30. Li Xiang

Kai’s fingers dug into Xiang’s biceps, but he didn’t dare tear his eyes from the dais where Trin stood over his kneeling mother while her bodyguards lay dead in growing pools of blood behind them. Trin’s ever-present personal guard, Aire, was a couple of feet away, a scowl twisting up her features.

This had the potential to go their way and be concluded at long last without a need for a major fight.

But then why was the tension so thick it could nearly choke a man? If someone were to sneeze, there was a good chance this stalemate would explode in earth-shattering destruction.

Rei and Yichen stood at the forefront of their group. The elf’s relaxed posture did nothing to hide his narrowed gaze and the tight muscles of his jaw. Yichen’s hands were wrapped around blades, which could be drawn in the blink of an eye if anyone so much as looked at his mate in a threatening manner.

For now, Xiang hung back, measuring up the guards and getting an accurate count, as well as marking the various exits if they needed to make a hasty retreat.

“Color me surprised,” Rei said with a low chuckle. “I thought you were going to leave it all to me to clean up. I never expected you to make such a bold move. Especially against your mother dearest.”

Leave it to the sassy elf to take a big pointy stick and poke the person in the power position. If Yichen didn’t smack his mate, Xiang was going to.

The grin that spread across Trin’s lips was sharp and sent a chill through Xiang’s soul. “Well, it looked like you were having so much fun upsetting the plans of our parents that I thought maybe I should join in.”

“So, you’ve taken over the palace and you have the queen in your hands.” Rei paused and the tip of his tongue licked the corner of his mouth. “What’s the next step? What are your grand plans now that you’ve gone this far?”

Trin’s smile dimmed as he watched the woman muttering to herself, eyes unfocused and face splattered with blood. Her elegant gown was wrinkled and ripped. There was little sign of the brilliant shining woman he’d glimpsed on the unicorn with a sword raised over her head. A feeling of intense power swirled around her, but it was wild and without direction, as if it were dissipating into the world after touching her. The mind that wrangled the reins of the natural world was broken, and it was all slipping through her fingers.

“Did you know I spent some time watching the humans?” Trin said in a conversational tone. “Their idea of maternal instincts and a mother’s love differs greatly from ours.”

“Though there are exceptions, humans can be very warm and nurturing, especially toward their offspring,” Rei agreed.

Trin grunted, his gaze seeming to soften as he stared at his mother’s bowed head. “I guess that’s why they’re so easy to conquer.” As soon as he finished speaking, Trin swung Kai’s sword, slicing through Belladonna’s throat in a single fluid motion that sent up a wild spray of blood. The former queen didn’t make a sound in her death. Her body collapsed at Trin’s feet and her head bounced down the three steps that led to the dais and throne. It rolled awkwardly across the floor until it came to a stop at the toe of Rei’s boot.

A tremble ran through Xiang as images from a very distant past flickered through his brain of a night so-called traitors met to discuss the future of the royal line. The night he’d killed his father.

The bite of hard fingers jerked Xiang from the bleak memories, and a bump against his shoulder had him looking up to see Kai’s concerned eyes moving over his face. Clenching his teeth, Xiang gave Kai a tiny nod to show that he was okay, and forced his attention to the present-day royal drama.

“Congratulations,” Rei called out, though there was a new flatness to his tone. “You’ve freed us both at last.”

“Have I, though?” Trin held out his free hand toward Aire. She stepped forward and placed a small square of cloth into his palm, which he used to wipe the blade clean of any spec of blood from his mother. “The line of ascension is very clear, and all our people know it. You’re the only living child born of King Ash and Queen Belladonna. You will always be their first choice to sit on the Dawn Throne.”

A scoff erupted from Rei’s throat. “Oh, yes. Let’s put the traitor and vampire lover on the throne to guide the fae people. That makes sense.” His snide expression hardened into a snarl. “I’ve told you I have no intention of taking the throne. Do you want me to renounce my right to rule officially? Fine.” Rei kicked his mother’s head aside and took a step forward, his arms raised above his head. “I, Wistari Elnaril Reymaris, Crown Prince of the Fae, son of King Ash and Queen Belladonna, hereby renounce any and all claim I have to rule over the many peoples of the fae nation. From this day forward, I am just a common elf with no home, no family, and no people to call my own.”

Trin tossed the scrap of cloth to the floor, his eyes on the sword. “Mn. Yes. Lovely,” he mumbled. He lowered the sword with a sharp swipe that sliced through the air and narrowed his gaze on his half brother. “However, we both know that our people pay more attention to blood than words. Besides, there’s something else that you said not all that long ago that has stuck with me.” The elf with the long, dark hair smiled as he shoved Kai’s sword into a sheath on his hip, drawing a low growl out of Xiang’s lover.

This was not going well at all. The death of Queen Belladonna was a plus, though Xiang would have loved to have killed the woman himself. Or at the very least, allowed Rei and Kai to have a go at ripping her apart for all the pain she caused them. Yet, by the same token, it appeared her illegitimate son had more than a few grievances as well. It was simply a matter of him getting to her first.

But now the threats had shifted to Rei, and Trin didn’t seem to have any interest in giving up the sword, which was a big problem for him and Kai.

Rei dropped his hands to his sides and retreated a step so that he was standing with Yichen yet again. “You’ll have to be more specific. You know how I love to run my mouth.”

“It was something to the extent that you would burn the Dawn and Twilight Thrones and replace them with the Onyx Throne. You would eliminate the Silver Court and raise up a new Blood Court. You would run the Black Dogs and the Dark Hunt ragged, chasing anyone who dared to mutter a word against you,” Trin recited.

Yichen’s head turned to gape at his mate. “Seriously? You said that?”

Rei winced, raising his shoulders up to his pointed ears. “Maybe. I was being dramatic. You know how my mouth gets away from me. I said that I’d do that if you were killed in a battle with my parents.” The elf paused for a heartbeat and straightened. “I think I’d still do that if something were to happen to you, though.”

“Rei, I don’t know whether to be horrified or touched,” Yichen murmured.

“I think you’re both fucking touched in the head,” Xiang grumbled. A soft gasp jerked Xiang’s gaze over his shoulder to see Kai staring at him with big, wounded eyes and a pouty bottom lip as if to say, “You wouldn’t burn down the world for me?”

Okay, I get it.

Yes, he would incinerate the world and destroy any number of governments to get revenge for someone hurting his mate. He was already standing in the fae stronghold, contemplating how he could take apart Rei’s brother just because he was holding Kai’s sword. Destroying the world wasn’t all that far off.

“As I was saying…” Trin raised his voice above their burble of conversation, reminding them he was supposed to be the center of attention. “You had part of a good idea, and I think I’m going to steal it, along with a few other things.”

The dark elf walked over to what had to be the Twilight Throne and kicked it off the side of the dais. The tremendous clatter of wood and ting of gems filled the throne room as the chair crashed to the marble floor. Silence filled the room for a breath before the main doors at the front of the throne room burst open. A cluster of eight guards carried in a giant black throne that appeared to be made of onyx rather than wood. The Onyx Throne.

“You came prepared for today,” Rei murmured as the men mounted the stairs and put the throne where the other had sat.

With a smirk, Trin drew the crystal sword from its sheath as he sat. He placed his elbows on his knees and held the sword with both hands as he set its tip to the blood-smeared marble floor, balanced between him and the clan as if in a dare.

“This isn’t the only option, Trin,” Rei reminded him. For the first time, the elf’s voice had lost all of its mocking, becoming deadly serious as he spoke. “If you lead the fae people through the door and close it, I’ll remain here. No one is going to question your claim to the throne. To our world, I’ll be dead and gone. The human realm will be forgotten for another hundred years.”

Trin nodded once. “Some of our peoples have gone through the door already, fleeing our mother and her madness. They’re happy to stay there, turning a blind eye to the human realm and the destruction they create every day. And I am content to let them live their insignificant lives there, so long as they never attempt to leave again.” Trin paused, and the smile disappeared from his lips. “But not all of mother’s ideas were bad. Controlling a dragon was a ridiculous and useless idea. If she’d not stolen from the dragon and decided to make it her slave, that dragon would have remained out of our affairs, allowing us to take over.”

“Then return the sword to its rightful owner!” Kai shouted. Xiang glanced over to see that his tall frame was vibrating with rage.

Trin stared at him, blinked once, and answered, “No.” His gaze moved to Rei as if Kai didn’t mean a thing to him, and that was a huge mistake. Trin continued, his hands tightening on the sword. “I might have no desire to control the dragon, but I’ve grown fond of the sword. It’s a pleasant reminder of this momentous day.”

Kai sneered, “It will be a dark omen if you do not release it.”

Xiang slid a step to his left, moving in front of Kai, as the dragon started toward the throne. Right now, Trin didn’t seem to realize that Kai was the dragon in question, which was strange since Rei had taken one look at Kai and known.

Except when Kai had come to the Zhang home, he hadn’t been suppressing his magic. A little giggle bubbled up in Xiang’s throat, and he almost choked on it. Trin was in for a hell of a surprise very soon.

“But aside from the dragon, mother’s plan to kill the humans, destroy their cities, and replenish the natural world so we can take over is a good one.”

A low, soft sigh slipped from Rei’s lips, but he still drew his two short swords from their sheaths on his back as he took a step forward. “That, I can’t allow you to do. The humans need to be left alone. This is their world to do with as they see fit. You want a perfect world where nature thrives, then go home.”

Trin lunged from his throne and stomped to the edge of the dais as he glared at his brother. “Aren’t you tired of seeing the mess they’ve made? Of watching this world die? It’s time to take away what they don’t deserve to have!”

“It’s not our place! We have the fae realm, which you are choosing to abandon, just like our mother!”

The fledgling king opened his mouth, looking as if he were preparing to shout something more at Rei, but he caught himself before the words could leave his lips and he beamed at them. He even retreated a step and lowered the sword he raised at Rei. “I knew you’d feel that way. That’s why I’ve struck up a new alliance. Taken on an advisor of sorts, seeing as we can help each other.”

As he finished speaking, a black slit opened up in the air a meter away from where Trin stood on the dais and all the air left Xiang’s lungs in a rush and frost bit into his bones. He’d seen that kind of magic in the past. Not just from Winter Varik, but someone else from a darker part of his past.

A tall, willowy figure with waist-length black hair and almost black eyes stepped out of the opening that closed again the moment he was clear.

“Jiang Chong!” Xiao Dan gasped while the rest of them seemed to have been rendered mute by the shock. Their old master. The vampire who’d changed every member of the Zhang clan who hadn’t died in the initial slaughter.

“So you remember me,” Jiang Chong purred, appearing all too pleased at the horror written on each face of his fledglings.

Xiang shook his head wildly. “You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead.” Every instinct was screaming for him to run from the palace, to put as much distance between himself and this vampire, but he couldn’t move, wouldn’t dare to leave his brothers alone. Or his mate.

Kai didn’t know what kind of evil consumed this man, but he needed to get his dragon as far from Jiang Chong as he could.

“You’re right. This was a fun reunion.” Trin cackled. “Jiang Chong has presented me with an interesting offer. He promises to take his missing clan back across the ocean, where they can’t meddle in my affairs. I will limit myself to the western hemisphere of the earth and he will take the eastern hemisphere.” Trin narrowed his eyes and pointed the sword at Rei. “And while he’s taking away his wayward children, he promised to kill you for me, too.”

“Who is this man?” Kai growled, his chest bumping into Xiang’s shoulder as if the dragon were preparing to launch his body at the dais.

“The man who turned me into a vampire. Stay away from him. Don’t let him touch you,” Xiang ordered as a fresh fear entered his brain. Would Kai be able to defend himself from Jiang Chong if the bastard pulled him into the dead world?

“Rei?” Yichen prodded, sounding as if he were speaking through clenched teeth.

“Kill him,” the elf commanded without a single waver in his voice.

“And reclaim my sword!” Kai bellowed.

That was all it took for chaos to break out in the throne room. More than thirty guards jumped from the sidelines, converging on the knot of vampires, elf, and dragon in a flurry of arrows and blades. Xiang dodged what he could and blocked the rest with his sword as he hacked through three guards in short order.

Unfortunately, that meant he took his eyes off the dais and Jiang Chong. When he looked toward the throne, his maker was sneaking through a slit in the world, disappearing from sight.

“Shixiong! He’s gone!” Xiang yelled.

“I’ve got it!” Xiao Dan shouted.

In the blink of an eye, the fae throne room of white marble and elegant columns was gone. Xiao Dan’s gift of glamour painted an ancient world of bamboo forests, glittering sunlight, and dancing blue butterflies. It was a world that existed only in Shixiong’s memory of their last years as humans. If Xiang could spare a glance at his clan mates, he would have seen them garbed in dark robes with wide, voluminous sleeves while long hair flowed down their backs.

The elf guards were so startled they retreated a few steps from the fight to gaze about, giving them enough of a break to explain this new wrinkle.

“Look for a ripple in the illusion,” Mei Lian ordered. “It’s the only way to spot Jiang Chong’s magic just before he opens a door to this world.”

“Don’t let him grab you,” Chen added as he blasted a pair of elves with his magic, encasing them in life-sized cubes of ice. “He can leave you to die in the dead realm.”

Kai huffed as the guards came to their senses and jumped into the fray. “Rei has gone after his brother and my sword. I guess that leaves this evil man to me. May I use magic now?”

“No!” Xiang cried out as he slipped under a blade swinging for his neck. Twisting, he jabbed his attacker in the stomach and whirled again to beat the next foe. “Stay away from him!”

“I’ve got him,” Xiao Dan cut in. From the corner of his eye, he caught a blur of Shixiong streaking across the battlefield, chasing an odd waver in the illusion.

After decades of trial and error, this was the one way they’d found in which they could track Jiang Chong’s movements. His ability to almost appear and disappear in the blink of an eye made him an extremely lethal enemy. He was as fast with a blade as any of the Zhang clan members, but he took a twisted glee in pulling people into the realm walked by the spirits of the dead and leaving them there with no way to escape.

Xiang wanted to support Xiao Dan as he went after the clan’s old nightmare, but it wasn’t necessary. Huli was at his side, sharp teeth bared and nine tails whipping wilding in the air, ready to tear Jiang Chong apart if he dared to show his face.

With new determination, Xiang returned his full attention to the remaining guards, who continued to hound them. Chen covered the doors throughout the throne room in a thick sheet of ice to stop reinforcements from arriving, while Xiang, Kai, and Mei Lian cut through the soldiers. It was no quick fight. These elves were blindingly fast and light on their feet, forcing Xiang to waste precious seconds while Kai killed one after another with little more than a wave of his hand.

“How?” Xiang panted when he found himself without an opponent.

Kai shrugged one shoulder. “I make their hearts explode in their chests.”

“You can do that?” Meimei half shrieked and half panted.

Kai at least had the grace to wince. “It’s not a magic I use often because it’s quite abominable. I feel the person has to truly earn such a death, and these wicked elves were trying to hurt my vampire.”

“I—” Xiang started, but Xiao Dan’s scream stopped him cold.

“Xiang!”

There was a faint ripple in the air between him and Kai. Without thought, Xiang shoved the dragon back while raising his own sword. The blade slammed into Jiang Chong’s, barely knocking it away from Xiang’s neck in time.

Yet, before he could return the attack, Jiang Chong whirled toward Kai, grabbed him by the throat, and pulled him through an opening that swallowed them both in the blink of an eye.

“No!” Xiang screamed, and he lunged for the opening, only to fall flat on the cold, blood-streaked floor. They were gone in a heartbeat. Jiang Chong had stolen his mate. For a moment, it was as if his brain had stopped working and his soul had left his body, disappeared into the unknown with Jiang Chong. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think. There was just the screaming panic from this sudden void within his chest, demanding his dragon return to him. Centuries upon centuries of watching loved ones disappear from his life slammed into him, and he refused to allow Kai to join them.

“Find him! Find him now!” Xiang roared, pushing himself to his feet. He stood back-to-back with his brothers and shimei as they searched the throne room covered in dead bodies for the faintest ripple of where Jiang Chong had moved to next, but there was nothing. Had Jiang Chong dragged Kai off outside of the throne room? Had he slipped away, leaving his lover behind?

The thoughts had barely formed in his mind when a rip sliced through the air and Jiang Chong ran out at an alarming speed, his eyes wide and sword forgotten in his fist. The tear almost closed behind him, crushing Xiang’s heart. In a blink of an eye, the same opening exploded to fifty times its original size as a dragon’s golden head surged out.

Fuck, yes!

Kai had shifted into his dragon form the moment Jiang Chong stole him away. The old bastard had gotten far more than he bargained for with Kai.

Mei Lian thrust her arms into the air and squealed. “Kick his ass, Kai!”

There was one problem. A full-grown and very pissed off dragon could not fit inside of a building. The throne room was an enormous, two-story area that was plenty of space for elves and vampires, but not a dragon. Kai surged through the air, twisting his body as he chased after Jiang Chong, claws scraping and scrabbling on marble columns and even the ceiling. Chunks of plaster and stone crashed down, forcing them to dodge out of the way.

Jiang Chong cried out once, and it was a sound Xiang had been waiting his entire life to hear, but the asshole proved to be too sneaky. He dodged Kai’s snapping jaws and changed direction to run right at Rei and Trin as they continued to fight on the dais. The old vampire narrowly avoided Rei’s sword, grabbed Trin’s arm, and pulled him into an opening he made behind the elf. Aire noticed the chaos and managed to dive in after them as it closed.

Kai roared, shaking the entire castle and deafening them all, but Xiang could still hear the echo of Kai’s human voice in his mind.

My sword!

Xiang thought his heart was going to break. All this work and pain for that sword, and it still eluded Kai’s grasp. The dragon roared again and again, slamming into the walls and tearing the castle apart.

Rei and Yichen ran over to their gathering as they watched the dragon losing his mind. A wise person would get the hell out of there before Kai brought the entire building down on their heads. But Xiang couldn’t leave him. Not when he was in this kind of pain.

“Look!” Chen pointed at a faint blue glow that was barely more than a spot hovering in the air where Jiang Chong and the elves had disappeared.

Xiang took a hesitant step closer, only to stop as the sword in question burst into the human realm and shot across the throne room. Just before it could pierce his chest, the sword stopped and hung in the air at chest level with the point directed toward the ground, as if it were waiting for him to take it.

Sucking in a steadying breath, Xiang wrapped his fingers on the hilt. A buzz of energy entered his body, crackling along his arm to fill every inch of him. Whispers filled his head, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying. A heartbeat later, a rumble of thunder and the crash of waves on the shore drowned out the voices. This was the sword of a dragon who commanded the rains and rivers.

With the sword in hand, Xiang jogged to Kai, holding the weapon over his head. “Kai! I have it! I have your sword! Come back to me!”

The dragon’s head snapped around and those eyes remained narrowed on him as if he didn’t recognize him. That long carp mustache wriggled with a life of its own and his mane flowed about his body with a charge of lightning. As Xiang was questioning his own sanity, Kai’s golden eyes widened, and he could feel his mate’s joy.

Pushing off the wall, the massive creature rushed across the room, snatching up Xiang and the sword before busting through the opposite wall and into the night.

Xiang might have screamed in terror.

But the fear passed as Kai’s happiness washed through him. The dragon twirled over in the air as he flew above the clouds to be gilded in the bright moonlight.

“Kai! What about the clan? We have to help them escape!” Xiang shouted, hoping he could be heard over the wind.

I’ve already sent them all home with magic.

There was a bit of smugness to those words as they danced across Xiang’s brain. Yes, the dragon could do just about anything when he could use his magic. But right now, he wanted to celebrate, and that meant flying across the night sky with his mate in his arms.

“How did we get the sword back?” Xiang shouted.

Jiang Chong fears me. He threw the sword out of the dead realm rather than risk me coming after it.

“Can you?”

No. But he doesn’t know that.

Xiang tightened his fist on the hilt of the sword that had grown quiet since Kai had scooped him up. With his free hand, he reached out and caressed the ivory and gold scales closest to him, marveling at the beautiful soul that held him. How could he love someone so much?

When it came to Kai, the answer to that question was very easy.

I love you too, my mate. My vampire.

“Home, Kai. We have a family to celebrate with.”

And a war to plan.