Chapter 80: The Bargaining of the Forsaken
Melissa’s POV
I gasped when I woke up.
I was surrounded by darkness-not the cosy sort, but the kind that moved and breathed like a live creature. As though I had been drawn into another world, my body felt weightless.
Then he showed up.
Darius.
His silver eyes pierced the emptiness as he stood in front of me. He didn’t have a monstrous appearance like the Forsaken with whom we had fought. He had an old-world appearance. Strong.
His voice was silky smooth as he spoke, “You came to me faster than I expected.”
I balled my fists up. “I never showed up anywhere. I was drawn here by you.
His lips formed a tiny smirk. “But here you are nonetheless.”
I wouldn’t be shaken by him. “What are you looking for?”
His face grew serious. “A straightforward conversation. Your life for theirs.
I tensed up.
He went on, “I don’t want to destroy your pack.” “I don’t argue with them. It’s with my people and the goddess who cursed us. However, you His eyes become piercing. “The key to reversing what was done to us is you.”
I gave a headshake. “I have no idea what you’re discussing.”
He responded, “You will, eventually.” “But there is not much time left.”
The darkness became deeper and closer to us. Melissa, give yourself up. If you do that, I won’t harm your people.
I was tempted and poisoned by his words as they slithered into my head.
“Consider it,” he muttered. “Before additional bloodshed occurs.”
I woke up yelling as the darkness fell.
Kane was looking at maps in the strategy room when I found him. As soon as I walked in, he looked up. Melissa?
With shaking hands, I closed the door. “I have something to tell you.”
He stood with his brows knitted. “What took place?”
I took a deep breath. “Darius addressed me. In a vision.
The body of Kane became hard. “What did he say?”
After a moment of hesitation, I pushed the words out. “He desires me. He will spare the pack if I give up.
Kane felt a rumbling growl erupt in his chest. “No.”
“Kane”
“No, Melissa!” I exclaimed. He slapped his hands on the table. Do you think I’d let you see him? after all that we have endured?
My eyes were scorched by tears. “Kane, he won’t stop. People are leaving us-
“And we’ll fight,” he broke off. “With each other.”
I gave a headshake. “What if there is no other option?”
The rage still flared beneath the softening of his gaze. He came closer and cupped my face. “There’s always an alternative. Melissa, I won’t let you go.
I wanted to think he was real. However, I secretly felt Darius’s remarks were dragging me into something I wasn’t prepared to deal with.
I searched my mother’s old journals, the one place that could have the answers, in a desperate attempt to find them.
For years, they remained hidden away in the pack archives. Something drew my attention as I turned the pages.
A moniker.
My breath caught. She was aware.
I read the passage frantically.
“They were expelled and their existence was nullified. However, the curse was never intended to endure forever. They will return when the balance shifts one day. Their reckoning will be with the one who bears the Heart.
The air seemed to have been knocked out of me.
Me, the Heart.
Was my mother aware that I would have to confront them?
With my heart pounding, I clutched the journal. What else had my mother kept from me if she had secrets concerning The Forsaken?
The ache struck just as I was returning to my room.
It began as a sudden, intense pressure in my chest and quickly travelled through my veins like fire.
I clutched at my arms as I gasped. There was a problem.
Across the room, the mirror broke.
Then I noticed it.
My reflection.
I had changed the colour of my eyes. They were radiant. Silver.
Similar to Darius’s.
I felt a surge of terror.
What was going on with me?