The Spider Queen - Chapter 4: Dad we need to talk....

I wrote a book once.It was an unhinged fantasy born from my high-school brain, driven by loneliness and too many hormones.It was a world of beastmen, wild freedom, and the kind of romantic attention I could never get in real life. I poured every impossible desire into it: adventure, danger, and yes… a 'lot' of handsome partners.Before I knew it, I had a thousand chapters of pure escapism and pure thrill.Then on a college camping trip, I fell off a cliff.I expected to wake up in a hospital room but nope. I woke up on a soft field of grass, with air too fresh to belong anywhere on Earth.And then something moved behind me.Sticking out of my tailbone was... A tail.My tail?Yellow and black stripes and very, very real.I touched it. Completely real.My ears? Also gone—well, moved. They were now perched on top of my head like a confused jungle cat. And the outfit? Quite revealing, made of animal hide which matched my tail.What was going on?At first, I thought it was a prank. Or a dream. Or maybe karma is finally cashing in. But the more foreign memories evaded my mind, the clearer my situation became.This wasn't cosplay and it wasn't Earth, either.And—surprise—it wasn't even the world from my own book. Welp.I had been transported into a completely different Beastman world as a beast girl called Arinya.Sounds fun, right?Well… it would be, if I weren't apparently the ugliest duckling in the entire freaking savannah! Rejected by every potential mate I stumbled across and sneered at like a freaking eyesore.This was not how I planned my fantasy to come to reality.Trust me—if this is my fantasy come true, then someone needs to fire the author.But then again, after entering this world, I'm suddenly... Attractive.I mean, there's no change to my face and the freckles are still there, but for some reason, handsome beastmen begin to flock around me, because I smell... Pleasant.What's that all about?

Ava’s marriage was nothing like she had anticipated. Despite being married to the man she loved, she had endured nothing but humiliation and misery from her husband for the past five years.She put up with everything in the hopes of one day carving out a space in his heart. But her husband ultimately drove her to the breaking point when he handed her the divorce papers on their fifth anniversary, claiming that he loved someone else. He had taken all her family assets her father had left for her.The shocking truth that the man she had been in love with for ten years had caused her father’s death was the blow Ava couldn’t take it.Devastated, Ava didn’t want to give birth to his child in her womb.------“I loved you with all my heart and gave you everything, but you ruined me and my family, Dylan Brooks. I won’t give you this baby. This baby belongs to me and will go with me to the grave. A cruel man like you don’t deserve to be a father,” Ava said as she slit her wrist.“I regret loving you, Dylan. I wish I’ll never see you again in my next life.” These were her last words before she drifted into the lap of death.-------She thought this was the end of her life. But fate had other plans. She woke up in the past, four years ago, on the day of their first wedding anniversary.Since she was given another chance to rectify her mistakes, she vowed to protect her father and the family business. She resolved to cut all ties with her ruthless husband.But wait! Why did Dylan act so possessive and caring? Why did he declare she was the only one he wanted as his wife?Should she believe him and give him another chance? Or should she take revenge on him for what he did in her past life?--------“Please, Ava…come back to me,” Dylan pleaded with Ava on his knees. “I’m ready to atone my mistakes. I’ll do everything to make you happy. Just don’t leave me, okay? Tell me, what can I do to get your forgiveness?”Ava stared coldly at the man who had ruined her in her previous life. “Do you want my forgiveness? Then hand over everything to me, Dylan. I want you to feel the same agony I did.”

For better or for worse, till death do us part. That was their vows at the altar, but he broke them first..He claims an open marriage is the solution to their childless marriage and that it's to protect her own interests. But all Braelyn sees is a prison built from guilt and lies.One heartbroken night, she stumbles into a karaoke bar and into the arms of Lucien. A man shrouded in mystery, rebellion and danger. His very presence tells her to run but it also gives her the solace she craved.She never expected to see him again after she ran, forgetting his sinful existence, but life wasn't done making a joke out of her.Lucien isn't just any man, but one who can destroy everything she believes in. The man she was never meant to meet. Her husband's uncleThe black sheep of the Volkov dynasty. A man whose desire will ruin her. Lucien knows she can't be his, but he was never a man who respected social norms. He doesn't care about anything but her every sin and touch.All he wants… is her, no matter how sinful it gets.

Lord of the Mysteries, part two.

In 1368, at the end of July. Bloody scarlet will descend from heaven.