Stolen by the Beastly Lycan King-Chapter 184: Let’s End This

Rhaegar stared ahead, his face a mask of grim resolve. The woman before him was no longer human—no longer even pretending to be. Althea had shed the last vestiges of her fragile disguise, and what remained was a creature born of darkness and malice.

Black veins spiderwebbed across her waxy, pale skin, cutting stark paths along her arms, neck, and face.

Her eyes, voids of burning darkness, held no trace of soul or sanity. Amid the ominous blackness of her form, her long, stark white hair whipped in the wind, a haunting contrast to her corrupted appearance.

"What have you done?" Rhaegar’s voice was low, controlled, though his clenched fists betrayed the fury brewing beneath. His amber eyes burned with restrained rage as they locked on her grotesque form.

Althea smirked, the corners of her lips curling into a cold, arrogant sneer. Slowly, she spread her arms wide as if presenting her triumph, her gaze mocking. "What was necessary." freēnovelkiss.com

She stepped forward without fear, her confidence unshaken even as Rhaegar’s beast soldiers shifted uneasily, their weapons aimed at her.

Ignoring them entirely, she continued, her voice eerily calm, "This is just a fraction of my army. Even now, more of them are spreading beyond the palace grounds, drawn by the scent of fresh blood."

Rhaegar’s eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. "What?"

The sheer audacity—and horror—of her claim left him momentarily stunned. She couldn’t mean it. She had to be lying. Yet her expression told him otherwise.

Savoring the disbelief etched on his face, Althea tilted her head, her tone shifting to something almost playful. "Oh, Rhaegar," she cooed, her smile widening. "I couldn’t make them intelligent, of course. That would require feeding them live humans." Her grin twisted into something monstrous. "But now that they’re free, Erelith has more than enough bodies to offer."

Her laughter rang out, shrill and maniacal, echoing through the desecrated palace. Her thin shoulders shook violently as her chest heaved, and for a moment, it seemed she might collapse under the weight of her own madness.

The beasts swallowed hard, their minds racing with the implications of her threat. If her ghouls truly managed to escape the royal grounds, the consequences would be catastrophic.

"You’re insane," Rhaegar muttered, his amber gaze piercing her pale, composed face.

"Perhaps," Althea replied with a slight nod, her expression smoothing into a mask of calm once again.

Her madness had always been predictable, a constant undercurrent to her insatiable quest for power. The king had long expected she’d be capable of withstanding the backlash of breaking her own spells. But this... this was beyond anything he had imagined. It was terrifyingly impressive, even for someone like her.

Rhaegar’s eyes swept over the panting monsters that stood behind Althea. They whimpered lowly, their massive nostrils flaring as they sniffed the air, desperate for the scent of fresh blood and flesh.

If we manage to kill them all before they breach the palace grounds, we might count it as a victory. But if she’s planted them throughout the kingdom... then killing her may be our only chance to wipe them out at once, sparing us the need to hunt them down individually.

The strategy seemed simple enough: let his soldiers deal with the immediate threat while he faced the ghoul queen herself. No matter how many of her creations swarmed them, he trusted his warriors to dispatch them quickly.

Yet something about it all felt... off. Too easy.

She had to have a hidden ace, Rhaegar thought grimly, his instincts screaming that the real danger had yet to reveal itself.

"Why the long face?" Althea asked, tilting her head to the side, her lips curling into a mocking pout.

Rhaegar said nothing. In one swift motion, he snapped the long, black sword from his belt and unsheathed it, revealing the golden gleam of its massive blade.

Althea’s expression faltered—just for an instant. A faint twitch disrupted her calm facade before she quickly regained composure. But the sight had confirmed her suspicions.

The King’s Gold, she gasped inwardly, her dark eyes roving over the blade. Did he gather every weapon of his predecessors and forge them into a single sword? Impressive... for the so-called animal king.

She allowed herself a fleeting smile, just enough to signal her admiration. Let him believe his effort hadn’t gone unnoticed. Yet even this remarkable weapon didn’t faze her. Althea had little regard for displays of power, no matter how grand.

"It won’t save you, King," she said at last, her voice carrying an air of absolute confidence. "And why bother fighting? Instead, why not unite your power with mine? What do you say? Let’s destroy these arrogant humans together. After all, aren’t they the ones who kept your kind enslaved?"

Her words struck a nerve. Rhaegar flinched—barely—but it was enough for Althea to seize upon the moment.

"You’re on the wrong side, King Rhaegar," she pressed, her tone softening, coaxing. "Neither of us is human. No matter what we do, we’ll never be accepted by them. For centuries, humans have set themselves above us, mercilessly killing those they see as inferior—simply because we are different. But Rhaegar..."

She stepped closer, her body now dangerously close to Rhaegar’s. "Aren’t you tired of this mindless persecution? Don’t you long for a world where your kind doesn’t have to fear being captured and enslaved? Where they’re not killed for sport or for the thrill of the hunt?"

"How two-faced can you be?" Rhaegar snapped, finally breaking his silence. He leveled the tip of his heavy sword at her, his voice edged with disdain. "Right now, you’re about to do the same thing. Killing for revenge is no less evil."

"Eradicate fear with fear," Althea smirked, retreating a step with deliberate poise. "I’m simply playing by the rules of the human world. Once I show them how fragile they really are, they’ll never dare to look down on anyone different from themselves again."

Her dark eyes locked onto his, cold and unyielding. She stretched each word, her voice dripping with venomous persuasion, as if trying to weave a spell around him. "You could have it all, My King. Me, the Continent, Lorelai... I could give you eternity. You and her, ruling this world together, forever."

Rhaegar’s frown deepened at the sound of his wife’s name slipping from Althea’s vile lips. "Lorelai deserves a world where she can truly be happy. And that world... is one where you—and your kind—don’t exist."

With that, he raised his hand in a commanding gesture, then let it fall as he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. His voice was steady, resolute. "Let’s end this."