The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 394: Hunt For A Mate

Chapter 394: Hunt For A Mate

Ares and Vlad whipped their heads toward Ari at her sudden reaction, but in that instant, they were more interested in what she had got.

They didn’t say anything, but their questioning eyes were fixed on her to spill.

A grin broke through her lips and a dangerous glint flickered through her violet orbs, indicating that whatever was brewing inside her head was most certainly a dangerous idea.

"No, we’re not doing anything that comes out of your mouth, that’s enough suggestions." Ares remarked in a flat tone, dismissing her idea with a wave of his hand.

She scoffed angrily as she stood akimbo, ready to spit flames his way "You ungrateful little brat, I was really going to help you with my very safe idea." Ari spat out, but it was rather less than what he was expecting her to say.

"Right, we know for a fact that your ideas are all based on thrilling dangers, I wouldn’t be expecting any less from you." Vlad noted and she scowled at him.

"This time, it’s different. There’s no thrilling danger here, I’m only trying to help as a friend and I’m being honest. You do know that I care about the both of you, don’t you?" She said with a serious countenance, her tone laced with sincerity. "Despite how annoying you both are." She added with a sigh.

"Yes, we know." Ares muttered sarcastically and Dabria pouted in gloom.

"Since you want to help so much, what do you have in mind then?" Vlad queried.

Her eyes shone brightly as she proceeded to speak with an excited demeanor. "This is only a chance, not only for Ares to be free from his father, but also a chance for him to have a bit of colour in his very dark life." Ari giggled with a slightly mischievous ring to it.

Ares rolled his eyes as he shook his head and she continued "A hunt for his mate!" Ari exclaimed with an excited voice, her eyes sparkling with visible excitement in them.

Both Ares and Vlad simply just stared at her in silence as if she had uttered gibberish.

Ari, still grinning from ear to ear, stared at them with an expectant look, as she waited for them to say something or elicit a reaction but they didn’t.

"You should both stop staring at me like morons, it was a great idea." Ari said defensively.

"How is finding a mate going to help free him from his grandfather?" Vlad asked in confusion.

"Because then, I’ll have a powerful motivation to help me resist the darkness, just like my father did." Ares pointed out.

"At least Ares isn’t a moron like you." Ari snapped at Vlad.

"Well, you win. That was a great idea." Vlad said as he flashed her a smile, one that almost made her heart melt at the beauty of it.

Yes, he was a beautiful mix of demon and angel, one that mesmerized every eye fortunate enough to grace his sight.

With Ares, she could never swoon over his beauty even though he possessed a kind of beauty that could stop a beating heart, but with Vlad, she had to constantly remind herself that they were just friends and nothing more, yet she caught herself stealing sneaky peeks of him, and sometimes when he flashed her that charming smile of his, her heart would flutter like a thousand butterfly wings.

Ares’s deep voice suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts as he called out to her "If you ogled Vlad any longer, he’d have a hole boring through his forehead." Ares said nonchalantly.

Ari’s face reddened at his words and Vlad had a look of curiosity in his eyes as he observed her. At that moment, she wished she could shove a sword down Ares’s throat. He always had a knack for reading people like an open book and it always gave him the upper hand to embarrass.

Sensing the tension in the air, Vlad swiftly broke the silence "So, what do we do now? Go on a hunt for Ares’s mate?"

Ari pressed her lips in a thin line as she pressed subtle thoughts on the situation "We have no idea who his mate is and the bond is at its most peak when Ares reaches eighteen, but right now, the bond wouldn’t be easily sensed and the connection between them won’t be as powerful until he clocks eighteen, but we don’t have the luxury of time on our side. We have until he’s eighteen to find his mate." Ari reasoned out.

"You’re right, but the bond between you and Vlad is very much perceptible. I can feel the tension between the both of you like lightning on the tip of my fingers." Ares mentioned in a casual tone, leaving them both gobsmacked.

"That is quite the news you’ve got, but I assure you I could never be Vlad’s mate, not in this universe or the next." Ari stated out confidently with a high chin as she rebuked Ares’s proclamation.

Meanwhile, Vlad was rather silent, but his eyes spoke rather loudly as he pondered on Ares’s words and he pondered deeper on sensations and feelings he had so casually shoved aside.

Vlad was a being of both darkness and light, a creature caught between two worlds, never truly belonging to either.

But amidst the uncertainty that plagued his soul, there was one constant in Vlad’s life, friendship with Ari, a witch whose ashen hair flowed like smoke and whose eyes glowed with a mesmerizing shade of purple. Since childhood, they had been inseparable, from children to young adults and despite the fact that they were most likely to be in a fight, their bond ran deeper than blood.

As they grew older, Vlad found himself drawn to Ari in a way he could not explain, he had shoved it aside as mere platonic feelings, but there was something about her, something ethereal and captivating, that stirred a strange longing within him, a longing that grew stronger with each passing day, until it felt as though his very heart would burst with the intensity of his emotions.

And yet, despite the undeniable pull he felt towards her, Vlad could not shake the lingering doubts that lingered in the recesses of his mind. Was it possible, he wondered, that their connection ran deeper than mere friendship? Could it be that Ari was more than just a companion, but his true mate, destined to be by his side for all eternity? Was Ares right?

The thought sent a shiver down Vlad’s spine, for he knew all too well the consequences of such a bond. As a being of both darkness and light, he walked a precarious tightrope between the forces of good and evil, his very existence a balancing act between two opposing worlds.

But despite the dangers that lurked in the shadows, Vlad could not deny the pull he felt towards Ari, a pull that grew stronger with each passing day, until it felt as though his very soul was entwined with hers in an unbreakable bond.

Still, he decided to conceal the growing feeling within him before it would spurt into something beyond his control, but his fear was not of what his blooming feeling would grow into, he feared that she might not reciprocate it back.

So it was easier to bury whatever emotion within him than let it grow to hurt him. He would continue to act as her friend, just friends, Vlad forced his mind to conform but his heart was rather unyielding.

"Vlad, it’s best to ignore Ares, he’s obviously drunk or something." Ari’s voice suddenly snapped him back to reality and he let out a nervous chuckle.

"It’s only a matter of time." Ares drawled with a sarcastic grin as he flashed Vlad a knowing look.

"Anyways, how do we find his mate? We have no idea who she is or her whereabouts unless we bring in every maiden from the kingdom for examination." Vlad blurted out.

"You’re wrong, you both have no idea who she is but I do." Ari said with boldness.

For a moment there, Ares’s face was etched with a look of interest as he sat forward, eager to hear who his presumed mate was.

"Who is she?" Ares asked, his deep velvety voice laced with every inch of gravity and his silver eyes burned with curiosity.

"My mother told me that she had a vision of you and your mate before we were born, she called her the Phoenix." Ari mentioned and his brows furrowed.

"Phoenix? Like the flaming bird?" He queried.

"Yes, apparently, before she was born, her mother took in an elixir made from the heart of the Phoenix to save her because she was dying. As it seems, she inherited its powers from the elixir." Ari explained.

Ares sighed as he asked "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course! My mother told me, I doubt her prophecies are lies. You know, she prophecied your birth too, the birth of the Darkling Prince." Ari said in a dramatic tone.

"So, what do you say we hunt for your mate?" Ari suggested with an enthusiastic voice.