Page 14 of Clash of Kingdoms

“Our abilities set us apart, and those are invisible to the eye.”

Father gave a subtle sigh. “Don’t expect me to be impressed by your titles, nor do I expect you to be impressed by mine. I’m Huntley from this moment forward, because all that m’lord and Your Majesty shit is a waste of time. Why are you here?”

Aurelias spoke. “While my father deliberates his decision to join our war, my brothers and sisters have returned to fight for us.”

“Deliberates his decision?” Father asked coldly. “It’s a yes or a no.”

“Much has happened in our lands,” Aurelias said. “He has several kingdoms to rule?—”

“Four vampires won’t turn the tide of this war,” Father snapped. “I need an army of vampires if we have any chance of winning this.”

My heart sank—because that meant whatever he’d discovered in the east was bad news.

Aurelias didn’t flinch at my father’s anger. “I didn’t promise he would come. I promised I would ask.”

“You said he would probably come?—”

“And I still think he will. Now that my brothers are here, he’s risking more than just his firstborn, but nearly all of his sons,” Aurelias said calmly. “To orchestrate an exodus of that magnitude will take ample time and resources?—”

“Both of which we don’t have.”

Now I understood why I’d never been part of my father’s deliberations before. It was stressful, to hear him bark his orders and show his fear in the form of aggression.

“What happened, Huntley?” Mother asked, her voice gentle.

When he turned from Aurelias to my mother, he regarded her completely differently, with a hint of softness and respect. “Palladium is a kingdom that once flourished in those lands. When it was destroyed, there were survivors, and those survivors saved Ian before the demons could capture him. They have a stronghold in the mountain, but there are very few of them, maybe a hundred. They say there are more deeper in hiding, a few thousand.”

Mother crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes hardening.

“Since they rescued Ian, they’ve asked to come here and be given a ship to sail for new lands. I’m not their king and can’t order them to fight, so I agreed. In their opinion, these demons can’t be defeated…because they’re invincible.”

“No one is invincible,” Mother said. “Our soldiers defeated their army and protected Delacroix.” A note of pride was in her voice, proud of her people and her son for defending our lands.

My father wore a hard stare, like he’d already spoken the truth. “Their magic is fueled by crystals, giving them a form of immortality. When they’re killed in battle, they’re reborn in the crystals. They wear the scars from their previous battles, but in every other way, they’re brand-new.”

The entire room was silent. I forgot to breathe, the horror so potent it collapsed my airway.

Aurelias must have felt my terror because his hand moved to my back, a gentle touch to remind me that he was there, that his sword would protect me from the beings that couldn’t be killed.

“So even if we kill all of them in the battle to come, they’ll come again…and again.” My father never spoke with fear, always with a strong voice and a tinge of annoyance. “Fighting them is a pointless effort and a waste of energy and resources.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Mother asked. “Flee?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Father said. “These are my lands. The blood of my ancestors feeds the crops we harvest. A great line of kings and queens fills the cemetery of Delacroix. My kingdom was taken from me before—and I won’t let that happen again.”

“But, Huntley?—”

“I reminded the Exiles that their people are working their hands bloody in the labor camps in the east. That their husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, even their children, are subjected to cruelty on a daily basis. To abandon them is the greatest act of cowardice. I asked them to help us instead of taking the ship, and they’ve agreed. They know a path that leads to the demons’ domain under the earth. I will travel down there and destroy those crystals.”

Mother was dead silent, unable to react to that information.

No one else did either.

Father continued. “I believe they’ve left their domain because they’re running low on the crystals that hold their magic. That’s why they have prisoners mining for jewels in the earth. If we destroy the source of their power, when we kill them in battle, we will never have to kill them again.”

“That still leaves the original problem,” Grandmother said. “Defeating them in battle…”

“Aurelias and I have been preparing the kingdom for the siege,” Mother said. “We’ve been laying foundation around the castle walls to prevent their penetration. Been doing other things to mitigate the damage.”

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