Chapter 6

ChapterSix

These dreams haven’t come to me in a long time, and I’m glad for this one so Calliophe is free of this world for one night. The Rift feels darker than any part of my world, and I wonder what happened to it or if it was always this way. For a second, I hope it’s not fucking real, these dreams of this dead place, that none of it is real. I’m back in front of those twelve damn thrones, but this time they’re not empty. I’ve had this dream for hundreds of years, but the thrones have never had people in them. The thrones sink into the mud, the blood and bone beneath them, and there seems to be more dead around than last I saw.

I stand knee deep in it as I stare at the thrones, and eleven new faces look back at me. Only one of them I barely know. I met Louie outside Calli’s flat once, and he stared at me like I was a monster. He was scared back then, and I hated that I frightened him when he was just a kid. He isn’t scared anymore.

Each of them has gold crowns on their heads, and they shine brightly within the darkness. Louie sits in the middle throne, and he rises from his seat. A male stands, tall and lean, and he doesn’t look like a child anymore. Louie is an adult, fully grown, a supernatural haze to him hanging in the air. He’s definitely not mortal anymore.

“Ah, so it’s not just your mate that appears in my dreams. It turns out the link between you means that I can pull you here too, Wyern King,” Louie begins.

“Stay the fuck away from my mate, Louie,” I growl at him, calling for my powers, but I don’t feel them in this place. It’s like darkness and shadows do not exist, even when I can see them.

It’s a dream, after all, and it’s clear these rulers are in charge. Louie grins, almost mortal- looking for a moment. “Darkness and shadows only belong to me here. The mighty king of the Wyerns is powerless.” He walks closer. “Do you think Calli would have been able to save me if she never met you?”

“No, you were lost to this place before she ever had a chance,” I respond. “For that, I am sorry. I should have seen the game afoot.”

He begins circling around me. “What if she never met you? Had she never been turned to a fae, I would not have been in danger. The Fae King would never have hunted me in the first place, and I’d still be mortal. Maybe your world would not fall in the end. Does she hate you for twisting her fate?”

He is taunting me with his knowledge of Calliophe and how close he is to her. Taunting me with half-truths to make me feel guilty, but it won’t work. Louie was always in danger. She is going to try to save this male because she loved him as a child and she feels guilty, and the bastard knows it. He isn’t an innocent child anymore, but he is going to use that to sway Calliophe into making dangerous decisions. “I have a feeling that your destiny was to end up on this throne, Louie. Like mine was to sit the Wyern throne and not the fae. You can choose how to wield your power.”

“This is true,” he replies. One of the females rises from the throne. She has long white hair and dark black eyes that match Louie’s, along with the scent of death and rot clinging to her. She comes over to us, wearing nothing but a silver gown that is soaked from the waist down in blood. She stands at his side, placing her hand on his arm. “When we go to the world of the light, to our home, can I be the one to kill him?”

“No, Anilla,” he responds. She bows to him. He rules them too. There might be twelve rulers on this throne, but for whatever reason, Louie is their ruler. How did they get to the thrones and what magic changed them all? They are all adults here, and some still have fae ears like this female. Most of them were fae, from the looks of it. “These two led me here and deserve for me to kill them. I will be going for Calliophe first, so you can watch her die.”

A snarl rips out of my throat, and I go to reach for my dagger, realizing I can’t move. I’m locked in place with magic I can’t see, feel, or fight. It reminds me of my years of torture, of when my mother locked me down and ripped into my skin, my soul, again and again until I was almost broken. “Stay the fuck away from her. You won’t get near her.”

He nods. “Not here, you are correct. These are just dreams. Dreams where no one has any true power to hurt each other.” The female leaves, going back to the throne and sitting down. Louie watches me, moving a few steps closer to stand right in front of me. There’s nothing good or mortal in his eyes. Just blackness. Absolutely nothing. Whatever’s taken over Louie, turning him from a child into an adult, has taken his soul. I wonder if Calliophe knows this and just won’t admit it or if she is hoping there is some goodness left in him. I don’t think there is any left, and I will kill him if he comes after her. I don’t care if she hates me for it. The way I see it, Louie is already gone, and it would be a mercy to stop this thing.

There’s no going back from this. He looks up at me. “Not even your army will be able to stop me from taking your world, king of the Wyerns. Say hello to Calliophe.”

I fall through the mud, cast from the dream and into the welcome darkness.

I wake up with a jolt, tasting the death and darkness of the Rift magic lingering on my skin. The magic shouldn’t be leaving the dream world, but it is, and I don’t like what that could mean for us all. I nearly knock Calliophe off me, but I grab her hip, holding her close. She is safe. He can’t touch her here. We need to talk about Louie, but not yet, not in this place as we fight for our lives. I’m sure she knows how bad it is, how evil he has become, and we can face him together.

I glance down at her as she lies on my chest. Her pink hair is splayed across my stomach in a wave of soft locks, and I run my hand through it. Holding her feels perfect, and she is made for me, every inch of her. I’ve waited hundreds of years for this, for her, and I never want to let her go. My arm is holding securely around her waist, but I tighten it, wanting to hold her closer, wanting to erase any threat, any chance of her being hurt, because she’s my future. I won’t ever let her go again.

Louie can come, bring whatever army he wants, but he won’t stand a chance against ours. I will use every force in my city to protect her, which they may not be entirely happy with, considering she’s fae. But I’m their king and they will fight. The selfish part of me is happy she is fae, even if I worried it had broken her spirit for a moment there and made her hate me. I never wanted to be her enemy, even when she was a stubborn mortal, insulting me as I sat on my throne. Even then, I wanted her with a passion that burned hotter than any fire she could cast. Now we have immortality together. Not just the mortal life she would have led where I would have lost her. I hate how she was turned, the risk that she had of dying from the serum. I hate that it came down to that in the end and that she is bound to my nephew. But that moment she was turned to fae gave us a lifetime together. A lifetime I never thought I’d have.

I look at her face as she sleeps peacefully, trusting me to protect her, and fuck, I always will. I drift my fingers down her face, and she smiles in her sleep. I drift them lower over her leathers to her waist, stroking the soft, tight skin of her stomach, and I want her again. I’ve had her three times this night alone, and I want her so fucking much already. She needs to rest and sleep, so I will wait. She lifts her leg, wrapping it around mine and pushing her knee against my hard, needy cock. I groan softly, knowing she is going to be the end of me, and I’ll happily go down any path she leads me on.

I never thought much about a future before between us. A future seemed impossible. But here we are, and I want her, children, and heirs. I want her to see the cities, the homes I have that will be hers. Everything of mine will become hers. We’ll get out of this Conquest alive, stop the Rift, and have that future because I love her. I will always love her, and together, we will have a future I’d die to protect.