Chapter1
Akari
Moonlight radiatedoff my hair as I stormed through the castle’s white stone hallways, toward the throne room where I knew I’d find the king. I despised the fact that my magic liked to assert itself through myhairof all things, but was too furious to care in that moment.
The Night King, one of the three kings of the Night Court, had locked me in his damned prison for months. It was a cushy prison, with more than enough food and a comfortable bed too, but metal bars were metal bars.
Sure, I’d tried to kill him, but he’d deserved it—and he knew he did, too.
Two decades earlier, his people had slaughtered my family and dragged me into the Night Court, then handed me to one of their three kings so he could infuse his magic into me—and apparently, make me his soulmate at the same time.
Though I wasn’t certain whether or not he knew we were soulmates, I didn’t give a damn about the fate-determined connection.
Espen was the reason my family was dead.
Somehow, I’d figure out a way to kill him.
“Are you sure about this?” My friend, Diora, materialized out of the shadows and walked at my side, not struggling to keep pace with me despite the small swell of her pregnant belly.
She was practically glowing, even with the serious expression on her face. She’d made friends with the Shadow King, who she was also bound to through magic and a soulmate bond, and had even fallen in love with the bastard. I couldn’t kill him, because his life was now tied to hers, and I’d pretty much raised Diora when we were in prison together for two decades.
“Positive,” I growled back.
“You can’t kill him,” she reminded me. “Physically, I mean. I’m sure he’d already be dead if not for the magic connecting you.”
He would’ve.
My mind flashed back to the moment we’d met.
My knife had soared through the air, headed straight for its target. I’d practiced knife throwing, the only fighting skill I’d ever had before the king gave me his magic, on my way to the castle. The ability had come back faster than I expected.
That knife would’ve gone straight into his heart.
But, as it soared through the air, my damned hair lit up like a lightbulb and the magic screamed at me, “MATE”.
The knife had halted in the air, a breath away from the king’s heart.
And what had he done?
Had his guards carry me straight to the dungeon.
The fucking dungeon.
Where I’d been for at least three months, until Diora freed my furious ass.
Now, the Night King and I had some reckoning to do.
If he died, I would die with him… but honestly, I wasn’t against dying for something I believed in. And fuck, did I believe in revenge.
My family was gone.
Everyone I loved, long dead—except the two women I’d suffered with for so long. And considering that all of our memories together were painful ones, I couldn’t imagine us becoming a family of any sort.
Death would be a mercy compared to the nightmares I faced every night and the possibility of a future with the king who had taken everything from me.
The Night King would die, and I would go with him—and finally, I would be able to rest with everyone I knew and loved.
I wasn’t sure how, exactly, I was going to kill him, but I’d figure it out.