Page 6 of Imbalance
My gaze drifted to the Incubus prince, and his normal cocky demeanor had vanished, leaving a shell of the beautiful man that he was in its place. I wanted to hold him in my arms and never let go until he knew he would make it through this.
Adrien cleared his throat and began again, "Well before the devil went to sleep and appointed rulers for the houses—before our parents were even alive—things had been different. Different species found love with each other and reproduced constantly. Hybrids were normalized and actually made up a majority of the population."
My stomach churned with this information. How was that possible? There were so few of us now. What had happened to them all? Had they been slaughtered? The thought made me want to vomit—the sheer number of people that had to have been killed was sickening.
"There was a war against hybrids that had gained popularity in secret as pure lines were told they deserved to be the rulers of this world. According to the books, the war happened elsewhere in this realm before Pura was built, and the remaining hybrids found a new sanctuary, hidden away from the hatred."
A gasp came from me, and I couldn't help but ask, "Where did the hybrids end up?"
Sparks of hope lit in my soul and only burned brighter as he said, "It's whispered that the hybrids are in the darklands. That they've made a city for themselves out there."
Chills ran through me at the mention of the darklands. The territory that laid directly north of our lands. It was rumored that mutated creatures no magical force could take down—not without a small army, anyway—wandered those wastelands. Even worse, no person who dared to explore the territory ever came back, confirming just how dangerous its occupants truly were.
Drayven cut in, and honestly, I was surprised it had taken him so long. "That doesn't explain the fated mate part of this."
Running a hand through his black hair, Aiden sighed, "Yes, sorry, I got a little off topic. But the book said that when everyone had been allowed to interact as they wanted, with whomever they wanted, many people found the other halves of their souls. Their fated mates. They described it as being drawn like a magnet to your counterpart, unable to resist the pull."
As soon as those words left his mouth, all six men's eyes came to rest upon me.
I spluttered, "You're saying that somehow all six of you are my fated mates? What if you—" I cut myself off, not even wanting to think about if they had other mates besides me. It made me spitting mad, like I needed to slice and dice with my scythe.
Devildamnit, I had become more than a bit possessive, clearly.
"It's the only way that describes how I imagine all of us feel, from my observations of interactions between you all. Can any of you deny that?" he asked, giving pointed looks to each of the other men, who subsequently shook their heads no, that they couldn't.
So many emotions churned within me at their admissions and the sheer concept that they were my...soul mates. My knee-jerk reaction was immense relief at the explanation of why I couldn't just cut them off, no matter how hard I tried—not to mention the countless moments I’d attempted to rid them from my mind.
We were meant to be together. I had essentially been trying to deny fate, and an immense weight lifted from me, along with a great deal of the shame I had placed upon myself for having a connection to so many men.
My entire life, I had imagined I'd be doomed to spinsterhood in a tower, with only my father and Zurie to keep me company. Now, in the span of a few days, my entire life had changed. On top of almost being assassinated, the coup today had resulted in the deaths of many and the imprisonment of my own father, and...it was just a lot to process and accept.
How would this change things for us? It was clear these guys couldn't even tolerate each other completely. How was I going to navigate relationships with all of them without hurting someone's feelings—wait, did they all evenwantto be my mates?
The thought of any of them rejecting me sent a jolt of pain through my heart.
"Breathe, Ama," Damien's voice called to me seconds before he shifted, and suddenly, his Hellhound was at my feet, whining and bumping my shins with his nose.
I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath or that my hands were trembling. Lowering myself to the ground, I wrapped my arms around his neck, breathing in the bonfire scent that accompanied him. His Hellhound had come to be my staple of safety when he’d protected and guarded me last night.
The bond I shared with him was so different from what I had with the others. Whereas Damien and I hadn't taken any steps physically, my heart wasn't guarded at all against him, and I trusted him implicitly. I didn't feel that way yet towards Nico or Colt. We simply hadn't had the opportunities to get there yet. Honestly, I wasn’t sure either of themwantedto get there.
But everything in me wanted the chance to build and strengthen my bonds with each of them.
A slight tremor ran through the ground beneath us, and I rose quickly to my feet, glancing around. My guys were all doing the same, and Drayven growled, "What the hell is going on?"
Dizziness overwhelmed me as the ground quaked beneath us. Why did I feel so lightheaded all of a sudden? Was this a lingering symptom from cracking my head against the ground?
"Look!" Finias yelled, pointing to the north, where all that could be seen were mountainous black peaks.
What the hell was he pointing at?
Squinting and feeling disoriented as Nico called out, "I don't see anything," it finally became visible to me. Black dots began to swarm my vision right after I noticed a cloud of ash and steam billowing from the mountain range to the west of us and rocks crumbling from the peaks.
"It's a volcano in the beginning stages of eruption," Adrien explained, sounding increasingly concerned. "We need to get out of here before this turns into a full-blown earthquake. The ground could split and cave in at any second. We need to head further north, towards the darklands, anyways. If there is truly a hybrid city there, we need to find it and ask for help. We have no clue how deep the plans from the Peccatum and Tenebris territories run. There could easily be assassins waiting for us, and people we would never have expected to hurt us could be on their side."
"No! We need to go back to the capital now!" Nico yelled suddenly. “I’m positive we still have reasonable allies in my house…” His words trailed off as he seemed to second guess himself, likely remembering that he hadn’t even known what his own parents had planned.
"No! No fucking way am I allowing Ama to go to either of those places," Drayven countered, just as I mumbled, "Guys, I don't feel well."
