Free Web NovelChapter 66: Chapter 66: Vespera Is Dead!
I nudged my horse to move forward a few steps.
"The bitch Vespera herself. I came to end this. Your triad reached for what is mine. You carved warnings into living flesh. You poisoned springs and burned villages. That ends today."
"You’ve committed more atrocities than anyone would accept and for that you deserve death!" Kane added angrily.
Vespera laughed, the sound low and cold. "Hahaha, triggered I see. Your broken curse is the key to the power I have sought for centuries. Your twins carry it in their veins. Hand them over and I will leave your keep standing. Refuse and I will take them after I burn everything you love."
The bond surged between the four of us. Darius’s hand brushed my arm once. Kane’s horse edged closer. Rylan’s breathing deepened.
I drew my blade. The steel caught the gray light. "You have some balls thinking I would give my children to you because of your selfish desire for some stupid power!" frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Really?, you forget that I can take whatever I want from whoever and whenever I see fit." Vespera replied with an evil smile.
"Wishful thinking! Then come and try!" I shot back fiercely.
Vespera raised her hand signalling to attack and her forces charged straight at us.
The field erupted with war. Hooves thundered across the grass. Steel clashed. Wolves shifted mid-stride, snarling and snapping.
I drove my horse straight into the center, blade swinging low. A Nightthorn warrior lunged at me from the left. I parried and drove my sword through his shoulder, twisting as I pulled free. Blood sprayed across my arm.
" Yeah, bring it on fuckers!" I shouted.
Darius cut down the ugly man who came at him from the right, his sword moving with cold precision. "Don’t you dare go near my wife you freak!"
Kane slipped between two attackers, knife flashing in short, lethal arcs. Rylan’s axe sang through the air, splitting a shield and the man behind it in one swing.
I pushed deeper into the chaos, the heat of bodies and the clash of steel surrounding me. A Nightthorn warrior shifted into wolf form and leaped at my horse’s flank. I swung low and caught him across his side, sending him tumbling into the grass. The bond fed me the kings’ every move, their focus sharp and unrelenting. I felt every strike they made as if it were my own.
Vespera eventually came for me through the fray. Her sword met mine with a ringing clash. She was fast, her blade a blur of steel and rage. I met her strike for strike, the bond between the four of us giving me strength I had never felt before. freewebnoveℓ.com
She snarled and pressed harder, her eyes locked on mine. "Your children will be mine," she hissed. "Their blood will make me eternal whether you like it or not."
"In your wildest dreams, ancient bitch!" I roared back.
"Rraaaaaaa!" She charged at me.
I twisted under her swing and slashed across her side. Blood welled dark along her ribs. She staggered but did not fall. She roared and came at me again. I drove my sword into her thigh, twisting as I pulled free. She dropped to one knee, hand pressed to the wound.
Darius appeared at my side and pinned her sword arm. Kane pressed his knife to her throat. Rylan stood over us, axe raised, blocking any rescue.
Vespera glared up at me, breath ragged. "You think this ends me? My mate will finish what I started."
I looked down at her, the bond between the four of us roaring in my chest. "Hahaha, so you don’t even know? We’ve killed those rogue bastards already!"
"That cannot be! You’ll pay for this." She replied.
"Tell them this when you see them in whatever hell waits for you. We do not yield what is ours."
Rylan’s axe came down in a swing and chopped her head clean right off. Vespera stopped moving.
The fight around us faltered. The Nightthorn warriors saw their leader fall and immediately broke, fleeing into the bushes. We lost four men. They lost twenty-three. We burned their banners and took every map and supply we could carry. The ride back was quiet, the horses’ hooves the only sound against the grass.
"Well done boys." I said to my soldiers.
"Indeed. A victory well deserved." Darius added.
The soldiers repeatedly hit their chest while roaring "yeahhhhh!"
We burned their camps and ended the lives on some wounded wolves crawling and wincing on the ground one after the other and we gathered some essential supplies and began our return journey to Frostfang.
We eventually reached the gates as the sun climbed higher. Garrick met us in the bailey, his face grim as he saw the blood on my cloak and the empty saddles. The pack gathered quickly, eyes on the maps and supplies we carried. Some looked confused and in shock while others looked bright faced murmuring.
I stood in the center of the bailey and unrolled the largest map. "I stand here this moment to happily announce to you that Vespera is dead," I said. "Her triad is broken. We burned their camp and took their plans. The threat from the east is ended."
The pack cheered, the sound raw and fierce. I stood there with the blood still drying on my cloak and the kings at my back and felt the keep shift beneath my feet. The Nightthorn Triad had drawn its line.
We had ended it.
We went to our chambers where the children were waiting. Lila ran to me the moment I stepped through the door, her small arms wrapping around my legs. Thorne and Elara crawled across the furs toward me, their knees and elbows working in determined little circles. They were more active every day, their babbles turning into strings of sounds that almost sounded like words. Lila pointed at the blood on my cloak and said, "Bad wolves gone?"
I knelt and pulled all three of them into my lap. "Yes, little one. They are gone."
The kings joined us, their hands gentle as they touched the children. Darius ruffled Lila’s curls. Kane let Thorne climb all over him. Rylan stretched out with Elara on his chest.
The bond between the four of us felt steady and warm. The strike had been fast and brutal, but we had come home with the victory we needed. The twins babbled louder, their voices overlapping in excited sounds. Lila asked again about the bad wolves, her small face serious.
I held them close and let their warmth chase away the cold of the ride.
The Nightthorn Triad was finished.
The keep was safe.
And for the first time in months, the ridges felt truly ours.
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The bailey smelled of fresh bread and wet stone as I walked through it at first light. The pack moved with a new rhythm, their steps lighter, their voices carrying farther.
The Nightthorn camp lay in ashes two ridges over, their banners burned and their leader gone. Vespera’s body had been left for the crows, a warning no one would soon forget. The keep felt wider today, the walls less like a cage and more like a home we had earned with every drop of blood we spilled.
I stopped at the training yard where the women were already working through drills. Their blades moved with sharper precision than they had a month ago.
I joined the line without a word and took my place among them. The rhythm of steel against wood filled the air. Sweat stung my eyes. My shoulders burned with the effort, but the motion felt right. It reminded me I was still the one who led from the front.
Lila appeared at the edge of the yard a short while later, her small hand holding a carved wooden sword. She planted her feet and swung it with all the force her little body could muster. The women slowed their drills to watch. One of them, a tall redhead named Brenna, smiled as Lila landed a clean strike on the practice post. I crouched in front of my daughter and adjusted her grip.
"Turn your whole body into it," I told her. "Not just your arms."
She tried again. The blade whistled through the air. The women cheered. Lila looked up at me, cheeks flushed, eyes bright.
"Like you," she said.
"Better than me baby" I answered.
The kings joined us later. Darius corrected her stance with patient hands. Kane showed her how to turn her whole body into the blow. Rylan let her climb onto his shoulders and swing from up high, laughing when she nearly took his ear off.
We spent the rest of the morning in the yard. The twins watched from a basket at the edge, their small hands reaching for the blades that flashed in the sun. Thorne and Elara were crawling faster every day, their babbles turning into strings of sounds that almost sounded like words. Lila marched between them, pointing at toys and declaring ownership with absolute certainty. I watched them and felt the weight of the victory settle into something I could carry.
