The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 251: Roar of despair (1)

Chapter 251: Roar of despair (1)

’They seem distracted. There won’t be another chance.’

Seeing the royals struggle to complete their plans, Hex searched for Sterling. When he pulled the trigger, the tool was destroyed.

To his dismay, he couldn’t find Sterling and Quid. Neither was the old man to see anywhere. Hex suspected them to have slipped away. Merchants. They either tried to prevent losses or cut off their losses.

Where is she? Will she come? Hex looked toward the palace but didn’t detect any motion. Perhaps, she perished. The Frost Dragon took a last gamble but it panned. Funny how things went. In their battle regarding Fate, they needed a little bit of luck. There was some irony in there somewhere. He would look for it once everything passed. And if he survived – an important prerequisite.

Hex didn’t look away from the joined bodies of the King and Queen. Their efforts to control the beam of golden light and keep the Crown Prince in the space above the monolith took a toll on them. He judged based on a few minute observations. Like the hair falling off the King’s head. Like the aging face of the Queen. Like the look of worry in the Queen’s glance – wait...why was she worried? And why did she look more in a certain direction than at her husband...or son?

Hex followed the direction of her gaze. She looked at the place behind him. What was there? Hex turned and...his eyes opened wide. He didn’t notice it before. His attention had been on the couple in the air. But now that he saw the threads of Fate, his senses went into overdrive.

Althea was on her hands and knees. She was crying. Hex didn’t understand why. But the sight of the girl in agony did something to him. His heart – the one made of stone and refused to stop whenever he was on the verge of dying – stopped. His breath remained stuck in his throat or someone else. Hex didn’t know. Nor did he care. The pain at the sight of Althea – broken and scared – stunned him. It took a second before a will to protect her kicked in.

"Althea!"

He didn’t know what else to say. He shouted and ran up to her. But it turned difficult to get close to her. He sensed the threads of Fate near her from afar but as he got near, he realized the amount of threads spinning around her. It was almost as if the threads desired to fuse with her. But each time a thread got near, Althea screamed and swatted it away. The desired fusion didn’t occur but the threads didn’t mind. They swarmed around her. And they increased in number.

It was a mesmerizing sight. The multiple thin threads of gold shimmering with a heart-winning allure. It was also worrying. He understood the gaze in the Queen’s eyes. And he realized also that they wouldn’t risk Althea’s presence. Fate preferred her above everything else. They couldn’t have that.

Being careful not to cause Althea problems, Hex put his hand into the swarm of threads. His hand went through and...nothing happened. The threads swirled around, flowing over and under his arm.

They felt like silk. Hex wouldn’t ever confess knowing the feeling of silk. There wasn’t anything wrong with knowing it, but how he knew, he rather not say. Certainly not if it involved visiting an undergarment shop with his maid.

Feeling relieved by the lack of reaction from the threads, Hex got close to Althea. With his back to the royal couple, he didn’t see the Queen’s gaze change. From looking worried she went looking horrified.

Hex kneeled beside Althea and tried to console her. His whispers didn’t breach her whimperings. He tried to understand her. But aside from certain phrases like I am not it and I don’t wish to kill them, he couldn’t understand much else.

He leaned more toward her. She mumbled more than she spoke. He cursed his hearing abilities. There was no point in having enhanced senses if they didn’t help when it mattered.

Racking his brains, he tried to come up with something to catch her attention. But nothing worked. As he tried to focus all his senses on her, his sensory abilities concerning Fate prickled.

’The Queen.’

He turned with a start. As he suspected. It was her. She was still fused with the King. But she wasn’t controlling the Strings of Fate toward her son. No, she controlled them to form two large, dense balls of threads. The golden threads shimmered and gave a fiery gleam.

She flicked the balls. The balls of threads shot toward them. One after the other. They moved at lightning speed. Hex tried to interject. He jumped and took one of them. The first ball hit him square in the chest.

The impact of the hit made him step back. The ball hit him. It scattered and...then nothing. It didn’t hurt at all. It felt like silk glided over him. It felt smooth and soft. Nothing else.

What about the other one? He turned and saw the threads of the second ball fall apart and join the swarm. But that wasn’t all.

A part of the threads shot back. Back to the Queen. Hex followed the threads and saw it hit her. She tried to stop them by putting her hand up. The thread hit her hand and sparks flew. The Queen retracted her hand in shock. Her thumb was burnt. Hex could see it over the distance between them.

"Impossible."

The look of pure terror filled the Queen’s gaze. She exchanged a glance with the King. The Crown Prince locked in space didn’t hear her but his rainbow-colored eyes flickered. Their disbelief was understandable. Their last two opponents were weak. Far weaker than anyone they met. Yet, one turned immune to Fate while the other caused a backlash.

Hex was glad to have survived the attack. But he knew things would turn worse now. Sure enough, he saw the King turn his gaze toward him.