Chapter 22

Page Twenty-Two.

I've decided what I have to do next. I will fix my mistake before it ends the world. My dragon must live…and so must they.

"We're leaving. This life for you is over."

Kyrell pulls the quilts off me, his whisper feeling louder than it is in the darkness. I blink at the light as he sets a lamp next to my bedside.

I grin, pulling him into a hug and not caring about the consequences. "You're back. I've missed you," I express.

He hugs me back but then he pulls away, lifting my face. His magic spreads across my body, healing the bruises he finds. "You don't look well. I'm so sorry I couldn't get back." He lowers his hands to mine. "The prince used my power on his new experiments, and I'm guessing he has been careful enough with you so I wouldn't need to come. I believe he saw how disgusted I was and the fact that I clearly care about you." He sighs. "I was never leaving you here, and we are leaving. Get up."

"What are you talking about?" I shake my head.

"We're going. Now." He pulls me from the bed, but I yank my hands from his. "The king is coming here tomorrow. The prince is distracted tonight but this will be your last chance. There isn't time to tell you everything, but I promise this is the only chance we have to get out. I've made sure everything will?—"

"Like last time?" My voice is hollow, as empty as I feel. "I don't want this birth year to be even worse by losing you. It feels like a joke that I've just turned twenty-two and you're doing this. I'm not trying to escape with you again. You'll end up getting killed, and I cannot live with that. I can barely live with myself as it is!" My voice breaks and tears fall too fast between us.

He cups both of my cheeks, holding my gaze. I know he cares about me, loves me—I can see it—but this is too risky. "I lost the love of my life that night, and there will never be anyone else for me. If I don't keep trying, he died for nothing. I made a vow to the deities that I would get you out of this life. You're my best friend and you need a chance of living in this miserable world where not everyone ever gets a chance. You need a life out of here, to be that bright and fucking amazing person I know is there in your soul."

I sob, clasping his arms. "I can't—" I can barely get the words out. "I'm broken, used, and I should be dead!"

"You are not any of those things. You're special and you're my best friend." Tears fall from his eyes. "You don't need to be his blood slave. I'm not having that be your life, so we're going to escape. There is a boat waiting for you to the south, and you've only got to get to it. Promise me when I get you out of this castle that you'll do that if I'm not with you. I know a way out, a secret passageway of tunnels above the castle ceilings. You're going to go that way with me, okay?"

My body shakes. "I can't. Please don't expect me to be brave. I am not. I'm not you!" I whisper. "You're so full of hope and life, and you want more from the world. I just want to die!"

"You're not a very good liar, at least not to me." His voice is gentle. "You are brave like your mother and fierce like your father was rumoured to be. I've planned this for months and months, knowing that you are more than strong enough to break out. I believe in you, even if you don't believe in yourself. Lewin and my mother wanted you to escape just as much as I did."

"He will kill me if he catches me trying to escape again. He would kill you first to punish me." I can't risk him. He is all I have left. "This would be madness. Just madness."

"Live, Story Dehana. Come on, try to have a life that you choose. Even if you die trying to escape, isn't it better than slowly dying in here?" He looks right into my eyes. "We both know he will never let you go. He really believes he loves you when that thing doesn't know what the word means. I love you; you are my family and I can't stand back to watch your soul being chipped away day by day anymore. We have a chance. I want you to promise me that you're going to try to live. That you're going to fight, with all the blood still pumping in your veins that belongs to you—not him. Because this world needs you. It needs readers, dreamers and people who love without conditions."

"Okay," I breathe the word out. "I don't want to die here. I don't want to be here. I-I can choose to leave with you and take the chance even if I'm scared."

Saying the word okay is so much more than just a word; it feels like snapping out of the slumber that I've been in. How numb I felt since my twenty-first birth year, since I was a teenager and taken by the prince. My heart beats faster, not in fear this time but in my strength. "Then change and let's go."

I quickly throw on the clothes hidden in the bottom of my drawers, dark leggings and a matching top, before coming back to Kyrell, who is waiting by the door. He nods at me, offering me his hand, and I take it before we are racing out the door. My guards are lying on the floor, snoring deeply, and I don't have time to wonder what Kyrell did to them. My hair flows behind me as we run, only a single braid pulling the locks from my face, and he stops suddenly, opening a door, and we both go inside. He locks it behind us, slipping the key into his pocket. It's dark, but there is light coming from the window, and I can just about make out the shelves of the closet. He pulls out a sturdy box into the middle of the room, standing on it, and he moves a metal cross-patterned grate in the ceiling. "Up you go, Tory."

With his help, I climb on the box and jump into the gap, Kyrell pushing my foot up to help me get in. My boots slide on the stone, making too much noise and I pull them off, leaving them in the tunnel. It's a small tunnel with cold air blowing through it from somewhere, and way too many cobwebs. Kyrell comes up next, far more gracefully than I did, pulling the grate back over and clicking it in place. "Here are the locks." He points them out to me, tiny latches on the edges, as he clicks them all shut. "We need to get to the south of the castle—this way." We crawl for a while through the tunnels, and I stay close, keeping as silent as I can. Vampyres can hear anything, but I doubt they would think to look up here. When we get to a cross path in the tunnels, he looks back at me. "Do you remember the path you drew from last time?"

"Vaguely," I whisper.

"Just run through the gardens. I've paid people to look the other way, and there will be fae looking out for you, making sure their masters don't see," he tells me. I thought this was a random plan, but it sounds like he has been planning this for a long time. "Get to the sea. There'll be a boat waiting there for you."

"You sound like you're not coming with me."

He shakes his head. "Wherever you are, Tory, I'll be with you. Even if we both end up dead. I need you to know this in case anything goes wrong."

I crawl after him through the tunnels again, and it's so tight, the walls pushing against my shoulders all the way and making it hard to breathe. When we get to a corner, he opens up a grate and looks down, waiting for a moment to make sure it's empty. "That way goes over the throne room." I glance at it over his shoulder. How narrow it is. "I won't get through there, but you can. I'm a guard in the castle. No one's going to look my way, and I'll find you."

"I don't want us to?—"

"Story, I believe the deities are on our side. We will be okay." He kisses my forehead. "Be brave." He drops down the gap before I can talk him out of it, winking playfully up at me. "See you soon."

Reluctantly, I click the locks shut and begin crawling over and into the tunnel. There is a gap at the edge, where the stone has worn away, and I can just about see him through the grates, walking with his head bowed, but then he stops. My heart's in my chest as I powerlessly watch as two guards grab his arms and start dragging him towards a room. The throne room. I can't breathe as I can do nothing but crawl faster through the tunnel, searching for the entrance to the tunnels above the throne room. As quietly as possible, I find the right one and search the tunnel above the throne room until I get to a small gap where I can see in. There's only a sliver of space between the stones, barely anything to see through.

I watch as Kyrell is thrown in front of the throne, and sickness rises in my throat. The prince isn't here anymore, but there's a man on the throne. A man with a crown that can only mark him as one person—the vampyre king. Blood red crystal spikes stretch up like thorns all the way across the crown, and his long silver hair falls in locks all down his back. His eyes burn bright orange, like fire almost, but his skin is pale. It almost looks like it's cracking with age. He might have once been handsome, but now he is hard to look at, and my blood runs cold. He has my best friend. The king leans back, clicking his long nails on the arm of the red throne. "You were guarding my son's favourite blood slave's room. Where is she?" When Kyrell says nothing, he continues. "I went to get her, and she's gone."

"I have not seen her, your highness," Kyrell answers, barely holding in the fear in his voice. Or the hate.

"Do not lie to your king, fae slave." The king's roar echoes so loud it hurts my ears even up here. "I know you have her hidden, but it is only a matter of time. You have been known to my spies for months, Kyrell. Your mother too. I enjoyed torturing her for information, but she did not talk."

"You bastard!" Kyrell roars, and the guard grabs his shoulder, punching him hard in the face with his other hand. The king carries on, "You know our laws, boy. You have been known to consort in the city with the fae that do not want to be ruled anymore. Fools, the lot of you. I will enjoy ripping out any trace of this rebellion with my teeth."

Kyrell lifts his head. "You will never be rid of us. We never asked to be ruled by you." He stands up, and the king lifts his hand, telling the guards to let him. "The fae will get revenge, and you will burn for it. You will never find her either."

Kyrell. Tears slip into my lips, the salty taste doing nothing to stop me from wanting to go down there and risk everything. The only reason I don't is because we would both end up dead, and Kyrell wanted me to promise to live. I promise, Kyrell. I will live for you.

The king gets off his throne, heavy and expensive clothing draped in red and silver. "For years, I've looked for something across every part of this world." He begins walking around Kyrell, his thick boots slamming onto the tiles. "A book, two books actually, but only one of them really matters to me. It was hidden by someone, someone that I loved so long ago. She took it, and in it contained magic on how to turn fae, like yourself, into vampyres. Only certain bloodlines could work." He stops in front of Kyrell. "I asked my son for help, and he asked for something in return. My son has refused every marriage offer that I gave him, every female that I presented, until he admitted he was in love with someone else. A fae. I understood him. I have a blood slave myself and she is perfection. If I could turn her into a vampyre, I would. But I need this book to continue my work. The last known records of it were in the city. I told my son, if he found it, he could turn his precious blood slave into a vampyre and marry her. He found the book two years ago."

My heart nearly stops. He wanted to turn me into a vampyre, a monster like him? "Only a few days ago, he made the magic work. I came here to witness him turn her, a mere fae bitch, into a vampyre princess. Tell me where she is. It is an honour we wish to give her. She will bear his children, live at his side forever, and one day be a queen."

He doesn't speak; he doesn't say a word. I know in my heart he would die keeping me safe—I'd do the same for him, but I can't. I cover my mouth as the king yanks Kyrell's head back. "I will rip you apart to find out where Story Dehana is. You will talk."

"She's free, and nothing you could do to me would make me tell you where she is." Kyrell laughs and the sound echoes in the throne room like a ghost. I will stay and watch, and when he is thrown in the dungeons, I can get him out. We can still escape together. We can still—"She is free from your monster of a son, and she will live! I will never tell you where she is."

The king looks him in the eye, nodding his head. "I believe you." Suddenly, the king slams his hand into Kyrell's chest, and I barely hold in my scream that would mix with Kyrell's as his heart is ripped from his chest. My best friend stays on his knees for only a second before he falls with a thud on the ground.

He's gone, dead.

He died to protect me.

The king roars as he squeezes my friend's heart into nothing but slush and blood. "Find her. Search the castle. Search the fucking city and find my son. She couldn't have gone far, and bring her to me!"

The guards run out, shouts echoing with the command as the king walks out of the throne room, leaving Kyrell dead in the centre of it. Live, Story. Keep moving. I can hear his voice in my head like he is still alive, and I move. With tears falling down my face, I quickly get moving, scurrying down the stone. I'm unsure of which path in the next crossroads, but I can't stop. I keep going forward, keep moving, keep living. For my best friend. I have to live—for my best friend.

When I come to an exit grate that leads outside the castle, I slowly open the locks and look around. I don't see anything but the stars and the moon for company. The entrance to the Hydra Forest to the north is in front of me, the thick wooden gate that is swung open in the wind and rain. I'm on the wrong side of the castle. I have to take this chance. I climb out of the grate and run into the forest, and I don't look back.

I blink from the memory, pulling my eyes from the forest outside the window, and look down at the book I was reading, Daegan's book, as I don't have a title for it. I'm reading the last pages of my book when the bedroom door is knocked twice, and I sigh, putting it down before walking over to the door. Daegan is waiting on the other side in a dark brown tux. His eyes widen as he looks me over from head to toe. "Where did you get that dress? It wasn't one I left out."

I clear my throat. I thought he might not like the dress, but I really do. It's the first dress I've chosen for myself. The midnight purple dress is beautiful, and I loved it right away. The top half has glittery purple fabric and a tight corset that falls into a ballgown skirt, which looks like stained glass flowers. It shimmers as I move, glittering almost. A long slit reaches up to my thigh, making it easy to move in. "It's not just one colour. Ruelle gave it to me, as she claimed she was too old to attend in a dress." I touch the gold leaf necklaces around my neck. "But I wore these that you left for me. Thank you."

"What did you mean by the colour?" he questions, stepping into my room. If he was mad, it's gone now, and he seems content that I chose to wear the necklaces he selected.

"When you're in the dark, it's purple, but when there's light, it looks green." Daegan tilts his head, shining sunlight from his hand onto me, lighting up the dress that sparkles green. "Lovely, right?"

The light fades. "If she wasn't from the Moon Dynasty, I'd thank her. You look absolutely exquisite in this dress." He steps closer, running his hand down my spine. I wish that, when he touched me, it felt like it did when Ziven did. I don't feel anything. He glances at the book on the side when I step back. "Are you still reading the book I gave you? I thought you'd be done with it by now."

"Yes, I'm on the last page, but we can go?—"

"We have all night. Read it," he offers, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I need to put my shoes on first." I grin at him. I quickly slip on my heels, happy they fit so well. I'm not going to ask how Daegan knew what shoe size I am. I grab the book, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reading the final page.

"I found a way to save them, but it's going to cost me. I cannot live with myself any other way. I will take the books, and I will do what is needed. May the deities bless me with hope and not hate me, but he might. War crushes every soul that enters the battlefield, but what if I could stop the war, just for a time?" I turn the page, only to see the rest has been ripped out. I lift the book. "Look, the ending's been ripped out! I won't know what she did. That's so frustrating."

"Maybe we can find the pages after the ball." He offers me his hand.

"Are you sure you don't know where they are?" I run my fingers over the ripped pages, my loose hair falling over my bare shoulders. I didn't braid it tonight, and I tuck it behind my ears. "At least twenty pages have been ripped out of the back. I'm surprised I didn't notice it before."

Daegan slips the book from my hands and puts it down. "I will find the ending for you. It has to be around here somewhere. Now come, I really want to dance with you." He really looks very handsome. "Are you any good at dancing?"

For some reason, the question really bothers me. I haven't told him much about my past, yet he claims to love me. If he knew me at all, he'd know I'm very good at dancing and it's one of the things I was taught by Emyr that I like. I was forced to dance with Emyr nearly every weekend, sometimes more than that in a week. I was taught to dance to absolute perfection, but he never knew I enjoyed the freedom I felt when I was dancing. I've danced with my leg broken once. I've danced and danced until my feet are torn up, because I was always a puppet on his string, doing anything he commanded. If I hadn't escaped, it would have been like that forever.

He can never find me, which means I can't leave. Even if I could escape, what would be the point? I haven't looked for a door, a way out, in a long time now. I don't want to be trapped with someone else again, but in here? I'm safe. "Can we talk after the dancing and the ball?" It's time. Even if he hates me, it's time to tell him how I feel. I refuse to be someone else's possession when I don't love them.

"Of course. I can never refuse you." He leads me to a part of the mansion that I've never been in, through the auditorium into a ballroom in the back. It's like the auditorium, almost, but with curling staircases around the edges instead of seats, wrapping around the tiled dance floor that must be a mile long. There's an orchestra playing at the front, music I've never heard, but it's strangely familiar to me. The ballroom is packed to the edges, and I feel like an intruder, here celebrating when I didn't become a dragon rider.

The majority of people are dressed in golds, yellows, or brown dresses. I wish I had worn them now; I stand out too much. They have a bit of orange in the crowd but not much. The men's suits are all brown, and there is so much of the Sun Dynasty in here that I wouldn't even know if anyone from the Moon Dynasty was even present. They'd be engulfed in all of this. I look around the crowd, straightening my shoulders as several people look our way. "Come and dance with me before someone tries to steal you away."

Etena catches my eye from a corridor leading out of the room, and she's not wearing a dress, instead, just her usual clothes and weapons. Not that I actually expected her to wear a dress. She watches me back and smiles once, which I return as Daegan leads me to the other front of the room. He spins me around once, pulling me back into his arms. "You're a good dancer, Dae."

"You've never given me a nickname before. I like it," he replies with a grin. After a few minutes, he has figured out I know this dance well. "Where did you learn?"

I clear my throat. "My master liked to make me dance."

His eyes turn stony. "I'm sorry." I lean my head on his shoulder, content to let him lead the dance and forget the past for tonight. He keeps his arms wrapped tightly around me. "I've enjoyed all these weeks with you, getting to know you. You feel like you're so much to me."

I don't have the words to tell him that I do feel like he is a very good friend but I'm not sure I feel exactly the same way he does. "It's been great to get to know you, too." If deflecting was an art form, I know I'd win awards for it. He only hums in response. We dance for several songs before we take a break to get a drink and talk with some of the people from the Sun Dynasty, who seem to know more about me than I possibly could ever know about them. Daegan is halfway through a conversation when Etena steps up to his side. "I need to talk to you. Alone."

Daegan leans into me. "Wait for me here. I'll come back soon."

He quickly leaves with Etena, while I wonder what that is about. I watch someone playing the violin so effortlessly, while I've never been good with musical instruments. My mother once tried to teach me how to play the piano, but my fingers were always too clumsy, and the violin, I know I could never play like that. "Dance with me."

I turn, never even hearing Ziven step up to my side. Ziven is holding out his hand, but my mouth parts when I get a good look at what he is wearing. Ziven is a gorgeous man; I've always thought that. The intimidating part of him usually outweighs the beauty, but in a tux, with a black crystal crown…he is breath-taking. His hair is tidily brushed to the side, the top buttons loose on his black shirt, and he is not wearing a tie, but somehow, he makes it work. Casual, yet dangerously devastating for any woman. But his eyes are nothing but serious, pure silver moonlight. "Where I come from, it is extremely rude to refuse a dance."

"You can refuse me, Storm," he offers, more of an offer of peace between us than I've ever seen. "I will never force you to do anything."

I take his hand, surprised by how quick he is to tug me onto the dance floor. He spins me around, pulling me back into his arms, pressing our bodies together. We move together like we've danced a hundred times, so effortlessly that I don't need to think about how my body is moving to the music. I know people are staring. I know I should look around, but my eyes are fixed on his like we are the only people here as he spins us around to the song until it ends, and he steps back. There is a look of indecision in his eyes as he pauses.

"Come with me." I don't get a chance to ask where we are going as he leads me through the dancers and to the side of the ballroom, to a staircase, and we go up together. It leads all the way up to the top, nearly above the ballroom as another song begins to play. It's louder up here, the music echoing and amplifying. My eyes widen as we get into a small, cozy room. It's made of pure glass on every side and in the shape of a dome.

Standing in it feels like standing in the stars. "This is so beautiful." Ziven is staring at me like he is starving, and I've seen that look before. Felt what it's like when he gives in. I glance at my dress, and the darkness has made it pure green.

"Like you." Ziven tugs me to him once more, and I wrap my arms around his thick shoulders.

"I never had you down as a dancer, Ziven. Why'd you bring me here?" When he doesn't answer, my heart races. "Luring your enemy alone is a good way to get rid of them."

"Nothing I do will ever make me rid of you." He runs his hand up my back, sending shivers down my spine for more than one reason before weaving his hand into my hair. He pulls our faces close so there's not an inch between us. Our lips are only seconds away. My body seems to come alive under his touch, remembering what he tastes like, wondering what it'd be like for him to kiss me again. I crave it. Every touch from him, knowing it could be my end, knowing that he's dangerous and I really shouldn't want him anywhere near me. "Do not trust Daegan, Story."

My blood goes cold with the warning. He has never called me by my real name before. "Are you jealous?"

"Perhaps, but that's not the reason I'm warning you." He searches my eyes. "I know you're lying about things in your past, and I really hope the one thing you're lying about is that you can't get out of here. If you can, find a door. Go. Don't ever come back. Go tonight."

"Ziven…why would?—"

His lips take mine, demanding and carnal with every stroke. He claims me with his mouth, with a scintillating kiss that he steals so easily from me, and I'm helpless to do anything but enjoy him. Want him. Need my enemy more than I want to breathe. He breaks away and lets me go. I stare at his back, breathless as he walks away from me, and he leaves me with nothing but the stars for company and my lips burning from his touch.

I stay with the stars for a while before going to join the ballroom, Ziven's warning running over and over in my mind. Mazzis soon finds me and asks me to dance with him. My feet are killing me by the time that I manage to break away and refuse any more dances from the many people who ask. Just as I go over to the table of food, Daegan returns to the ballroom, heading right for me.

There's a bit of blood on his collar and a faint smell of smoke that blows over me when he is close. He looks scruffier than before, and I can't help but ask, "What happened to you?"

"There were some escaped…animals. I was helping, couldn't leave Etena alone to deal with it." He wraps his arm around my waist. "Do you want a drink, or can we go somewhere alone if you want? I'll just get asked to dance with all the ladies here, and I really only want to see you tonight."

I pick up two biscuits and grin at him, pushing Ziven's jealous warning to the back of my mind. Daegan has done nothing but help me, guide me, and look after me since I got here. Ziven has done the opposite, and I would be dead if he had won. "I trust you and I'd love to leave."