Page 2 of A Book of Royals and Deities

“No,” Emyr responds. I frown at the floor. I know there are rising rebellions in the Nightwell lands among the powerborn, but I don’t think they have the numbers to have taken the city. Notthis quickly. “Dragons. With riders. I heard word they burst out of the woods before a magical barrier surrounded the city and locked everyone inside. No one can see in or out of it.”

Dragons?

Riders?

What in the name of the deities? The king is silent for a long time, but he is completely drained of the little colour he had left in his face. Is he scared? I try to hide my joy at seeing him look fazed. “They’re alive.” He suddenly stands up and walks the few steps to his son. He grabs his chin and stares at him for a long while. “You’ll get an army. The biggest army with my backing, and together we will end the riders for good. I know who they are, and they must have the other book. We will need it if we are to defeat them, my son.”

The king lets his son go and puts some distance between them. His eyes are nothing but calculating.

“I didn’t think you would believe me,” Emyr admits, brushing a hand through his silver locks that have grown wild around his face. “Dragons are truly real then?”

“Yes. Every story that I told you when you were a child of the dynasties and dragon riders was real.” The king looks back at me, and for a moment, I feel like he sees someone else when his eyes soften. He speaks like I’m not here though. “I remember the past like it was yesterday. I remember the reason I became a vampyre to begin with and what it cost me.” He looks away and frowns at the window. “They cannot be allowed to ride around the world and take it back. Vampyres will rule for eternity.”

Before she died, my own mother told me passed down stories of dragons that used to be crystal red and flew the skies in myancestors’ home. She told me stories of how the dragons used to be the brightest crystal colours that you ever saw and would look different in moonlight or sunlight. If this is true, maybe the chance we have been waiting for is finally here.Hope.The dragons can mean hope for us all. “I will follow your orders, father. I only request my plan for Story Dehana does not change. She will still be mine.”

The king places his hand on his son’s cheek and, to anyone else, it might come across as a loving gesture, but it’s not. The king loves no one but himself. “I will kill her myself if she distracts you from war. I’ve indulged your affair with her for far too long, son.” He grabs his son’s throat and squeezes. Emyr struggles, trying to pull the hand off him without hurting his king. I wasn’t alive to see what his childhood must have been like, but I can imagine. “You will do as I command—and for the vampyre race. Story Dehana is a name I do not wish to hear again. Do you understand?”

Emyrs croaks. “Y-yes-s.”

The king drops him on the floor like a log. “Come, we have much to do, son. It is time you learnt the art of warfare and I teach you all the preparations I have made for the dragons’ return. They are not the only creatures that will return to the skies for war.” I watch them walk to the doors, and I just hope he’s forgotten me. The deities’ luck is never on my side, and the king looks back. “Ava, pack your clothes and get ready to leave. You’ll be travelling at my side.”

I plaster a smile on my red painted lips. “Of course, my king. I wish to be nowhere else.”

The prince stares at me. “Your favourite…she looks like Story. I never noticed it until now.”

His father secretly smiles at me. “Some bloodlines are more addictive than others and taste better. Ava is a rare breed, and perhaps your Story is the same.” As I watch them walk out together, my heart pounds as loudly as the rustle of the guards following close. Only when they’re gone do I climb to my feet and rush to the side door, slipping through the corridors, my red dress brushing against my legs.

The secret passageways through the castle are known only to the fae, and it’s easy enough to hide in them when I want to. I get to the basement quickly, but I pause by the wall that has a door hidden behind it to make sure no one is following me. I can never be too sure, but usually I’m forgotten within the castle. I’m there to lie on my back for the king, give blood for the king, and not die when he beats me for his pleasure.

I’m the last person they expect to be working against him, and I act broken enough to think there is no hope left in my soul to fight. They don’t get it. The vampyres will never understand that breaking someone only works when they choose to give up. It’s their power, not the abuser’s. Only when it’s completely silent for at least fifteen minutes do I open the trapdoor down to the basement level and light a lantern to carry.

I head through the cobwebs of the long-forgotten tunnel, my feet tapping on the damp floor as I pray no rats come near, before I get to a pillar where a boy sits asleep, snoring loud enough for the deities to hear him. I’m relieved to see my nephew, even if I wish my sister and brother-in-law didn’t send their young child here. They don’t have a choice; they are both worker fae, and they can’t be missing for too long. Marius is only ten, and no one notices the young fae running about. I kick his boot and he jumps. “You shouldn’t be sleeping when you’re on guard in here.”

He pulls his cloak tight around his bright red hair and grins up at me, two of his teeth missing at the front. Marius is a lucky kid, though, to have two parents who aren’t breeders and a full belly of food thanks to my regular donations. He stands and wraps his arms tight around my waist, and I smell his hair for a second. “I missed you, aunt Luna!”

“I missed you too.” I lean down. “Listen, something big has happened, and I need you to tell your dad it’s time for him to go into hiding like we planned. Apparently, Nightwell city has been taken by dragons and dragon riders. The king is going to war, and he claims to have weapons against dragons. I will be travelling with him, and I will send word of anything else I hear to the secret place. Do you understand?”

“I understand and I’ll tell dad. How can all that be true?” He looks at me with his big blue eyes. “Dragons? What are they?”

I smile at him. “Fire breathing creatures that fly in the sky. They can fight the vampyres, and it’s a good thing they are back. They used to be our rulers, but legend has it they vanished overnight.” I’m never more thankful for the stories I was told. My sister was too young, only a babe when our parents died, but I’ve told her all the stories too. I hope she tells her son one day, before he sees them fly above and free us.

“And they’re back to save us?”

Or doom us.I stroke his soft hair. “Yes. The dragons must be back to save us all.” He hugs me once more and leans away, pulling out a book from the inside of his cloak. “Dad said there were great lengths taken to save this book, and he wants you to keep it safe. To get it to the rebellion in Nightwell city because the powerborn he is in contact with there should know the truth.” I take the book and he picks up the bag I left down herewith food a few days ago. All of it is sealed well and the rats can’t get into it. “Bye, aunt!”

I watch as he leaves before I look at the book and hold it in the light. The cover is blood red, and in gold letters are two words. I’ve been trying so hard to spell out letters, and I stare at it, mouthing out every letter until I can finally understand the two words.Twilight Dynasty. Why would this book be so important that it’s worth risking my life?

Chapter Two

Page Two?—

The deities were once nothing more than trees, grown deep into the lands of the Twilight Dynasty and loved by the dragons whose ancestors were hatched within the bark. One Twilight king ordered them to be cut to make books so he could be all powerful. Two books are all that survived the fires of the revengeful dragons who lost their home… An orange book burnt that night long into dawn.

I’m riding a dragon and I’m going to die. I feel cold, not like the cold of being outside in the snow in the dead of winter, but the kind of cold that has sunk into my bones, into my very blood, and I can’t breathe through it without my chest rattling. I don’t know whether it’s from my blood loss or the sheer cold wind blowing at me, threatening to push me straight off the back of the beautiful red crystal dragon I’m awkwardly riding. Ican’t stop shivering, and everything is blurry. I’m going to fall. The moon hangs high above me like a taunting deity and only reminds me of him.

I hate him.

I hate them all.

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