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    Chapter 0697


    Enzo


    I stirred sluggishly to the sound of iron groaning deafeningly in my ears. Blearily lifting my head up from the icy stone where Iy, I made out a petite silhouette entering my cell cautiously.


    "Wake up, my lord," the girl, the same one from before, said softly. She kneeled down beside me, cautiously brushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. "It''s time."


    Growling, I reached for her wrist again-but she had learned her lesson the first time. She deftly leapt backwards like a cat. I let my hand fall back to the floor, weakened and searing in pain where the silver ropes still met my flesh.


    "Just get it over with," I snarled.


    Every bruised fiber of my being screamed at me to defy, and if I had any strength left, I certainly would fight tooth and nail. But hours upon hours of silver continuously leeching the life out of my body had reduced me to little more than a husk.


    I didn''t have the strength to resist as the small girl helped me slowly to my feet. We took a few shambling steps together before she pulled out a ring of intricate keys and unlocked the cell door with one of them. I blinked stupidly, swaying a bit where I stood. Freedom?


    Was this a hallucination? Onest cruel trick to break thest shred of my spirit before whatever M, the bloodied queen, had in store for me?


    But no guards appeared from the shadows as she guided my faltering steps out into the corridor.


    Still supporting most of my weight with a strength I didn''t expect such a small girl to possess, the servant led us gradually up countless spiraling ck stairs. I clung to consciousness, thest feeble spark inside of me raging relentlessly against whatever was going to happen to me.


    "Almost there," the girl said.


    I huffed. "Where are you taking me?"


    "To the ceremony, of course," she purred. "You''ll be so beautiful, you and our queen."


    For a moment, I considered struggling. But all I could muster was a stagger in my footsteps, a momentary fraction of a second during which I was barely able to halt, and then the girl prodded me forward.


    Something sharp pricked into my lower spine then; a knife. I was so out of it I hadn''t even realized that she was holding it behind me this entire time.


    Then, a set of enormous obsidian doors swung open.


    Unexpectedly, blinding radiance assaulted my eyes after what had felt like an eternity spent below ground. I recoiled weakly, my arm flung up against the sudden sunlight streaming down.


    Except... No, it wasn''t sunlight. Not really. It was just torches and braziers, blindingly bright like the sun after my time spent in my cell.


    I was still below ground, and for all I knew, maybe I would never see the sun again.


    Then, I saw her sitting on top of a dais at the end of the hall, up high above on a tform well outside of my reach a mass of emerald green silk and crimson eyes with ck slits for pupils.


    Revulsion rocked through me as I saw her. No more time for disbelief or false hopes. My horrific fate was here, whatever it was. I just wanted Nina. God, I hoped she would never find out what really happened here. I wasn''t sure if she could bear it.


    "Release him," M purred to the wide-eyed servant who was supporting my slumped frame. I braced to copse as the girl suddenly released her grip on me and withdrew quickly into the shadows, disappearing from sight.


    Thest I saw of her was a slender ck tail; a cat after all.


    But miraculously, my shaky legs didn''t give in beneath my weight. I swayed gently, staring down at my freed wrists in shock.


    The silver ropes were gone. I had been freed.


    Like ice thawing, sensation began seeping back into my numb limbs. I curled and flexed my stiff fingers, a revtion slowly dawning as a presence flooded into my mind. She had cut me off from my wolf with the silver... but now our reunion crashed through me with the suddenness of a tidal wave.


    "Let''s fucking kill her," my wolf growled.


    He didn''t need to tell me twice. I threw my head back and allowed my wolf''s ancient strength to flood into me, filling every cell. Flesh turned to fur, hands to sharp ws, bones twisted and muscled grew.


    I had been severed from this half of myself for too long, but now I was whole again.


    Once I had shifted, I let out a wild howl and charged at the mass of green and red towering above me, images of her blood -soaked body tearing through my mind...


    But she was too high. I snapped at her, and she just grinned down at me, swirling a ss of red wine in her hand. Above me, all around, cheers erupted; the horrible audience from before. They had returned to witness something.


    Witness what?"


    "Very good, my champion," M purred, her scarlet red nails tapping rhythmically against the armrest. "I see you''vee back to your senses now. Feels good doesn''t it?"


    I let out a low growl and paced away, my eyes scanning the ckened room. The door that I had entered through before was smooth and seamless, but there was a metal gate across the room.


    I hoped that it wasn''t silver; maybe I could smash my way through it and escape.


    "See how he paces like a caged beast," M coned, her voice carrying easily through the impossibly high room. "He''s fierce, isn''t he?" Her words were met with more cheers, twittering, pounding. Beasts and animals. I felt like one of them in this moment, with so much rage coursing through me that it was almost blinding


    "Look at me, Enzo."


    I ignored her. Like hell I''d look in those eyes, I thought to myself. But then there was a snap, and I felt my head twist, my body prostrating. I looked up, and I saw her standing now at the edge of her tform, her hand raised.


    "I said, look at me."


    I was frozen. What sort of ancient magic did she possess? It was unlike anything I had seen before. When she finally released me, I shuddered, but obeyed this time-for now."


    "I would be a fool to mate with a warrior who cannot hold his own in battle," she called out. "And so, we''ll begin our trial." More howling, cheering, yelping and pounding.


    Her smile turned savage as she beamed down at me, her features flickering menacingly in the light of the torches. "The rules are simple. Fail, and you will die-nameless and pathetic. Seed, and earn glory. Seed, and you will be my mate."


    I nearlyughed aloud and began pacing again, searching for some sort of escape. M was insane; surely there was some crack in her facade.


    After all, this was exactly why dragons had faced extinction-nonsensical deadly rituals, culling numbers from each generation. M would be no different, and I wasn''t about to let her drag me into this mess.


    But then, suddenly, a pounding seemed to vibrate the stones beneath my feet. Across the expansive room the Iron gate rattled upward, redirecting my attention instantly. M''s voice echoed from above, and her words struck me like a knife to my gut.


    "Face your opponent, my hunter! And embrace destiny!"


    My steps halted abruptly. Was that... a bear?