Shattered Time - Chapter 8: The Watcher’s Theater

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.

He became Arthur. He lived his life as Arthur and claimed Excalibur.Now, he has returned with a purpose.Beneath the surface of the world lies a twisted world known as the veil—an dimension where monsters are born from corrupted human emotions and desire. The deeper you go, the more terrifying they become.Each Layer is sealed. Each hides a god-like being, waiting to rise to the surface.Now, Sylas bears the responsibility of keeping the gate between both worlds from breaking.[Keys are passed down through generations.No one knows where they came from, but those keys can open doors to another world — a world filled with deadly trials. If you complete the trial, you return with blessings from gods, mythical beasts, and ancient warriors. The amount of blessings you earn depends on how well you perform.But if you fail, the door shatters… and you are gone forever.If you survive, you are given a permanent rank — a rank that decides your place in society for the rest of your life.]

Henry is a university graduate who happens to be working as a hotel receptionist, though with big dreams of being more than that. All these change for good one day when he finds a way of cracking a very sophisticated technological system, which ultimately empowers him to formulate and develop leading-edge inventions from his bedroom.With a determined mind not only to conquer the market but also to move out of his gray life, Henry starts into his journey of fame by introducing a number of radical technologies that capture the interest of the whole world and hold it.

Three years ago, the sky split open to let in toxic blue and black mist that swallowed the world. Now, inside the last city standing, surviving meant obeying the brutal laws and ranking, or becoming the monsters outside.Maeve Lester, spent the last three years on her knees, as a rankless slave in the city of Kargahart, until she finally became an omega, approved to serve the elite with whispered promises of freedom. She was ready to start her life at the Parthenn dome, until she met him.Valden Malawitt.Her first love and the man who shattered her heart three years ago. And who doesn't even remember her anymore.But Valden wasn't the only one watching her closely. And not the one she ends up being chained to unwillingly.When secrets of the mist are revealed and Maeve discovers more about herself and her wolf, she's torn between the need to hunt, to destroy or to succumb to her desires.