Page 1 of To Bleed A Kingdom

QUEEN ADELPHIA

All I see is blood. On the walls, the floors, the tables, and the ceiling, splattered and pooling on every available surface. Gagging as that distinctive metallic scent overpowers me, I cup a hand to my mouth and sweep my gaze through all the gore decorating the once grand, crystal room. Limbs severed. Throats slashed. Heads decapitated. Intestines dangling from gutted torsos. Splashes of orange, green, blue, and teal magic streaks across the room as fae and immortals alike defend against humans with…

I don't understand what I'm seeing. It almost appears as if the humans are deflecting their powers with just a thought, but that can't possibly be right. Humans don't have magic. Never once throughout Vanyimar history have the gods blessed their race as they have immortals and fae.

A splash of bright orange hair catches my eye and I flit my gaze toa female, a Water fae, judging by her sharpened ears and the single aquamarine jewel near the outer corner of each eye, backed against a wall. She raises a teal glittering hand and a blast of water shoots from her palm, spearing the throat of an attacking human. But with throat intact and no signs of drowning, the man doesn't miss a step as he raises his sword and slices clean through her neck. Her head tumbles to the floor along with her disconnected body, and the man turns his back on her, advancing on another.

Frozen within the doorway, my heart thunders against my chest as the sounds of the dying blast into me. Their screams, cries, grunts, and moans fuse one with the other to become a single roar reverberating into my ears. My eyes dart from one horrifying sight to the next until I spot the lone dead man sprawled at my feet. Inappropriately, I wonder how I was able to open the door, considering his location before I glance at his face and notice something strange.

At first I assume he is human, for no immortal has ever been killed by a human, but when I look near his open-eyed gaze, I notice he doesn’t lack the jewels of a human, but neither does he have the sharpened ears or the jeweled markings of a fae. He has a sapphire and starlight jewel near the outer corner of each eye. Sucking in a gasp, I realize he's not a man, but a male. More precisely, an immortal!

Breaths punching from my chest, my horror intensifies as I scrutinize all the dead littering the throne room floor. They’re all immortal and fae, not a single human amongst them. How can this be? It's not possible!

As much as I don't want to say it aloud, even to myself, we immortals and fae are superior. We're stronger, faster. We heal within moments and wield immense powers. To humans, we’reindestructible. Even their most highly trained men can't compete with our males.

Attempting to grasp the magnitude of this situation, my eyes pass over all the fae and immortals defending themselves with swords, daggers, and their Gifts, desperately fighting for their lives, but felled within moments. My gaze eventually lands on the Captain of our Guards, Atlas, our most skilled and feared warrior, locked in battle with a human. Their swords are crossed, and I hear the hiss of steel on steel as each one attempts to gain ground against the other.

Both gritting their teeth and holding their stance, their twining swords appear to be held at an impasse until the human's sword begins to slowly inch in Atlas's direction. The time seems endless, but no more than a moment passes until the human suddenly thrusts forward, his blade vanishing into Atlas' chest, only to reappear in a spray of crimson through his back. Atlas cries out and falls to one knee. Faster than I can blink, but before his dying body drops to the floor, the human cuts off that cry with a gurgle, slashing Atlas’ throat from ear to ear.

Tears streaming down my cheeks, body trembling, my shock fades as I desperately search for my male. Eyes darting from one end of the room to the next, my shaking becomes more violent the longer I search with no sign of his presence… until I spy a shock of platinum blonde hair in a sea of scarlet. I brace myself against the doorframe, my knees nearly giving out in relief at the sight of him alive. But then I look at him. Really see him as I ignore all the death and misery surrounding me to focus all my attention on him.

My heart stutters to a halt.

My husband, King Valor of Cascadonia is kneeling before his throne – a place where no king is ever intended to kneel – with one human on each side restraining his arms behind his back. His platinum blonde hair is disheveled and soaked, blood flowing through his immortal markings to drip down into his piercing green eyes. With a start, I realize the human he kneels before is none other than the human King of Brecca, King Rainier himself. Rainer says something to him that I’m unable to make out at this distance. Then he tosses his head back, roaring in laughter, before he raises his sword above Valor's head.

This isn’t real. This isn't happening.

Valor can’t die. He just can't! It's not meant to be this way. We're supposed to rule this kingdom together. To have long, fulfilling lives with a home full of children. Loving them and watching them grow until they marry and have their own babes. We're meant to fight, to play, to love, to cherish one another for hundreds of years at least, but we've barely had a decade together and I can already feel Fate's cruel fingers ripping it all from my grasp. All my hopes, my dreams, my future, disintegrating as if they are no more consequential than sand scattered in the wind.

No!

I shake my head, denying the truth. This is not the end; this is not my fate. Any moment now, Valor will disarm his human attackers and burn the traitorous bastards to ash. But as I watch him struggle to dislodge his captors and see the frustrated snarl on his face, I know that my dreams won't be coming true.

That uncanny sense Valor has whenever I enter a room has his head turning in my direction. Meeting his gaze, my mind flips from one scenario to the next as I imagine all the ways I can save him, but my sobs strengthen and a black hole of despair consumes me when I realize I can't save him. That I won't.

He smiles that smile that always manages to melt my heart, and nods his head in understanding. If our situations were reversed, he'd do no differently. Not because we don’t love each other, and not because we aren’t willing to die for the other, but because of the two beings we love more.

The battle falls to the wayside as I drown in his beautiful green eyes. So full of life and love. Until blood bubbles between his lips from the sword speared through his throat. His eyes widen momentarily, then just as quickly, glaze over in lifelessness.

I bolt, racing out the door and into the hall.

Don’t think. Don't feel. Don’t think. Don’t feel. Don't think. Don't feel.

Rounding a corner, my heeled shoes wobble beneath my feet and I slam into a wall. Slowing, but not stopping, I remove one unstable shoe along with the other before pushing harder, using all my immortal strength to pump my legs as fast as possible.

A scream suddenly pierces the air, echoing throughout the palace, and my terror reignites at the realization that the battle is no longer contained to the throne room.

Don’t think. Don’t feel. Don’t think. Don’t feel. Don't think. Don't feel.

My chest heaves, my heartbeat is erratic, and I just watched the love of my life slayed in front of me, but all my focus is on moving my feet faster. To get to them. Before someone else does.

I pass rooms burning with fire and filled with smoke. Another completely flooded. A screaming human attached to a wall, held captive by a carnivorous plant eating him alive. A fae shapeshifted into a wolf is staked to the floor, partially skinned and burned. Too many dead. Some human, but mostly immortal and fae. Immortals, human, fae. All screaming, crying, fighting, and dying, but I don't pause for any of them. No matter what I see, no matter what I hear, I don't stop. Not even when I round the last corner to my destination and see a human man fucking a fae female’s bloody corpse.

Door within sight, my feet skid across the wooden floor and I ram my shoulder into the frame, pushing the door open and shut all in a single motion.

The snick of the lock is deafening. My gasping breaths are abrasive to the ears in a room that should be filled with squeals and giggles yet is completely silent. No longer able to keep my terror at bay, I squeeze my eyes shut and press my forehead to the back of the door, praying that the gods haven't completely forsaken me.

Please be safe. Please be safe. Please be safe.

---