A Dawn So Dark (Blood Bound #1)

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Arden

S eeing that wretched blade against her throat had made me want to rip Arthurs head from his body. I was playing a dangerous game. When I had come across Noa holding my mate at knifepoint I was ready to kill everyone in that clearing. With Lancelot holding a blade to her neck, I couldn't risk slaughtering them all. Now, Excalibur, the realm's most powerful weapon, crafted to slay monsters, sat perched against Aurora's perfect neck.

I had nearly ripped Noas head from her body when Camelot's forces faded out of sight, taking my beating heart with them.

*

“Arden, I knew you couldn't take a human for a mate.” Noa cried, grabbing my arm in an attempt to pull me close to her. I turned, a growl ripping from my throat as I threw her against a tree with such immense force, the wood shuttered. Her cry of pain elicit ed a sliver of contentment from me. Her suffering would be insurmountable when I was given time to draw it out. “You conniving bitch.” I spat as I picked her up by the hair, just as she had with Aurora, aggressive and unrelenting. “Ard, you're hurting me.” She whined, pulling at my hand. My rage increased tenfold. Goddesses, was she going to suffer.

I heaved her up, pinning her to the tree, a dagger at her neck “This is not even the start of the pain you will be enduring at my hand. Tell me where they have taken her and perhaps I will show you mercy.” Noa gasped beneath my grip, attempting to thrash her way free. But my rage overpowered her. “She was our doom! She's human! We needed her gone and you two were too wrapped up in her to see that!” Red clouded my vision as I slammed her into the tree yet again. “She is our mate! Your future Queen! You saw what he had done to her and handed her over anyway! You have betrayed your kingdom… and you have betrayed me.”

Noa laughed, she laughed . I could not recall a time I ever felt this much hatred towards a person. Perhaps it was the mate bond that was calling for me to go after Aurora driving me to madness. To kill anyone who had touched her and ravish her in their spilled blood. “I saved you. You were not meant to be fated to a human, you were meant for me, Arden!”

I stilled, everything suddenly becoming crystal clear. All these years of friendship, she had lied to me. “You…. you didn't hear of Arthur from your spies… you alerted Camelot yourself. You wanted Aurora to return to the Duke. You wanted her gone.”

Noa smiled wickedly, proudly. “And now we are free to be together.” I dragged her to my horse, pulling Astyrn steel cuffs from my saddle bag. I secure Noas' wrists and throw her on my horse with little care for her comfort. “You will never know freedom again.” I drag her back to the castle and toss her in the very same cell I had put Aurora in when she arrived. Seeing my mate in there had done something primal to me, watching her so ready to fight. Seeing Noa pout in the mud filled me with such an intense rage I could wipe out an army in one fell swoop.

“All this over a human is quite a lot, you have to admit.” Noa huffed, attempting to pull herself up from the mud. I ignored her goading. “When I get our mate back I am going to let her exact her vengeance on you, then I will have my turn. And I will fuck her next to your bloodied, heartless corpse.”

*

I had alerted nearly half the kingdom of her betrayal, placing several guards on her watch before I left to find Daemon. He shot me a look, silently demanding to know where I was. I gave him a shake of my head, hoping to communicate all that had happened in a single nod before stepping out into the open field. Arthur laughed at my announcement, clearly wanting Daemon to know of my faux betrayal.

“You just handed her over to me mere hours ago, General. No wonder I bested you last time.” Arthur cackled, his graying hair casting over his green eyes that held a deep rooted hatred. Tears sprung to Aurora's eyes as she forced herself to look at me. My stomach churned at the look on her face. Despair and regret clouded her pain stricken features. She was heartbroken and I had caused it. I had failed her .