Bride To His Darkness-Chapter 365: Fulfilling A Promise

Ivan’s face turned whiter than a sheet when he opened the tent flap to find it empty, but a new wave of anger flashed in his dark pupils when he heard Carmela laugh hysterically behind him. It sounded so cynical, so irritating to Ivan’s ears that in a matter of seconds, he held Carmela up against the air by her throat, her back coming in contact with the bark of a tree.

His action was so unexpected and unplanned, that it made everyone take a step back in order to avoid whatever brutality Carmela had unleashed inside of him. Lucy returned to the tent with Madeline to check on Samantha, unable to fathom why Ivan was at the brink of losing his conscience, and to their horror, Samantha’s body was missing.

"How—how is this... how is she gone?!" Lucy glanced at Madeline who had the same worried, yet questioning look on her face. Brian and Duncan joined afterwards, taking a peep into the tent, but there was no one there, and there was barely a thing in the tent that seemed out of place.

"A distraction." Duncan noted after understanding Ivan’s anger, and he stepped into the tent. "While we were distracted by Carmela, Marius... came in here."

"Marius again?" Lucy’s eyebrows sprang up alarmingly.

"How is that possible? I get that we were all distracted, but we would have seen him come in here if that has to be the case, right?" Brian questioned three of them, and Duncan shook his head slightly with his lips pursed.

"He came, and he left." He briefed, "it’s obvious the only way he could get in here was through magic, and he’s taken Samantha with him."

"We shouldn’t have left her alone." Lucy’s face blanched with regret, "I should have stayed behind to watch her. What if he harms Samantha again? And she’s with a child, what do we... What do we do now?"

Stepping out of the tent, their attention shifted to Carmela who was struggling to breathe from the firm hold of Ivan’s hand around her neck. The impact from having her back slammed into a tree made her cough out blood, and she watched, in disbelief as Ivan’s irises took a different shape, something she’s never witnessed before, and she struggled desperately to escape his clutches.

"Where is my wife?" Ivan growled, tightening his grip on her neck. He was basically closing her windpipe, making it difficult for her to catch her breath. Carmela’s eyes turned teary-red from the torture, and when she saw light in her vision, his grip suddenly reduced.

It felt as though he knew she was already at death’s door, but stopped in his assault before she could walk right in—he was intentionally withholding her death.

Carmela coughed relentlessly when his grip loosened, but he never set her free.

"Where did Marius take my wife?" Ivan demanded, but she laughed softly, her tone laced with unforgiving cruelty.

"The more...time." gasp! "the more time you.." gasp! "waste your time trying to get answers out of me, your wife would be dead as meat." There was pure satisfaction in Carmela’s eyes as she struggled to breathe properly.

"You destroyed my Kingdom, made my people go into hiding," gasp, "you don’t deserve to be happy either, Ivan. If I’m going to lose this battle, I’ll make sure you lose it with me, your wife is more important to you than anyone else, so..."

She chuckled in-between her gasp, "she’ll die, we’ll both lose. You came here to get your wife, and you will leave with her corpse!"

"Your Majesty!" Lucy’s voice suddenly broke through the thin thread that was about to snap in Ivan. "Your wife is pregnant with your child and she doesn’t even know it yet! Please try and bring her back! Nothing should happen to Sam and her child, please."

"What?" Just like that, the angry mist clouding Ivan’s eyes dissipated, and he turned his head to look at Lucy who was begging him, already on her knees.

"She’s pregnant?" Those words came out like a shocking whisper.

Carmela had the same awestruck expression on her face, but it didn’t last long, because a cruel smile quirked her blood-stained lips to the side.

"She’s pregnant?" Carmela choked a laugh, "what else can give one immense power if not feeding off the child of a vampire and a dark fae to a demon? Marius is in for a treat! I bet he already knows since he still controls that puny woman!"

"For heaven’s sake, shut up!!" Having crossed her limits, Ivan gave her a rapid, unexpected knuckle thrust, targeting her larynx.

The attack was so unanticipated that when it happened, Carmela used a minute to process the fact that she just got punched in the throat, oblivious to the pain for a nanosecond. Ivan released his hold on her, and a torrent of blood escaped her mouth when she dropped to her knees.

She could not speak, something didn’t feel right inside of her, yet she could not process what he did until Duncan spelt it out merely for self-amusement.

"What a nice way to shut her up, Ivan. Damaging her internal structure with a punch, seemed to have affected her voice box, she can’t speak."

"Tie her up." Ivan muttered, and since he wasn’t specific on who was referring to, Brian decided to do the honors. Lucy fetched a rope from inside the tent, handing it to Brian, and he walked up to the vicious woman and tied her hands behind her back.

"Look into her memories for me." He glanced at Duncan, "her last discussion with Marius, how they came up with this plan to take Samantha away, I want to know everything concerning how they orchestrated her kidnap, and where exactly he’s taking her to."

At this point, Carmela didn’t bother to speak. How she’s still alive despite receiving such a fatal blow remains a mystery to her, and she could feel something sharp piercing through her internal organs.

That can’t possibly be a broken bone, can it?? What did he... how dare he do this to her??

"I’ve never done it with a woman before." Duncan approached Carmela, "it’s obvious you’re going to die anyways, so I should spare myself the long speech and just get on with it."

Carmela shook her head, but paused due to the intense pain that sent shockwaves through her body.

"Mind you, this is going to bring you immense pain if you struggle." Duncan uttered softly as he placed his hand on her head, "all you had to do was rule your Kingdom right, Carmela. It’s about time you pay for your sins."

"Hold on." Ivan interrupted Duncan as if he remembered something at the last minute.

Duncan glanced at Ivan to see him holding a knife, his sanity amiss in his crimson gaze.

"Before you do that, I need to fulfill the promise I made to her." He turned his attention to Carmela, an unhinged smile gracing his lips at her petrified reaction.

"Do you remember?"

Meanwhile, inside one of the tents, Alain and Liliana stayed in the protective embrace of Madeline and Elara. Whatever was going to happen out there would definitely not be so pleasant to watch.

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