Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

M y thigh aches, and I glance down at a deep gash I didn’t even notice in my left thigh. One of the watchers must’ve caught it on their blade during the fight. The adrenaline racing through me would have masked the pain. Streaks of dried blood colour my leathers red, and fresh blood continues to drip.

I take in the foreign lands before me. The meadows sweep over rolling hills, covered in thick green grass, brighter than I would ever imagine possible. The sun cuts through pale-pink skies overhead, almost shimmering in the light. There isn’t a cloud in sight, just an endless blanket of pink that stretches on farther than the eye can see.

I limp down the hillside toward the meadow and sink onto the grass. Blood oozes from my wound and runs over my leg, dripping onto the perfect green grass.

I glide my fingers over the wound, curious why it hasn’t healed up yet. Maybe it was much worse than this and has already started the healing process. In the past, I’ve had wounds that have healed instantly.

So why won’t this one?

Shadows pass overhead, and I look up as several huge males with gold wings larger than I’ve ever seen before swoop down and surround me.

They remind me of my father.

“Who are you?”

I lock gazes with the male who spoke. He appears older than the others, but not by a lot. It’s only evident in the faint lines creasing either side of his eyes.

But there’s something different about these males. Not just their immense size but their appearance overall.

They look like gods, resembling the carved stone statues that sit atop our castle back in Silanthia. The male pulls a blade from his hip, and it’s at my neck in the blink of an eye. Gods above, they move fast.

“I’m Zarla. From Silanthia.” My voice comes out high-pitched, as if I’m lying.

Or perhaps it’s nerves at having this blade so close to my throat.

“Why are you here?”

I gulp, shifting my focus to the faces of the other males. They all wear the same beige uniform, which suggests they’re guards. Makes sense.

“I escaped the new King, Amaros. I opened a portal, and it led me here.” I reposition myself and wince at the ache in my thigh.

Shit, it hurts.

His gaze drops to my injured leg and back up again. “Did Amaros do that?”

I tear off a piece of ripped leather from my corset and tie it firmly around my thigh to help stop the bleeding. “No. I fought with watchers. One must’ve got me.”

The pain is getting worse now that the adrenaline’s worn off. Cool sweat beads on my forehead, and I wipe it with the back of my hand. Nausea rolls through my stomach, and I dry heave to the side.

He removes his blade from my throat, seeing I’m no threat. “Can you fly?”

I attempt to stand and cry out at the intensity of the pain, and then everything goes black.

I blink my eyes open, trying to make sense of the strange room I find myself in.

Images of Kyle slam into my mind, one after another. Kyle appearing in Silanthia, fighting Amaros. Amaros dangling him over the cliff at the Kingdom boundary and throwing him into the sea.

“Kyle!” I leap off the marble bench, and several females rush to me, their long white dresses brushing their bare feet.

“Take it easy, Zarla.”

I snap my focus to Atticus, who leans up against the far wall, staring at me with green eyes, his thick arms folded across his broad chest.

“I have to help him. Let go of me!” I breathe heavily, putting all my weight on my right leg.

The females look to Atticus, awaiting his command, and when he nods at them, they release me.

“Please, sit down,” he says, gesturing to the stone bench I woke up on.

“What is this place?” I ask, sitting down and somewhat regretting my decision to get up so fast.

My head throbs, and I press my hand to it. The females hurry over and tend to me, one holding a glass of water to my lips, the other rubbing some sort of paste onto my head. The zest of lemon hits my tongue, and I swallow the water down.

Atticus doesn’t answer me right away, as if deciding what to say. I sip the lemon water as I wait.

“You are familiar with my origins and those of your mother?”

Okay, then. He’s going to be cryptic about it. Great.

“Sort of.”

He pushes off the wall, crosses the room to my side, and sits on the edge of the stone bench I’m perched on.

“There was only one Kingdom originally. The Kingdom of the Gods. Your mother and I, Apollon, Hethenos, Stavros, Zalore, Amaros, and Drakon lived there, and I ruled it.”

My mouth drops open at this fresh information. “Gallerria…”

He nods. “There is much you do not know, and I will not burden you with that knowledge right now. All you need to know is that is where we are.”

I take another sip of water as I let this information sink in. Drakon was right about this place. And because I’m a descendant of gods, a goddess myself, I could pass through the invisible barrier.

“You knew Drakon,” I say, and concern pulls his brows together.

“Why do you speak of the male as if you know him?” He glances at the females. “Please leave us.”

They each bow low and hurry out of the room, and Atticus returns his focus to me.

“I’ve been to the Kingdom of Pyrrhus. It was an accident. I must’ve dreamt of it, and then I accidentally opened a portal there.”

“No, that can’t be… You must’ve hit your head and dreamt it. No one has seen a dragon in centuries. The last line of dragon shifters was assumed to be dead.” He abruptly stands and paces the room, running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t seen that male in a very long time. He’s dangerous, Zarla.”

I stare at him. “Seriously? You think I hit my head and imagined all of that? Going to Pyrrhus with Grazen, seeing several dragons with my own eyes, as well as riding on the back of one? You think I imagined that? How about how Amaros opened a portal there, beat me, and then made me attend a ceremony for Drakon’s son, Atlas, before forcing me back into Silanthia with him? Yeah, sure, I must have imagined all of that, too.”

I skip the part about my potential vision into the future, among other small details he doesn’t need to know of.

“I’m going to kill him.” He balls his fists and slams one down on a stone bench, and it cracks at the impact.

“Why did I never know of this Kingdom? Or Pyrrhus, for that matter? How many other hidden Kingdoms exist? And how well do you know Drakon?” Feeling better now, I slip off the stone bench and stretch my arms above my head.

He clasps his fingers together and leans up against the far wall. “This Kingdom is sacred. Long ago, once we established the other Kingdoms, Gallerria was only for the gods and their descendants. We knew we had to protect it.

“Drakon was a bad male. He refused to get along with the other gods. Eventually, when discussions were had of forging new Kingdoms, Drakon chose to leave with most of the other dragons to forge his own.

“Not all of them wanted to leave, but he forced most of them. Threatened their families. I haven’t seen or heard from Drakon since.”

I cross the room to where several cloaks hang and swing one over my shoulders. “Well, I’ve been to Pyrrhus. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. How have you been able to keep Gallerria a secret all this time? I’ve never heard it mentioned until Drakon told me.”

Atticus sinks down into a chair in the middle of the room that can barely contain his immense size. “After Amaros and Drakon left Gallerria in such anger, they couldn’t be trusted not to return one day with their own armies to overtake it. So I hid it, shielded it from the other Kingdoms, only to be found by gods themselves or their descendants.

“I knew they would never return on their own. It would be suicide without their armies. And I had an understanding with most of them never to speak of it.

“And as far as other hidden Kingdoms go, that’s it. There are five Kingdoms. Gallerria, Silanthia, Zarquon, Galespo, and Pyrrhus.”

He abruptly stands and steps in front of me, gripping my face between his hands. He stares intently into my eyes, but when he doesn’t say anything after some time, I shuffle uncomfortably.

“Ahh, what are you doing?”

He frowns. “He’s in there. I can see him.”

A shiver darts down my spine. “What? Who?”

He continues to stare without saying a word, and I move back, forcing him to let me go.

“Stop it. You’re freaking me out.”

He shakes his head, disbelief seeping into his features. “Amaros…”

I gulp. “I know he’s in there. I can feel him too. His presence is always with me, hovering away somewhere deep inside me, observing, listening, planning.”

Atticus has no idea what Amaros has done. Even though I am a million miles away in another Kingdom, diminishing our bond somewhat, he’s still there in my mind, like a parasite.

“How?” Atticus asks.

I bite my bottom lip and fiddle with a length of my hair. “He harnessed the powers of the deceased gods in the Dark Forest and forced a mating bond with me. I’m mated to Kyle, and Amaros somehow overrode it.”

His jaw tenses.

“Kyle came to rescue me, and he and Amaros fought. It was bad. Kyle tried to distract him so I could escape the Kingdom. He threw Kyle off the cliff into the sea.” A whimper escapes my lips, and I pause to compose myself and consider whether to mention this last part. “There’s something else. He said something about sea gods. What do you think that meant?”

Anger flashes in his eyes for the briefest of moments before his expression settles back into a neutral one, like he’s trying to hide something from me. “I do not know.”

“I have to find Kyle. I can’t be here.” I rush toward the door, but he beats me there, grabbing my arm to prevent me from leaving.

“You need rest. Your body is still healing. You won’t be much use to Kyle like this.”

I stare into his eyes, the same green as mine, and pull my arm back. “Where have you been? I needed you. Em drugged me, and Amaros took me against my will in Zarquon, through the Gateway of the Gods, and back into Silanthia. I’ve been living a nightmare, trapped in a prison within my own Kingdom in Amaros’s quarters.”

For a split second, I’m sure I see regret in his gaze, but he composes himself so fast, I don’t know for sure.

He drops his hand from my arm. “I’m sorry. There were matters I needed to attend to here in Gallerria, and you had enough support. I thought you would be able to handle it.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You thought I would be able to handle it? I suppose I was able to handle it, all of it, aside from the part where my friend was killed, and I was drugged and stolen. Although, I guess I did handle even that because here I am, right?”

He grunts low at my mocking tone and folds his arms, and a gentle rap sounds on the door.

“Come in,” he calls.

The door opens a crack, and a female pokes her head through. “Atticus, your presence is required.”

He gives the female a nod, and she closes the door.

“I never would have left if I knew any of that would have happened to you. I am sorry for the loss of your friend. And Amaros will pay for what he has done. You can be assured of that. Now, I must go attend to some business. I will have Salise, one of our healers, show you to a room where you can rest.”

I blink back tears. “Fine.”

He opens the door where a beautiful female with freckles dotted across her pale skin and gorgeous orange curls is waiting.

He glances back at me. “You can stay as long as you like. This is your home, Zarla.” He turns to the female. “Salise, please show Zarla to a room in the castle.”

And then he’s gone.

“Zarla, I’m Salise,” the female says with a wide smile and kindness in her pale-blue eyes. “I would recommend you remain here in the healing chambers for a little longer before I show you to your room.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Salise,” I say. “But I’m fine. I would prefer to leave the chambers now, please.”

She nods and leads me out of the room and down the corridor.

It hasn’t missed my attention how all of the angels within this Kingdom are larger than those from the other Kingdoms. They are taller here, and I figure it’s something in the genes passed down by the gods to their descendants. All of the gods are tall and strong males, and all of the goddesses are tall, lean, and gorgeous.

“So, how are you feeling?” she asks as we walk down the wide corridor.

Everything in this Kingdom is bright, from the pale, polished concrete floors to the white walls, giving off a sense of calm, and gold details here and there shimmer when they catch the light. Glass windows span the entire righthand wall, with the most gorgeous view of the Kingdom. Wherever we are, we’re positioned atop a hill or a mountain.

“I’m okay. I’m healing, I can feel it. Slower than usual, though.”

Her brows pinch. “Slower than usual? You can heal yourself?”

We reach the end of the corridor. She guides me through a wide foyer with polished white marble floors with streaks of gold, and we climb the stairs.

“Yes, it’s one of my powers.”

Understanding crosses her features. “Fascinating. We do have a few healers within our Kingdom, but it is a rarity. Seems to stream from one particular bloodline. Perhaps relatives of yours.”

Her comments fascinate me, and I hadn’t thought of the fact I would have relatives here. I am suddenly eager to meet them.

We reach the second floor, and she leads me to a room with a large white and gold door, the height of it taller than any other door I’ve seen for sleeping quarters. She opens the door, and I gasp at the beauty. Thick, luscious white carpet lines the floors, and an enormous bed with white linen sits in front of the windows, overlooking the Kingdom and the mountains surrounding us.

“Wow,” I breathe, crossing the room to the windows.

She follows me into the room. “I never get used to the beauty.”

I turn to Salise, and a searing pain shoots through my head. I drop to the ground. My vision blurs, and suddenly I’m in another place. Somewhere dark and cold. I’m on my hands and knees, and my palms scrape across the rough surface beneath me, digging uncomfortably into my skin.

I get to my feet and scan my surroundings, squinting in the darkness. Where am I? Panic surges through me, my inner voice telling me it’s not safe here. A chill prickles my skin, and I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. Something warm touches me, and I jump.

It’s Amaros. I can feel him.

“My mate…” he says, his breath warm against my neck.

I spin around and slowly back away from him, the rough floor scratching my bare feet. “Where am I?”

He chuckles, taking slow steps toward me as I back away.

“You don’t recognise it? It’s a masterpiece, isn’t it?” He stretches his arms out.

I dart my gaze around the room, instinctively looking for a way out.

“There’s no way out, Zarla. We’re in your mind.”

I gasp, locking my gaze with his, and he glares at me, a coldness in his eyes I have grown familiar with. I continue moving away from him until my back hits cold stone. There’s nowhere to go.

He plants his hands on either side of my face and leans in close. His sickly sweet breath scents of alcohol, and I hate how alluring it is.

I squeeze my eyes closed. It’s a dream. I’m dreaming. Wake up, Zarla, please.

He chuckles and brushes his lips against my cheek. “It is no dream, my mate. This is real.”

He grips my side, squeezing hard, and I wince.

“See? It’s as real as anything. Now, where are you, my mate?”

I don’t answer him, confused by his question.

He licks my bottom lip and nips at it then grips my face between his hands. I struggle against him, but he’s stronger than ever.

A wide grin curls his lips as he stares at me. “Ahh, interesting. I know exactly where you are, my mate, and I’m coming to get you…”

I fall over, screaming, and Salise rushes over to me.

“Zarla, what’s wrong? What happened?”

She shakes me as I scuttle across the floor, darting my gaze around the room. Sweat coats my face and chest as I suck in fast gasps of air.

I’m okay. He’s gone. My lip trembles, and I begin to cry as the sickly sweet scent of Amaros’s breath lingers. I plaster my hand across my mouth. Gods above, it was real.

“He’s coming for me…”