The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 328: Attack on Annalise (Part One)

Chapter 328: Attack on Annalise (Part One)

Annalise was ready to leave the place and return to the ballroom where her husbands were surely waiting for her but the very moment she turned around to walk back the path she had just taken to reach the statue, a group of men dressed in black and red robes appeared out of the shadows.

She felt a shiver run down her spine as the group of men dressed in black surrounded her, their weapons glinting ominously in the dim light of the night. Her heart raced, and her mind raced even faster as she tried to make sense of the situation.

So, when Elaron talked about her not having much time, he was referring to the arrival of these masked men who were clearly there to harm her.

One of the masked men stepped forward as if he was their leader. His tone carried the hint of a sinister smile as he spoke in a gruff tone, "Well, well, what do we have here? A lost little princess wandering the gardens in the middle of the night?"

Annalise was too panicked to think properly. Her brain was a complete mess as she tried to think of a solution to get out of the situation. "I... I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just admiring the flower." She spoke nervously as her eyes quickly scanned her surroundings.

The man chuckled as if he was amused by her words - "Admiring the flower, were you? That flower is not for admiring, my dear. It’s extremely rare and valuable."

Annalise realized that these men were the ones who created the illusion of the Red Dragon Flower just to trap her. But the question was - what they wanted from her?

But since they were playing around the bush for the time being, she decided to play along as it would give her more time to think of a way to save herself. A little hesitantly, she responded - "I didn’t know it was so valuable. I’ll leave now."

She didn’t even get to take a single step away from them before the man stepped in her path, blocking her - "Oh, I’m afraid it’s not that simple. You see, we have been searching for this flower for a very long time, and you just stumbled upon it. Now, you have two options. You can either come with us willingly, or we can take you by force."

Annalise knew she couldn’t take on these armed men on her own, especially when she was outnumbered and weaponless, and most importantly, she couldn’t use her powers. Elaron’s words repeated in her brain where he reminded her to keep her powers a secret from the outside world.

"Where do you want to take me?" She asked while opening up her bonds with her mates. In the current situation, they were her only savior.

’Valerius, Damien...’ she sent a desperate message through their shared mind links but she was disturbed before she could say anything further as the masked leader stepped even more closer to her, leaving a very small distance between his shining blade and her.

"Anywhere but here. How about you come with us willingly?" He spoke as if he was making a really tempting offer to her.

’Annalise, what’s wrong?’ Valerius was the first one to approach out to her almost two seconds later. His voice sounded a little panicky as if he was aware of the danger that was looming over her.

’There are people here... masked men with weapons!’ Annalise hurriedly responded back through the mind link before her focus was once again disrupted when the masked leader suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him.

"Don’t play smart with us, woman. Though we are ordered to not kill you, cutting one or two of your limbs won’t really matter much to anyone. So, you better follow us without wasting more of our time." The warning was more than clear in his voice as he glared daggers at her.

’Princess, don’t worry. We are coming.’ Damien’s warm and determined voice entered Annalise’s mind but she was in no position to reply back in any way.

"But where are you taking me?" She demanded again as the man pulled on her hand as if to drag her away from there.

"A faraway place to lock you up there, so that your husbands can spend the rest of their lives looking for you instead of creating problems for us and becoming a hurdle in our master’s grand plan." The man finally gave out some information, even those that he shouldn’t have slipped out but it was already too late.

He too must have realized that because he no longer seemed to be in the mood to waste any more time. He tugged on her hand again but this time, Annalise used a little bit of physical force to pull herself out of his hold.

Unfortunately, she underestimated both her opponent and herself. Since they pulled together at the same time, it ended up twisting her arm at a really painful angle, causing her to cry out loudly as pain seared through her entire arm.

"You better let her go immediately!" The deep commanding tone came from none other than Damien as he appeared there with both his hands holding his favorite twin swords.

"I knew you were up to something. So, you were stalling for time in order for your dear husbands to appear here and save you, right?" The man spitted out the words like venom at Annalise as he twisted her hand further, causing her to cry out in pain once again.

"I said let her go!" Damien appeared way angrier than Annalise could have ever imagined. His eyes were completely overtaken by the dark glow and his veins were popping as he clutched his swords almost to a painful level.

"And what if I won’t. Even if you are powerful, there’s just one of you and over a dozen of us. There’s no way you can save her..." The masked man didn’t get to finish his sentence as all his humor and confidence died when swooshing sounds took over the silence and the very next moment, several of the masked men dropped dead on the ground.