Vanished Sisters: The Lycan King's Slave Island Chapter 212

Natasha's POV

"Not exactly," Davelina said, wiping her eyes. "I knew Mordred had a plan, that he'd met with Sebastian, but I didn't know the details until this morning when Fergus told me."

Behind us, the crowd was still cheering for their new King. Sebastian stood on the platform, basking in their adoration, the crown gleaming on his head. He'd won. He'd gotten exactly what he wanted.

And Mordred had lost everything.

Except me.

"There's a ship waiting at the harbor," Fergus said quietly. "We need to leave now, before anyone changes their mind about the agreement."

"We?" I asked.

"You don't think I'm staying here, do you?" Fergus said, glancing at Davelina. "Where she goes, I go."

"And Lucy is coming too," Davelina added. "She's already at the ship with what little we could gather."

"We're going home," Davelina said, her voice stronger now. "Back to Westbay. Back to the village where we grew up."

"Westbay?" Mordred repeated, testing the unfamiliar word.

"It's a fishing village," I explained. "On the coast of England. Small, remote. No one there knows anything about Lycans or kingdoms or any of this. They'll accept Davelina and me, and if we tell them you're sailors who helped us escape from... I don't know, pirates or something... they probably won't ask too many questions."

Mordred looked at Fergus, who shrugged.

"I've never heard of it," Fergus admitted. "But it sounds as good a place as any to start over."

"Then that's where we'll go," Mordred said.

We started walking toward the arena exit, and I felt the crowd's eyes on us—some hostile, some merely curious, some satisfied to see us leaving. There were still angry voices.

"The human should die!"

"This is wrong!"

"Sebastian, don't let them leave!"

But Sebastian stood on the platform, the crown on his head, and said nothing. He'd made his bargain, and he would keep it. Not out of mercy, but because he'd gotten what he wanted.

We walked through the arena gates and down toward the harbor. The streets were quieter here, away from the crowd, and I could finally breathe.

"I still can't believe you did that," I said to Mordred. "Gave up everything."

"I didn't give up everything," he said quietly. "I gave up a crown. A title. Political power. But I kept what mattered."

"What's that?"

"You," he said simply. "And my freedom. For the first time in my life, I get to choose what I do, where I go, who I spend my time with. No councils, no politics, no endless responsibilities. Just... life."

Fergus made a sound of agreement. "I've been thinking the same thing," he said, his arm around Davelina. "For years, I've been a Grand Lord. Always fighting, always strategizing, always putting the kingdom first. And now..."

"Now we get to live," Davelina finished softly.

"Exactly," Fergus said, looking down at her with such tenderness it made my chest ache. "Now I get to wake up every morning next to you. Learn what it means to be a husband instead of a warrior. Maybe even... I don't know, learn to fish or something."

Mordred laughed—a real laugh, the first I'd heard from him in days. "You? Fishing?"

"Why not?" Fergus said. "We'll have to do something to earn our keep. And I've always wondered what it would be like to have a normal life. A simple life."

"There's so much I want to tell you," Mordred said, his voice taking on a dreamlike quality. "And now I finally can, Natasha."

"Like what?"

"Like I'll love you until I die."

"God, don't say that in front of everyone!" My face flushed instantly.

"I want to teach you how to cook though," I said, smiling despite my tears. "Because I guarantee you have no idea how to prepare a meal."

"Guilty," Mordred admitted. "I've had servants my entire life."

We reached the harbor, and I saw the ship waiting—a sturdy vessel with dark sails, provisioned and ready to depart. Lucy stood on the deck, waving frantically when she saw us.

"Hurry!" she called. "The crew says we need to catch the tide!"

We quickened our pace and boarded quickly. The crew—Lycans loyal to Mordred, willing to follow him into exile—moved efficiently, preparing to cast off.

As the ship pulled away from the dock, I stood at the rail with Mordred beside me, watching the Dark Reef Archipelago recede. The crowd was still gathered at Blood Fang Arena, still cheering for their new King.

Beside me, Mordred stood silent, his hands gripping the rail. His eyes were fixed on the islands—on the kingdom he'd ruled for so long, now fading into the distance.

I studied his face and saw layers of emotion I couldn't fully parse. There was sadness, yes, and loss. But there was also something else. Something in the set of his jaw, the intensity of his gaze, the way his fingers tightened on the rail.

It wasn't quite resignation. It was more like... determination.

Like a man saying goodbye, but not forever.

Like a man making a silent promise to himself.

The wind picked up, filling the sails, and the ship began to move faster. The archipelago grew smaller, the details fading into a dark smudge on the horizon.

Mordred's hand found mine, his fingers intertwining with my own.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly.

"No," he said honestly. "But I will be. Eventually."

"Do you regret it?"

He turned to look at me then, and I saw the truth in his eyes.

"Never," he said. "I regret many things, Natasha. The way I treated you when we first met. The months you spent in captivity. The pain I caused you. But choosing you? Saving your life? That I will never regret."

He pulled me close, and I rested my head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Behind us, Davelina and Fergus stood together, talking quietly about the future, about Westbay, about the life they would build. Lucy had gone below deck, probably to process everything that had happened.

And ahead of us lay the open ocean, vast and unknowable, carrying us toward an uncertain future.

But we were alive.

We were free.

And we were together.

THE END.