Read Novel Full Chapter 494: Heir of War
Chapter 494: Chapter 494: Heir of War
Chapter 494 – Heir of War
“I… I don’t know.” Lumy managed to say under the crushing force of Dain’s grip on her jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh?” Dain replied, lips pulling into a cold smile. “You really don’t?”
“I don’t—”
“Let me ask you again, Lumy.” He cut in, his voice dropping colder with every word, Griffin’s eyes blazing beside him, ready to reduce her to ash. “You truly have no idea? And let me clarify something you might be misunderstanding about this situation.”
He held her gaze for three slow breaths before continuing.
“If you think I will kill you for refusing to answer—” he shook his head with quiet amusement “—then you should clear that thought from your mind right now. At the point I am, Golden Fox, there is nothing I am not prepared to do to get ahead of this war.”
He leaned closer. “Look into my eyes.”
His face dropped to within an inch of hers. Lumy shuddered.
“Do you see mercy in them?”
“I… I—”
“Stop your damn stuttering and speak.”
“I can’t say anything!” Lumy broke, unable to bear the combined weight of the Red Sea pressing on her mind and the cold, devouring aura radiating from Dain.
Her brain was being bombarded. Harrowing whispers, all of them identical — the cries, the wails of dying souls, cursing and begging for release from the Lord of Blood.
And somewhere in the corner of her mind, Lumy could feel something taking root. The coalition of all those whispers, forming into something solid and dark.
She knew instinctively that if she let them fester and grow, she would go mad. And she would die in that madness, like everyone else who had ever dared enter this place.
Yet what terrified her even more than that was Dain.
Because Dain was indifferent to it. The Red Sea itself seemed gentle with him, as if it recognised something in him that warranted reverence.
‘Curse it! The Heir of War is the Lord of Blood’s brother! He is protected!’
Lumy understood that grim truth. But it changed nothing about what Dain was asking her.
“I am bound.” She confessed. Dain released her jaw but stayed close.
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Undo“Bound?” He echoed, narrowing his eyes. “By what?”
“By the Shepherd’s Oath.” She swallowed hard, deciding to say what she could within her own limitations, hoping for mercy she had no right to expect.
But she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live. She wanted to grow stronger, raise the rank of her House among the others. And most importantly, she wanted to marry her lover, just as she had promised him.
She could not die here.
Yet here she was, standing at a crossroads.
The first path required her to speak the secrets of her House and the others, and she would die for it.
The second was to hope her enemy had mercy.
What were the odds of that?
She didn’t know. But she tried anyway.
“The Shepherd has a skill,” she began, her lips dry and split and trembling. “A skill that allows him to control others, and to inscribe laws directly into their souls that they cannot violate. Unless you desire the most painful death — and your entire family eradicated alongside you — everyone obeys.”
“Meaning?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “The question you asked violates more than one of those laws. I… I cannot answer it.”
“Now that is interesting.” Dain replied, barely suppressing a cold sneer. “Do you think I have any particular care in whether you live or die?”
Lumy trembled.
Still…
“I am more useful alive than dead.” She tried to convince him.
Him. The Heir of War who had cut off her arm, burned her House to ruin, threatened her, and started a war that would kill most if not all of her clan.
She was begging that man for mercy. The bitter taste in her mouth soured her heart, guilt threatening to swallow her whole.
Even so…
‘There is nothing wrong in wanting to live.’ She told herself. ‘Nothing wrong. Better to be alive than dead, even if you have to kiss the devil.’
“How are you useful?” Dain asked. He was ready to consider every option available to him if it meant crushing this war before it fully ignited.
Kaden was not here. But Kaden was not needed. He had failed his duty by being absent during the first war. Not this time. This time he was here. This time he would hold his ground.
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Undo“I can explain the Church of ‘I’.” Lumy said. “That knowledge, the core reason all of this is happening, might be of use to you.”
“It might be.” Dain looked at her carefully. “And that makes me think,” he paused “if you cannot tell me which of your people privately desire revolution, you can certainly tell me about the enemies you have accumulated.”
He smiled faintly, showing teeth stained red with his own blood.
“Because I have no doubt that forcing your faith onto everyone around you has made you quite a few of those.”
Lumy’s eyes widened slightly. She hadn’t expected that line of thinking.
And then understanding slithered in, cold and clear, revealing exactly what Dain was after.
The Shepherd had not thought to make a law against revealing their enemies to outside forces.
What he had failed to anticipate — and what Dain had seen — was that by learning their enemies, he could gather those enemies together on a united front and strike from there.
And worse, Lumy’s chest tightened, some of those ancient enemies might already know about their Houses, their alliances, their ties to The Hive and Kaleith.
Which meant Dain might also identify the weakest links, the ones to destroy or bribe for maximum advantage.
As all of that moved through her mind in rapid succession, Lumy’s eyes on Dain changed completely. She stared at him with something close to disbelief.
Since when was Dain this calculated?
“Aren’t you a foolish woman?” Griffin said, cocking his flaming head from Dain’s shoulder. “Why the surprise? Dain is the Heir of War. Did you think war was made of battles alone?”
“Ah… ah—!”
“Enough.” Dain cut in. “I am waiting for the names of your enemies. And I trust I don’t need to tell you what happens if you lie to me.”
He turned his head toward the Red Sea, watching it churn darkly, and finished his thought.
“I wouldn’t mind letting you take a brief swim.”
Lumy shivered. She opened her mouth wide.
“I—I’ll speak!”
“Then begin.”
And so Lumy began to betray her own people. All because she wanted to live. All because she wanted to keep her promise to the one she loved.
But at what cost?
—End of Chapter 494—