Chapter 3 A broken Promise

From punishing anyone who even dared to talk to his dewdrop in a loud tone, it has come down to this.

It hurts. It breaks her. He didn't even resemble the shadow of the man who she fell in love with in the last 6 months. But who was to blame for this?

Her mouth stays open, head falls back but no scream escapes her lips. Taking in deep breaths, she tries to bear with this wound like countless others on her body but somehow this one hurts ten times worse.

Maybe because it was given to her by the very man who she loved. Blood streams down her thigh like water in a river and a sudden jerk hits her body. Zachary sees her lips turning more pale if possible.

" You...will regret this..."

Her voice comes out ice cold, nothing like the plea of mercy before. That softness in those brown orbs cracks to show a hint of the most deadly murderer under them.

And Zach feels the aura around her shift.

What hundreds of whips and countless broken bones couldn't do, his one stab did it.

What foreign hands couldn't break, a lover's betrayal disintegrated her soul into countless pieces.

Gasping.

She managed to stare into his cold eyes. And he rubs his thumb on her chapped lips to whisper.

" Oh trust me dewdrop. The only thing that I will ever regret is falling in love with a betrayer like you. "

" The only repent I will ever have will be touching and fuc*ing someone so ugly from the inside like you. "

He made her feel like filth. Yet her features don't crack this time. Giving him a soft smile, she was ready to surrender to the darkness. If this was his will, why would she stop him? Her last words lingered in the air.

" I don't.....regret loving you Zach...I never will. These last 6 months...were the best period...of my life. "

" Th...ank you for it. "

Zach's grip loosens on her hair, her words root a dagger into his chest. And he feels a strange feeling hit his insides.

Those eyes.

He wanted her to scream profanities at him. To curse at him and hate him. To tell him everything they had was her plan, a mere lie. Yet not this.

" Shut your bullshit. I won't-"

His words die down when he sees another teardrop fall down her eyes. And then another and another.

" It's fine if you don't want to hear...me out. Maybe I don't deserve it. But..I have a dying wish. "

Her lips quivered but she continued to speak. Not ready to give up before letting this out.

" Tomorrow after they kill me...I want you to touch me one last time...I want.....I want you....to be the one to lower my dead body into the coffin...your touch is the last touch I want to remember... Zach"

The knife rooted in his chest twists, filling him with a strange feeling of dread. His hands holding her drop down beside him.

" I want you to forget I ever came into your life."

" I want you to move on. Yet to not trust people easily. Especially Emerald. "

" Behind the cold and just King Facade is a boy who cares too deeply for those he loves. And I...I was among those lucky ones to have seen that side of you. "

"You..you are a great man...Zach. A great King. Not everyone deserves you. "

" I never did. "

" Yet....I...still loved you."

" Forgive me...if possible. "

These being her last words, she closes her eyes on him. Giving up to the heaviness in her head. Her head lolled back as one last teardrop slipped her chin to fall on his shirt.

He doesn't move. Starting at her pale lifeless face. He was lost into oblivion.

Minutes pass. He doesn't move.

Her front continues to press into his chest. He could hear her thudding heart slowing. He could see her blood draining out of her body. Yet he did nothing.

Crouching down to pick up the black hood. He gets up to softly run his fingers through her silky brown hair.

Wrapping them around his palm.

He is taken down the memory lane. He tied her hair into a bun every night as she sat in front of the mirror and looked at him through the reflection.

" Will you do my hair every night, Zach?"

" And why is that dewdrop?"

" It's just that your touch...I haven't felt anything like this before. "

" Like what?"

" Cared, taken care of, loved. With your soft fingers in my hair and my eyes closed. I feel like I am in heaven. "

" I don't have to die to visit it. Even though I affirm I will be burned in hell rather than heaven. Still-"

" Shhhh"

Zach presses his palm on her lips to silence her and she open her eyes to look at him in confusion.

" Never. I repeat never talk about dying dewdrop. Till I am breathing no harm can even touch you, let alone hurt you. "

Zachary snaps back to reality and his fingers running through her long hair stop.

A lump gets clogged in his throat. Gulping it down. He twists her hair to tie them above her head into a bun.

Looking at her closed eyes one last time, he lowers the black hood on her face. To stop just above her lips.

His fingers gripping the black cloth tremble. He was in a dilemma. Before he could stop himself. He wraps his hand behind her lolled head for support and crashes his lips on hers.

They were cold, lifeless and unresponsive. They didn't taste like strawberries anymore. But he didn't seem to care.

This was his last chance to feel this again.

To touch the woman he fell in love with for the first time in his life.

She lied.

She betrayed.

She broke his heart into a million pieces. Yet he couldn't stop himself.

He had fallen for her hard, without any mate bond. Without any sparks or lust blinding his wolf.

He had fallen for that woman who spent day and night to heal his favorite horse when the doctors said they couldn't. For the woman who waited for him at the dining table overnight, starving just because she wanted them to eat together.

For that woman, who packed all his warrior's food, cooking for everyone the whole day till her feet had blisters.

For the smile that lighted up when she helped someone else. He had fallen in love with the soul of Eirene Winters.

And for these few seconds, he didn't care if she was the heartless cold hearted murderer called Phoenix.

" Goodbye, dewdrop. "

Pulling back from her and ripping a part of his soul along with it. He finally lets the black cloth drop on her face. Turning around he leaves her bloody unconscious form hanging from the ceiling. Slamming the door shut after him.

. .

Phoenix has been captured. But his or her identity will forever stay a mystery for the general public. No one except Zach and the council knew she was the very girl the Alpha King made his wife and Luna 6 months ago.

No one knew she was Eirene Waters, the Luna who captured thousands of hearts with her kindness.

They say good and evil are opposites. But then how could a woman be both?

It's either that everything good she did was a sham or rather no one was ever able to truly understand why Phoenix became what she was today.

A murder, a face of evil, a destroyed of families. The most wanted criminal.

Phoenix was bound to be executed tomorrow. And no one could stop it. Not even him.