Chapter 20
A her mate’s voice, Ralphine suddenly had questions and she wondered what the real Asmoria looked like Granted, she had alteatly known that what she had been seeing had been some perfectly crafted reality, but she hadn’t expected what her mate was saving right now.
“Don’t worry, they won’t do anything to you,” King Miroslav said to his Erasthai, the pride in his voice so evident as he held her hands and walked her inside what he considered their reality. At first, Ralphine had thought that the statement was just an exaggerated one, but the moment the King pushed open the doors and walked them in, she knew she was too deep into this
The room behind the doors was nothing close to what she considered normal. It was like a whole different world under here. Everything was so different and expectedly this place had a lot of Lycans, probably half of Asmoria was holed up in here training or torturing their prisoners. There were shouts and screams from the tortured, while the torturers were casually enjoying what they were doing.
The stench here was not just about death or life. It was about the will to live being snatched from under their nose and there wasn’t a thing they could do. This was a cruel world and compared to the books Ralphine had read about the Lycans, this was way more believable than the shitshow outside there. It was different and boy was Ralphine confused.
“Everyone, allow me to introduce your queen and my Erasthai, Ralphine Belyaeva!” King Miroslav spoke, interrupting the chaos in the room and just like a switch, there was sudden silence. Not even a pin drop could be heard.
The only sound in the room was the cackling of the burning wood that was under the seats of some of the tortured prisoners. The fire under them was harsh and anyone could have been screaming their lungs out, but then the King had spoken and everyone knew to listen, regardless of how much pain they were going through.
“I don’t have to remind you how you should treat her. You have been well prepared for this day and I expect nothing less of perfection! Is that clear?” King Miroslav said and the warriors instantly went on their knees, bending so low that it was almost possible to see the edges of their spinal cords.
“All hail the queen!” the warriors suddenly said, in unison.
If Ralphine wasn’t sure that she was here with Miroslav, she could have assumed that this was some taking of illusion, a shithole that she had nothing to gain from or one that scared the living daylights out of her. Strangely enough, she wasn’t scared of them all. Maybe because she was with their King or maybe because they had completely submitted and were ready to be commanded to do whatever by their King.
Just like any kingdom, the backbone of Asmoria was its warriors and its people and if the warriors were already aware of this. then the people wouldn’t need convincing. Well, even if they did, none of them would be brave enough to say that in front of King Miroslav. No one wanted a fate worse than death at the hands of a man who didn’t care about anything in his life or even anyone who could turn the tides in their favor.
“All hail the queen!” King Miroslav joined the chant, while his Erasthai and queen stood there trying to come to terms with the fact that these brutal mindless killing machines had accepted her. She could sense their loyalty to her even though she hadn’t done much to earn it. Perhaps it was because they trusted their King so much, but could they be blamed?
King Miroslav was the best of the best and always wanted what was best for his people. This was just them trusting their King as always. After all, the King had never once led them astray and there was no reason for them to believe that he would start today, not when they had something they only ever dreamed of, and something neither of them thought would ever materialize a queen.
“Alright, get back to work. You will get to know her better as the days go by, given she chose to stay with us and never leave when she had the chance to,” the Lycan King said and the warriors began chanting again.
This time, they were looking at Ralphine, the relief on their faces so evident as they loved what they were seeing. Maybe they were just trying to please their ling, but then there was too much sincerity for this to be a farce.
“We love a loyal queen! May the goddess keep you safe, just like we willl” one of the warriors said amid the chants.
Ralphine stared at Miroslav who was watching her with pride. Their hands were still entwined and the King occasionally squeezed his queen’s hands as if to remind her that she was never going to be alone in all of this. This was their new truth maybe, just maybe, Ralph would not regret her decision to stay, right?
“Thank you.” Ralphine said to the warriors who bowed to her before they got up from where they had bent the knee and went back to their responsibilities. She knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park but at least she was certain she wasn’t alone
However, with that same thought, she made sure to remind herself to never betray the King, because this army of barbarians
uld easily descend on her to defend their King. There was no doubt about that
“1. it’s too much, we can come back some other day. I know my warriors and they can be a lot, sometimes, King Miroslav said as he looked at one of the warriors who was burning one of their prisoner’s fingers in hot aluminum while he was staring at the queen.
It seemed creepy at first, but as Ralphine kept watching she realized the warrior was doing that to tell their queen that he would do whatever the queen wanted, even if it meant going to the darkest pits of hell. Oh, but loyalty was valued here.
“No, I’m fine. They are specific about their torture methods and they seem to love it. The ones on the farthest end and training like there is a war coming. If I didn’t know any better I would have assumed the same, but it seems like this is how they train daily. It should be good enough for the kingdom. The seventeen guards at every entrance look like they want to be somewhere else than her, but their eyes are filled with passion, which is also how I can tell that they are on their shift.
The Lycan warriors here seem relaxed, which means they change positions every few hours, which explains why none of them are bored out of their minds with the screams, given everyone is excited about their turn. The air conditioning here is designed to be terrible, but each of the Lycan warriors seems to be wearing a suit that allows them to filter the air and feel better despite the constantly increasing temperatures in this room.
“This is the perfect haven for training. I hope someday I get to train and match their strengths,” Ralphine said absentmindedly as she watched the Lycans in awe. She looked like she was enjoying watching them more than the King had anticipated. If anything, King Miroslav had been sure that she would make a run for the hills once she saw who they truly were, but then she didn’t.
“Well, in that case, let’s take a break for now, I need us to talk about someone in particular,” King Miroslav said and Ralphine just smiled at her. She knew this would be about Drescher Vilkov and frankly, she wasn’t going to oppose whatever he wanted with the guy. He could kill Drescher if that was what he wanted to, and Ralphine wouldn’t stop him. After all, the man had been too harsh to her for no apparent reason.
“I know… I have been waiting for you to ask about it, Ralphine said softly.
King Miroslav didn’t waste any time in portaling the two of them out of the Asmoria dungeons to the highest spot in the entire palace. He seemed happy and rightfully so. In one day, despite experiencing all the emotions he had never imagined possible, he had managed to have a queen. That wasn’t something he would take lightly, perhaps that could explain why they were here. “Holy shit, where are we, Ibrahim?” Ralphine asked when she finally caught her breath, She felt like they were. some sort of mountain and would fall if they weren’t careful. However, she knew that Miroslav wouldn’t let her get hurt. Even then, was that supposed to be consolation for the height that they were at?
standing on
“You’re my queen, I wanted to show you most of the important places today – like the dungeons and training rooms, and now, the best spot in the palace for you to see the entire kingdom. This place has the best view of Asmoria and everything in it. The entire land, that is as vast as it is, from this point,” King Miroslav said before adding, “This is ours to rule, for eternity”
“That long?” Ralphine asked despite knowing that Lycans were immortal creatures of doom. Or maybe she was thinking of herself, a mere werewolf who happened to be mated to the worst of them all. Maybe she was overthinking it all, but then what were three hundred werewolf years against thousands and thousands of Lycan years?
“Yeah. That long. You’re mine, which makes you special. Besides, all the other races that get mated to Lycans are always granted the gift of immortality when the mating process begins, King Miroslav said as he looked around his kingdom, the one place he had lived long enough. He had been just twenty–five years, but even he knew that twenty–five Lycan years were equivalent to at least three hundred werewolf years. He wasn’t complaining though.
“So that means if I had left, I would have been an immortal, despite abandoning you?” Ralphine asked, her voice filled with guilt and sudden regret, something that the Lycan King had noticed. Eh was always quick to notice things about Ralphine, so when she saw his beautiful purple eyes staring right into her brown eyes, she knew what was going on in his head.
“I would give you the world and ask nothing of it, Ralph. You just have to say the word and I don’t care what else I have to face to see you smile and be happy,” King Miroslav said earnestly, his words making Ralph feel like he really was never going to let her be in harm’s way.
Each minute she spent with this King, made her realize just how much he adored her.
The soulless King was in love.
