Chapter 83: Stop this wedding!

Zyra stood there awkwardly, with a deep red hue on her cheeks. It was already too late to hide. She couldn’t even cover her eyes and scream, after all, she was the one that invaded his room without knocking. Deep inside her mind, a cheerful electronic chime rang out.

[Ding! Image captured successfully! Saving to the Master Database just in case you need to see them later. No need to thank me. I took pictures five different angles! Aren’t you lucky?]

Her jaw dropped open. Was the system out to humiliate her or scandalize her further? Shut up, you little pervert! Delete them! Zyra screamed back in her mind, her face instantly turning an even more violent shade of red.

"Why are you still standing there?" Hunter growled.

"I-I’m sorry!" Zyra squeaked, her tough boss-lady persona completely evaporating. She spun on her heel and sprinted back out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

In her blind panic to escape, she ran straight into the hallway in a rush and bounced right against Achilles chest.

The man had followed her out of curiosity. Achilles caught her by the shoulders, looking at her bright red face, and then glanced at Hunter’s closed door.

A slow, wicked grin spread across his face. He let out a loud scoff. "Well, well. Why is a wife running away from her husband’s room looking like a cooked lobster?" he asked jokingly, poking her shoulder. "Did you see something you weren’t supposed to see yet? Was there touching involved?"

"Shut up, Achilles, or I will feed you to the beasts!" Zyra hissed, pushing him away.

Trying to regain her composure, she turned back around and began knocking desperately on Hunter’s door.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Are you dressed?! Open up, we seriously have to talk! This cannot wait." she shouted, keeping her eyes strictly glued to the handle of the door.

A moment later, the door clicked and swung open.

Hunter stood there, now properly dressed in a simple black robe, his hair tied up in a bun. Zyra braced herself, expecting him to be furious or embarrassed, but when she looked up, there was absolutely no trace of shame in his deep eyes. He looked as calm and unbothered as a frozen lake. Self-composure seemed to be one of his strongest suits.

Instead, it was Zyra who found herself completely unable to meet his gaze. She looked at his chin, then at the wall, then at her own boots. After all, despite her fierce persona, this was the absolute first time she had ever seen a naked man in her entire life.

Hunter leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms as he looked down at the blushing woman. "So," he said, his voice smooth and entirely too calm. "What was so urgent that it couldn’t wait for a pair of pants?"

Zyra thrust the wedding invitation right under his nose. Hunter glanced at the shimmering silver ink, let out a low groan, and turned to walk back into his room. "Did Achilles get you to try to convince me to attend that damn wedding? It’s not happening."

Zyra and Achilles followed him right inside, shutting the door behind them.

"You must go because you cannot allow this wedding to happen!" Zyra declared, her voice ringing with absolute finality.

Hunter stopped and looked at her like she had just downed an entire jar of badly fermented rice wine. He blinked. "What do you mean, I can’t allow it? It’s my friend’s wedding I do not really have the authority to stop it."

"I mean exactly what I said!" Zyra snapped, pacing the floor. "This Lita Frood is a bitch straight from hell! If your friend marries her, he will live to regret it for the absolute rest of his miserable life! If you care for him for just a little bit, then you must stop the wedding."

Hunter and Achilles exchanged a profoundly confused gaze. Achilles scratched his chin, leaning against Hunter’s wardrobe. "Uh, Zyra? You want to explain that a bit more? You cannot just tell someone to stop a wedding without giving them a strong reason why."

Zyra heaved a deep, ragged breath. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, as if the very air in the room had become too thick to breathe. The raw anger inside her was suffocating. "I cannot allow Lita to marry into wealth and power," she whispered, her voice trembling before she violently stamped her foot against the stone floor. "I will never allow her to live a good, luxurious life! Not after what she did!" Not just this life, but her last life too. She whirled around, locking her eyes onto Hunter. "You have to tell your friend that Lita is bad news, she’s evil. Stop this marriage!"

Hunter walked over to his bed, sat down heavily, and crossed his legs. He looked at her, his face a calm mask, though his eyes narrowed slightly. "How exactly is she bad news, Zyra? And more importantly, how do you even know this bride to be?"

Achilles chimed in from the corner, snapping his fingers. "Oh! yeah that’s right. They both come from Myrtle City in the Jersey Republic. She kind of pointed it out."

Zyra scoffed bitterly, a dark laugh escaping her lips. "Oh, it’s much more than just coming from the same city. The Froods were my foster family. And Lita, my so-called foster sister? She sat there and watched my trash ex-fiancés try to violate me. She cheered from the sidelines while they tried to rape me! If it wasn’t for Spice biting Hans and creating a distraction, I wouldn’t have escaped."

Achilles made a loud, knowing sound, his eyes widening. "Ah! So that is how Hans Duggar died. Those damn bastards! And somehow you were labelled a murderer. Spice should have bitten Lita, and everyone involved."

"Yes!" Zyra cried, the painful memories flooding back, making her eyes sting. "And when I ran, those four trash idiots came after me like hunting dogs. They cornered me at the edge of the cliff. I chose to throw myself into the wild lands rather than let them touch me. I chose death over the plans they had for me." She focused her gaze on Hunter. "Don’t you see it? Someone like Lita, if she has money and power, a lot of people are going to suffer. She should be thrown in the pits and made to scrub beast shit night and day. That is the plan I have for her."