The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 364: Night Talks II

I stared at Darius for a long moment, unsure if I’d heard him correctly.

A prophecy? That was what had dragged an ancient creature across half the world? I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to ask him to start again, slower this time.

"What kind of prophecy?" I asked finally, voice softer than I intended.

My mind was already spinning ahead, rifling through everything I remembered from the dusty books I’d devoured back in the secret caves of the Queen— before everything changed.

The Ancients weren’t supposed to exist anymore. The last records of them placed their kind far away, in the Xanthenk Mountains, buried within the icy ridges and mist-laden caverns of that region.

Back when the supernatural world was younger, they’d ruled entire empires built on magic that predated the witches. Then, they vanished. Gone before the world had learned how to name half of its monsters. Well, they had been attacked, annihilated.

If that incident hadn’t happened, what shape would the supernatural worlds have taken? Firstly, the lycans wouldn’t be so egoistic.

Still, what was he doing here, in a land hundreds of miles away from their cradle? What manner of prophecy would drive such a careful creature here?

Darius, however, didn’t answer immediately. His eyes were distant, as if he were still deciding how much truth he was willing to hand over. The golden glow beneath his skin flickered in the dim candlelight.

I could feel his magic even from where I sat—dense, old, heavy with memory. How old was he?

"I’m listening," I prompted, folding my legs under me on the bed.

He sighed, leaned back, and crossed one leg over the other like someone who had decided he might as well tell it all. "It’s about chaos," he said quietly. "Something that hasn’t happened in over a century. A battle—between light and darkness, between creation and decay. And this time, darkness will not come from the shadows."

I frowned. "That’s... vague."

He gave a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Prophecies usually are. But this one—" his gaze lifted toward the dark corner of my room "—this one was different. It was seen by our priestess, a seer who has never spoken in centuries. Her voice was supposed to be gone with the first fall of the mountains. But one night, she screamed. She said she saw the sun bleed black. She saw the world caught between two fires, one from the sky, and one from the ground."

The words hung in the air, heavy as molten lead. The faint hum of his magic rippled, brushing over my skin like static.

I could picture it. The world burning. Sky cracking open. But the witch in me couldn’t help analyzing it. "And you came all this way for that? For something a seer said?"

His expression hardened. "It wasn’t just something she said. It was what she felt. The prophecy said the lines between what’s good and evil would blur. That the savior would come wearing the mark of the cursed, and the destroyer would come cloaked in light."

I tilted my head. "So which am I?" Because surely, he was only here talking about some prophecy because he believed I was somehow connected to it. This freak of nature.

He didn’t answer immediately. "That’s what I was trying to find out."

A small laugh escaped me, though there was nothing funny about any of it. "And your method of finding out was to try to kill me?"

His lips twitched, almost like he wanted to smile again but couldn’t find the humor either. "In my defense, I didn’t know you’d grab me by the neck mid-fight."

I smirked. "You underestimated me."

"I did," he admitted simply. "But really... I thought killing you would end the terrors of the prophecy... seeing you talking with the vampire, resonated with the prophecy somehow..."

Another pause. "I think that’s it."

The silence stretched then, charged.

I studied him—the sharp jaw, the calm that hid something ancient and tired. I wondered if all of them, these ancients, carried that kind of weariness. Like they’d seen too much, survived too much, and expected to lose again anyway.

"So," I said after a moment, "this prophecy of yours... who do you think is the darkness really?"

"That’s the question," he said softly. "We don’t know. We’ve been... scattered. My people—what’s left of us—live hidden in fragments across the world. When the vision came, our priestess told us to seek out the places where magic stirred unnaturally. To find the pulse of imbalance. I was sent here. To this region. Found traces of some... since last year..."

"Because of the vampires," I guessed.

He nodded. "Among other things. Their magic is always wrong. Thick and restless. It hums in the soil, in the rivers, in the shadows of every forest. It causes decay, Sage. Like infinite decay."

He met my gaze now, steadily. "When I arrived last year, I entered the contests to blend in, to observe. Months passed. Nothing. I thought maybe the prophecy had already been fulfilled... maybe the war between the werewolves and witches some years ago had been what the seer saw."

My pulse faltered at the mention. The war that had nearly torn both sides apart. Peter mentioned he had seen enough blood spilled in its name to last a lifetime.

But I kept my expression blank, my voice neutral. "And now?"

"Now," he said, eyes steady on mine, "I’m not so sure. When I saw you with that vampire in the forest, I thought..." He exhaled. "I thought I’d found it. That the darkness had already found its vessel. A witch and a vampire walking side by side—do you know how that looks to someone who’s lived their entire life watching prophecies destroy worlds?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

I didn’t reply. Mostly because I didn’t have an answer that would make sense to him. Because, I was actually working with vampires. Because I needed them. The Queen too.

So, I wasn’t about to explain my revenge plans to an ancient who might decide to burn me alive for them.

He rubbed a hand over his face. "It’s like I said before... I thought if I killed you, I could stop it. Maybe end it before it began. But I was wrong. My magic told me so the moment you caught me. You’re not the darkness, Sage."

"Then why are you still here?"

His eyes lifted to mine. "Because something else is. And I need to know what."

Something cold uncurled in my chest. He spoke with the calm certainty of someone who had already seen the end of the world once. I believed him. At least, part of me did.

"So you’re here to save us?" I asked dryly. "How noble."

He ignored the sarcasm. "I’m here to make sure my kind isn’t erased again. Ignorance cost us centuries ago. We refused to believe danger could come from the ones who smiled brightest. That mistake won’t happen twice."

"Well," I murmured, "at least we agree on something."

He chuckled. "Except for the vampires."

"Of course."

His tone darkened. "They are not a species, Sage. They are a curse. They should have never existed."

That silenced me. I thought of the vampire lord the Queen had met. Of the deals I’d made. Of the way the lord’s eyes had burned with something between hunger and understanding. A curse, maybe. But a useful one.

I didn’t say that aloud.

Instead, I leaned back and folded my arms, pretending to be more relaxed than I was. "So your great prophecy says chaos is coming, but you don’t know when, or where, or who’s behind it."

He inclined his head. "Correct."

"And yet here you are, sitting in my room, uninvited."

He smiled faintly. "Maybe because chaos smells a lot like you."

For a second, I forgot how to breathe. Then I rolled my eyes to cover it. "Flattery from an ancient. I’ll take that as a compliment."

He grinned. "You should."

Silence settled again. Less tense though, allowing me to check out my thoughts.

A prophecy about light and darkness. About chaos that would consume us all.

I told myself it didn’t matter. That my plans were already in motion. The Queen’s schemes, the triplets’ ruin—it was all going exactly as I intended. My revenge didn’t have room for cosmic battles or priestesses screaming across mountains.

But my mind wouldn’t quiet.

What if he’s right? El’s voice slid into my thoughts, dry as ever. What if your grand little revenge starts the chaos he’s talking about?

Then so be it, I thought back.

At the expense of what? El pressed. The world itself?

I shrugged mentally. If that’s the cost, then I’ll pay it. But maybe I can fix it later. Once the triplets are gone.

A hiss of laughter echoed through my skull. You can’t fix what’s already begun, Sage. Do you even understand what happens if vampires can walk in sunlight?

I went still.

If the vampires could roam freely under the sun, the balance would surely shatter. There would be no safety, no day, no rest, unless they honored the agreement.

Will they?

They are cunning, Sage. They won’t settle for just this region.

Maybe, I told El, but I will stop them. Surely, your power is strong enough for that.

You always say that. El’s voice softened, almost pitying. And you always underestimate what happens when you play with fire.

"You are talking with it again, aren’t you?" Darius spoke then, brow raised, breaking the train of communication between me and my other.