Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance-Chapter 54: Puzzling Behaviour

Athena pov

I wondered why the queen didn’t stop me when I tried to run but I was even more puzzled by the prince’s actions.

I mean, he let the barrier fall.

That wasn’t a mistake.

Why?

What game was he playing?

My fingers dug into the earth. I needed to rest.

But most of all, I needed strength.

Because I knew the queen wouldn’t stop until I was chained.

And next time... they might not make the mistake of underestimating me.

I didn’t make it far.

My body had barely recovered from shifting when the queen’s hunters found me again.

I smelled them before I saw them—iron, leather, and that cold, antiseptic scent of arcane suppression. Magic inhibitors. My limbs stiffened in instinctive dread.

I tried to run, but my legs betrayed me. It was half-numb from exhaustion, skin scraped raw from the forest’s strange thorns. I managed three steps before a net of light slammed over my body, throwing me to the ground.

"No!" I thrashed, but the light constricted, heavy as chains.

Three guards emerged from the mist, spears drawn, expressions grim. Behind them came the captain, her silver-plated armor glowing faintly in the forest gloom. She looked at me like a wolf looks at meat.

"You’re fast," she said. "But not fast enough. I wanted to see how far you’d be able to run...."

I snarled, baring bloodstained teeth. "You’ll regret this."

"Oh, I doubt that."

She raised her hand. The light-net thickened and coiled tighter. My bones screamed.

Then, without ceremony, they dragged me back toward the obsidian spire. The queen was already way ahead of us. I couldn’t even see so much as a shadow of her back.

It didn’t take long for them to bring me back—time blurred between pain and cold and the bitter sting of humiliation. I didn’t speak. I didn’t beg. But I didn’t stop scanning for a way out either.

When we reached, I saw some strange figures.

They didn’t arrive with fanfare or guards. They just appeared, walking side by side from the far horizon, their steps slow, precise, radiating power so deep it set the wind trembling.

There were five figures in total.

One was shrouded in a robe of red flame. Another wore a coat of feathers that shimmered like an oil slick. A woman with eyes made of molten gold, and a man who carried no weapon but whose shadow twisted in unnatural ways.

And at their center walked a tall man in deep green, with black gloves and silver embroidery curling like vines over his sleeves. His eyes glowed faintly, but not with light, something older and deeper. His gaze swept over everything with quiet intensity.

From the conversation, I heard from the guards, it seemed that they were recruiters.

The elite talent-seekers of the realm, mages, warriors, seers who scoured the world for students touched by something more. It was said they could smell potential the way wolves smell blood.

The guards slowed, uncertain.

The green-robed man paused a few paces from us. His eyes landed on me.

And stayed there.

His expression sharpened. His head tilted. Then, with a single word, he stopped everything.

"Wait."

The captain stiffened. "Yes my lord. But we’re really in a hurry to—"

"I said wait." His tone didn’t rise. It didn’t need to.

The guards froze.

He stepped closer.

My head ached. I tried to lift it, to meet his gaze with defiance, but I couldn’t help wincing.

He crouched, studying me as if I were a blade half-buried in the dirt.

"What is your name?" he asked.

I said nothing.

His lips twitched.

Then he turned his head slightly. "She’s bleeding power."

The molten-eyed woman behind him took a breath, her nostrils flaring. "Old power," she murmured. "Mixed blood. Sacred and... monstrous."

"Her essence is fractured," said the one with shadowed hands. "But whole enough."

The green-robed man nodded once.

"I want her released."

The captain took a step forward, clearly not used to being challenged. "By order of Queen Seralyne, she is to be—"

"I will speak to the queen myself," he said. "But if you lay another hand on her, I will strip the nerves from your skin and feed them to the whispering trees."

The guards slowly removed the magical restraints. My arms dropped limply, bruised and raw. The net of light faded, and I collapsed into the dirt, gasping.

The man offered me a gloved hand.

I hesitated.

And then I took it.

He helped me to my feet not harshly, not gently either. Just matter-of-fact. His grip was cool and firm.

"I’m not going back," I said hoarsely.

"You won’t," he replied. "Not unless you choose to."

I looked at him, searching his face for a lie. His eyes gave away nothing. They were like endless forest paths, beautiful and dangerous.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"To find out who you are," he said. "And what you can become."

That sent a ripple down my spine.

He turned, gesturing for me to follow. The others fell in behind us as we walked, heading away from the queen’s spire and toward the gleaming horizon beyond.

I glanced at the guards. They stood frozen, cowed and uncertain.

As we walked, I forced myself to remain calm. I really couldn’t understand anything of this world and their Bizarre actions.

But somehow, I could feel the magic in the air around these strangers. They were not even like the queen.

They were something else entirely.

But even as I walked alongside them, head held high, I plotted.

They wanted to know who I was?

Good.

So did I.

But if they thought I would bow and obey, they were wrong.

I would play along.

I would learn what I could.

And the moment they let their guard down?

I’d be gone.

Because no matter what power they promised, no matter what truths they dangled in front of me. I would never let anyone own me again.