Page 53 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

I felt my jaw tense at this, but again, I didn’t want to provoke him further by lashing out. So, I remained quiet, despite how hard it was to hold my tongue.

After this, he held his arm out for me to take, something he knew I was hesitant to do.

“Take my arm, Ella,” he ordered in a darker tone, making me do as he asked. “Our people await,” he said, now unlocking the door with his mind and leading me from the room.

It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the dark, giving me no choice to grip on to his arm tighter. But then I tripped, and he turned suddenly to stop me from falling. His strong hands moved to my waist as my own hands went to his chest. His breathing at the contact deepened, and I felt his muscles tense under my palms. His hands tightened at my sides and the second I lifted my hands from him, he reluctantly did the same, ensuring I was steady before doing so.

I was forced to continue to let him lead me, the slight glow of his red scars being the only thing I could see. But then came the rhythmic pounding sound, one getting louder and louder the further we travelled.

“What is that sound?” I asked, because it became near deafening.

“You will soon see,” he told me in a knowing tone, and again because I had nothing else, I tightened my grip on his arm, unable to help myself.

Suddenly, doors must have opened because light flooded the hallway, making me close my eyes against the brightness of outside.

We continued to walk forward, forcing me to blink against the light until suddenly I could see him leading me toward an open balcony. The sight made me gasp.

“Oh God.”

Something he chuckled at as my mind tried to make sense of what I was truly seeing.

An army of not just HellHounds… but legions of different demons and creatures all spanned out, covering the vast land below. There wasn’t just thousands of them, but what looked like hundreds of thousands! All there, in formation, in different ranks, at the ready for war. One that now looked like…

We would never win.

“ON THIS DAY WE REJOICE, FOR OUR SUMMONING QUEEN HAS FINALLY RETURNED!” Garmr bellowed, his voice traveling out across the immense space and reaching the ears of everyone.

I felt my hand being lifted as my arm was thrust up in the air, causing the army to all shout as one. The cheers were again deafening, making me snatch my hand down and cover my ears to save myself. Garmr glanced down at me before holding up his own hand and shouting,

“SILENCE! FOR NOW IT IS TIME FOR A DEMONSTRATION OF MY QUEEN’S POWER!”

I swallowed hard at this, taking a step backward and wanting to run. However, my hand was snatched up in his once more, yanking me back by his side. The balcony looked to be cut out of the side of a colossal wall carved out of the sheer drop of a mountain side. The sides concaved into rows of giant dark grey spikes traveling as far as the eye could see.

“Now it is time to show them what will really win this war and what will MARK THE BEGINNING OF RAGNARÖK!”

At the bellowing of this statement, the army went crazy again. Roars, snarls, growls, all merging together to create an ear-splitting sound.

“It is time, my dear, for you to truly emerge,” he told me, squeezing my hand and not letting me escape.

“No… I… I won’t,” I said, trying to pull back and yank myself free, when he gritted his teeth and threatened,

“If you do not do so freely, then I will force it upon you and it will be painful, Ella.”

I shook my head, telling him that I wouldn’t.

“Very well, I had wished to do this without causing you pain, but needs must,” he said, sounding truly regretful which surprised me. But then, my mind didn’t have long to focus on asking why, as he brought up his hand. This before it became engulfed in a green flame as his fingers started to slowly make a fist.

He was trying to pull out my powers as if they were attached to strings and he was the puppet master. Just like he had been in my nightmares once.

But when nothing happened, his eyes glowed dangerously, and he snarled as realization hit him…

“You have no powers!”

19

CRUEL, CRUEL FATE

JARED

---