Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Page Ten?—

As I write this book, I am in the Twilight Dynasty watching the royals dance and celebrate the birth of a new prince. The second born. I often wonder when the dynasties will fall to their own greed, and will our magic be lost?

T he mansion is crammed with fae, and too many of them look at me like I'm their saviour. I'm not. The smart ones look at me with fear. I reluctantly leave Story behind when news of Daegan coming back gets to me. I know my apartments are safe. That she's safe and alive. I almost lost her once, and I've never felt fear like it. I can still taste her on my tongue, still feel her wrapped tight around my cock, and the urge to make her my mate is hounding me in my blood like fire. I roll my neck until it clicks as I step around a group of fae in ash-covered clothes. Calix clicks his tongue. "When were you going to tell me you fell for her? That you're mates?"

He's my second-in-command for a reason. He is usually the one who knows me the best. He is my closest friend, and we were born in the same year in the court. His parents were high up nobles, and there weren't many kids around the castle. We used to fight like brothers way before everything went to shit. Calix told me straight that I was a fucking moron from the minute that I met Story for not telling her the truth. He was right. He usually is right, and I should listen to him more. "I love her."

I don't need to tell him anything else for him to understand what that means. I think back to the day that I threatened Daegan in the corridor and she accidentally got hurt with my magic. I warned the Sun king then and there that she was mine. I didn't give a shit anymore if she wanted to be with him. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that she was mine, even play dirty. When she went into heat, being inside her only made the obsession grow and become clear to me what it was I was trying not to feel. Mates.

When I was young and a fool, I thought it would be easy when I found my entwined mate. The full force of the mate bond smacked into my chest when I held her in the shower and saw the scars. I wanted to kiss each scar and vow revenge on her behalf. I wanted to go to my knees and beg her to forgive me for it all. It had been so long since I felt anything real…not since my sister died. Story and I, we are similar in a way I don't think she understands yet. We both gave up and then chose to fight again. Chose to live.

I lean over the banister to watch the blond-haired Sun king bastard as he is adored by his people who think the sun shines out of his asshole. "Fucking prick," Calix curses.

I grunt, agreeing with Calix. Daegan looks up straight at me, sensing my stare, and I smirk just to unnerve him. A silent challenge of what I would do to the fucking murdering cunt if I ever got my hands on him. "Shame he doesn't have an heir so we can just replace him." If he did have an heir and killing him painfully wouldn't cause me a headache from his people, then I'd probably have killed him by now. Either way, he isn't surviving to have a happy ending. I'm a lot of bad things, but the one thing I pride myself on is ending assholes' lives like him. But, for now, he's the last Sun king, and the majority of the riders follow his rule. We need the dragons and their riders in order to win the war against the vampyres.

Calix turns his eyes on me. "The last thing we need is a rebellion within ourselves when there's war outside. We both know the barrier will come down one way or another." I growl at him and he holds his hands up. "I don't mean by killing Story. I mean by the book he has. We need the alliance we have with him to stand more than ever before. I like Story, but killing Daegan for her is a dangerous move."

"I'm aware, or I'd have his head on a burning spike in the middle of the mansion by now." I've dreamt about that once or twice. "As long as he doesn't go near her again, I can keep myself in check."

Daegan's grating voice echoes loud. "I am sorry I've been away and I haven't met you all. I am King Daegan of the Sun Dynasty. I will lead you all into freedom with the dragon army I lead." Prick. "I made a dear sacrifice to open up the mansion and free the dragons, but it didn't fully work. I am still processing that we are trapped within magic once more."

He made a sacrifice? Not Story who literally bled and nearly died? "I hate this fucking guy."

Daegan isn't done. "I wanted to oversee the locking up of every vampyre that has been left alive; whether they're woman or child, they are vampyres and they are our enemies. When the sun rises, we will rid ourselves of them once and for all." My grip tightens on the banister.

There he goes again, making the choices we haven't discussed and choices I want to murder him for. I'm not letting him kill thousands of women and kids because of what they are. If we do that, we are just as bad as the vampyres we are trying to stop. Calix looks at me, and I nod. Daegan is a problem. I knew the fucker had a dream of war and being some beloved king. He fucked his way through half the fae in here and made all of them love him. None of them know the real him, what lies under the pretty smiles of sunshine. At least I don't bother hiding who I am.

"Now I will find a way to bring down the barrier to get back to the Lightsun lands, which I'm sure will welcome their king home."

"He's fucking delusional," Calix mutters. He isn't wrong. Calix's entwined mate stands at Daegan's side, and she doesn't even look up at her mate. I was there the day that Etena lost her memories and watched how it was like a sucker punch to the throat for Calix. They were in love, really in love, and obsessed with each other. Then it was just gone, and Etena is a puppet for Daegan now. She acts like the bond between them doesn't exist, like none of it did. It would crush me if that happened to Story and me. I don't know how Calix managed to stand after losing her like this. Etena might have been from the Sun Dynasty, but she spent nearly all her time in the Moon until she was hurt.

The crowd cheer for Daegan, and I grit my teeth at the smug smile he gives them all. My eyes flick to Calix. "Now that he is back, Story is not to be left alone. Hettie either. Shadow them when I'm not there, and make sure the guards are continuously watching the entrances and exits to the apartment. We have to be ready for whenever he decides to attack."

"I will treat her like my queen until my death." Calix bows his head. "What is your plan?"

I glance at Daegan walking away. "The book is a problem. His riders are the easier task. I am going to take everything the Sun king loves, and when I'm done, he might do us all a favour and end his life." I smile. "I've never seen or opened the book, but he has. He keeps it locked away, but I want it now. I should have taken it sooner."

Calix rubs his chin. "He's not going to give it to you."

"I don't give a shit." I shrug a shoulder. "But the key to getting the barrier down might be in those pages. The more time we spend locked in this land, the more people will hear the tale of Story and the rumour of her death being the key to escaping. I don't want to murder every fae here to keep Story alive, but I will."

"The book is a better option," Calix jokes, but he knows I'm not kidding in the slightest. Everything burns if they try to hurt her. "Ziv…there's a chance here, a slight chance to remake our world, for you to be king of a great dynasty that will be remembered. We lost a lot and we won't survive losing any more of us. Please, don't do anything rash. I love you like a brother, but I know, when it comes to her, you don't think straight." He touches my shoulder. "I saw you when the news of the mansion doors appearing and Maeve flying out the top came in. The panic, the look on your face, reminded me of when you lost your sister and everything that happened then. Fuck, Ziv, you scare me when those you love are at risk, and I know I wouldn't stand a chance of stopping you. The deities brought her here. They set all of this up and linked her to you. She is your mate, and that must be for a reason. The princess never was your mate."

"She was entwined mates with Daegan…" I admit. I hate fucking saying it because there is a chance it means Story could be the same for Daegan. If he has any claim on her, I don't care what it means for my people, I'm killing him.

"Entwined mates are complicated." He looks at where Etena just was. "It's not always love. It can be a worse fate. If he is linked to her, it's not the same as you and her. You're real…you have something. She is good for you."

I pat his arm before walking away, not giving him the reassurance that he probably wants. I can't promise I'm not going to do something rash, because when a threat is hovering over my mate, I will destroy it. Protective desire and blinding fury are all I can feel.

I head straight back to the dungeon before I see Story again. The doors are guarded by Astrid and Estrid. Astrid—I think, as I forget who is who—bows and opens the door for me before staying on this side as they shut me in with Kyrell. They know I don't need their help. Kyrell is sitting on the bed, his head buried in his hands. Mazzis's blood is still on his shirt, and he smells of the Dawn king. Mazzis will survive and I owe him a debt for saving Story. Kyrell looks up. "How is Story?"

I cross my arms and lean against the wall. "Upset about you. If you put her in danger again, then it's over for you. Do you understand? You're staying here under my protection, and you will follow every fucking rule I give you because threats to her die."

Kyrell looks dead. His skin is pale, too pale, and everything about him seems to have been drained away. There is a brightness in the pits of his eyes that seems like an echo of the male he was before. "Because you love her?"

I nod once. He leans back, still looking at me. He is smart enough not to take his eyes off mine when a part of me wants to destroy him for being a threat to Story. It's part of the reason I didn't go after Daegan. I don't trust myself alone with him. The feral part of my soul wants to drown the fucker with moonlight and watch him die. "I love her too. Not in the same way you do."

I know. If I thought he was a threat like that…well, jealousy is a small word for what I'd feel.

"I always wanted a sister. Any sibling, really. My mum told me about Story before I met her. She told me about this girl who she had to send to be a blood slave but she had promised to keep her safe. My mother told me about Story's father, who led a fae and vampyre rebellion with my uncle too. They were raising people in secret to try to get some freedom. He was known as one of the bravest powerborn, and he even convinced hundreds of vampyres to side with him in secret. They wanted the world to change."

He sighs before continuing. "Her father had elemental power, and he was in the army. Unstoppable, some said. Of course, they were found out, and they were ripped apart by the vampyres for sport and to show everyone that freedom is a dream that will never come true. They hunted all the families, anyone who knew, throughout the city. It was brutal, horrible, from what my mother told me. She said, to this day, she doesn't know how we survived and how Story did with her mother when all the other families were killed. But, apparently, her father stood there in the end and told them all that one day a fae is going to rise and burn all of it down."

He lifts his eyes to look me straight in the face. "When I first met Story, I knew it'd be her. She was scared, terrified, but she never truly gave up, even when she said she did. I saw in her eyes she didn't. I told her to burn it all down because those were the words from her father. Because she is brave, courageous and special. I don't think there's probably a single person in this world who will ever deserve her love, but you have it."

He stands up and walks right up to the bars that stand between us. "For that reason alone, I'm going to ask something of you."

I nod once, curious about what he could want from me. "Ask."

"When the prince turned me and I woke up, he informed me that he had Story's mother. I thought she was safe and kept a secret, but clearly not." He touches the bar. "He said that if I didn't bring Story to him…he's going to turn her into a vampyre."

"Why didn't you tell her this?" I bite out. That fucking prince is dead when I face him. Story's mother is all the family she has left, and I know she loves her. Fuck.

"My mother told me all about Story's mother and how fierce she was about protecting her daughter. She wouldn't want me to tell Story, because we both know she would run to the prince to save her mother without a second thought." My blood runs cold. "Story might hate me when she finds out the truth, but it's a risk I am taking."

"And making me take too."

"You love her, and telling her would mean you lose her." He shrugs as I grit my teeth. He is right and I hate it. "Here's our deal. I won't tell her anything that the prince told me about her mother, and you make the deal to kill me if I ever become a threat. If something happens again—you end my life. I didn't die and go through all of this to keep her alive for nothing. I can't end it myself, but you can end my life quick. The prince is cruel, and he plays games. His obsession with her probably rivals your own." He looks away. "Make the deal with me, Moon king, to stop him from ever touching her again."

She'd hate me for agreeing to this when I just promised no more lies. "Fuck!" I rub my face. I know she'd absolutely hate me if she knew I was making this deal. But there's no way in this world or in the next that I will let her go running to the prince. I think we can get the barrier down, and then we'll go after her mother together. It's not a lie, but a way of buying some more time before I tell her. It still feels wrong. "You have a deal, Kyrell." I turn and touch the handle. "And no one loves Story like I do. I do this to keep her alive, even knowing she might never forgive me. The prince, when I get my hands on him, he'll know a worse fate. He won't ever touch her again because he will be too busy learning what it is like to be ripped apart by the moon."