The Princess's Revenge Chapter 137

Valencia’s POV

This was another trap. Even if we broke through the wall, even if we escaped the corridor, Elton had prepared for it. He'd stationed an army outside to finish us.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."

Footsteps echoed from the castle. I turned to see Elton and his men emerging from the doorway we'd escaped through. They walked down the stone steps, taking their time.

Elton's face was flushed with triumph and madness. His eyes gleamed in the torchlight.

"Did you really think breaking through a wall would save you?" He laughed, the sound high and unhinged. "Did you think I wouldn't plan for every possibility?"

He reached the bottom of the steps and spread his arms wide, gesturing at the surrounding warriors.

"I've been preparing this for days! Every exit covered. Every escape route blocked. You're not leaving King's Fang alive, Logan. Neither of you are."

I knelt beside Logan and pulled him close. His head rested against my shoulder. His breathing was getting weaker.

Valencia, he said through our bond. His mental voice was barely a whisper. I'm sorry. I failed you.

No, I said fiercely. You didn't fail. You fought. You protected me. That's not failure.

I'm dying, he said simply. I can feel it. My body is shutting down.

Tears streamed down my face. "You're not dying. You're not leaving me."

But even as I said it, I knew the truth. Through our bond, I felt his life force flickering like a candle in the wind. He'd lost too much blood. Taken too much damage.

My mate was dying in my arms.

I closed my eyes and reached inside myself one more time. Desperately. Frantically.

Please! I screamed to the dragon sleeping in my blood. Please wake up! He's dying! Logan is dying and I need you! I need your power!

Silence.

The dragon remained dormant. That vast, terrible power that had burned through me during the battle—it was still there. I could sense it, like a massive presence deep in my soul. But I couldn't touch it. Couldn't call it forth.

Why won't you answer? I sobbed internally. What do you want from me?

Nothing. Just emptiness and silence.

I opened my eyes. Elton was walking toward us slowly, savoring every moment.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he said. His voice was soft, almost gentle. But his eyes burned with hatred. "I'm going to kill Logan first. Slowly. I want you to watch, dragon bitch. I want you to see the light fade from his eyes."

He drew his sword. The blade caught the torchlight, gleaming red like it was already soaked in blood.

"And then," Elton continued, "I'm going to take my time with you. Hours. Maybe days. I'll make you scream. I'll make you beg for death. And when I finally grant it, I'll mount your head on the castle walls as a warning to anyone who dares oppose me."

The hundred warriors began closing in.

Logan stirred in my arms. Somehow, impossibly, he found the strength to stand. He swayed on his feet, barely able to stay upright.

But he positioned himself in front of me one more time.

"Logan, don't," I pleaded. "You can't fight anymore."

He didn't answer. He just stood there, his body broken and bleeding, still trying to protect me.

"How touching," Elton sneered. "The mighty Logan, reduced to this. Barely able to stand, yet still playing the hero."

Logan's hands clenched into fists. Through our bond, I felt something shift. His emotions changed—the pain and exhaustion were still there, but something else rose above them.

Rage. Burning rage. Something powerful stirring in his blood.

"You want to know why I hate you, Logan?" Elton's voice rose to a shout. "It's because of this! Because you have everything I don't!"

His face contorted with jealousy and fury.

"You have two wolves! Two! Knox and Axel, both living inside you! You have Lycan blood, the rarest gift in the kingdom! Meanwhile, I have one weak wolf, one pathetic form! Do you know what that's like? To be the king's son and still be inferior to a bastard?"

Elton was screaming now, spittle flying from his lips.

"Father loved you!" Elton screamed, his voice cracking with rage. "He made you Captain of the King's Guard when you were barely twenty years old! A bastard! A boy who'd just awakened his wolf! Meanwhile, I had been training for decades, proving myself in battle after battle, and he gave the position to you!"

His face was red, veins bulging in his neck as years of suppressed hatred poured out.

"And then, when Alpha Nolan died, Father made you Alpha of Cliffwatch Pack! Everyone opposed it! The council argued against it! But that old fool forced it through anyway because of his precious Logan!"

Elton's hands shook as he pointed at Logan accusingly.

"Do you know what he told me when I asked why? He said you had potential! He said you had the strength to unite the kingdom! He never said those things about me! Never!"

His voice dropped to a venomous hiss.

"That wretched woman ruined everything! If she'd never existed, if you'd never been born, Father would have seen me! He would have loved me! But no! He only had eyes for his bastard son and that unlucky whore who birthed you!"

Logan threw his head back and roared. The sound wasn't human. It wasn't even the howl of a normal wolf. The roar echoed across the courtyard, so loud it seemed to shake the very stones beneath our feet.

And then his body began to change.

I'd seen Logan shift dozens of times. I knew the process. The way his bones cracked and reformed. The way fur sprouted across his skin. The transformation from man to wolf.

But this was different.

Light poured from his body. Bright, golden light that pushed back the shadows and made the torches look dim by comparison. His form grew larger, much larger than Knox had ever been.

His fur wasn't black. It was silver that gleamed like moonlight on water. It covered his massive body in a thick coat that seemed to glow with its own inner light.

When the transformation finished, the wolf standing before me was enormous. Easily twice the size of Knox. His shoulders were broader. His legs were thicker and more powerful.

It took my breath away. This was Axel. Logan's Lycan wolf.

The courtyard had gone completely silent. Every warrior stared at the massive silver wolf with expressions of shock and fear.

Even Elton's triumphant smile had frozen on his face. His eyes were wide. His sword hand trembled.

"No," Elton whispered. Then louder, "No! This isn't fair! You shouldn't have this power! You're just a bastard! A nobody!"

His fear transformed into rage. He turned to his warriors and screamed, "Kill him! Kill them both! Now!"

The warriors hesitated for just a moment. The sight of Axel had shaken them. But they were trained soldiers. They obeyed orders.

They charged.

Axel moved.