Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 436

Blood. So much blood.

They’d been plotting this uprising for some time. They’d been waiting, biding their time for a savior to come and take down the King. That was supposed to be me, but I had failed and had likely killed my best friend in the process.

That was why I didn’t struggle as the King swept me away. Even when I saw Andrei come skidding out of the throne room, slamming into the opposite wall in his haste, I couldn’t fight back. All I could do was stare glassily, replaying the moment my arrow had embedded in Damon’s chest over and over again until the image in my mind blotted out everything else.

At some point, I felt a bitter wind hit my cheeks. Snow stung my eyes. It swirled around us like a tornado in the darkness.

When had the sun gone down? I couldn’t recall.

But it didn’t matter.

Damon was dying. Maybe he was already dead.

And it was my fault.

I was limp.

“Natalia!” Andrei sprinted outside after us, breathing hard. The King set me down on the edge of a cliff. For a moment, I thought he might push me. Tears blurred my vision, and I braced myself for my punishment.

But then he whirled around and hauled me against him again, pressing that blade to my throat once more.

“Take another step,” he snarled, “and I’ll cut her from ear to ear.”

Andrei froze mid–step. Slowly, he raised his bloodied hands.

Goddess, was that Damon’s blood?

“Let her go,” Andrei said slowly. “Let her go, and your life will be spared. You will face a fair trial in the territories

1)

“Fuck your fair trials.” The King tightened his grip around me. His blade cut into the flesh of my throat, stinging against the frigid air. “Your territories have never been fair. Not to my kind. I want nothing to do with your trials.”

Andrei’s throat bobbed. His green eyes flicked to me, filled with anguish and horror. I opened my mouth, but no words came. Just a strangled sob that had the Winter King pressing his knife harder against my skin.

“No,” the King went on, taking another step back, “the only time I will set foot in your precious territories again is to take them for myself.”

“And what then?” Andrei lifted his chin. He was stalling. Like the King wouldn’t notice the step he took toward us or the way his eyes darted around in search of a weapon he wouldn’t find. The King shuffled back more. I heard the sound of rocks and ice crumbling under his boots. “You’ll start anew? Run them the way you see fit? With a civilization of your terrible creations?”

“Perhaps. But what does it matter to you? You won’t be around to see it.”

“Just… think about what you’re doing,” Andrei said slowly almost as if speaking to a frightened animal. “Think about… Think about Natalia’s children. If you dive over that cliff, they’ll be without a mother. They might die without her.”

Chapter 436

+25 Bonus

The Winter King sneered. “I’m not worried about that. I’ll create new children, and they’ll be perfect.”

“You won’t survive the fall.”

“Watch me.”

Andrei lunged forward, but it was too late. The King took another step back–into the abyss.

“Take care of the twins,” I whispered.

And then we were falling.

The last thing I saw before the swirling snow engulfed the peak was Andrei reaching over the edge of the cliff with my name on his lips.

His hand grasped only air.

He couldn’t reach me in time.

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