Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 598

Chapter 98 : This Isn't Magic, It's Hell

*Xander*

lanthe walked in step with me as we left the cave. This annoyed Zeke, who walked a few paces in front of us with his shoulders tight and his head snapping in our direction every once in a while.

I was telling lanthe everything, holding nothing back. Egoren, my family, the pack lands—everything. At this point, why not? If I didn't find Lena soon, everything was going to s**t anyway.

She was especially curious about the White Queens and had many, many questions.

“So, your kind has witches too?"

“I don't think they like being called witches," I smirked as we followed Zeke along a well-beaten trail through the rocky landscape leading to the abandoned city. “But they are pretty different from shifters, you know, wolves."

“But you're different as well-"

“Not nearly as powerful as my mate,” I interrupted with a shrug.

I'd already told them both about getting attacked and the blood being drained from my veins, then waking up buried under shriveled bodies that turned to ash when I moved. Zeke looked weary, but lanthe had been wildly impressed, pressing me for information.

But when it came to giving me any more information about themselves, they were mum. I figured it didn't really matter, given that I was killing their king and getting the hell out of the place as soon as possible.

It took longer than I thought to reach the city. It was the dead of night by the time we crouched behind a large boulder, waiting for Zeke to give us permission to continue forward. It was much, much lighter at the base of the valley than it had been in the thick forest, which was now far above us, barely a shadow against the inky black sky. A moon shone against the slate that fanned out over the valley, reflecting on the ribbons of yellow and white rock woven into each layer of thin, brittle stone. Far away I heard a screech, and it echoed through the valley, disappearing on the breeze it had ridden in on.

"What makes that sound?" I whispered to lanthe.

She pursed her lips. “We call it Nahga,” she whispered as Zeke motioned us to continue down the trail. “I've never seen one up close. It's some sort of winged creature. It belongs to the king.”

I wondered if it had been the same winged beast that had taken Lena, and the same that had plucked me from the ground when Oliver, Adrian, and I were stopped on the highway leading to Crimson Creek. But, based on the far-off look in her eyes as she scanned the horizon, I had a feeling the Nahga was something else entirely.

“There's many of them—spies, in my opinion, for the king. They also sound the approach of day." "Which is coming soon, so we need to pick up the pace if we're going to reach the river," Zeke cut in, his voice edged with annoyance.

I arched my brow at him as he fixed me with a scowl.

“Maybe we should stay in the city," lanthe suggested, her voice as sweet as sugar as she gave her brother practiced doe eyes.

Zeke frowned at her. “You're stalling the inevitable, lanthe," he said flatly, but then he looked up at the sky, noticing the streaks of pale violet on the horizon. We still had a few hours before daybreak, at least.

We walked through the abandoned city without stopping. lanthe moved in front of us after a while, leading the way along what looked like it had once been a road. Large cracks had split the road open in several places and had extended to the buildings as well, toppling some over on each other. "Quakes," Zeke said shortly, following my gaze.

“Is that why there's no one here?"

“There's no one here because the city was once a stronghold of a rebel army against King Nikolas, and everyone was either killed on the spot and eaten, or taken as slaves for his mines.”

I pressed my lips into a tight line.

"It's been abandoned for centuries,” he continued.

That I believed. The buildings were towering above us as we walked, several stories high but shrouded in an ancient darkness my mind couldn't comprehend.

"How long have your people been fighting the king?"

“Longer than your own recorded history,” Zeke quipped, shrugging a shoulder. “Our people were once the children of this realm. The High Vampires weren't always called thus. They were our Gods and Goddesses. They were unseen, the children of the creator of our world. He was called, and is still referred to, as "The Father,’ but King Nikolas refuses to acknowledge the title. He kills anyone who even utters those words."

"What changed? What caused all of this?" I waved my hand in a wide circle toward the crumbling remains of what used to be a massive metropolis.

"Greed, I assume. I'm sure the truth has been twisted and exaggerated with time. Some say the very second The Father turned his power over to his children, the High Vampires, they turned on each other. They killed one another until only one was left.”

"King Nikolas?"

"Yeah, I guess. He's the only one anyone has ever seen. The rest of them are just myths."

“This place is awful,” I breathed, not even trying to hide the words.

Zeke smirked, looking back at me for a moment before we left the desecrated city behind us.

The stars were still shining overhead when we reached the river. It wasn't much of a river, if I was being honest, but it was the first sign of running water I'd seen since Lena pulled us into the realm. I was f*****g thirsty.

“Is it good to drink?" I asked, watching as lanthe tucked her hand in the crook of Zeke's elbow. They turned to look at me as they reached the water's edge, lanthe's eyes glimmering like gems.

“It will be," she said, and I was utterly confused but I followed them nonetheless.

I hopped over the cragged rocks with ease, and in less than a minute were on the other side of the narrow, lazy river. lanthe stopped, filling up a jug she'd pulled from her bottomless bag.

She held it between her hands for a moment, then met Zeke's eye, then mine. She raised the jug to her lips and drank deeply, then handed it to me.

The jug was hot to the touch and I nearly dropped it. I gave her a weary eye before I drank. It was clean, and cool.

lanthe hadn't told me what her powers were, but maybe filtering water so it was drinkable was one of them.

“The sea is five miles away" Zeke began

lanthe groaned. “It's farther, and you know it. We should camp here."

“lanthe-"

“I'm with Zeke on this one,” I said, tilting the jug back to my mouth. “I have somewhere I need to be."

Zeke was fighting back a smile as lanthe narrowed her eyes at me.

“I can take you to King Nikolas right now," she said sharply.

“No, you can't.” Zeke's tone was heavy as he put an arm on his sister's shoulder, squeezing. “You have to go, lanthe. We talked about this. You know why-"

“I know," she bit out, on the edge of surrender.

Zeke had mentioned that lanthe was well known to the king, but I didn't know how, or why. She met my eye as though my questions had been said out loud, and I felt the urge to cower under the force of her gaze.

“The king is powerful, but not as powerful as my kind... my father's kind. They have summoned me home,” she began, looking as though this was a speech she'd rehearsed. “The king has been trying to destroy my kind for centuries, unsuccessfully.”

“The lower vampires have sent countless armies to try to overthrow him," Zeke cut in, his eyes darkening. “But we're nothing without the alliance of the Great Covens.”

"So..." I shifted my weight, catching the starlight reflecting in lanthe's eyes as I looked from her to Zeke. "You're using lanthe to recruit-"

“It's a long story, and we don't have time to discuss it now," Zeke said sharply, waving his hand in dismissal. “We have five more miles before daybreak. Let's go."

I followed them through the darkened landscape for the remainder of the night. The mountains that had once towered above us fell away, and soon the crashing of the waves against a nearby shore filled my ears.

The sky was a shallow violet as the stars began to fade, the first signs of day breaking over the water.

But there was no landscape along the horizon. The water seemed to just... stop.

It wasn't until lanthe went to the water's edge and removed her hood that I noticed it. A thick wall of mist hung over the water, nearly a mile out, the fine particles of clouds reflecting every color of the breaking dawn.

I could have asked what it was, but I knew-magic, something unexplainable, a break in this realm, leading to another.

“Let them know you're here. I don't have much time," Zeke said in a low, pained whisper. lanthe turned to look at him, her face glistening with tears. “We will see each other again, lanthe.”

“This is unfair-"

“This world wasn't meant for someone like you. You must go."

lanthe knew this in her bones. I could see it on her face as she focused on her brother, tears rolling along her jaw. She turned away from us, kneeling before the water as gentle waves broke around her knees. She laid her palm over the water, and within seconds light began to trickle from her fingertips, mingling with the surf.

I watched the ribbons of power move through the water, fanning out and disappearing into the distant depths.

Zeke hissed as he pulled his cloak over his head, shielding himself from the first light of day.

"Go, Zeke," lanthe said, a choked sob escaping her throat as I gasped, unable to tear my eyes away from the wall of mist and magic.

It... opened, like a door. And through the opening came a small boat rocking on the water with no captain in sight.

It was nothing more than a rowboat, but it came toward us, inch by inch coming closer to taking lanthe to her destiny, whatever that was.

“I'll take you to King Nikolas's kingdom," Zeke said painfully, covering the exposed skin of his jaw with his hand as he turned away from the horizon. lanthe had stepped onto the boat, her back to us as it slowly began to move out into open water.

“This is all just..."

"Hell," Zeke quipped, his mouth forming into a tight line. “This isn't magic, Xander. It's hell."

A brief flash of muted light washed over me, and lanthe was gone.

“I need to find shelter,” Zeke said before disappearing into the rocks behind us, no doubt seeking shelter in the split boulders the size of a house that lined the shore.

I could do nothing more than sit down on the rocky beach, my gaze fixed on the mist.