Chapter 2

The deities were once nothing more than trees, grown deep into the lands of the Twilight Dynasty and loved by the dragons whose ancestors were hatched within the bark. One Twilight king ordered them to be cut to make books so he could be all powerful. Two books are all that survived the fires of the revengeful dragons who lost their home… An orange book burnt that night long into dawn.

I 'm riding a dragon and I'm going to die. I feel cold, not like the cold of being outside in the snow in the dead of winter, but the kind of cold that has sunk into my bones, into my very blood, and I can't breathe through it without my chest rattling. I don't know whether it's from my blood loss or the sheer cold wind blowing at me, threatening to push me straight off the back of the beautiful red crystal dragon I'm awkwardly riding. I can't stop shivering, and everything is blurry. I'm going to fall. The moon hangs high above me like a taunting deity and only reminds me of him.

I hate him.

I hate them all.

Liars, the lot of them. For a moment, I feel like we are going to fly right into the silver moon and be lost to the stars for eternity. But the dragon veers to the left of the mansion, and we crash straight into the trees, several branches smacking into me, and I scream on impact. I roll straight off the dragon's back, down its wing, and I roughly slam onto the muddy forest floor with a gasp. The thick smell of leaves and forest fill my senses as I finally stop rolling, the bleeding hole in my stomach screaming with pain. I feel closer to the end of my life than I have been in months.

With a cry, I roll on my back so I can look at anything but the forest ground as I die. I'm going to die for them to be free. Those liars who don't deserve it. My rage gives me strength and clarity not to feel frightened as the dragon roars into the sky. I look up at the fierce, striking dragon as it leans over me. Its head is so big that I feel lost in its shadow, and one of its teeth could be the same size as my arm. Its wing crashes into the ground with a thump, and the moonlight shines right through it, onto me until all I can see is silver and red light. This dragon is almost crystal clear to see through, but its body is covered in thick, glittering scales.

Beautiful.

The silver moonlight only makes its scales brighter as it looks down at me, and the heat of its breath blows around my body. I hold my hand over my stomach, feeling fresh blood pouring from the wound. Daegan tried to kill me. He used me and hurt me… And everyone else lied to save themselves. Even though the dragon broke the glass ceiling, not a single one of them deserves freedom. My teeth clatter as I stare up at the dragon, who could so easily end my poor excuse of a life.

"You were tested in the Decidere, and I watched. You were brave like your mother when you believed in your soul you couldn't be; you were a warrior like your father when you have never been trained to be one; you were a survivor when you knew your body was broken; and you are now my rider. You were found to be stronger than any dragon below, and I have waited for your rebirth, Story Dehana. Now we ride to save this world."

The dragon's words come back to me as I stare into her purple eyes that burn like actual fire. I'm tired. I'm so, so tired. The ground shakes with every step as she gets closer, and she watches from above me. She chose me as her rider, and she is a girl dragon. This wild, huge dragon chose me, and I don't think she made a good choice. I don't have the strength to get up off the forest floor, and I doubt anyone in that mansion is going to help me. I wouldn't want their help.

Bitterness stings my throat as I picture the Moon king, like he is right here. I realise with a horrid feeling in my heart that he has been telling me the truth from the beginning. I'm a traitor, or a reborn one, in his eyes. Still, he warned me about Daegan, and yet he still left me alone with him in the end to die. Betraying bastard. They all betrayed me. I realise they've all got what they wanted—my death. The princess I read about, she died for all of them and somehow signed my death right along with hers. Except dying is not the plan I fought for. It can't end like this. I want to live. "Your life does not end here, Story Dehana. We have only just met, and you are a survivor. We will survive this night, and it will be one more battle you won."

Her voice is so loud and yet softly spoken in my mind. "How can you speak to me?" I whisper around the pain. I can hear in my mind, and I feel her in my soul like she is part of me now. Like somehow, she has wrapped her claws tight around my heart and sunk them in forever. Like Ziven did, and then he ripped them out when he betrayed me. I fell for him, and he lied.

"We are bonded through time and generations, through birth and rebirth. There is no space, no world, that will ever part a rider and their dragon. You are my rider, Story Dehana and the deities above us. I chose you as mine and you will recover."

She chose me? "Why? I'm not this princess?—"

I swear she laughs, but I'm in too much pain to care. "No, you are stronger than she ever was. The Princess Atilia was born in luxury and never fought for anything in her life until her death. I have waited for you to come back, and I watched the skies on the night you were born. Encased in stone, I saw you enter the mansion, and I knew our time had begun."

A gasp of pain echoes from my throat. "I'm sorry then that I'm going to die. I would have liked to get to know you, too." I look up at the stars and lift my hands to see the dragon markings dancing on my arms. The fierce dragon who chose me leans right over my broken body, her hot breath blowing against my face even warmer now. But she can't breathe life back into me.

Someone might be absolutely terrified looking up at a dragon, whose mouth could easily clamp over them and kill them in a single huff of fire or bite. But when I've got nothing to lose and death is chasing me, something in my soul doesn't feel terrified anymore. I've been used as a blood slave, then used as a way for the fae riders to escape their trap, and I don't want to die on this cold, damp forest floor. Not yet . A tear that looks like silver starlight drips from the dragon's eye, down her cheek, before dropping straight onto my stomach. I gasp as it feels like it burns my injury from within, and I scream through the pain.

The pain is gone within a minute, and any bad feeling in my body is gone with it. I run my hands across my flat stomach, feeling for the injury that Daegan did but finding nothing but my usual scarred skin and torn dress smothered in blood and mud. My hair is a mess of windblown red and black locks as I push it aside to smile at my dragon. She saved me. "Rise to your feet, my rider."

I can't believe what I'm feeling, what I'm seeing, as the dragon looks to the sky. "You healed me."

"Dragons only cry for their rider. Not everyone has betrayed you, Story. I never will, and not everything is as it seems. One king's choice was not the other's." Her wing nudges my arm. "Stand at my side where I can watch. We are not alone, and an enemy is coming to us on wings."

I climb to my feet as another dragon flies above us, its huge wings blocking out the moonlight in the forest right before it swoops down and lands with a thump that sends my heart racing. I stand by my dragon's leg as she roars, and the nasty sound can only be heard as what it is—a warning. It's a brilliant bright yellow dragon that looks like pure sunlight, beautiful, slender and half the size of my bonded dragon. There is still rock on its legs that is breaking away, revealing the true colour, the true dragon underneath. Daegan sits on the yellow dragon's back, and he looks right at me. For a second, I actually see some sort of unease in his face as he looks at my dragon and then back to me with surprise. "The rumour is true then. You survived and you're now a rider of Maeve."

Maeve. The name rolls over me and I like it. I lift my head high because there isn't a damn chance I'm showing an inch of weakness in front of him. Daegan looks every inch the king of the Sun Dynasty in gold shiny armour and his gold crown dug into his hair. The golden king here to save everyone by murdering me. It's ironic that murder will paint him a hero. "What do you want, Daegan? You have your freedom and my hate, wasn't that your plan?"

Daegan runs his hand through his blond hair and flashes me a charming smile. It doesn't work anymore. He is a good liar and very good at twisting people's feelings, but we both know he might be the king of the Sun Dynasty, but his heart is black and rotten. "I didn't want to hurt you, Story. Let me explain?—"

My dragon roars loud enough to shake the leaves out of the trees before baring her teeth at him, and the smell of smoke from her mouth fills the air. I wouldn't stop her if she tried to burn him to a crisp. I hate him too. "I don't want to hear anything from you ever again! You could have told me the truth from the beginning and showed me the book. If I did make the spell in another life, maybe there was a way to undo it without killing me, you fucking monster! You could have taken any path other than trying to make me fall in love with you and then attempting to kill me. Do you want to know something?" I look into his eyes. "Even when I was your friend, I knew something was wrong with you. Something bad. It's why there was never a chance I would have fallen for you. I doubt anyone could love you when you're a monster. The deities are said to judge us, and I'll pray they judge you hard for this."

I was owned by a royal monster before, and I will never let myself be used by another again. Emyr and Daegan have a lot in common, and I was a fool not to see it.

Daegan blanches and I know I struck somewhere in whatever he has left of a heart. "And you think Ziven loves you?" He laughs at me, and my cheeks brighten. "He left you with me, knowing I wanted you dead. Where is he now?" He cocks his head to the side to listen to the wind and the silence. "Not here. Maybe there is something wrong with you, Story. Maybe you're the problem and not me."

"Why are you here?" I refuse to let him show how hard his words just hit. I don't think there has been a day in my life that I haven't thought something is wrong with me. Something unlovable. I've thought it my entire life, but I refuse to let his actions dictate how I see myself. He made a shit mistake and attempted to kill me. I know I wouldn't have done the same to him. "I don't want to talk about Ziven with you."

"The magic didn't fully break because you are not dead. There is a barrier over Nightwell city and for miles around it, including here. Ziven will be happy to reclaim his lands, but to get to my lands, the spell needs to be broken." He tightens his grip on his dragon, who has a saddle of gold on its back, with more gold strapped to its chest. This must be Odemis. "We never asked you to lock us away, princess. You still got us trapped. I don't know how you just healed yourself, but you have to die. Don't think I take any pleasure in doing this."

"That's a lie, and we both know it. You've been using me for months, trying to figure out a way to make me love you. I'm also not a princess, and I'm not her! I wouldn't choose to save any of you liars." I wave my hand in the forest. "Go and find the vampyres. You deserve everything they will do, but I'm done. I'm done with everyone in that fucking mansion."

He sighs, but I watch his hands now, knowing damn well that he's sneaky with his light attacks. He fights like a coward. "Not all of them lied. I have the book, and whoever has the book is in true control of the mansion. Everybody that entered the mansion was blood bound to the book. It commands them like I. There's only one other person who is strong enough to resist that command, but I told everyone else to lie, and the book helped make sure they couldn't interfere. There were a few, like Mazzis, who tried to tell you the truth in other ways. Books and hints. Never breaking the command but skirting around it with wit." He shakes his head. "I must have a heart, because I'm telling you that for nothing."

He's telling me out of guilt.

"Ziven could have told me, then?" He was my enemy to begin with, and now he's…I don't know, but I hate him for this. I don't think there is ever a way we can fix it, and I doubt he cares enough to want to. He knew all this time, and he didn't tell me. That hurts more than Daegan attempting to kill me. Maybe Daegan was right. I fell in love with him when I shouldn't have, but the Moon king doesn't love me. I feel like I'm the same as the princess—obsessed with a man that isn't mine.

I look up as dragons start filling the sky like a wave of nothing but coloured wings. Most of the dragons are yellow, like the sun, and I know they are with Daegan. Some are more of a burnt orange, but there are hundreds of them pouring out of the mansion now. I drop my eyes back to the Sun king. "You've got your war. You're free of the mansion. Isn't that enough for now?"

Daegan's laugh is hollow. "I want the world back, and my lands freed of the vampyres. Your death is the only wa?—"

Maeve growls in warning, and fire spits out of her mouth onto the ground between us. She is huge, and I think she could take down Odemis and Daegan in a fight. Daegan knows it too, as he looks between us and frowns. I smile. "I'm not as weak as you thought I was. Come for me and see what happens. When Maeve is done with your dragon, I will kill you myself, Sun king. We aren't friends and you literally burnt any part of me that once cared about you, so fucking try it."

Daegan looks at me like he has never met me before. Good.

Maeve feels proud, or maybe I'm imagining feeling her emotions. "His dragon is weak in light of mine. I am a queen to those of old dragon blood. Tell the Sun king if he takes one step towards you, then I'm going to make sure the Sun Dynasty dies with him and all of them burn."

The venom in her voice is nothing like the soft way she spoke to me before. I clear my throat. "Maeve claims to be a queen of the dragons, and she warns that you shouldn't go anywhere near me, or all of the Sun Dynasty burns."

He grits his teeth. "How did you claim her?"

"She's mine." I smile at his frustration.

"The Twilight Dynasty had the biggest dragons, and yours is the only one left. Yes, they were royalty among the dragons." I feel Maeve's pain like it's my own. Something terrible happened to the other Twilight dragons, and my eyes fill with tears. I am feeling her emotions . I reach out and put my hand on her leg, needing to comfort her somehow. She looks at me for a second, only a second, because she wants to keep her eye on Daegan, and her purple eyes tell me everything. She has suffered like I have. "It will be a shame to end her, but I will have every single dragon in my army attack her at the same time to get to you. A hundred dragons against one? We will win."

The ground shakes as a new dragon lands to our right, distracting us both, and a chill dances down my spine. Ziven. The Moon king and my enemy who kissed me and wrecked my heart. Ziven is sitting on his dragon, in all black armour that curves around every tught mnulcar of his thick body, and a silver cloak falling from his shoulders to his waist that matches the silver earrings in his one ear. His black locks are windswept, and yet he still looks perfect.

My heart pounds faster as his eyes meet mine, and I can't see anything but anger in the silver depths of his striking eyes. I have to look away, and the new dragon is a good distraction. His dragon is all pure black crystal that shines silver, with rows of black teeth in its massive mouth, matching the black spikes down its back and on its tail. It's bulkier than both Odemis and Maeve, and he is close to the same size as Odemis—huge—and familiar as its fiery eyes turn to me. I know this dragon, even if it was covered in rock the last time we saw each other. He came and saved me in the Decidere.

My eyes are pulled up, locking with Ziven's, and all the air leaves my lungs at the fury I see there. He runs his eyes over me before smoothly sliding down his dragon's leg. Daegan has climbed off his dragon too, and he walks over to Ziven with his back to me. "As a king, surely you see what I did was for the best. If we take her together, our people can still be?—"

Ziven punches him hard enough that I hear a crack, and blood splatters across Ziven's face, into his dark hair, and Ziven's fury glows in his eyes. Their dragons roar as Daegan stumbles back a few steps. Ziven is on him, punching him again and again, until Daegan falls in a bloody lump in a puddle of mud. "You fucking fool! You've only known her for a short time, and you're going to risk everything for her?"

Moonlight acts like shadows as it tightens around Daegan in the puddle, who is glowing with sunlight to try to escape. It's hard to look at either of them. Ziven reaches for Daegan and grabs his arm, snapping the bone in two. I don't think I'll forget the sound of the break and how it feels like any alliance between the dynasties snaps right along with it. Daegan's scream is loud enough for the deities to hear. I should feel good that he is being hurt, but all I feel is sickness rising in my throat. Ziven grabs Daegan around his throat and lifts him like a bloody doll. Blood coats Ziven's hands, and Daegan's light hair is smothered in it.

Ziven finally speaks and each chipped word is full of hate. Rage. So much rage. "I warned you at the ball, if you touched her, you'd die. I fucking warned you and you still went after what is mine ."

Mine.

Daegan claws at Ziven's hand as he chokes. Ziven isn't done. He might kill him and I'm not sure I want to stop it. "Then you scared Hettie and hurt her. She's your fucking niece, and you used her as a distraction. They both belong to my dynasty, and I am going to enjoy murdering you for going anywhere near them."

Hettie? What did he do to her? I know Ziven isn't joking about killing Daegan, but as I look to the sky of dragons and hear the fires they are beginning, I know he can't kill him. "Ziven." I barely say his name, and when he looks at me, right into my eyes, all I see is two people: the man I love even when I didn't want to and the man who lied to me. "We've got enough problems with the mansion open and Nightwell city within the barrier of magic. That is a city full of vampyres and fae slaves who need to be saved. They will be attacking soon." I step forward and Ziven's burning scent wraps around me. "He is pathetic, but he is the king of the Sun Dynasty in a time of war. I want nothing more than to watch you kill him, but not right now. Let him go."

Ziven doesn't move and I carry on. "They're going to come and attack us no matter what. They're fast and quick, trained and have weapons. The vampyres are the real enemy here." My eyes drift to Daegan, who is pathetically wheezing. "He is the Sun king, and he tried to kill me, but I'm telling you to let him go. If that isn't enough to convince you how much of a threat the vampyres are, then nothing will and just kill him."

He releases his grip on Daegan's neck, but Ziven doesn't release him from the moonlight, the shadows of pure silver wrapped tightly around Daegan's body that are cutting deep lashes on his arms, legs and chest. Daegan doesn't scream, but he is shaking with pain. Ziven's voice is cold and empty. "You can thank Story for saving your pathetic life." He waits. "Now."

"Th-hank y-ou." Daegan manages to spit out, but there is disgust in his voice that no one could miss.

"Careful," Ziven's murmur echoes in the forest. He may have whispered the word, but the full force of the Moon Dynasty king echoed within it. "You're speaking to my woman and the future queen of the Moon Dynasty. I suggest you begin expressing your gratitude with your majesty and then respectfully go from there with your apology."

I blink in surprise at Ziven's claim on me.

Daegan gulps and looks at me. "Your majesty?—"

He is cut off as Ziven wraps silver shadows around his throat. "I sensed sarcasm and now I'm done giving you a chance to even speak to her. You're dead."

"Ziven!" I shout at him. "For fuck's sake, he got the message. He's pathetic. Just let him go."

Ziven's jaw tightens as he looks at me, and the shadows flicker away. He doesn't look back at Daegan, like if he does, he won't be able to stop himself from killing him. "Get on your dragon, Sun king, and get to the skies. You're a king rider. We can talk about the rest when the vampyres have burnt." Daegan is smart enough to climb to his shaky feet, and he practically runs to his dragon before taking to the skies.

I finally relax a little now he is gone. Relax as much as I ever can around Ziven.

Ziven walks right to me, all male arrogance that I'm used to from the Moon king. I back away when he is close. He frowns but he stops, looking at the space I made between us like it's on fire. "I was a blood slave to the vampyre crown prince and abused by him for years. I thought when I ran and found freedom, even in that mansion, I was done with royals abusing me, but then…then the Sun king tried to kill me because I'd finally let myself fall for you!" My shout is half sob, half roar. I don't keep the rage in my voice from ripping him apart. I can't even see his face through my tears.

"Why do this to me, Ziven? Why not just tell me the truth? Daegan said that the rest of them were bound by the book. Catherine, everyone, they couldn't tell me. But he said that you could! You called me a traitor; you made me your enemy and then hated me. You also kissed me; you also danced with me and trained me. You also made me laugh and feel safer than I ever felt in my life. Why not just tell me the truth?" I shove my hands into his chest, and he lets me shove him back a few steps. Tears fill my eyes until I can't see, I can't think, I can't breathe. He lets me hit his chest over and over until my fists hurt. Until my face is wet with tears and I just want to scream. I want to scream and scream until one of us falls. "You let me fucking love you! Was it all part of the plan, to get free of the trap? Did none of it mean anything to you!" I smack his chest one more time and stop. My hands are shaking as I suck in cold air. "You just claimed I was yours. If that is true, why did you leave me with him?" My chest heaves as I finally meet his eyes. His silver eyes are smothered in pain, shattered, broken and cracking as we stare at each other. Like two lovers in a star-crossed path. "Did I mean anything to you?"

I'm not strong enough to stop him from closing the space between us. He presses his forehead against mine, and he breathes with me until it's no longer like sucking in air to feel alive. Until his touch calms me, and I hate him more for it. "I hate you."

"Story, you mean everything to me, and I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry." He kisses me and my body comes alive for him, ignoring my screaming mind, burning for him like he isn't our enemy at all. He kisses me like that can be the answer to everything. Only when I'm breathless and taste him on my tongue like a drug does he place his hands on my waist. "I owe you a long explanation, but I need you to trust me just one more time. I need you , Story. I need you to stay by the mansion with your dragon and protect Hettie. Protect those in there who cannot fight and do not have riders. Our history is in that mansion, and vampyres cannot be let in to destroy it all."

"I still hate you, but I love Hettie, and if you're going to fight the vampyres, then I will stay with Maeve for her sake." I nod once and make space between us. I can only think straight when he isn't holding me.

Ziven searches my eyes, but in his, I see the same stubborn conviction I usually see. The same frustrating, gorgeous and powerful king that I kissed only hours ago in a ballroom under the stars. "I mean what I said. You're mine and I am going to beg, plead and do anything to prove to you that you're mine. I'm yours. I won't let Daegan touch you again." He heads to his dragon and pats the leg of the huge black beast. "Brythan, we ride for war!"

I know I need an explanation, but the idea of the vampyres getting anywhere near Hettie terrifies me. I turn and attempt to climb onto my dragon in a stupid torn dress, pulling her scales until I get onto her back with my entire body shaking with nerves. There is almost a seat shape on her back between two crystal spikes, and I settle into it, wrapping my arms around the spike in front of me. "We protect the mansion tonight. Tomorrow, we leave for good. I can't stay here. Daegan will try to kill me, and Ziven, he has my heart, but he doesn't deserve it. I'm done."

If I do stay, Ziven will tear my heart apart more than he already has. If I made the barrier, maybe I can leave through it. I have to try. I promised Kyrell I would choose me, I would fight for my future and live. This isn't living, not anymore. Maeve's fierce voice fills my mind. "I fly wherever my rider commands." She jumps off the forest floor and straight into the smoky skies as I scream from the shock of the air smacking into me, just as the bells of war echo from Nightwell city.