The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 85: The Attack

Chapter 85: The Attack

Annalise wasn’t sure what she was expecting as the result but she couldn’t deny the happiness and feeling of achievement that filled her heart when Damien’s spell came undone and the carriage door flew open.

What met her gaze was pure darkness and the dense fog that was surrounding the carriage. She hesitated about stepping down from the carriage as even her enhanced eyesight was no match to the fog and she was unable to see anything at all.

No matter how restless she was to find her husbands but she wasn’t a fool. She couldn’t just head into the fog without knowing where to go. In the end, she would not only fail in finding her husbands but even lose the protection of the carriage.

"My Lord?" She called out for Lord Damien again but only silence answered her back. At this point, she was almost getting worried for the second dark lord. "My lord, are you out there?"

Dark Lords!

The realization hit her hard. Her husbands had been always known as the three Dark Lords. No one in the entire empire knew their names, and even she came to know their names after their marriage.

They were always addressed as the three Dark Lords of the Cursed Castle.

When she asked her elders why they were called the Dark Lords, she got to know that it was something that had been passed down for centuries. While most people of the Seelie Empire only lived up to a maximum of two centuries, the dark lords were rumored to be residing in the Cursed Castle for over four centuries.

At that time, she always thought that the people called them so because of their link with the cursed castle. Three lords who lived in a castle that was rumored to be the home of darkness, so people started calling them Dark Lords. Little did she know how naive she was.

They weren’t called Dark Lords because of the castle, but probably because of their relation with the darkness. They were from the Midnight Realm, or at least, that’s what she had concluded.

But why would those from the Midnight Realm be staying in the Seelie Empire? The more she powdered on the topic of her husbands’ true identities, the more questions arose and there was no one to answer them.

She wondered what would happen if she directly question the lords and ask them straightforwardly about their relation with the Midnight realm. Would they tell her the truth, or would they lie to her?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a twig breaking at some distance. She was immediately on alert but unfortunately, she was unable to see who or what made that noise.

Somehow, she succeeded in keeping herself from calling out to the lords in case it was someone or something else and she would end up alerting it by her silly mistake.

She slowly closed the carriage door, only leaving a small crack to peek outside, not like she was able to see anything other than the fog.

Her hand went to the dagger that was tucked safely in her boots, a safety measure that Mr. Warren handed her before she left the castle. And even though she wasn’t really if she could handle it properly to save herself from any sort of threat, its mere presence in her hand gave her a lot of comfort.

She held her breath and peeked outside, her ears keenly listening to any sort of sound coming from outside. For a while, everything remained silent and still but then she heard it again, the sound of movement and this time much closer than before.

Her heart was beating so loudly that she worried even the thing it person outside could hear it. She bit on her lower lip and prayed for at least one of her husbands to return immediately.

They were supposed to protect her, especially those two who kissed her in the middle of the day just to create a connection with her.

The sound became louder and it took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t a human making that sound and whatever it was, there were more than just one of it.

She probably stopped breathing as she waited for whatever they were but then everything went silent once again. Seconds turned into minutes but there was no more movement outside the carriage.

Annalise contemplated what to do next. Should she open the door of the carriage and take a look outside? But what was the point when she won’t be able to see anything? But then sitting inside while waiting for the doom to find her was also a foolish option.

She took in a deep breath and decided to go with the first option. Her hand was almost on the handle to pull the door open when a huge force shook the carriage.

A scream left her lips as she found herself falling against the side wall of the carriage. Pain shot through her shoulder and arm as her left hand was the one to take the full impact of the fall.

She didn’t get the chance to catch her breath before another force, even stronger than the previous one, hit the carriage and she found herself tumbling over.

She wasn’t sure how it happened but she landed on hard and wet ground while the carriage landed a little farther away from her, the loud sound of the crash hit her sensitive nerves.

Somehow, the dagger was still in her hand, and she clutched on it tightly as she tried to sit up but her body shook in pain with every single movement.

She somehow managed to stand up and called on her powers, her eyes darting around to find the attacker.

Another few seconds of pure silence passed and then she finally saw it - a bright and huge red light that was aiming straight at her with great speed.