Greymoor Academy: I Accidentally Bonded With Four Lycan Royals! novel Chapter 266

Chapter 266: 266. A Reckless Bargain

Maisie

"No-no-no--" I cried as the Great Hall vanished around me. The people vanished. The red carpet split beneath me, my ceremonial staff slipping from my fingers as I plunged into the abyss of darkness.

Everything was wiped away like smoke.

And I reached for the last fragments of it, sobbing as my fingers closed around nothing. And all I saw was darkness.

I hit the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. For several seconds, I couldn’t move, wretched sobs slipping out of me as I remembered.

None of it was real.

When I opened my eyes, I expected to be back at the Academy, back at the wrecked field, the misery of grey that had become my life.

But instead, I saw ash drifting from the skies. I was surrounded by a wreckage so whole, it took me a moment to realize I was at the Academy.

Everything was destroyed. The walls had collapsed completely, and the reek of death coated my throat, my tongue, and I gagged at my first intake of air.

I staggered as I straightened, finding myself standing all alone in the debris. "Quinlan?" My voice returned to me in echoes with no response.

My hands were shaking. "Mercer?" Nothing. My heart began pounding painfully. "Jericho? Soren?"

Still nothing.

A pained moan came from behind me and I whirled, choking on a cry at the shape buried under the ash and fallen wall.

I stumbled forward. "No."

The closer I came, the harder it became to breathe. Everything was gone. Everyone was gone.

Stones dug into my knees as I fell and dug my fingers into the debris, ripping rock after rock off, tears blurring my vision. My fingertips tore and blood dripped, but I didn’t stop until I got to the bottom of it.

And when I did, I screamed.

And screamed. And screamed.

My fingers spread found his face. "Soren," I sobbed. He was barely recognisable, his body a contorted mix of burned flesh, but I knew him. I would always know him.

"No," I told myself. "No. No,no. No," I repeated, like it would change something or make a difference. My thumbs rubbed over the leathery skin. "I-I’ll find help--"

I tried to stand, but my legs gave out. I crawled back to him. "I’ll find someone--J-Jericho will know what to do--" I looked wildly around the ruins. "Jericho! Quinlan! Oh gods."

I pressed my forehead to his, the words coming apart in ragged sobs. "I c-can’t do this again--can’t do this again--please!"

Laughter echoed in the ruins, soft applauding teasing my ear. "Oh, but I’ve never had anything as sweet as the taste of your despair."

The body in my arms crumbled to dust, as did everything else, swept away by an unseen wind.

I lifted my gaze to find swirling gold ones trained on me. I looked around me. "What is this? All of this?"

He halted in front of me, dropping into a crouch. "I gave you what you wanted. A glimpse at what it could be like if we worked together, and a different version of our little partnership perishes--"

"Take me back. My mates need me," I snarled, hearing the distant sound of screaming, even if I couldn’t see a single thing.

"Do they?" he chuckled, reaching forward to catch a strand of my black hair. It instantly bled icy-white and fell off my head. "I have a riddle for you, Maisie Adams. Answer me and I shall consider your request."

I swallowed.

He plucked another strand of my hair. "A little girl sits alone upon a bridge. Behind her, the road has already collapsed. Every step backward leads only to death.

His eyes lifted to mine. "Before her lies a road she has never walked. At its end is a life beyond anything she ever allowed herself to imagine. Joy. Wealth. Love. Children. A home. A crown. A happily ever after."

The strand turned to ice again. "Tell me, sweetling, why does the girl choose to walk back into death?"

"Because death is all she knows. Because... she is afraid," I whispered.

He leaned closer. "Are you afraid, sweetling?"

The dragon smiled against my ear. "They don’t know, do they? That you were present the entire time. Sane. Wanton. Animal, yes, but it was all you."

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