Unedited.

Let's hope the inline comments work fine this time.

Moving that shelf away had allowed small rays of light to flow inside the secret room. It was coming from behind us, piercing the darkness like a stream of river that had torn the heart of a rock in its quest of finding a way out of the ground.

The golden patterns circulating the edges of the casket were glimmering in that light making it appear as if Erebus’ body nestled safely inside that coffin was surrounded by a large halo. The dimly lit surroundings had casted a soft lustre on his sharp looks. His long eyelashes subtly kissing the top of his cheekbones, the rough stubble shadowing his jawline, his slightly parted plump lips, those features of his only worked more to establish his appearance as a sleeping angel.

Unbeknownst to me, I had raised my hand to slide over the glass encasing his coffin, stopping only after my gaze fell upon my own reflection. My eyes were looking glassy as if I were in some sort of trance.

“Ah…”

A surprised sound escaped my lips as I immediately stepped back from the table.

'What’s happening to me?’

My eyes were glued to his body. It was hard trying to stay away from that coffin.

“The mates’ bond. It’s urging you to bite and claim the other half of your- ‘my’ soul.”

This was the first time Erebus had addressed me after we had entered this room. The trance, the darkness, the soundlessness, all of it had made me forget about him being in there with me for a few seconds.

‘Is this how mates feel when they come across each other?’

I could hardly ask him that through the painful feeling spreading its roots throughout my chest.

“I don’t know as I’ve never experienced this myself but I’ve seen some pretty intense mate bondings. It’s nature at work. As much as my knowledge goes, there was never anyone who was able to defy it.”

His answer made me scrunch my eyebrows. I was aware of the bonding ritual. It was the practice of biting your mates’ neck. One partner could bite the other or both could do it simultaneously. Either situation was acceptable. A tattoo emerged on the bitten skin soon after the mark faded. That tattoo was an announcement to the whole kingdom that the person bearing it was taken.

‘If no one has been able to defy it, then how will we?’

“We have to, because our bond is an abomination. Kings cannot have mates.”

Hearing his words made me curl my fingers into a fist. My nails were digging deep inside my skin yet it was not enough to fight the anger bubbling inside of me. I had no idea whether this was because of my third full moon without shifting or this unnatural bond. I had feeling at the edge for some time but that discomfort had now morphed into something I could only describe as pure rage.

‘Why can’t king have mates?’

“It is considered a taboo.”

“Why?!”

I had yelled this out loud instead of thinking it in my head. I felt like the longer I stayed away from his body the more I was losing my sanity.

“Speak low, Thea. Have you forgotten that you’ve just discovered my body in your father’s house instead of the capital. I'm aware that it’s hard  on you because of the bond and the full moon but you have to remember that the situation is dangerous. Let me have control and I’ll handle it swiftly.”

The frown resting on my face deepened as I focused on the voice inside my head.

‘What do you mean by handling it swiftly?’

“I’ll transfer the crest to you.”

‘Huh? H-How…’

To lessen the impact of the pain hitting my chest, I had decided on kneeling on the ground.

“I’ll take control of your hands, touch the crest on my chest and perform the ritual for transferring the crest, but we have to do it fast before the pain takes control of your senses.”

I had wrapped my arms around my head by then.

‘W-What happens to you then?’

“Don’t worry about me.”

“I am asking what happens to you then?”

I could hear my teeth gritting as I asked him this loudly.

“The crest will keep you alive. You will not need a soul to run your body and my soul will find its way back inside my body.”

‘You won’t be a king then. Will you get another mate?’

I had only known him for three months but the thought of his voice calling out someone else’s name lovingly was making my heart crack.

“I won’t.”

'How can you be so sure? What will you do after making me the king? Will you go on to live your life away from me?’

“Let’s not waste any more time in idle talks, Thea. Someone will walk in any moment. We may not get this chance ever again.”

“TELL ME!”

He was right about the need to bond making me lose my senses. If it were any other day, I couldn’t even have thought of yelling at my king.

“Please…”

There was no answer from his side.

“Please Erebus…”

“I will die.”

His words had punched me in the gut making it unbelievably difficult for me to continue breathing.

“What?”

“I got severely injured during The Great War, Thea. The crest kept my body stuck in time while simultaneously healing it. It was only because I was the sole crestholder in the world at that time. Nature didn’t have any other reason to keep me alive except for this one. If I take the crest away from myself and give it to you, the kingdom will have a new king and the nature will have no reason to let me continue living. I cannot live without the crest.”

Raising my head slowly, I looked up from my crouching position to his casket through my blurry vision as I uttered my next words,

"Then you keep the crest! I have no need for a crest that’s laced with your blood.”

"You may not need the crest but the world needs a king, Thea. What use is a king who’s cursed to an eternal sleep?"

With my eyes still fixated on the gilded coffin I asked him, “How can you wake up?”

There was a momentary pause before he decided to answer me,

“By returning my soul to my body.”

“Take it then. Take your soul back.”

I had replied back without batting an eyelash. I didn’t care. The pain of being away from his body had completely overtaken my senses and it had only been a few minutes. I could only imagine what a life time without his presence would do to me.

“If I take my soul back, you’ll die, Thea.”

“Then let me die.”

My lips were quivering.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

I watched as the blurry scene in front of my eyes disappeared and in its place, I started seeing gray skies hanging above my head. I was lying in a deserted field which I could loosely identify as The Barren Lands. Huge piles of dead bodies were littered around me, some so grotesquely damaged that they had become unidentifiable. There wasn’t any soul alive on that ground, except for those one pair of eyes that were staring blankly at the skies above, Erebus’.

Instead of answering me with words, he was showing me a vision of his last moments before he had gone into a deep sleep.

“That day, in my last moments, I didn’t have anything to think of, but now I do. I never had a family. I was an orphan. You’re the closest I have ever come to having a family. At first it was only out of gratitude for providing my soul with a vessel but it’s different now. In these months that I spent teaching you, learning about you, you quickly gained a very significant position in my life. Wolves protect their kin. How can I sacrifice my only family for a few more years to rule?”

Tears had started streaming down my eyes.

“Why are you saying this to me now? Why not before?”

“Because I didn’t want you to feel guilty.”

“What about the hurt I feel right now?”

I was barely able to suppress a sob from escaping the back of my throat.

“Don’t cry, Thea. You’ll forget about it. You’ll forget about me.”

“No, I won’t!”

Slowly I watched as without my will, my hands lifted up to wipe the tears dampening my cheeks.

“Don’t cry, Thea.”

‘Erebus…’

He was controlling my hands.

The realization only made me bawl harder as I buried my head between my knees to suppress my howls of pain while he continued stroking my head by controlling my own hand.

“Get up, Thea. It’s time.”

He was right. He had given me a fair amount of time to cry and argue. We still didn’t know what his body was doing inside my father’s study. Time was crucial for us.

“Let’s do it.”

I gulped down inaudibly as I kept staring at the casket through the scattered strands of hair hanging in front of my eyes before I finally stood up and took a few steps to reach the coffin.

I had made up my mind about what I had to do and I was making sure to keep my head clear from any thoughts.

“I’ll remove the glass.”

Erebus, still in control of my hands, carefully removed the glass lid from the coffin to place it on the floor.

There was no barriers between Erebus’ body and mine.

“I have to touch the crest on my chest. When it comes into contact with my soul and your skin at the same time, It’ll trigger the transferring process.”

“Erebus… Can I do one last thing before we proceed?”

I had made sure to use a very gentle tone while making that request.

“And that is?”

“Can I kiss you?”

There was complete silence from his side for at least two minutes. I, on the other hand, was awaiting his answer with a baited breath.

“I’m practically a corpse, Thea. You don’t want to kiss someone like that.”

“But I do. You said you didn’t have any memories that were worth playing in your head while you were going into a deep slumber. Let’s have that moment. For you, for both of us.”

He had turned silent again.

“Please.”

After a moment, I realized that I could move my hands on my own when I found myself clenching them unintentionally.

He had given me a silent approval by returning the control of my hands to me.

“Thank you.”

With a painful smile on my face, I bent over him as I slowly started caressing his cold cheek with the back of my hand. His rough stubble was grazing my fingertips lightly. Everywhere I traced his skin, the sparks left a fiery trail on my fingertips.

After a moment of contemplation, I brought my lips to kiss the hollow of his cheek. It was the most heavenly feeling I had ever come across in my whole life. No touch had ever felt this perfect to me. I had to press my lips together to stop them from quivering.

Soon after I had gained a bit more control on my nerves, I resumed leaving butterfly kisses on his face as my lips started travelling down to reach the corner of his mouth. I was taking my time trying to etch this moment inside my brain, but as soon as I reached the side of his lips, I lost all control. My eyes took one longing look at his parted lips before I hurriedly covered them with my mouth.

It felt like I had been electrocuted as I took his bottom lip in between my lips, nibbling on it. Surprisingly, his mouth smelled like a fresh pack of peppermint.

As I closed my eyes to savor this moment, a lone tear slid down my nose only to end up falling on his cheek.

‘I’m sorry.’

My hands that were previously holding the sides of his face slipped to his shoulders, gripping them tightly as I wasted no moment in detaching my mouth swiftly from his lips only to plunge my canines deep inside his neck.

“Thea!”

Erebus’ frantic voice was echoing inside my head. I could hear him fighting for control but it was too late.

“What have you done?!”

Letting out a dry laugh, I slowly raised my head up to take a good look at Erebus’ neck where now rested a very prominent bite mark lathered with a mixture of blood and saliva.

“You can’t transfer the crest to me now. You’ll die without the crest and if you die, so will I.”

I was certain I looked crazy in that moment, with a broad smile on my blood stained lips and brunette locks flying everywhere, but I didn’t care.

I had successfully marked King Erebus as my own.