Chapter 73 Seventy-Three

Chapter 73 Seventy-Three
Drew
Present
In a moment when the world felt as if it had stilled—as if nothing was going on around but the very turning of air in our lungs. It’s as if you’re pulled from reality and plunged into a realm of total nothingness. But soon, actuality comes back like a flood and knocks the breath completely from your body.
That is exactly what happened to me when I watched my mate fall to the ground—her neck twisted unusually in a position that would deem her no survival. For a minute, I was still. I tried to register as my ear rang and my forehead got sweaty. I waited for her to move, but she remained there, lying on the cold concrete.
Dead.
I reached out for her in our bond until my mind felt like it was exploding. The block was nothing like what I was used to when she closed the link between us. There was no block. There was no link. Just void.
Our connection was gone, and it was when my senses returned that I noticed that my body was on fire. Every fiber of my being burned in pain as the mate bond broke.
I fell to my knees. I’ve heard countless stories of the pain one feels when the mate bond breaks, but this—this-this was hell. I felt her being stripped from me and my life. My claim was gone, the connection I shared with her vanished, and most of all, I could feel her death. There was no life in my mate, and it was slowly taking me away, too.
I tried to scream, but nothing left my mouth as I kept my eyes trained on Amber. My nails dug into the ground until the concrete crumbled under my fingers. My body shook like a leaf, and every sense of mine was heightened as I waited and waited for her to move. Just one flinch! But… nothing.
It usually took a while for one to accept death, and as for me, the moment of acceptance wasn’t torture; it was complete and utter agony.
And then, I heard it.
I heard the monster laugh as if it were the most hysterical moment in his entire life. I snapped my eyes towards him, catching his smile as he watched me in pure amusement. That bastard. He killed my mate and laughed at me!
I thought I had experienced my heightened anger the night he tried to take my Amber away from me, but that was nothing compared to how I felt now. My pain eased and was replaced with utter, dark wrath.
As I glanced sideways, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass that separated Amber’s room from the balcony. There was no gray in my eyes. There was no red either. It was only black—pure, void black.
In a second, I was charging at him as he became my one and only target. I didn’t see or hear anything else but him as I flung my fist towards his face. He plummeted to the ground with a thud so loud that it could have woken the entire country. Quickly, I dashed towards Amber’s bedroom door and locked it before rejoining my enemy on the balcony, catching him as he was attempting to get up.
But not today. He’ll definitely pay for what he did. If I have to rip his head from his body for eternity, I will do it every time it grows back.
“I’ll kill you!” I promised as I marched towards him, grabbing him by his shoulders before slamming his head into the bars of the balcony, sending them crashing down the length of the castle.
His head spurred blood everywhere, and his eyes grew droopier. Yet, he laughed, and I noticed that this was exactly what he wanted me to do. Still, I couldn’t stop. I drove punch after punch to his face until it was a bloody, unrecognizable pulp.
I didn’t even realize I had been sobbing until my own tears fell on my bloody hands, and I found myself dressing back as I watched him struggle to regain strength. There was pounding at the bedroom door, and people were shouting. No doubt they heard the commotion and were wondering what was wrong. But I didn’t pay them much attention. Instead, I regarded Dageian.
He wanted me to get angry. He wanted me to fight him, perhaps even kill him temporarily. Too long have I been a single pawn in his game. Over a century and a half ago, he took away my family. He took away my life, and now he took away my mate.
He didn’t even let her go peacefully. He revealed the truth to her—a truth that I hoped she wouldn’t have ever learned. Even if she were to learn about it one day, I had hoped that I would be the one to tell her. But now, I will have to live with knowing that my mate died, probably hating me. As if losing her wasn’t painful enough…
My eyes fell to her body, just lying there unmoving and still, and my heart broke all over again. I felt the pain replacing my anger again as I slowly inched closer to her. My hands shook as I bent to my knees and took her in my arms.
Her lips were slightly ajar, and her hair was tangled all over her face. I felt a sob rise from my chest as I embraced her fully. I simply allowed my grief to have me whole, as Dageian became less of a priority to me. He wanted me to fight him, and that alone killed every urge in me that made me want to. He wasn’t worth it anymore. He wasn’t worth my energy, and I’d have to find the will and way somehow to explain to everyone what happened. He could kill me too, for all I care. Maybe then, I’d be with her soon enough.
“Why did you leave me, Amber?” I mumbled in the crook of her neck as I rocked back and forth with her pressed to my chest. “Why?”