Chapter 276: Deception
"Undo the blood bond. Now."
The moment Gavriel commanded her, Gwen’s frantic eyes darted to the side, landing on her father groaning in the corner. Their eyes met in a brief, silent exchange before she glanced toward the statue of their Goddess, and finally to Cedric.
Although the control over his mind was gradually weakening, Cedric remained still. His eyes, however, burned with nothing but disgust and rage as they met hers.
The look dealt a sharp blow to Gwen’s ego.
The man she had controlled, the man she had treated like her personal slave, dared to look at her like she was dirt beneath his boots.
Right then, Gavriel unsevered the bindings on her wrists and ripped the gag from her mouth, his voice dropping to a chilling hiss. "Do not make me repeat myself, filth."
Gwen’s entire body trembled at the sheer malice in his tone. Everything she had witnessed him do proved he was not making empty threats, and she had no choice but to obey.
Yet it also made her realise that severing this bond would mean stripping away her only leverage. Leaving her completely defenseless against the wrath of both men, as well as the unhinged woman lurking near the doors.
Quietly gritting her teeth, Gwen bent down and picked up the dagger that had been knocked aside when her father had tried to sacrifice Cedric. Her trembling fingers tightened around its hilt.
She reached for Cedric’s hand and moved to stab it.
But once again, the dagger froze in mid-air, stopping barely an inch from his skin as an invisible force held it firmly in place.
Her eyes widened in horror, and she slowly turned towards Gavriel, who now stood directly before them.
"Who told you to stab him?" he asked coldly.
"I-I... I need his blood... with m-mine... t-to undo the b-b-bond," she stammered, barely able to form a sentence beneath his murderous stare.
Gavriel regarded her silently for a moment before extending his hand. "I’ll do it."
The simple gesture made one thing abundantly clear... he wasn’t trusting her with any part of it.
Gwen gulped hard before placing the dagger into Gavriel’s outstretched hand.
The moment Gavriel took it, he wasted no time. He took Cedric’s palm and made a shallow cut before turning his hand over the chalice resting upon the altar, allowing several drops of blood to fall into it.
Once that was done, he seized Gwen’s hand.
Unlike Cedric’s, he made a deep cut across her palm, almost as though he wanted her to suffer.
And she did.
A sharp hiss escaped her lips as pain shot through her hand. Still gripping her wrist, Gavriel positioned it over the chalice and let her blood drip into it before commanding, "Say the reversal spell."
Enduring the burning pain, Gwen’s eyes flickered towards her father one last time before she began reciting the incantation. As each unfamiliar word echoed through the chamber, the candles surrounding the altar suddenly flared to life, their flames roaring as though responding to the ritual.
Yet just before uttering the final words, Gwen deliberately altered a single phrase.
Almost instantly, the blazing flames shrank, returning to their dim, wavering glow.
Certain she had fooled him, Gwen slowly lifted her head and looked at Gavriel, forcing out a shaky smile. "I-It’s done."
However, the instant her eyes met his, her smile froze.
A cold, sinister smile slowly spread across Gavriel’s handsome face.
Before Gwen could even comprehend what was happening, his hand shot out like lightning and clamped around her throat, effortlessly lifting her off the ground. Her feet kicked helplessly in the air as his icy gaze remained fixed on hers.
"You have quite the nerve to think you can deceive me."
His fingers slowly tightened around her throat until she was only seconds away from having her neck crushed.
Just as darkness began creeping into her vision, he stopped.
Instead, he raised his free hand, and before everyone’s horrified eyes, his fingernails lengthened into razor-sharp black claws that gleamed beneath the flickering candlelight.
Bringing them to within inches of her wide, terror-filled eyes, he whispered, "Say it again... or I’ll gouge your eyes out... one by one."
Every single person was struck speechless by the horrific scene unfolding before their eyes. Never had they witnessed a human capable of morphing their hands into lethal weapons, and doubt settled over the room as to whether this man was even human at all.
That realisation sent another wave of panic through them.
If Gwen released Cedric from the blood bond, every ritual they had painstakingly carried out would be for nothing. Not only would they lose the chance to have their deepest desires granted, but they would also have to face the fury of the very goddess they worshipped.
A short distance away, Kaden, who had been thrown closer to the entrance, slowly opened his eyes.
With Gavriel’s back turned to him, Kaden seized the opportunity. Believing he could slip away before the situation grew any worse, he silently began crawling towards the exit, taking care not to make even the slightest sound.
Just as he reached the doorway, he froze.
A few strands of golden hair peeked out from behind the stone wall beside the entrance, and Kaden narrowed his eyes. Then, a cruel smirk slowly spread across his face as a wicked idea took root in his mind.
Outside the chamber, Aliana remained hidden behind the wall beside the entrance, exactly where Gavriel had instructed her to stay.
Her gaze drifted over the dozens of unconscious bodies scattered across the ground, each one taken down with frightening precision.
Even now, she found it difficult to believe that her husband had defeated so many people in such a short span of time. Every movement had been clean, calculated and effortless, as if he had done this endless times before.
Yet despite witnessing his extraordinary strength, the uneasiness in her heart refused to fade. Her thoughts remained fixed on Gavriel and Cedric inside the temple.
Though she could no longer see them, the screams echoing from within had made her chest tighten, and she silently prayed that none of them belonged to either of them.
Her nose had also caught the nauseating stench of burning flesh, forcing her to clamp a hand over it in a futile attempt to block the smell.
As an eerie silence settled over the chamber, a faint, muffled chant drifted from inside. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, hoping with all her heart that Gavriel had succeeded in forcing Gwen to undo the blood bond.
Right then, a faint rustle of movement caught her ear.
Her eyes snapped open just in time to see a hand shooting straight toward her.
And instinct took over before thought could.
Years of self-defence training, combined with the newfound strength flowing through her body, allowed her to catch the man’s wrist in one swift motion. Twisting it sharply, she used his own momentum against him and hurled him violently onto the stone floor.
The impact echoed through the chamber, making every head instinctively turn toward the entrance.