CHAPTER 422: HIS REMEMBRANCE

ZINA’s POV

The last time they met, Daemon passed an order that should anything happen to him, Zina would rule in his place.

The last time they met, Daemon was ready to go against the world to thwart the Red Wolf and rescue Seraph just for her.

The last time they met, he had shown his determination and resolve to protect her. Not only by elevating her rank before his most trusted aides, but also by proving to her that he didn’t take their wedding vows for granted.

But then, everything crumbled.

Melwyn’s betrayal happened and she was ripped away from the life that she had just started to enjoy.

From the warm embrace of her lover—her husband—she was thrusted into a life that threatened to tear all of the love that she had come to believe in. The good life that she had come to start accepting for the very first time.

It felt like years had passed as opposed to a few days. But as she stood there a captive to Rowan, she was at the very least proud of herself for not crumbling.

She might have lost a child, some part of herself, her esteem and sanity. But she never forgot for once the love and protection that Daemon showed her.

And it was that love that had brought her this far. It was because of that love that she could still stand on her feet with a bit of pride.

He stared at her through the golden eyes of his Arctic Wolf that prowled into the room, circled by other accompanying wolves. And the effect of his presence was instantaneous.

Just like the way horses whinnied when a snake was unleashed amongst them, the Deformed howled unnaturally at his presence. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he was the Supreme Wolf. But everything to do with the fact that it was Daemon NorthSteed.

Raw power emitted from him in droves, and Zina smiled at the sight that tugged at her heartstrings.

A sight that she had missed and yearned for all those long and lonely nights spent at the Cave Manor.

At least, she would die seeing him for one last time.

Those same golden eyes rested back at her, causing her to still completely. Her happiness chapped at the edges as she wondered whether he was judging her—judging her for disgracing him, judging her for losing their child when she had the choice of submitting to her captor’s demand.

Regardless, she made the hard choice of losing Brynn. And she was more than ready to pay any price that came with the consequences of her decision.

She gulped as she stared back at the black furred wolf which was easily the biggest and most dominant in the room. Lost in their own world, she almost didn’t notice when Rowan gripped her by the arm, dragging her forward while he head her hostage in a threatening manner.

That was when a bit of logic snapped back in her head, and she remembered that things were taking the wrong turn.

According to the vision where she died and Daemon mourned her, they were fighting outside and not inside the Cave Manor. Not to mention that the Eclipse was waning at that point.

But currently, the eclipse stood at its peak. Casting the darkest shadow over what had been a bright day.

"Aren’t I amazed at the power of love?!" Rowan snarled, "the lauded Alpha King of the Arctic North has come all the way here instead of defending his people as a king should."

Daemon made no response aside from drinking her in as if he wished to memorize every crevice of her body. Whereas the werewolves behind him growled low and menacing, their animosity for Rowan evident.

Then they were shifting back in unison as though Daemon gave a silent command through their pack link. A link that Zina was noticing she no longer possessed given that she could no longer feel Daemon the way she did when she was initiated into the NorthSteed Pack.

The worse part of it all was that she couldn’t feel their mate bond either. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on that feeling that tied her heart to his. That feeling like a warm lamp placed in the middle of her stomach, she came up blank.

It was all gone. Everything was gone.

Rowan and his Master had taken it away from her. Or perhaps, this was just her fate. Her fate with the Alpha King.

Her younger self had warned her about this. That her fate between her and Daemon was hardly simple.

But she went head to head against her own visions, believing that she was more than capable of defying it.

But the time of reckoning was finally there.

She smiled through the glass-like sheen of tears stuck to her eyes as the sound of bones shifting filled the air like music. The blue eyed Alpha Kairos and Malik Zorch were revealed before her and standing behind them were other elite members of the pack that she easily recognized.

But nothing quite prepared her for the sight of Daemon NorthSteed in flesh and blood.

He stood tall and terrible, as though carved from the same cold heavens that birthed the Northern Lights. His hair, longer than she remembered, partly covered his eyes. His skin bore faint traces of battle scars—news ones—and his shoulders seemed broader, heavier, as if he had been carrying the weight of kingdoms and ghosts alike.

Yet it was his eyes—those molten gold eyes—that truly undid her.

Daemon’s gaze, steady and searing, swept across the room, halting only when it found her. For a moment, the chaos around them dimmed, and all she could see was the reflection of herself in his eyes—the woman who once shared his bed, his throne, his heartbeat.

But those eyes were not soft anymore.

They held the fire of a thousand winters; restrained, cold, and full of something far more dangerous than hatred—remembrance.