Serana POV.
“I thought you were dead? How?” I pull away from her and check her over to make sure she is fine.
Pascha and I grew up together in the camp. She is like my sister. We were both meant to enter the labyrinth together, but then Vilkas came and everything was in chaos.
“Same, I thought you were. How long have you been here? Why haven’t I seen you before now?” she asks, searching my eyes, and I sniffle as I shake my head.
“The dragon king took me personally. I have been here since that night. He thinks I’m a Lycan.” I tell her and her eyes grow impossibly wide at my words.
“That can’t be possible. Vilkas killed all the Lycans that were there that day. The Vampires, fae, and werewolves were given the option to either serve him or be slaughtered. They chose the former. They are all under strict rules that the humans aren’t to be touched, otherwise he will destroy their species.” I stagger back at her words. What?
“Have you told him you aren’t a Lycan?” She sighs as she hugs me.
“He didn’t believe me. He said he can smell Lycan on me.” I hug her back, squeezing her to make sure this is real and nothing my mind has conjured up.
A knock on the door interrupts us and we both turn to see a vampire standing there.
“Hate to break this up, ladies, but you both need to get back to work.” He offers us a small smile as his red eyes watch us.
We nod at him and each takes a room in no time I come to huge double oak doors. I push the handle down and the door creaks as I open it. Stepping in and my jaw drops as I take in the room.
It’s a library. The smell of old parchment and ink fills my senses, and I feel like I’m stuck in a dream. I move aimlessly inside, leaving my cart by the door.
There is a large table in the middle of the room with reading lamps and comfy looking chairs. Walls are lined with shelves, and each shelf is full of books. My hand reaches for the spines of the books as I walk past. My fingers delicately touch each one.
Something catches my eyes and I turn to see the huge painting of the human king hanging above the fireplace, but it looks destroyed in places. There’s a hand on his arm. A pale delicate hand with a ring on one finger. The ring is a large ruby. I’ve seen that ring before, but where?
Lost in my thoughts, I hear a cough come from the open doorway and jump slightly as I turn to see who it is. I fight the urge to roll my eyes as Vilkas watches me.
“What are you doing here?” He asks as he stalks towards me, but I look away from him.
“Answer me.” I take a breath and meet his gaze.
“I was going to start cleaning but was lost in the awe of the room. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.” I say flatly as I move away from him. He grasps my upper arm, stopping me from moving. I grit my teeth as he squeezes my arm, pinching my delicate skin. That will no doubt leave a bruise.
“Can you read?” He watches me intently.
I turn to look up at him and nod my head. The Lycans had the children read and write out old texts from not just their language but other shifter languages into English. They said it was essential for us to do this task and that if we did it, we would get proper food.
“Yes, I can also write and translate.” I say with a smirk on my face. Maybe I could use this to my advantage.
Releasing my arm, he moves towards a shelf and I rub my arm. Damn bastard. I glare at his back, wanting him to spontaneously combust and turn to ash.
He turns around, approaching the reading table and placing the book down. “Which language is this?” he opens it to a random page, “read this to me.”
Is this a trick question? Seriously.
“Dragon.” I say, and he nods his head. Pointing to a paragraph. I read the paragraph first.
“It says the Lycan king Marius led an army to kill the mighty Dragon king Apollo using the sword of Isolda in a battle of revenge for the defilement and slaughter of the Lycan Queen Zinda. The battle was in vain as Apollo set them all ablaze, leaving none alive.” I look up at him and he nods his head with a smirk playing on the corner of his lips.
“What other languages can you translate?” he asks, and I chew my lip as I hold his penetrating gaze.
“Lycan, wolf, Vampire, Fae.” He looks pleased and maybe a little surprised that a lowly slave would know these languages. I scoff internally at him. What a moron.
“What about phoenix?” I shake my head.
“No, there are no phoenix texts. Well, if there are, I have never seen them.” I say and he nods his head. Jokes on you, lizard boy. I have seen them and I won’t help you uncover them.
“Very well, you will translate these texts for me. I am looking for something specific, and you will do this.” He leaves no room for argument.
“I will do it after I have finished cleaning. Can I have access anytime I want?” I look down, hoping he doesn’t catch the hidden meaning behind why I asked. If I’m in here, then I won’t be warming his bed. Win-win.
“Yes,” he raises an eyebrow at me. I mentally fist pump and do a happy dance. Thank god for little miracles.
“What is it I’m looking for, exactly?” I ask as I look up, meeting his gaze. He looks away and I frown.
“Well, I want to know how you can withstand dragon fire.”
“Are you planning on killing me by other means, master?” I say with a chuckle, and he scowls at me as he clenches his fists to his side. I school my expression.
“Fine. Can I ask you something?” I say, looking up at the picture above the fireplace.
“You may.” He folds his arms over his chest and I’m lost in thought. “Serana, don’t waste my time. What did you want to ask me?” He spits at me.
“That painting is of King Ronan, right?” I watch him and he nods and I fight a smirk.
“Why would a human king have shifter texts written in their language?” I ask and he watches me, his eyes not giving anything away.
“Because of his mate.” With that, he turns and walks out of the room. I stand there dumbfounded. King Ronan had a shifter as his queen? Wow, poor sod. If I’ve learnt anything, shifters are evil bastards and deserve to die.
“Not all shifters are bad.” I roll my eyes at the voice in my head.
I look around the room, now that I have his permission in the guise of helping him find out why I’m not ash. I will do my own research. I chuckle darkly to myself.
I will find a way to destroy him and the Lycans for good. After all, the Lycans enslaved humanity, and he made me his sex slave, taking my virginity. Karma is a bitch, and she is cruel.
Serana POV.Well, my plan to stay in the library so I didn’t need to warm his bed failed spectacularly. Can’t blame a girl for trying. It took him three days to figure it out and now he makes sure he gets his fill of me before I run to my sanctuary.It has been a month since he gave me this assignment, and I have found nothing of use. The humans that work here were in fact in the camps and Vilkas set them free. Most Guards keep their distance from us, well me at least. They still think I’m a Lycan. Like can’t they tell I’m not by my scent?The only exception being the werewolf guard who said he knew who I was and had also been getting closer to me. I found out his name is Wesley and he was an Alpha once before the Lycans took over. Wesley hasn’t told me anymore about who I am and that sucks. Either way, I can say I have made a few friends in the palace, which is helpful. The other day I had a nasty encounter with one of the dark fae guards after Vilkas left the library.The scumbag
Vilkas POV.Man, it’s good to be alive again. Being dead for over 100 years wasn’t what I planned, but then again, I wasn’t planning for the love of my life, a Lycan bitch called Starci to betray me.Stupid cunt thought that by taking my heart scale, she could save her fated mate. Ha, little did she know that my heart scale can only belong to my fated mate. Well, I guess I will never know now. Considering all shifters were cursed.The Lycan bitch thought she could get away with it. Yes, I died, or so everyone thought. I only wish I could have been here to save Queen Marcia and King Ronan. The last phoenix and her human king, her mate. I have failed her and the humans.It was my duty to protect the humans and humanity from the evils in the world, but I failed. Marcia warned me about Starci, but like a lovesick fool, I ignored her council and look where that got me. Heartbroken, betrayed, and killed.Dragons are guardians, but I failed. But I vowed the day I crawled out of that volcano
Serana POV.Vilkas stops and I close my eyes, waiting for what will come next, but nothing. I try to look around but can’t because he has pinned me down and I can’t turn my head as I am laying with my cheek pressed to the desk.“You lie. She isn’t human. I would know if she was.” It’s becoming difficult to breathe as my heart races in my chest when I hear a gasp from somewhere in the room.“Serana, Majesty, what are you doing?” Pascha, I try to wiggle to free myself before he turns his anger towards her.“Stay out of this Pascha, please.” I say as my more tears leave my eyes.“No, Serana. Majesty Serana is human. I have known her since I was a child. We were both in the same camp. We grew up together. She is like my sister. Please Majesty, believe me. She is a human.” She pleads for me when he loosens his grip and I take a breath when his weight is gone from me. I slide to the ground with a thud.Hands grab me as I gulp in more air as I shake uncontrollably. He nearly raped me all bec
Serana POV.It has now been two weeks since Vilkas left the palace, and it has been nice. Even though my heart is in pain with each day that he isn’t here but I know that is because of the dragon scale.Everyone seems at ease, and the atmosphere in the palace is calm. We all do our jobs as usual, so it’s like nothing much has changed. The dark fae have tried to take advantage of the situation, but they were made examples of when they were killed by the wolves and vampires. I was worried that when his Majesty decides to return that he would punish them, but Wesley said he ordered us all to respect the humans. I had to scoff at that because I was not shown respect before he left. Especially by him.My secret is still safe and I know the three who know of my existence will never betray me. However, only Wesley knows I have the dragon scale. I know I can trust him with my life and he has had my back.Lara and Pascha have been seeing what else I am immune to, and it turns out I am immune t
TRIGGER WARNING, PLEASE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!Serana POV.I turn and run from the room, down the long hallway to the door. My chest heaving and my vision blurry. The walls slowly close in around me and I feel sick.Running through the door, I keep running until I’m outside in the garden. Holding a hand over my mouth and a hand to my chest, I drop to my knees and cry. A cry of pain and devastation.I did this. It is all my fault. The death of my parent’s, the fall of humanity, everything it is all my fault. With those thoughts, I cry harder.“I’m sorry, little one.” I choke on the words of my phoenix.“Did you know?” I mumble to her as my emotions flow like a river, the same as my tears.“Yes, but I wasn’t allowed to tell you. You had to find out about this yourself. Don’t blame yourself because of the gift that was given to you.” I lift my head and look to the heavens.“A gift? A gift can be returned. This is a fucking curse. Millions died because of this. There has to be a way to g
Serana POV.Waking it is still dark, I use my phoenix eyes to see around the darkness of the room. Turning my gaze to Vilkas as he tightens his hold on me, I scoff internally at him as I remove his heavy arm from him and slip from under the quilt. How did I end up in his bed?Walking towards where my discarded clothes are, I put them on. I tiptoe to the door and I can taste freedom.“Where are you going?” Fuckity fuck, fuck, shit balls.“I have work to do, Your Majesty.” I bow my head at him when I hear him move from the bed and he stands in front of me in all his naked glory and I gulp.“Come back to bed. You can have a day off.” I roll my eyes. Why is he being nice to me? I think I preferred when he was a cunt, at least then I knew what I was dealing with.“Play nice. He saved us last night.” Bedelia reminds me.“Unfortunately, I can’t take a take off. I have chores to do. Please, Your Majesty, I don’t want to upset any of the staff.” I say, but that’s not true. If anything, since h
Serana POV.I stand rooted to the spot as I watch Joel, who I thought was my friend, looking at me with a panicked expression. Well, I’m so fucking glad I never told him who I am. The fucking traitor!“Rana, what are you doing here?” he looks behind him and I smile as I point to the cart behind me.“Was just about to start cleaning. Why? Are you hiding something? Oh my god, is it a unicorn? Let me see.” I say with a chuckle, and he gulps and looks nervous as fuck. Good, I will keep an eye on him.“A unicorn. No, it’s not. Anyway, I thought you cleaned here yesterday?” he asks as the dark fae walks in the opposite direction, and I watch them leave before I turn my gaze to him.“Oh, did I?” I roll my eyes and hit my forehead with the heel of my palm.“You’re right. I did. I’m losing my mind. All the hallways look the same.” I say with a chuckle as I turn and scowl with my back turned.“Rana, are you ok?” He steps loser to me and I stiffen.“Yeah, I’m ok. Are you?” I turn to face him and
Serana POV.Sitting in my bed. I look at the bundle wrapped in the sheet in front of me. Chewing my bottom lip, I contemplate what I may find. What if it isn’t relevant information? What if I find something I don’t want to see? I wring my hands nervously.“We won’t know until you open them. I’m right here with you. Come on Serana. We have nothing to lose.” I look up at the ceiling and take a breath.Fuck it!I pull the bundle towards me and begin to unwrap it. Where do I start?“How about we start with one of journals? Or maybe a scroll? Oh, I know we can ip dip for it.” I shake my head in disbelief at what she has just suggested. Ip dip. I chuckle as I reach for the journal on the top of the pile.Running my fingers over it gently, it opens on its own and I drop it from my hands up. What the hell? I watch as the pages turn rapidly, then stop.“Well, I guess it has a mind of its own.” Bedelia grumbles, and I roll my eyes. Reaching for my glass of water, I take a gulp as I pick up the