Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 422

Chapter 422

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Chapter 422

Suddenly, I skidded to a halt. There, at the end of the row of cells, was one cell glowing bright red with rubies. The door was wide open.

And there, laying facedown on the floor in the center of the cell, was Natalia.

“Natalia!” I rushed toward them, my heart in my throat. I didn’t know where the twins were, but I prayed that they weren’t far, and that they were unhurt.

“Natalia!” I dropped to my knees, hissing through my teeth at the sight of a wound on the back of her head that had turned her hair matted with blood, and gently turned her. Her lashes fluttered as I moved her, and she groaned softly-alive, thank the Goddess.

“Natalia.” I gently patted her cheek, willing her to stir. “Natalia, you have to wake up. We have to go.’

“)

Her eyes fluttered open, and her finger slowly lifted to point at something behind me. And then she was unconscious again.

I turned slowly, still holding her, and saw him.

The man standing behind me, leaning in the doorframe of the cell, was him.

The Winter King.

I stood slowly, reaching for my scimitar. As he stepped into the light, I saw the weathered face of a sixty-some year old man with balding, stringy hair and a patchy beard. His skin was pale, too pale, and his eyes were dull and tired-looking. The crown he wore looked like half-melted ice, but it was glass, glinting in the dim light.

He looked ill, potentially from a lack of sunlight. Weak. I could take him. I could end this. Shatter both him and that crown in one fell swoop.

I lunged. But he sidestepped easily, far faster than he should have been capable of in his condition. A ruby ring on his finger glowed, and his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, twisting it with an unprecedented strength. I grunted in pain and surprise, dropping my scimitar. Then, another ring flashed and he drove his fist into my

ribs.

The pain was blinding. My cracked ribs, already weakened from the fight with the guard on the way up the mountain, gave way completely. I heard something snap.

He released me then, and I went down hard, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. As if to add insult to injury, he kicked me in the stomach, then the face. Blood filled my mouth.

“Not so strong now, are you?” He crouched beside me and gripped a handful of my hair, yanking my head up from the stone floor so I was forced to look at him. Up close, I could smell the rotten teeth on his breath, could see the lines in his face and the cracks in his lips.

This man was sick, weak, twisted like one of his broken creations. But so long as he was decked out in rubies, he was indeed a King.

Before I could move, he dragged me by the hair toward the center of the cell. There, hammered into the wall, were chains with cuffs attached. I struggled, but it was useless; his rubies flashed again, and he was too strong, like a god. He clasped one wrist into the chains, then the other.

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Chapter 422

424

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“There.” He stepped back and made a motion with his hand. The rubies embedded all around the cell began to glow brighter, pulsing, humming with a low resonance. I felt my body begin to weaken, but it wasn’t aging like before. It was simply sapping my strength, and with each moment, the rubies glowed brighter.

The King, with his back turned to me, crouched and scooped Natalia into his arms. He almost seemed to grow taller, broader as he moved.

And when he turned back to look at me, he was wearing my face. My skin. My fucking identity.

“Come along, my love,” he said, grinning as he stroked Natalia’s face. He turned away and began carrying her back down the corridor. I couldn’t scream around the pain in my throat, couldn’t fight against the bonds. My body was weakening by the moment, turning me into a husk.

The last thing I saw before he rounded the corner and disappeared entirely was my own eyes glinting in the darkness as he gave me one final smirk over his shoulder.

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