Page 27 of A Book of Royals and Deities

“It’s funny that, isn’t it? What we tell ourselves so that we can survive.”

We look at each other and just smile. We don’t have to lie anymore. We are two royal blood slaves who are free, standingon the edge of war, but even if we die in it, we are not theirs. Maybe it’ll be us that finally stops them.

Chapter Fifteen

Page Fifteen—I stole a royal prince from them.

The deity of Twilight commanded this path for my life,

and it is the only way the royal line will continue.

“You have to actually go into the water!”

Hettie sticks her tongue out at Calix, and two little fae girls on the other side of the river giggle from their spot on the rocks where they have been watching us for the last ten minutes. They are Hettie’s new friends, and she has been playing with them for a solid week. Ziven agreed to let her have more freedom around the mansion as long as two Moon Dynasty guards are with her at all times. Or Ziven himself.

Right now Astrid and Calix are guarding us both, and Astrid is leaning against the tree, looking bored. Calix was happy to get in the water once I explained I want to teach Hettie to swim. Hettie wasn’t too keen on the idea though. Someone should teach herand it might not be my place, but I’m growing fonder of Hettie every day that passes. She makes us all laugh at breakfast every morning, and by dinner, she has snuck out chocolate cakes for me and her to eat alone. They might be our last ones because of the food shortages but we have donated nearly all of our other food until we are on barely anything to get by. It’s become a ritual of ours and I don’t want it to end. This little girl deserves the world, and I want to give it to her.

It begins with learning to swim. Calix is not helping much with his bossy attitude. She takes my hand as I hover by the edge and smile at her. We are both wearing dark swimsuits, but the darkness doesn’t suit her tanned complexion and long blonde hair. “It’s okay. I’ll hold you up if you struggle.”

I’m still not feeling great, and my cramps have begun today in full force, but I’ve not bled yet. Ruelle, clever as she is, immediately began healing me to keep the pain at bay. But even she knows the next few days will be difficult for me. I absolutely know my cycle is coming, and the cramps are just the warnings. But every day is a treasure, it’s a day of freedom, and I’m not going to feel better by leaving Hettie to learn to swim without me. With how Calix is bossing her about, she might never get into the water at all. I patiently wait for Hettie to make her own choice. If she doesn’t want to get in, then she doesn’t have to, and I won’t make her. We can try again another time.

Her bright hair whips around her, and for a second, I see Daegan in her features. I wonder if Hettie’s biological father looked much like Daegan, being his brother, because she looks so much like him. I love Ziven more for how much he adores her, even when she is the image of her mother’s attacker. Thankfully, Daegan has stayed well away from me, and I’m happy he does now that I know everything. I’m half tempted to just punch himfor all the lies, for what he did to Hettie and me. I think he stays away because of the book. I don’t know if it frightened him that the book somehow took me when I was close. It frightened me too, enough not to go anywhere near his apartments.

Hettie dips her legs in and shivers. “It’s so-so cold!”

I laugh, splashing her, and she squeaks. “Of course it is! But you don’t notice after a while.” Eventually she lowers herself fully into the river and holds onto the edge of the rock wall, as the current slowly flows past us. This is a great place to learn to swim because the very gentle current will pull her along. Calix dives into the deeper area like a big kid, his head sticking out seconds later. “Come on.” I take her hands and lead her into the deeper part, staying close as I show her how to float her body up and how to move her arms and legs. She struggles a little, but soon she gets the hang of it.

She swims circles around me and soon joins her friends in the shallow part, giggling and laughing with them like kids should do. Calix watches from the embankment and I swim over, pulling myself out, and he hands me a towel. I watch the girls, but I can’t help but see the scars on Calix’s body. He has hundreds of them. “Ask. You have that face where you want to ask, but you don’t think we are close enough. I’m saying we are, so ask.”

“It’s not that. It’s just none of my business, so I don’t want to be nosy.”

“You ask far too many questions to be considered anything but nosy.” He laughs and I chuckle. Fine. We’re slowly becoming friends, and I can see why Ziven trusts him so much. He’s loyal and kind. “Maybe we should talk about our past, all the crazy shit, to bond or something like that.”

“I have scars all over my stomach from bites. Vampyre bites cannot be healed by powerborn magic, and he oddly didn’t like to bite my neck or wrists often. My skin healed there, but the thousands on my stomach and chest? They won’t ever heal.” My shoulders drop as I share this with him. It feels good to tell him in a way, like it’s not a secret weighing me down anymore. “I used to think they made me ugly, but Ziven…he restored my faith that they don’t.” I shiver as I remember the mirror.

He gulps as he watches Hettie and the children play. “I got these scars from falling off my dragon on our first flight. I was cocky and didn’t listen to a word of warning from my parents. I got my dragon, flew too fucking high, and she had to catch me with her claws to save my life. It was embarrassing, and Etena…” He pauses. “Back then, she was worried sick. She laughed though, once she heard I was fine and I’d survive my idiotic mistake.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask how things are between them, but I don’t. That’s for him to figure out, and it’s crossing a line. Right before I hear leaves crunching under heavy boots, I feel l him. Ziven. I glance over my shoulder, seeing him stalking through the woods like a dark, grumpy storm. He smiles when he sees me looking, and it makes my heart jump. There’s a playfulness to his face, a lightness sometimes that only I get to see. It’s nearly sunset, and there is a red light dropping all over the sky. I sniff the air when he comes closer and frown at the ash all over his fitted black jacket. He sits down on the rock next to me. “Why do you smell like burnt wood? Or do I not want to know?”

Calix coughs. “You don’t want to know.”

I glare at him. “Were you the distraction?”

Ziven takes my hand and tugs me closer. His eyes trace down my bare legs and up, like he can see through the swimsuit and towel. “Don’t blame him.” I can’t anyway, because Calix has dived in the river to avoid me. “I went and burnt down the castle.” My heart feels like it stops. I look at him with wide eyes. “Don’t worry, I searched all over for a way to help Kyrell, and my people have been for weeks. We didn’t find anything.” He touches my cheek. “I don’t want you going back there, because we both know it holds nothing but nightmares. I don’t want you reliving any of the memories of that place.”

“That’s your old home, Ziven,” I whisper, my throat clogged with shock and so, so many emotions. Relief, joy and love. He did this because he loves me.

He lifts me onto his lap, and I curl my arms around his neck. “You are my home. You are the only person I want to build a home with. When you’re ready, you can help me design and build us a new home with new memories. A home for us.” He smirks. “And maybe Hettie too.”

“Ziven…”

He leans down, our faces inches away, and his silver eyes stare into my soul. He can claim me with one look. “I want a future with you.”

A wave of pain hits me hard in the stomach at the worst time, and I slam my hand over my stomach. He pulls his jacket off, wraps it around my shoulders, and picks me up. He looks over at Calix. “Get Hettie back inside before it’s dark.”

“Got it!” he shouts back as Ziven begins to carry me to the path.

“I can walk,” I mutter. He shakes his head at me. “I’m fine. It’s just sometimes a bit sore before my cycle begins.”

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