38 Meeting the Elders Part 1
Jared POV
I can’t believe that pathetic wolf got the better of me. I swear as soon as I wake up I’m going to make him watch as I torture his pathetic sister. I still can’t believe the goddess paired me with a worthless mutt. If I didn’t enjoy her body so much, I would have killed her years ago.
An evil cackle in the darkness has my eyes searching even though I couldn’t see my hand in
front of my face if I tried. “The only one that will be tortured is you, elf,” a disembodied voice
says. “Who the f**k are you? Where am I? I’m not afraid of mutts!”
“You are where all the unworthy go when they die.” Her words are like a cold bucket of water
being thrown on me. It can’t be true. I can’t be dead. “You aren’t the first to think that and you surely won’t be the last. Now the answer to your other question is I am Tanith, and before your
tiny brain conjures its next question, I am the goddess of torture. Torture which you have
earned by being a sh**y elf in life,” she says
Without warning, the darkness lifts, and I immediately wish it hadn’t. I’m shackled to the wall,
but what’s worse is, I’m not alone. The room is full of both men and women hanging along the
walls, all covered in blood and wounds. The sound of a whip cracking draws my attention as a
man screams. When my eyes find him among the bodies, he looks completely broken as
blood pours down his chest. “Please” he manages to whisper, but the woman with the whip
just laughs.
“Do you really think I care if you beg Cain, because I don’t? Mercy isn’t in my repertoire and
after all you did, you don’t deserve it anyway, the woman says. Her voice is different than the
one I heard in the darkness. Before I have more time to focus on it, another woman who is
built like a tank steps in front of me. “Take a good look, Jared, that is your future. I hope
everything you did in life was worth what you are about to experience in death,” she says.
“I’m sorry, please don’t do this,” I plead. “It’s always funny to me that you are all so sorry when it’s your turn to face the consequences of your actions. You know what that makes you Jared” she asks. I’m afraid to speak when I notice a knife with a short blade appear in her hand. “It
makes you not redeemable. The goddess forgives so much, but only when you’re truly sorry and you, Jared, were never sorry for the pain you inflicted on the true king of elves or your fated beloved,” she says.
Before I can tell her, I am truly sorry she pushes the blade into my right thigh. The pain and burning is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It feels like the blade has been dipped in acid. I
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38 Meeting the Elders Part 1
scream as she twists the blade tearing the muscle from the bone. When she pulls the blade free of my skin, blood flows down my leg and begins to pool at my feet. She lifts the blade, placing it against my cheek and my eyes meet hers.
Her eyes are black at night and the emptiness I see there sends a shiver down my spine. ‘Don’t worry Jared, no matter how much you bleed, you can only die once. It might feel like you’re dying, but the good news is you’re already dead, and the torture will never end even when you pray for it,” she says. I feel tears pooling in my eyes as she drags the blade down my cheek. Blood runs down my neck, soaking my shirt.
“I’ve only used the knife twice, and already you are crying like a baby. So pathetic after all you made King Drake endure, yet he never begged you to stop. Never gave you one tear and yet here you are begging and crying like the pathetic creature you are,” she says. This time she raises the blade and slices through the shirt that covers my chest and stomach. Once I’m exposed, she runs the blade over my stomach. With each pass of the blade I scream until she finally steps back smiling.
I look down and see she has carved the words weak and pathetic on my stomach and chest. “Now you’ll never forget what you are” she says with a chuckle. “Please, no more,” I manage to whisper before I drop my head to my chest. Please let this be a horrible dream and I swear I’ll change my ways. The maniacale laugh lets me know just how wrong I am.
Drake POV
“My king, the Elders have arrived” Vincent says as he steps into view. His gaze drops to the body lying at our feet, and he doesn’t flinch. “Good riddance. I will get some of the warriors to clean up the mess,” he says before he turns to leave. I take Lily’s hand in mine. I move to stand in front of the cell that holds that man that tried to destroy me. The man that took my parents from me. The man that tried to keep me from the woman who was always meant to be mine. “Show him who you truly are my love.”
She slides the ring off her finger, and she immediately turns into her true form. I will never tire of looking at this beautiful woman. “David, meet Lily, the Red Wolf and my fated beloved. You didn’t win. After I deal with the Elders, you will pay for everything you have done. My parents will have justice and I will live the rest of my life in the knowledge that you no longer exist. That
you
didn’t win.” David looks defeated as he falls to his knees.
“You think the Elders will just accept that you’re the king after how pathetic and weak you’ve been for all these years,” Magnolia screams. “They can accept, or they can suffer the same fate as him. Either way, I will have my throne and my queen and the two of you will be nothing more than a bad memory.”
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+8 Point:
38 Meeting the Elders Part 1
She continues to scream as I turn holding tight to Lily’s hand. Once we reach the top of the stairs, I begrudgingly let her go, and she slides her ring back into place. I give her a quick kiss before we step into the hallway. Vincent will be joining me but everyone else will return to the King’s floor until I link Lily.
Vincent leads me to the conference room where the Elders are gathered around a large round table. When I step into the room, they all stand and bow to me. I see the look of confusion when they realize that Vincent is here instead of Jared. I’m grateful when none of them ask about the change in guards. I take my seat at the head of the table before my eyes meet each
of theirs.
“My king, thank you for inviting us to meet with you today. We are all quite curious as to what.
was so important you needed the entire council to travel to the Royal Tribe,” a man I never met
addresses me. I wonder if he took over for Samuel as head of the council after he
disappeared.
“I actually have a few very important things to discuss, but first I would like to ask each of you
if you know exactly what happened to my brother when he and his queen were killed?‘Some
of the Elders just look confused while others look uncomfortable.”
“My king, you know that Elder Samuel was there along with you and your second in command,
Jared. We were all informed after the fact that rogue wolves had attacked your brother, his
beloved, and the mute slave,” he says. I try not to react to the fact that he didn’t refer to my
parents by their title and called me that vile name I’ve been called too many times to count.
“You mean the former king, queen, and their child.”
He looks confused and taken back by my correction, but he doesn’t say anymore. “King David, I mean no disrespect, but I see no point in discussing elves that no longer matter to the
kingdom. Almost all the Elders agreed that the mute was not worthy of becoming the leader
of our kind. Since that time, you have ruled over the kingdom, so discussing such
unpleasantness seems unnecessary.”
I stand from where I’m seated and move around the table, The Elders straighten as I pass
behind each one. “Who called this meeting today?” The same man that just spoke looks at the
others before he looks back at me. “You did your majesty.” “Who is the King of the Elven Kingdom?” Again he looks confused. “You are King David.”
I bang the table near him with my fist before I allow a vine to come from my hand and wind
around his body. “If I am the one that called this meeting and I am the king then I guess that
means you will discuss whatever the f**k I see fit,” say my voice rising with every word. The
pr*ck shivers before he bows his head in submission. “Of course, my king. My apologies” he
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38 Meeting the Elders Part 1
says, his voice barely a whisper.
The vine unwinds from him and returns to my hand. I retake my seat and link Lily to join us along with Grant, Jasmine, Liam, and Myra. “For the rest of the meeting I have invited a few guests to join us. After today, I have a feeling that there will be many changes in the Elven Kingdom.”
AD
