Chapter 3

My name is lost to time because of the books.

They were once good, but they are now filled with dark magic.

Be warned.

M aeve flies up above the mansion, and I quickly learn my lack of experience in dragon riding means I'm going to fall off. I lock my body in, tugging on every muscle I have to try and hold onto her as the sheer force of her flight slams into me. She glides around the tips of the towers of the mansion, before gliding in a circle around the clouds above. My breath catches in my throat as I see the thousands of stars around me and how easily it looks like I'm sitting in them. I was a girl who read books about the stars, and now I'm the girl flying through them. I wish I could have told myself this was my future, back when I felt so hopeless. That I'd claim a dragon and fly in the skies. That I'd face my enemies, and I'd survive them. I survived, just like Kyrell always claimed I would.

An echo of a scream, one so far away but carried by the wind, has me turning to face the Nightwell city in the distance. It's nestled on the edge of the forest, but it's easy to see, even in the dark. It's burning. The vampyres right along with the city they once ruled. The barrier of magic that Daegan mentioned is a mile or so outside of the city and glittering white. Sickness rises in my throat as I imagine what is going on in the city and how bad it must be. I can just make out the burning structures and the roars of thousands of dragons that I have just unleashed onto this world as they swarm and dive with mouths of fire.

A part of me wonders if they deserve it…the vampyres who have never stopped taking from fae. Including me. They took and took, destroyed and conquered every part of my body until it belonged completely to the vampyre who owned me. Hundreds of thousands of fae in that city would tell the same tale as me, and they would cheer for the dragons who will be burning the vampyres for their freedom.

But I think of Professor Aleksander Wollke for a second and remember the kind vampyre who showed me nothing but love. He cared for me, protected me, and never once treated me like I was his slave. I know if he could have chosen, he would have never had me as a blood slave but as a daughter and given me the world. Can an entire race be cast into the fire for the mistakes of the majority?

I'm glad Ziven told me to stay here. This isn't a choice I want to make. My hands tighten on the scales of Maeve, my dragon, as we watch the thick forests outside the mansion for any sign of vampyres. I wonder if Maeve went against the vampyres with Atilia on her back or if she never got to fight them because she was stuck in stone in that mansion. I lean down, closing my eyes and trying to speak to her in my mind instead of out loud. "You should make a ring of fire around the mansion to protect it. The vampyres are fast, but they won't run through fire. It burns them."

"Dragon fire burns any race," she responds, diving, and the wind whips hard against my face. I shiver from the cold air, wishing I wasn't wearing a dress with blood soaked into it and nothing else. "And any move I make is with your command, Story. It is we should make a ring of fire. We are as one when we ride."

Something warm floats around in my chest at the sheer belief she has in me. She reminds me of Kyrell but with the fierce protectiveness I once saw from Ziven. I stroke her scales as she flattens out into a smooth glide. Maeve tips her head back before pure red fire, hotter and brighter than any fire I've ever seen, pours out of her mouth. It crashes onto the ground where it stays alive, burning like it might forever. Maeve moves fast, making a ring for a mile around the mansion with thick flames lighting up the night and casting away any shadows.

Fae watch from the mansion door, staring up at me, and I try to push down the insecurity that their stares create. I don't want anyone looking up to me. I feel the heat against my skin as a shivery feeling drifts over me and down my spine. I know that feeling—I could never forget it. Vampyres are here. The vampyres, in red guard clothing, pour out of the forest. Several are stupid enough to try to run straight into the dragon fire, and they end up screaming on the ground before disintegrating into ash. The smarter ones look up at the sky and to us.

I can't see their faces under the red armour, but anger flows through me until I feel like I'm shaking with it. "Burn them." My dragon swoops low on my command, catching two vampyres in her mouth with a mouth of fire. I wince at their screams, looking away as she eats them, and they are soon gone. A vicious snarl echoes out of Maeve as she lands on top of the mansion and spreads her red wings out wide. There isn't a better feeling in the world than riding a dragon, and I feel more powerful than I ever have done. I can see why rulers get addicted to power…to death.

The fire in the distant city is growing fast, and I can hear screams echoing from it that freeze my heart. Ziven. He is strong and his dragon looked as fierce as he is. He will be okay; it's the vampyres who should be frightened of them. Most of them have lived in a world where they are on top of the food chain and no one was ever a threat to them. The food chain just changed, and dragon-riding fae are on top. The dragons are free, and this world will burn under them.

I spot a dragon coming from the fire and smoke in the far distance, fast and swift. They fly better and more trained than I can yet. Maeve braces herself to jump into the sky before she relaxes when the dragon is closer. "It is a Moon Dynasty dragon. You are safe."

I'm not sure what to make of the fact she seems to trust Ziven—far more than I currently do. I'm not sure if I hate him or want him. Maybe with us, it will always be a mix of those two, and the chaos in between is where we live.

I don't recognise the dragon, but they all seem to have changed from the rocky dragons I was used to seeing. It's almost like grey crystal in colouring, and inside its wings looks like grey smoke swirling around, with sharp tips on the edges of its wings. The dragon is much smaller than Maeve, but he or she is fast. The dragon flies around us before slamming into one of the towers, curling around it before lowering its head so I can see its rider. Calix.

The Moon Dynasty dragon rider is someone I could have called a friend, but I'm not sure what to make of him now. He didn't exactly betray me when he couldn't tell me anything because of the book's magic. It comes down to the book and Daegan, and Ziven too. Calix is in black armour that matches Ziven's from earlier, and he is covered in ash and blood. It's enough blood that I worry it's coming from him, but there doesn't seem to be an injury on him. His eyes are nothing but panicked. "You're wearing a dress in a war, Story?"

"Not by choice," I shout back over the howl of the wind. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with Ziven?"

He shakes his head. "I came for you." I frown. Me? "You need to go and stop Ziven before he does something he regrets. He isn't thinking straight. The city fell quickly because there was a building rebellion in the city by the powerborn fae, and the lessborn fae joined them. They locked out the vampyres on the streets, killed those they couldn't get outside, and Daegan sent his army to burn all vampyres. Most of the fae have escaped to the forest but not all of them. There are thousands locked in the city and thousands of vampyre women and children too. Ziven is too far gone to see reason. He will listen to you."

The wind blows my messy hair around my shoulders, the red mixing with the colour of my dragon as my heart pounds. "You're his best friend and second in command. Why do you think he'll listen to me, of all people?"

"We both know everything he does now is for you." Calix points to the city. "Get to the city and stop him. He…Ziven needs you. I'm begging you, Story. I know you must feel betrayed by us all, especially him, but Ziven is in love with you. We all knew you were in love with him for months, and if he wanted you dead, he could have done it himself at any point. He didn't; instead, he protected you. He fucked up and he can explain it all, but please, if you still care, stop him doing something that will haunt him forever."

I can't face the truth in his words right now, but I can face the Moon king.

"Fly." I lean down, clutching her scales tightly as she listens and jumps into the sky with so much force I nearly sail straight off her into the clouds. I can barely breathe over my racing heart as she flies fast, up into the clouds but towards the city. We go past dragons who move out of the way for her, and many turn to watch Maeve. Maybe she is a queen to them.

Maeve flies faster than I've felt her fly before, and when she dives, my stomach fills with butterflies and I nearly scream. I feel like I'm going to fall right off her as I hold on, praying to the deities that it's not too late to stop Ziven. The silver moon shines down on us, a full moon that bleeds high in the sky and feels like an omen of death as I get my first look at Nightwell city when we break through the clouds.

It's burning.

There's fire everywhere, and the beauty of it is lost in death and chaos. The smoke fills the air like a grey cloud, choking and killing, but the fire is like a wave that has crashed into the city. Dragons are everywhere in the sky, some diving and catching vampyres in their mouths, and others are on the ground with their riders, fire pouring out of their jaws. This is what Daegan wanted. Revenge. War. The end of the vampyres. The revenge of the dragons and their riders…and it won't stop. I let them out; I did this, and how many are dead already? The dragons are like a storm, endlessly swirling around the city and leaving nothing but screams and death in their wake.

Ziven is easy to find ,but maybe that's because I can find him anywhere. His massive dragon outsizes every other dragon here except for Daegan's, but Daegan's dragon looks the same colour as the others. I don't have to instruct Maeve to fly to him. She takes off to the other side of the city by the coast, where vampyres are desperately getting their families into the boats like that might save them. It won't.

Ziven is burning a row of houses before he lifts his head, and even in the distance, I know he has seen me. The Moon king looks every inch the powerful man he was born to be as he rides his dragon in the night. His dark hair is a mess of ash, and his silver eyes are glowing like stars. Moonlight is wrapped around his dark, tight leather clothes, and the sword on his back catches the silver light so it almost glitters. Ziven is as beautiful as the moon, even when he is riding through flames of death.

He lifts the reins, his dragon moving with him like they are one, and he turns to face me. Maeve heads to the cliff side, landing right on the edge where the smoke isn't too thick. It's silent up here, but the screams of the burning city are a sound I never want to remember. Brythan lands with Ziven, and he climbs off as I slide down Maeve's wing, ripping my dress even more. I must look a mess, but Ziven doesn't look at me like I am. He looks at me like I'm his salvation. Ziven waits for me on the edge of the cliff, moonlight pouring over its king as he watches a city burn. The moon mark on his cheek seems to reflect the flames.

I touch his arm, but he doesn't pull his eyes from the city. "You're going to burn the entire world to ash. Stop."

Ziven turns to stare at me, and for once I can read his every emotion. Protective, possessive, and pure merciless love. "For you, it burns. For you, there is going to be no world left to ever hurt you again. I once asked you who hurt you, and your answer broke the part of my soul that would ever show the world mercy again."

Loving Ziven was never a choice for me, never something I could escape, even when I wasn't sure we could make it. Loving him is hard, messy and dangerous, but no one can make me feel like he does with just a sentence. He will burn the world for me, and I know I'd burn it for touching him, too.

I step closer until our bodies are touching, locking my eyes with his until I feel like our souls are watching each other. Every bit of my body that touches his feels alive, and I want to stop him. Calix is right, he will regret this, even if he doesn't feel like it right now. "You're right, most of them deserve to die, but not all of them are monsters. My first master wasn't a monster, and he was a vampyre. He never hurt me, not once. We can't judge everybody, and there are vampyre children in this city who are going to burn. You want the king who took this world from you all, and he isn't here. He doesn't care if you kill every vampyre here, and he will use their deaths to fuel a war against the dragon rider race. There are hundreds of thousands of fae slaves in Nightwell; be their saviour and not just another king."

Ziven presses his forehead against mine, breathing me in. His voice breaks and my heart does too. "I nearly lost you. I fucked up and nearly lost you, Story."

"I'm not gone," I breathe, my eyes filling with tears. "But I can't watch you burn them for me. Stop."

He kisses my forehead before stepping away from me. Moonlight bends to the command of its king as it falls from the sky like falling stars. Pure silver light floods the city and stops every fire, stops every dragon, and within a few minutes, there is silence and smoke. The dragons take to the skies, and Daegan flies past us, his eyes locking with Ziven in a silent challenge before landing on the cliff edge. "What the fuck are you doing? We?—"

"There is no we in any of this, Daegan. You come a step closer to Story, and I will fucking kill you," Ziven growls. "Now fuck off. These are my lands, and we are done burning them. You have no power over the night lands."

Daegan grits his teeth, wiping ash off his cheek. He looks a beaten wreck, and everything pretty about him is damaged. I like it. "You're a fucking fool, Ziven. She is just?—"

" Mine ," Ziven snarls. "And you don't get to say a word about her. Fuck off. Last warning."

"We both know that isn't the whole truth," Daegan snarls right back, looking once at me with pure venom before turning and getting back on his dragon. What did that mean? Ziven turns back to the city, watching it like a guest, and I forget about Daegan. I hate him for trying to kill me and trying to use me. I fell for his charming smiles and lies. I should have known that the king I couldn't stop thinking about, who became my best friend and lover all in one breath, was the only one I could trust the most in that mansion. I'm not sure I trust him, and I still want to know what happened, but Calix's words have gotten into my head. Ziven could have killed me at any point. I think I only pretended to hate him, when the truth was, I didn't. Ziven always saw right through me. "My lands once held the most beautiful city in the world, and now look at it…it is a burning disaster. A shell of what it once was when my father ruled. It feels like only yesterday I stood here with my mother and watched the festivals for the moon."

But that's all gone now. I almost forgot this is the first time he is seeing this in hundreds of years. I haven't gotten my head around the fact he is hundreds of years old…they all are except Hettie.

"They need a leader." I wave to the city, to the fae and vampyres who will be fighting down there. "And everything can be rebuilt. We are safe in here. You can tell the surviving fae what we used to be, and we can dance at festivals again. We can get it all back with the dragons and a new king."

"And queen," Ziven agrees, touching my back and leading me back to our dragons. Queen? Ziven really has a one-track mind, and I can't be his queen. I'd be a disaster. "We will return to the mansion and make a plan. Until then, I will make some dragons stay to keep the people calm. I need to see that Hettie is okay after what Daegan did."

"What did he do?"

He parts from me. "Used her to distract me from you. He knew there were only two people I care about, and he used them both to get what he wanted. That's why, by the end of this war, the Sun king is going to die."

We both know killing Daegan won't be that easy, but I'm done defending him. Ziven can kill him for all I care. As I look over my shoulder, I pray that Kyrell's mother isn't in that city. That my own mother isn't either. As much as I want to see them…I know the city will be a home for death and death alone.