[YUZUKI]
"Kitten?" Yuzuki breathed defeatedly as she looked at Matsui. She couldn't think of any possible reason why King Kazuya would want to involve her mate in this mess.
Frankly, it was an overdraw even for the King, and yet as he looked at Matsui, Yuzuki could see that there was something else. She could see that her mate was hiding something from her. It was strange, really, given Matsui was never one to hide things from her.
"You already have my life Kazuya. Let the woman go. She doesn't deserve any of this," Yuzuki let out in one breath. Her time was close and she refused to let go before Matsui was someplace safe.
Understandably, she had the fates on her side because given the way she had bled and how big the wound was, Yuzuki should have been lifeless. And for a moment, she thanked the goddess for letting her hold onto life for a while longer.
It wasn't something to be proud of and yet Yuzuki was grateful for it. She was done for, and there wasn't a thing that she could do to change the minds of everyone. Perhaps she just needed a little help, right?
"Oh, come on, Matsui. She is DYING to know why I came to this place. Will you or will it be me?" King Kazuya taunted and Yuzuki felt her heart hurting for her mate. She knew the King so well and she was aware that Kazuya would never let Matsui go.
She knew so well that her mate would suffer and yet a part of her dared to hope that the moon wasn't that cruel to Matsui and what was hers. She hoped that perhaps her Matsui would be alright, but who was she kidding?
This was a battlefield and a home that was never going to be used for a while thanks to the bloodshed. If her mate survived, she would be dead in a few years anyway. But what if?
"He wanted me to…" Matsui began as she held onto Yuzuki's bleeding belly. The blood was seeping so fast and it made Matsui uncomfortable. She had wished for better days for the both of them and yet here she was, stuck in a loop with a deranged king.
"Speak up, Matsui," King Kazuya insisted as the rain hit them harder.
"He wanted me to reject you, Yuzu… he wanted me to choose him… but I couldn't do that. I couldn't betray you like that… I'm sorry. Maybe if I did, maybe our people would be alive and well.
"Maybe this wouldn't have returned out like this," Matsui sobbed defeatedly as she held onto Yuzuki. She was intelligent enough to know that the King would claim her eventually.
She just hoped that her mate knew that she tried to fight. She had put up a fight and the King had punched everyone for it. It wasn't fair what King Kazuya was doing, but Matsui knew that there wasn't anything they could do to make it all better.
Their lives had been cursed and they wouldn't ever be able to see each other again.
"Oh, kitten… I wouldn't have blamed you for that, but I am glad you chose me," Yuzuki said as she looked at her mate, before turning to the King who was seething. He couldn't believe that after all this time, after all his attempts and intimidation, Matsui would still choose Yuzuki.
It was against his plans and he despised that side of the truth. This was not how shit was supposed to be for them.
He was supposed to be the winner against Yuzuki and yet as the mates held onto each other – with one dying and the other beaten up – King Kazuya knew he would never be able to get Matsui.
He could see it in the way the woman clung to Yuzuki, the way that she trusted Yuzuki even in the worst stages of their lives. It was a sight that the man had never gotten to witness from any of his concubines and he was a jealous man.
"You bitch! Choosing this dying Alpha over me? What is wrong with you?!" King Kazuya asked as he grabbed Matsui by the hair roughly and brought her to his feet. He hated that she was not seeing how majestic he was and how powerful he was.
Any other woman would have long given in to the whims of the King he was asking, a man who got everything he ever wanted. A man who had servants and a man who was determined to make Matsui's life better.
So, this was new to him. He had never been rejected even in death. He had never been despised like that and it was messing with his head. What the hell was happening to him? Or had he lost his touch?
Oh, but the King had a lot of thoughts and yet as he looked at the smirk on Yuzuki's face, King Kazuya knew why could never be able to win with Matsui.
"Yes. I chose her. I always will, King Kazuya. She is my true mate and I won't let her go," Matsui said before she grabbed a blade and dug it into her belly too, as if to share the agony with her mate.
It was an ill-fated love that they could agree to. This was not what anyone had thought for themselves and yet as King Kazuya watched the woman he had burned an entire pack down for, try to take her life, he couldn't stand them.
"Well then. You made your choice. Let's see if you will ever be happy with each other," King Kazuya said before he grabbed his twin blades and stuck them into Matsui's lungs, puncturing them instantly.
The blood that was sputtering was a lot and yet King Kazuya wasn't bothered. Perhaps because a part of him hoped that Matsui would change her mind from the pain. But Matsui never did.
She was a loyal mate who had chosen Yuzuki from the very beginning.
Maybe she had known that they were doomed eventually and she still stayed.
"No!!" Yuzuki cried out weakly, her eyes shutting and opening because of the blood loss. It was as if the moon goddess was letting her know that her time was up and that she needed to leave. But how was she supposed to leave her Matsui suffering?
'Please… please don't let me leave her. Please let me stay with her till the end,' Yuzuki prayed silently.
She knew that there was no salvation for the both of them at this point, especially with the king's laughter fading in the distance, along with the distant sound of his troops and his horses.
The bastard had left them to die here and it wasn't cool. Then again, what else was the scorned King supposed to do? He didn't like the both of them and he wasn't about to try and act like they were on the same side anymore.
Matsui had rejected him, and that was a wound that the mad King would probably nurse for a while.
"It… It's just us now… Yuzu," Matsui breathed as she stared at her mate. She was fading faster than she had thought and she was too sure she would even make her sentences make any sense to her mate.
"Don't talk, kitten. You did great," Yuzuki said sadly while Matsui laughed meekly.
"For you… If you… would do anything…thing. I'm sorry… so so…rry… I couldn't… pro… protect us, Yuzu."