Alpha Asher by Jane

Chapter 240

“My Queen.”

Tristan, my first in command. The man I considered both a friend and a worthy enemy. A Vampire I had once hated with every fiber of my being, only to now trust him with every beat of my heart.

He was dead.

Cold. Unmoving. Not a spark of light in his eyes.

He pushed me out of the way. He took the blow that was meant for me. He gave his life for me and its broke Freya’s spell.

Tristan loved me.

Holly’s head was bowed, her hair a dark veil that covered her face as she wept. Her hands were stained red with Tristan’s blood, but she didn’t seem to notice. She continued clutching at his shirt, whimpering, and whispering under her breath.

Without warning the blood ruby unleashed a blast of light that left me seeing spots. Holly ripped the blade from Tristan’s unmoving chest, dropping it as though it were poisonous.

Freya’s face had lost its triumphant luster, taking on a more sinister expression. It looked like her skin had been pulled too tightly over her bones, stretching across her face in a way that emphasized every dip and curve. Her cheeks were just a touch too hollow, her eyes bulged from their sockets ever so slightly. Her teeth pressed at her lips, pushing them outward.

Her eyes flickered from the dagger to where I sat in the grass, the start of some sickening plan or idea taking form in her head. Before she could react-before any of us could react, Holly stumbled to her feet.

I should’ve noticed something off when she went silent, no longer crying or whispering under her breath.

Long strands of inky hair hung over her face, partially shielding it from view. From where I sat, I managed to catch a single glimpse of her eyes. My stomach plummeted as I took in the haunted light that filled her entire being.

Holly, the sister that betrayed me, the one I craved since I was a little girl, unleashed a wail that made my hair stand on end.

For a split second, I thought she was going to attack me. After all, it was my life Tristan died for. Never could I have anticipated Holly charging at her own mother, grabbing onto her dress with blood-stained hands as she screamed and snarled like a wild animal.

“You killed him, you killed him, you killed him!” Holly wailed, her voice cracking several times over.

Freya’s lips pulled back from her face in a distasteful sneer. “Get off of me, girl. Have some class. We do not cry over men.”

She shoved Holly away, who stumbled backwards but didn’t fall. Her shoulders were hunched as she took in breath after breath. Bloody handprints littered Freya’s skin from where Holly had made a grab for her.

Digging my fingers into the dirt, I pushed myself off the ground and onto my feet. I inched closer to Breyona, hesitating when I caught the unearthly glow of magic in Holly’s eyes.

Suddenly, the bloody handprints on Freya’s body began to smoke.

Freya noticed the same time as I did. Her bulging eyes went wide, so wide that I could see the network of veins running across them like spider webs. Unlike normal veins, these ones were black-tainted with darkness.

“You… You dare use blood magic on me?”

She scoffed at Holly. “I am your mother.”

Holly didn’t so much as blink at her mother.

Her lips barely moved, forming words that came out as a cold whisper.

“You’re nothing but an empty vessel.”

If I hadn’t witnessed it myself, I wouldn’t have known what to make of the sound. It was the crash of a vase against a hard floor. The crack of a bone snapped in two, it’s splintered echo ringing in your ears.

Only, it wasn’t a vase or a bone that created that sound.

It was Freya.

What started as a hairline crack running down her arm, splitting her pale skin in two, began to widen. Like the brittle edges of a chasm, her flesh began to crumble. More and more cracks formed, each one stemming from the bloody handprints Holly had left on her mother’s skin.

her chest and cleavage. A third inched up her neck,

a look of bewilderment on her face. Something in my gut told me this

not possible. You’re nothing! You’re not powerful enough to kill me!” She half- shouted at Holly, who

You killed him, and it’s his

down at Tristan’s body, noting how even in death his eyes were trained on my younger sister, I realized she

us, dealing one final blow before his soul slipped

wider

I slammed my hands over my ears. Breyona’s wolf was several feet away,

Holly with her arms

foot came down, cracks spread up her legs until her flesh crumbled in a sea of cream-colored shards, raining down into the grass. Freya screamed a second time, but this sound was one of agony. Everything from her kneecap down was gone, even the gown she wore had crumbled.

arms gone and shoulders quickly eroding. The screaming stopped when her face caved in, her jaw becoming just as brittle as the rest of her. Her eyes sunk into the hole in

there was nothing left.

Witch

killed

her hair was ripped from her face. There was only one

His blood staining the grass was the only thing that remained.

locked eyes, and despite everything we’d been through, the only thing that passed between us was panic. That panic quickly turned to grim realization when Breyona let out snarl that froze the blood pumping in my veins.

we turned to face the source of Breyona’s

Tristan, blonde

on two feet as he scanned his surroundings, but it wasn’t him. The way he moved was

air that fractured into a sob, one that caught the attention of Tristan and had him

recognized the eyes I stared

my father’s.

a few shades darker than Tristan’s stared out at us. With the slickness of oil, they slid to Holly’s face, registering the grief that painted her delicate features

emerged didn’t belong to either Tristan or our father. It was an amalgamation

as her body coiled, seconds

her mouth. Several times she mouthed the words, but it wasn’t until the last time that they finally managed to

thing.” She

his youngest daughter had done, our father let out a furious roar that sent the shadows scattering in all

out like

their

don’t.” I warned her, a hand

would do no good, not when he was already

in my direction. A rueful smile crossed his face, so

but marvel at the expression.

heir. All of the power in the world, and you’re too much of a

to take a step but stumbling as he did so. The light in his eyes

in the same spot Freya had

“Such a disappointment.”

in his eyes flickered once, then twice, before sputtering out completely. Tristan, his body once more an empty vessel, fell to the

quickly followed, kneeling at his side. Still pale faced and trembling, a broken sob tore itself from her chest as she gingerly turned his

Breyona

by was like an electrical pulse to my already shot

nerves so raw, that I hadn’t

had dried. It ran down his sculpted cheek, past his rigid jawline and down his neck. A wound like that would’ve killed a

the sight of him warmed me

was, until a certain blonde came

struggling to find the words.

of peace on his face that

my cheeks. in slow circles, a glimmer of joy

ounce of emotion

wanted to ask more. I wanted every single detail up to her last miserable breath, and I was going to ask for