The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans-Chapter 221: Dark and Vile

Lorraine’s POV

Liandrin’s words echoed in my skull.

"Before he was the Leader of the Crimson Hunt... he was my husband."

The room felt too small. Too tight. The air itself seemed to press against my lungs.

Before I could even form a question, Felix’s voice cut through the silence.

"The Leader was your husband?!!!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

His shock mirrored the chaos clawing through my chest.

Kieran turned slowly toward Liandrin

"How?" he asked.

Liandrin tilted her head slightly in his direction "Your mother was still pregnant then," she said calmly. "So of course, you don’t know about what happened"

She paused.

"But your family, Kieran...." her voice sharpened, old bitterness seeping through, "the Valerius Hunter family has always been bloodthirsty and power hungry."

"Every evil faction in this kingdom can be traced back to your bloodline," Liandrin continued. "Every rot that festers beneath our history. Even this toxic power-caste system, Lycans, Elites, Nobles, Ferals, history records that a Valerius Hunter created it."

My breath caught.

Memories surged unbidden, the things I had seen, the truth my wolf had shown me. Avelar. Broken. Consumed by grief. Turning his pain outward until it scorched the world.

Liandrin wasn’t wrong.

"Everything bad," she said coldly, "always has a Valerius Hunter at its center."

I swallowed hard.

Avelar had created the caste system, but not out of cruelty. Not at first. He had done it after Maeryn was burned alive. After his mate, pregnant with his child, was taken from him in the most horrific way imaginable.

Grief had twisted him into something monstrous.

And suddenly a thought crept in, quiet but poisonous and terrifying.

If something happens to me....

If history repeats itself.

If I die.

Would Kieran become what Avelar became?

A blood soaked tyrant, drowning the world in his rage?

The idea made my stomach churn.

Alistair shifted, breaking the heavy silence. "If Conan Valerius Hunter is the Leader," he said slowly, "and he was your husband... then why do you want him dead?"

Liandrin’s head snapped toward him.

"Because he did this to me."

The words vibrated with deep fury.

"I wasn’t always like this," she continued, and for the first time since I’d met her, something raw bled through her voice. "I was not born with red and white eyes,I wasn’t hated and feared, I was only just another werewolf who could cast spells."

"And I hid it," Liandrin said. "Because I knew people like me were never accepted."

My throat tightened.

"So I hid. I survived. And then I met Conan."

Her lips curled faintly. "And he became my poison disguised as medicine."

The room was utterly silent now.

"He claimed to love me," she went on. "All of me. Even the part that could cast spells. And I believed him." Her voice dropped lower. "When he asked me to marry him, of course I agreed. He was the eldest son of the Alpha King. That meant one day, I would be Luna Queen."

I could almost see it, young Liandrin, hopeful, foolish, in love.

"But the truth," she said, "was that he only wanted me for power."

Kieran’s jaw tightened.

"The royal Lycan family are all bloodthirsty beasts," Liandrin said flatly. "But Conan.... Conan was something else. Dark. Twisted. His Lycan power was never enough for him."

My skin prickled.

"So he delved into forbidden dark magic," she continued. "Experimented with it. And when he met me, someone who could cast spells effortlessly, he saw an opportunity."

My hands curled into fists.

"He wanted to experiment on me."

"I was naive," Liandrin said. "He told me it was for the greater good. And I believed him." A bitter laugh escaped her. "His goal was to turn me into something called a Hexborn."

My breath stuttered.

"He claimed the first Luna Queen was a Hexborn," Liandrin went on, "and that she was the most powerful being this kingdom had ever known. He wanted me to be like her."

I felt sick.

"So he pushed me. Tested me. Broke me. He experimented until my body couldn’t take it anymore." Her voice hardened. "He turned me into something dark and twisted."

Her fingers curled slowly at her sides.

"Even my appearance began to change."

My chest felt tight, like it was being crushed from the inside.

"He said a true Hexborn was meant to have one red eye and one white eye," Liandrin said quietly. "So he blinded me."

The words rang in my ears.

"He permanently painted my eyes white and red."

For a heartbeat, none of us breathed.

Then Kaelani exploded.

"So you are fucking blind?!!!"

Liandrin didn’t even flinch.

"That doesn’t mean I can’t see you," she said coolly. "My ears are trained to detect the slightest change in the air when you twitch even a muscle. My wolf’s sight combined with my hearing works far better than your fragile normal eyes."

Kaelani shut up instantly.

"What happened after?" I asked softly. "What went wrong?"

Liandrin’s face darkened.

"Conan’s father, the Alpha King at the time, was a strict, no-nonsense man," she said. "Eventually, he discovered just how far his firstborn had fallen. The dark magic. The experiments."

"He stripped Conan of his birthright," Liandrin continued. "And decided to punish both of us."

Then her lips curled bitterly.

"But Conan is cunning."

"He convinced his father that I was the evil one," she said. "That I corrupted him. That he was merely a victim of my influence."

My nails dug into my palms.

"With how hideous my appearance had become," Liandrin went on, "it was a very convincing story."

Rage burned behind my eyes.

"The King imprisoned me," she said. "Locked me away in chains. While Conan walked free."

My heart shattered for her.

"I tried to accept it," Liandrin admitted quietly. "I truly did. But I couldn’t."

Her voice sharpened.

"One night, I overpowered the silver chains and the wolfsbane. I escaped the dungeon." Her lips thinned. "I found Conan."

The air in the room felt charged.

"And I plunged a dagger straight into his heart."

A sharp breath escaped Felix.

"I killed him," Liandrin said flatly.

I exhaled shakily.

"But I was captured again," she continued. "And by then, the Alpha King was on his deathbed. It fell to his second son, Kieran’s father, to sentence me."

My gaze flicked to Kieran.

"He could have killed me," Liandrin said. "But he didn’t." Her voice softened, just a fraction. "He banished me to the Outlands instead."

She let out a slow breath. "That’s when I knew, even he understood how vile his brother truly was."

"But you said you stabbed Conan in the heart," I said slowly. "He should be dead. So how is he alive?"

Liandrin shook her head. "I was shocked too."

She turned slightly, pacing a step.

"After I was banished, I heard the news. On the day his body was meant to be burned, the coffin was opened."

Her lips pressed into a thin line.

"And there was no body."

A chill ran down my spine.

"I don’t know how he survived," Liandrin said. "But I know he did." Her jaw set. "So I spent years in this house, casting spell after spell, trying to track him."

She stopped.

"And now I finally know where he is."

Her head turned toward Kieran.

"My tracking spell has locked onto his current location."

The room seemed to hold its breath.

"All I need you to do," Liandrin said calmly, her gaze fixed on Kieran "is go there and cut off his head."

"So he never comes back again this time."