

Wrath slowly filled his entire being and he slowly raised his eyes.

"Remain here," he growled, pushing her back and rising to his feet. "Do not move."

"B-brother, wait!" she begged, clutching his hand. "Do not leave me alone, please!"

He ignored her plea and lunged into the air, soaring into the air.

"BROTHER!" she wailed at him. "DON'T HARM HIM! PLEASE! DON'T BREAK ME!"

His stomach clenched into a knot, and he snarled at the empty air.

The sound was drowned out by the wind rushing in his ears as he flew across the boiling lake towards the island where his nephew was likely sleeping. 

When he landed heavily on the shore, he wasted no time and sprinted across the island, planning on storming inside their lodging and dragging Sinmir outside by his hair if he had to, but just as he rounded the copse of trees he crashed into the blonde man himself.

Both of them grunted and went tumbling to the ground.

"Whoa!" Sinmir wheezed, looking at him in irritated surprise. "What's got you in such a hurry?"

Vordt bared his fangs in absolute rage and snatched his throat in a single hand. 

Breathing hard, he squeezed, feeling the flesh beneath his claws tense... knowing that with a single clench of his hand, he could snap the thin bone inside it, or skewer the man's throat with his claws. Both options were unbearably tempting, and he had to fight not to do either.