Chapter 318: Let her do it!

He wanted to find a solution for his hand, which had been sliced off, and not make new plans to kill Zyren that could backfire on him.The phantom ache of what was no longer there pulsed faintly in his mind, a reminder of failure he refused to acknowledge aloud. Yet, the thought that Aria would be his right after Zyren was dead elated his very soul as he quietly nodded his head before he came to a conclusion.

"Fine! You’ll head to the vampire realm and use the artifact on her!" he said, his voice sharp and final, even as Clara, who had been staring at the ground, frowned in a way that she didn’t want to be seen. Her fingers curled slowly at her sides, nails digging into her palms as if grounding herself was the only thing keeping her upright.

Having clearly heard him say that she would be taking all the risks if it failed, she raised her gaze to smile at him as she nodded. The smile was practiced, perfect, and utterly hollow.

"Of course!" she said, yet all she could think of was the fact that King Jared not only didn’t love her, but he also didn’t care.

While other men were willing to die for their wives, he was willing to watch her die instead. The fact chilled her to the bone, a cold far deeper than the winter winds of the northern lands, even as she bowed to him before heading out. Her steps were steady, but her chest felt unbearably tight with each breath she took.

Her anger against Aria, which she had built up slowly over time, disappeared as she wondered what exactly she was fighting for when the man himself clearly didn’t care.

Will killing her even fix our relationship? she wondered to herself as she leaned her back against the wall, the cool stone seeping through her clothes as she closed her eyes for a second simply to catch her breath. The corridor was quiet, save for the faint echo of distant footsteps and the hum of torches burning low.

Realizing that it wouldn’t, and that her trying to get him to sleep with her and him refusing would still continue, her lips trembled despite her efforts.

He would rather sleep with prostitutes! Clara thought, even as tears threatened to slide out of her closed eyes, but she held them in with sheer force of will. Her jaw clenched tightly as she swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

She was Luna, and she was in public. She didn’t care—by sunset, the news would have been known by everyone in the pack regardless. Whispers always traveled faster than truth.

Taking a deep sigh, she turned around and headed through the corridor, moving toward her room even as she discreetly wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. Her movements were quick and deliberate, as though speed might spare her from the weight pressing down on her heart.

For the first time in a very long time, Clara didn’t even bother to smile at the servants who she knew were going to gossip about her regardless of what she did. Their bowed heads and sidelong glances blurred together as she passed.

Instead, she simply continued to head toward her room in desperate need of a break, as her hands lightly trembled at her sides, unable to unsee what her mind had slowly realized. The realization clung to her like a shadow she could not outrun.

Arun had no choice but to go back to the hunter’s base to give a full account of all that happened. The familiar stone walls felt heavier than usual, as though the truth he carried weighed upon them as well.

Although what he would have rather done was to head to Liora’s house with her to try and convince her to let out the secret to her ability—one he desperately wanted more than anything in the world.

Hunter rituals over them gave them faster senses and reactions, so much so that it became harder to be killed by a vampire.

Their blood ran sharper, their reflexes honed beyond what normal men could withstand. The ones given to those at the top of the hierarchy even made them just as strong as vampires, which gave them a great edge.

But nothing was as magnificent as watching Liora cut open her palm and using her own blood to kill a man from some distance away. The memory replayed vividly in his mind, the way her blood shimmered unnaturally in the air before striking its target with deadly precision.

Even as he stood with the other hunter lords, recounting all that had happened to two of the older men, he still found it hard to get the thought of the ability out of his mind. His focus wavered despite his best efforts, his fingers twitching faintly at his sides.

"It failed miserably! King Jared is still wounded, and I’m sure that whatever Zyren used is going to prevent him from healing anytime soon!" Arun said, not surprised to see the severe expressions on the two men’s faces.

Lord Elvane and Lord Dargen, each the head of their hunter houses, stood before him. Elvane’s sons were all spies, which meant that he was also in charge of gathering information. Arun was more than convinced that most of the story he was telling was something the shrewd old man was already aware of and simply wanted to hear it from his own lips.

"We would do well not to antagonize him!" Arun reminded all of them, having seen the way Zyren looked at him—confident that the vampire had considered taking his life right there and then, and it wouldn’t have taken too much effort on his own part.

"So what would you have us do!" Lord Dargen snapped back with a heated expression on his face that showed his annoyance at Arun’s words. His hands clenched into fists as he took a step forward.

"Sit back and do nothing? Watch him continue to be King while he enslaves humans?" Dargen asked, raising his voice in a way that showed that he refused to allow such a thing to stand.

Arun almost scoffed, aware that the old man did not really care about humans. He didn’t even like them. All he cared for was the seat of power, which he wanted a piece of.

Lord Elvane, like usual, watched them argue for a while before he decided to speak. His silence alone was enough to command attention.

"If the artifact didn’t work, then there’s nothing that can kill King Zyren!" he declared. His voice was calm, yet heavy with finality, but Lord Dargen was already shaking his head even as he stepped closer to them in a conspiratory tone.

"Didn’t you just say that he used a black vial on King Jared?" Lord Dargen asked. "Why can’t we just use the same thing for him?"

It was a straightforward question, one that made the other two pause as they couldn’t help but think about it, even as Lord Dargen, whose eyes glazed with excitement, continued to speak.

"We can use Lady Aria! She wants that ritual, doesn’t she? We’ll promise her more simply to get the vial!" Lord Dargen said, knowing that the moment Zyren was dead, Aria wouldn’t be a problem.

"But should we really kill Zyren before the Zygons are eradicated? His presence—" Arun began, but Lord Dargen didn’t care enough to let him finish.

"As long as we can identify them with Aria, then we can kill them!" Dargen said with a note of finality that pissed off Arun, even as he settled into silence, waiting for what he knew was coming as Lord Elvane agreed with a nod of his head.

"I agree! He wasn’t this powerful a decade ago," he said, his voice deep, his thoughts seemingly deeper.

"Any longer, and nothing would be able to kill him... not even death!" Lord Elvane said as he continued to speak, the weight of his words settling heavily over the room.

"I’ll send my son! Lady Aria will be informed of our decision!" he said, saying it like that was all that mattered, as though the fate of kingdoms could be decided with a single sentence.