Chapter 87

"Fuck." I whisper in utter dismay and I hear him chuckle.

"She was the only person who liked you in this kingdom," he says with his usual casual voice but I can't seem to tear my eyes away from Zara's lifeless head that's barely few inches away from my feet, "oh! Along with that old librarian I guess.

You wouldn't want to see her head this way too, would you?"

Between Zara's gruesome death and the threat he just made, I don't know which angers me more but I've never felt anger so much in my life like the one I feel right now.

My lip twitches and my fists fold very tightly it almost hurt but the adrenaline rushing in me right now prevents me from feeling anything but anger.

"I'll avenge you Zara" I say to myself and look up to meet Damien's cocky brown eyes and a sick smirk on his lips.

Immediately his eyes meet mine, I see confusion in his eyes which I take as my opening to attack him, tackling him to the ground without much effort needed.

His body feels strangely warm against mine and that when I realize how cold I am.

Without wasting any time or giving him room to fight back, I gave heavy ruthless punches on his face leaving deep cuts in their wake.

Again, again and again I keep punching and he doesn't fight back.

I notice movements ahead of me causing me to take a pause and look up.

His five minions come forward with aim to help him but pause immediately they see my eyes and the fear in theirs brings a smirk to my lips.

The distraction gives Damien time to fight back so he pushes me off of him and stands up, staggering, trying to gain balance.

His face looks very damaged and I doubt for a second it's my tiny fist that did that.

I stare at my fists for a second and see that there's icy spikes coming out my knuckles.

My eyes widen in realization of how powerful I am. As long as I've got the drive to do it, I can do it.

"We'll be back." Damien says and I watch as they all huddle up together and disappear.

Releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding, I look back and don't find Zara's head instead, I see Sean standing with his jaw almost on the ground.

Our eyes meet and immediately, I find myself in his arms, his strong arms holding me protectively and his all too familiar scent that I've missed so much fills my nose it almost brings tears to my eyes.

"Before you say anything Crystal," he says still holding me tightly, "I want you to know that I'm so proud of you."

The tears that I've been holding in, the fear, insecurity and everything I've been trying to hide all comes out and I smile widely, finally feeling safe in the arms of the one I love.

"How long have you been standing there?" I ask and break the hug a little, looking into his eyes.

"Long enough to see that you're the best choice I made in my entire life."

He smiles then tenses up a bit turning around immediately holding me behind him and I frown, "Oh! It's you guys."

He holds my hand and I stand beside him to see it's the everyone in the inner council staring at with caution and confusion.

Not seeing Zara among them breaks my heart and I feel Sean's hold on my hand tighten a bit.

"Look who's here." He says and I look at them with a frown etched on my forehead as they move aside and I see Zara walk through stopping at least two feet away from us.

"Zara?" I ask in pure confusion as my hands start to tremble in Sean's but he gives it another light squeeze reassuring me that it's fine.

"You didn't think I was that soft," she says with her usual straight face, "did you?"

"B-but your," I stutter and point to the spot where her head was few minutes ago.

"That wasn't Zara." Sean says and I look at him waiting for more explanation, "The draggulars are known extensively for shapeshifting.

One of them shape-shifted into Zara and they killed him, beheaded him to scare you into following them."

"No way," I say as my eyes turn moist and I embrace Zara in a tight hug, feeling very relieved that we didn't lose her and surprisingly, she hugs me back but it only lasts a second when we're stopped by an obvious clearing of throat coming from behind.

"We can't be too relieved," Joe says and we all look at him, "they'll be back and seeing how Queen Crystal defeated one of their most reliable warriors, they'll be back even stronger."

"Great," Miranda scoffs, "now we'll have enemies strolling in and out of the kingdom all because of one person whose existence isn't very necessary."

"Nonsense." Adrian says before Sean gets a chance and I cock an eyebrow in surprise, "they've always wanted to come at us. It's not because of her or anyone, we all saw this coming from a very long time."

"Exactly," Zara says and looks at me, "good thing our queen isn't a weakling and won't be a liability.

Now, we can plan properly and be ready for whatever is to come."

"We'll meet again as the sun rises," Sean says loud enough for everyone to hear, "we have some proper planning to do."

As soon he finishes, the place fades into our room and the feeling of home engulfs me immediately causing me to sigh loudly in relief.

"Come here." Sean says and hugs me tight, feeling so warm and comfortable against my body, "I thought I had lost you again."