Lycannar


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    We arrived toote. gods, we arrived toote. A minute past midnight and I nearly died. I had begun to feel it earlier, but I ignored the warning, dismissing it as something unimportant.


    Like it didn’t matter. Like a fever that would soon burn itself out. But I was wrong.


    When the toll of twelve struck and I was not yet in my ck tower, the sickness erupted.


    The beast inside me wed to the surface. My fingers cracked, stretching into ws, my gums split as fangs pushed through.


    My vision burned until it drowned in red. That was when I knew what was about to happen.


    My horse, sensing the weight of my urgency, galloped straight for the kingdom. The guards barely had time to swing the massive gates open before I stormed through.


    We thundered into the royal stable, and I leapt off, lungs tearing as I rushed for the ck


    tower.


    Faces turned. My people. My maids, my guards, innocent in their duties, yet in my eyes they looked like prey. Every heartbeat sounded like blood rushing in my ears.


    By the time I stumbled into the dining hall and made for the stairs, my reason was slipping. My demon side was rising.


    “Lycannar!” Mearez’s voice cut through. My eldest sister. She had seen me. She hurried forward, but I clenched my jaw, forcing myself past her. If I faltered now, she would not


    survive me.


    I lurched into the hallway, bones snapping, twisting. Hair burst through my skin, my wings ripping and reshaping, half–torn, half–born. I copsed, snarling, on the bed chamber floor.


    “Lycannar!” Serena’s voice came this time. “Baby brother?! What… what’s happening to him?”


    Their footsteps echoed as they reached the doorway. They froze when they saw me. Horror drained their faces pale. I turned from them, shame and rage warring inside me.


    “Leave,” I growled. My voice broken, guttural, not my own.


    Instead of obedience they stare at me in awe and concern. I could smell their fear, and gods help me, it smelled sweet.


    <b>28 </b>


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    I rose, trembling, about to lunge, my own sisters, yet to my eyes they were only fragile things waiting to be torn apart.


    Chantel burst into the chamber, mming the door shut behind him at thest moment. He lunged for the potion, ripped the cork free, and passed it into my hands.


    I blinked, fighting through bloodlust, and swallowed it down in desperate gulps. Fire seared my ankles, the anklets glowing white–hot, binding me. Achoring me back to normal.


    Slowly, agonizingly, the shift reversed. Bones cracked back into ce. The wings folded, shriveled. The beast shrank. I returned to myself.


    Breathless, drenched in sweat, I tore off my boots and stared at the glowing anklets, their magic still burning into me.


    My hands shook. I had nearly shifted outside. Nearly ughtered them all. This… this was why I could not stay away from the cktower for two nights. I was a danger. The threat. A curse. <fn3264> Checktest chapters at Find★Novel</fn3264>


    Chantel retrieved the empty vial and ced it back where it belonged. Just then, a knock rattled the door. My sisters‘ voices wavered through.


    “Is he alright? Lycannar?”


    “Why in the gods‘ name would you let him returnte? Don’t you know what the warnings mean? He can’t be away for more than one night! What if he…”


    “Serena,” Mearez hushed, though her own voice shook.


    They were afraid. Afraid for me.


    I bit my lip, rose, and slowly opened the door. They stood waiting, fear veiled in worry. I stopped at the threshold. I knew I could not cross. If I did, the binding spell in this chamber would break.


    I met their eyes. Serena’s face trembled with concern before she turned it into a re. Her mask against horror.


    “For gods‘ sake, Lycannar. Can’t you follow a simple rule? Why stay away two nights? Why risk this?”


    “Serena,” Mearez called gently, but Serena only hardened further.


    “Then I’ll stay in your living room tonight since you’ve decided to make my life a nightmare. I can as well start by not sleeping tonight.”


    :


    28


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    She stormed off to the dining hall and dropped into a chair. I lingered my gaze, then looked to Mearez. Her silence carried more worry than words. Without speaking, she joined Serena.


    The ck tower sank into silence, heavy as a tomb.


    I left the door open and returned to my chamber, where a heap of reports waited on the table.


    In surprise, I looked to Chantel for exnation.


    “Your uncle Dareth sent them this morning,” he said without dy. “He requires your approval with the royal stamp. He asked Princess Serena to deliver the seal, but she refused said you’d see to them yourself. So I brought the reports here.”


    His words chilled me. The royal seal.


    My eyes shifted toward the sacred shelf where ity, beside the golden crown I had never worn since my coronation. To me, the crown was a curse, an omen of ruin.


    Lowering my gaze, I moved to the table and sank into the chair.


    “Bring me the royal seal,” I told Chantel. “Let’s finish these reports. I will not sleep tonight anyway.”