Chapter 246 - A Shadow

"Darla, don't!" Kaizan spun around to stop her. But it was late. Darla had shot forward as she shifted min-air into her gray wolf. "Nooo!" Kaizan yelled. A guard had shot an arrow and it struck her in the back. She shifted back and fell on the ground with a loud thud. Anastasia was shocked as she looked at the chaos around her. Darla was on the ground, her body convulsing. Anastasia stifled a scream in her throat. 

Her guards immediately got into action. They started slaying the soldiers but they kept on emerging from the shadows. 

Kaizan leaped towards Anastasia to save her from the arrows but an arrow struck him and he sank to the ground with his body jerking straight. "Go! Run!" he said in a hoarse whisper. His eyes rolled and his body writhed. He fell on the floor with a shaft jutting out of his back. 

And this time Anastasia screamed. "Ileus!" She sat beside Kaizan. Goose bumps lined her skin when she touched him. His body was burning and his lips were turning blue. She tried to pick him up but the vokudlak was too heavy. Stunned, she looked at the guards surrounding them, fighting with her guards. They seemed to merge with the shadows in the night. Their eyes were white as if they didn't see anything. Their skins were pallid, wrinkly… Some of them stood still with their arrows nocked, waiting for a command. Were they dead? Was this another of the necromancer magic she was experiencing?

Where was Lila? "Kaizan…" she called him as she watched his body convulsing. 

Suddenly a burst of shadows materialized right beside her. "Anastasia, wife, what happened?" he asked. But before she could say anything, his body jerked back and he roared angrily. Anastasia saw an arrow head jutting out of his chest. Terror surged through her body. His body convulsed in the same way. He tried his best to stay upright, but he started falling. 

"Nooo!" Anastasia screamed and rushed in front of him to stop him from falling. Yet another arrow came and struck him in the shoulder. The impact was so strong that Ileus slumped right onto her and took her down with him on the ground, his heavy weight and broad shoulders covering her completely. "Ileus!" Anastasia shouted his name. His body convulsed and he writhed in pain. 

"No, no, no!" She stopped breathing seeing him like this. "This is not happening!" She held his shoulders to steady him, her mind faltering, words stuck on disbelief. She slapped his cheeks that were burning like fire. 

He opened his eyes once as if trying to fight it. He extended his hand limply towards her. "Anastasia… run…" his words dragged in a whisper. However, the next moment his eyes closed and head rolled to the side just like Kaizan and Darla. 

"Ileus!" she shook his shoulders. No, no, no. This was so wrong. Her chest tightened when she saw him lying unconscious. He couldn't be dead. No, no, no. Anxiety filled her heart. Tears slid down from her eyes. "Come back," she said in a hoarse whisper. But he kept lying like that. 

From the corner of her eyes, she found Lila standing behind the soldiers from the dead with a snicker and an evil gaze. She was staring at her with absolute hatred. She started walking towards her slowly. "So, he is your husband?" she asked. "You both got married? When?"

Anastasia's gaze swung wildly between her and Ileus and others. Her guards lay in the same position. Energy thrummed in her heart as she looked at Ileus—her mate, her husband, her life. Rage cruised through her body that increased the energy in her chest. Fury collected around her pounding heart. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks. She got up, breathless and hurt. The energy that pulsed in her was about to explode. "Yes, he is my husband," she said and showed her the Evindal ring. "We got married in Evindal and no one can break the marriage!" she growled. 

Lila's jealousy flared. "Bitch!" she shouted and flung her hands in front to throw a sizzling blue light at her. Anastasia stumbled back a little. She muttered curses. She was standing close to a guard whom she kicked in rage. "I swear I am going to kill you!" Her breaths came out faster as magic sizzled around her.

Anastasia was done. She said in a low guttural voice, "You traitor. You tried to kill your prince, my husband." Magic crackled around her arms and her eyes turned silvery. "Now back off so that I may take them to the healer. "

Lila threw her head back and laughed wickedly. She shook her head. "I didn't try to kill them. It wasn't me. There is someone else, someone powerful, someone beyond your imagination."

"Ucuti!" Anastasia shouted as her chest vibrated with a low rumble. Rage rose to the throat and her fae instincts wanted to kill the deranged woman in front of her. This time when her anger tried to come up, she didn't stop it. Her magic exploded like a pulse that throbbed in the air and reached all those around her. She was covered with white pulsing light.

She heard Lila's terrified screams. "I am not the one. There is someone else!" 

She saw the guards from the dead melting in the heat of her magic. 

The fear that was running through her had turned into pure rage. She wanted to murder everyone who harmed her mate. Why was it that she didn't feel an ounce of sympathy? 

The skies above turned dark gray and trees creaked as they bent. 

More guards emerged from the shadows and started shooting arrows at her. Anastasia was relentless. The poisoned wooden arrows burned before reaching her. She thought she heard Cora's and Pierre's shouts, but she was least bothered. Covered with her magic, she walked to where Lila was and placed her hands over her heart. "Feel my pain!" she said and Lila's eyes became wide. Anastasia's pain flowed through her and Lila's heart pounded like a war drum beat. She opened her mouth to say something but her words were caught in her throat. She looked at Anastasia and then the world became completely still. Lila fell on the ground, frozen and dead. 

Anastasia's shoulders scrunched in grief and relief when she saw Lila falling down. 

"Anastasia!" Cora shouted. "What have you done? You have killed my grandson and Lila?" Her words were full of spite. 

Anastasia was least bothered. Suddenly the leaves susurrated, whispering a warning. She whipped her head towards the darkness on the right. A shadow flits through the trees. A cackle sound from behind them. 

Everything became still. When Anastasia looked around, she saw Cora and Pierre and the rest of the guards behind them frozen in their places like statues. 

A terrible pain slices her mind and her magic shrank. The pain was so intense that tears welled in her eyes. The shadow darted closer. 

Anastasia felt its eerie, cold presence. 

The shadow whorled like a tornado made from the night towards her. It materialized from the darkness in front of her in the shape of a young woman with crackled and black glassy skin. 

"Who are you?" asked Anastasia.