Chapter 19

I write these final pages on my deathbed.

This is a book for my children and for their children and so on…

I know what it's like to be betrayed. I know what it's like to have someone that you care about stand there and hurt you. I know what it's like to pretend you aren't shattering inside because letting them see it is a sign of weakness. But this… I can't hide how I feel. It screams out of me, along with pained words to confirm what I just saw. Nothing compares to the betrayal I feel as I see my best friend die in Ziven's arms. Until he is nothing but black moon dust, floating around the Moon king himself. The man I gave every inch of my heart to, who I love. Who I would have died for without another thought. He took Kyrell from me.

I scream in pain, rushing over to the ash pile, and sink down in front of it, touching the pile for a second. This is all I have left of my best friend. My brother. He's gone. I look up, tears streaming down my face, and each tear is filled with bitter hate. Ziven reaches for me, and I nearly fall back to get away from him. "NO!" He stops, lowering his hand. "Why him? You knew what he meant to me and how much I owe him. I owed him a life! A long, full life, and you just killed him. How could you?"

My voice is broken, and I can't stop crying. I sob in front of him as his own eyes fill with tears. "I did not want to kill him. The prince possessed him and was coming after you. Kyrell and I made a deal that if he was ever a threat to you, I'd end his life. I did what he asked."

"How. Could. You!" I scream at him, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Story, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but I know he wanted this. The vampyre existence without a heart was torture for him. He was in pain all of the time, but he hid it from you. He couldn't even feed to keep himself alive." I can't even listen to the lies. He has to be lying. Yes, Kyrell wasn't happy, but was he starving? Was he in pain? "This is what he asked for, but I am so sorry."

"Ziven, you never thought to tell me any of this?" I demand, my heart shattering. "You never thought to give me the choice or give me a chance to say goodbye?"

He crosses his arms. "The whole time he came back as a vampyre was your chance to say goodbye, and we both know you did. Hate me if it makes you feel better, but I told you I'd do anything to keep you safe. I don't regret anything I do to make sure you're alive and free."

"Fuck you!" I snap, breathless. I can't breathe. Kyrell's last words echo to me. "What did he say about my mother? I heard that."

He grits his teeth. "I made him swear not to tell you."

If my heart wasn't broken already, he makes sure to stomp on it. I can't even barely believe it as he starts telling me a truth I should have guessed. "The vampyre prince has your mother. He turned to Kyrell to send him to come and find you. To tell you that he has your mother and that he'll turn her into a vampyre too if you don't come back to him."

"No." I whisper the word. My mother is with Emyr? No. No. No. I scream at him, again and again until I can't feel anything but rage. "How could you not tell me? I would have gone to find her!"

He waves his hands out. "That's exactly why. You would have taken the bait and ended up back in the prince's hands, where I couldn't get to you. Fuck no. Kyrell did everything to make sure that you had a chance to escape, and even he agreed that telling you meant all of it was for nothing. You'd never be free again. Everything would be lost, because you'd go after your mother. But would she want that?" He stares right at me. "Would the mother you told me about want you to become a blood slave to the prince again for her?"

No.

She wouldn't, but it doesn't matter. I laugh, but it's hollow. "You don't get to make that decision for me, Ziven. That's the point. You didn't trust me to make the choice. You made the decision for me and lied." The ground shakes. "I came back to find you, to make sure that you got out of that mansion. To make sure that you were okay, because I felt like something was wrong. I came for you." I scream at him. "I came for the man I loved when I found him killing my best friend and betraying me." The rage I feel. I can't explain it, the pure feminine rage that screams down my throat. "Stay away from me."

"Never," he snarls.

Coldness spreads across my body. "Then you're as bad as Emyr."

I know I took it too far from the moment I say it, and Ziven flinches in pain. Shock. I want to take it back, but a sound makes me clamp my hands over my ears. Ziven glares up at the skies as Maeve's warning shouts in my head, "They are here. Get to me!"

A yellow dragon darts across the sky, blood pouring off its side, and right behind him is a Silkvir. Horror vibrates through me as I see the beasts Luna warned us about. Their bones rattle as they fly, and they make an awful noise that makes me want to clamp down on my ears forever. They glow an eerie blue, and sickness threatens to rise up my throat as I watch the Silkvir slam into the dragon and rip it apart in a blast of red and blue fire that spreads across the sky.

Ziven grabs my waist, turning me and kissing me before I push him away. "I will always love you, Story Dehana." He pushes me away to run into the forest, back towards the mansion and to where the Silkvir must be. Maeve snarl echoes in my mind. "To the skies, rider."

I wipe my wet cheeks as I turn and rush towards Maeve, who isn't too far away. I can't grieve for Kyrell or even think about Ziven right now. I have to get Hettie away and make sure the fae flooding to this side of the forest have a chance to escape the vampyres. They are like me and they deserve a chance of freedom. Catherine and her dragon take off as I come out of the forest into the clearing, and I throw myself onto Maeve. She stands as I climb, and I'm glad I don't slip just this once. The minute I've settled in, I wrap my arms tight around Hettie, who is shaking. "Just stay down, okay?"

"Did you find my uncle?"

Pain slams into my chest from the sheer thought of him. Yes, and he was killing my best friend. Yes, and I don't know how I can still love him. "Yes, and he's fine."

Maeve needs no instruction to take herself straight up into the skies, knocking over trees with her giant wings. The higher and higher she gets, the more the horror unfolds, and I hope Hettie has her eyes closed. The sky looks like a thousand bugs flying around all at once, slamming and ripping into each other in blasts of red and blue fire. But it's dragons and Silkvir. They're tearing into each other in the clouds, and rain pours down on me as I watch, my mouth parting. I'm so busy looking at the war, seeing my first glimpse of this beast that the vampyres ride, that I ignore the feeling someone is watching me. I turn around too late and see one of them flying right towards us.

With a vampyre rider I know very well. Prince Emyr. Even with the miles between us, fear slams into me as our eyes meet. I was wrong. Ziven isn't anything like Emyr, and now that I'm faced with Emyr, I know deep down that I have to get away. The Silkvir he rides is gigantic and bigger than Maeve, with huge wings of spikes and a rotting body of bones. It roars, snapping its teeth as Maeve turns to face him. She opens her mouth, pure red fire plummeting out of her and shooting across the sky like a star. Hettie screams as I push her down, covering her body, and the heat of the fire washes over me, making me feel like I'm burning.

The Silkvir flies right through the fire like it's not there and slams straight into Maeve.

I scream at the same time she cries out. They both spin round in the sky as the wind moves so fast past us, and I scream, holding onto Hettie and Maeve's scales. One spin, and I'm thrown right off her back with Hettie in my arms. The treeline comes up too fast, too quick, and all I can do is turn my body to hit it first and try to save Hettie.