Page 31 of A Book of Royals and Deities

“I’m happy,” Ziven claims, the two words warming my heart. He is unapologetically proud of how I make him feel. He shouts it for the world to hear, and he doesn’t give a shit what that might make him look like.

“So am—” I pause as I see Etena run through the training room doors, her eyes wide. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her scared.

Ziven moves like a gust of wind, straight in front of me, and Etena comes to a halt. “There are creatures hacking the barriers, and we need you. Daegan needs you.” We all tense. They can’t be here already, it’s too soon. It’s only been a week since Luna arrived. Luna steps to our side with Calix, and Etena looks right at him. “Please listen to me. Daegan is going to fly his dragon straight to them to fight because that fucking book has his mind warped into thinking he is indestructible. He isn’t. Thousands of our riders are going with him.” She looks to Ziven and bows her head. “We haven’t always gotten along, but we need a leader who isn’t being used by the book.”

“Ask her,” Ziven replies to Etena, looking right at me. “If you tell me to save him, I will. If you tell me to fly our people out of here with you, then we will do that. The barrier is coming down. We can get out.”

He will leave for me. There’s a bang in the distance, and the entire mansion shakes. I want to leave Daegan to it to let him have his war and see what the real consequences are, but I can’t condemn them all to death. Maybe a small part of me doesn’t want to see Daegan dead because of this bond between us. Ziven doesn’t need my answer. “Fuck, okay.” He looks at Etena. “Go and get your dragon. Fly near us.”

Etena looks once at me. “I want him alive. I don’t care about the rest.” There is some vulnerability in her voice that shocks me more than her asking for help in the first place.

Calix goes deathly still, like her words are daggers to his chest because he hates Deagan because of Ziven. She is so loyal to him and in a way, choosing her cousin over her mate. He doesn’t sayanything as Etena meets his eyes just once before she runs away, where Foster is waiting by the door. He smiles at me and I smile back. We’re both running out of the door not long after, into the crowds of fae who look confused and lost. We didn’t have time to inform everyone of the new threat and make an evacuation plan for them.

Ziven climbs onto the broken banister that hasn’t been fixed yet. “Everyone listen up!” His sharp shout stops the crowds, and every single fae turns to look at him. Many bow. “Beasts with wings, flown by vampyres, are taking the barrier down and attacking. The dragon riders will fly to fight them and buy everyone time. Get into the forest behind the mansion and run. Keep going until we find you.”

Shouts and whispers burst out in the crowd, but Ziven is done warning them. He jumps off and takes my hand, leading me over to a quieter corner near the new bridge. Calix and Luna catch up seconds later, crowding around us. “Get on your dragons, all three of you. We thought we’d have some time before they got here, but we were wrong. They must have flown immediately after she left and not stopped.”

“Hopefully, that means the Silkvir are tired,” Calix points out, crossing his thick arms. “And they will be untrained in combat with dragons. We might have the advantage yet.”

I remember Luna’s drawing of the beasts. Vampyres don’t tire like fae; could Silkvir not tire either? Ziven curls his hand around the back of my neck and tugs me to him, his other hand plastering to my back. For a second, just a second, everything fades away until it’s us. It’s us against the world. “Go and get Hettie. Get the book too. Daegan’s probably got the other one and flew with it when he heard they were here, so that doesn’t matter.” I breathe in his scent to calm myself, even when thethought of him flying to Daegan and a war with the vampyres makes me want to be sick. “Take Hettie through the barrier where it’s clear of Silkvir and vampyres. Please.”

My heart cracks. “She’s safe with me.”

“I love you, Storm,” he breathes, leaning down so our lips touch. “And don’t you dare come back if we fall. I vowed to the deities you would know about love and freedom. Even if we can’t be together, you will find it.”

My heart races with anger and desperation. I’ve never felt more desperate to see him again. I need to. “That’s not going to happen, Ziven. You fucking fight your way back to me. Do you understand?”

He smirks, so softly too. “I’ll fight death to hold you forever, Storm.” His lips take mine, a passionate kiss, and he pours his emotions into the kiss, into every stroke of his lips, until they stain my heart. He stains my soul. I can’t see how death could ever take away a stain so deep. We are forever. “And when this is over and I have you again, I want you to join the Moon Dynasty and swear in as my queen.”

“It would be my honour.” I touch his cheek. I mean every word. I’ve never wanted to serve anyone, to be loyal to any throne or man, until I met him. He is the love of my life, my entwined mate, and I don’t want a future without Ziven at my side. “My king.”

He groans, kissing me once more, his hands tightening on my back and my neck until it feels like no one could ever part us. The ground shakes again and I taste magic in the air when he breaks away from me. Hettie. I have to get to her because she will be scared. Catherine runs over and nearly knocks into me. I catchher arm. “I ignored the call from Daegan to find you, Story. I’ll fly with you or no one. What do you need?”

Her loyalty makes tears brim in my eyes, and I quickly hug her. “We have to get to Princess Hettie and protect her.”

“With our lives and our dragons,” Catherine firmly replies. She loves Hettie as much as I do, even if she has only met her a few times around the mansion with me recently. She knows Hettie is the princess of her dynasty too.

Ziven steps away from me, and I miss his touch immediately. It feels wrong to be away from him. Luna looks scared. “I will find the fae and go with them?—”

“You’re riding with me. You’re a target for the king, and it’s not safe for you,” Calix cuts her off with a protective snarl. I blink at him and the way he near enough steps right up into her space. “You will be safe. Come with me.”

I expect her to say no or just plain faint from how worried she looks, but instead, she takes his offered hand, to my shock. They’ve known each other for just a week, and she will get on his dragon and ride with him. I’m surprised his dragon will allow her to ride. They run together towards the crowds, heading to the door of the mansion.

“Stay safe?—”

“Kyrell!” I grab Ziven’s hand. “You need to get him out before you get on the dragon and fly out there to Daegan. I can’t get close to him, but please just let him out. Tell him to run and we will find each other when this is over. If you leave him locked up and we lose the mansion, he will be killed. I can’t?—”

“I know what he means to you.” Ziven locks his eyes with mine. “I’ll go and you get to Hettie. Ruelle took her outside to the river. They will still be there, I’d bet, or Ruelle would have taken her to the dragons. Either way, you’ll find her on that path.” He kisses me like it’s the last moment we’re going to kiss each other, and it feels so wrong. I watch him leave me, and I run straight towards the Moon Dynasty apartments.

Catherine takes my hand, and she pulls me with her. Even though it feels like my heart is running in another direction to my body. There is a door to the river at the side of the mansion, and it’s crammed with people flocking out, carrying children and supplies. Hopefully, it’s clear when we need to go through it. First, I have to get the book. Catherine must know the plan, because she doesn’t question me as I turn to head over the bridge, hiding in it as the ground shakes under my feet. I feel Maeve in my mind, not her words, but her warning to hurry. She wants me with her, and I feel the same.

I rush down the tunnel to the library, my favourite place in the world. I wish I had more time here before I have to leave. The library looks like nothing is happening outside; the librarians are still pushing carts around and Mazzis is sitting on a chair, waiting with the box next to him. “You need to evacuate,” I tell him as I come to a stop, a little breathless.

He looks out at the library behind him. “I will never leave here, and all here have chosen the same fate. I will never leave the books.” He lifts his chin. “I am no rider, but I am a reader. Both are powerful. I will stay here and protect the library. Even if it’s the last thing that the Dawn Dynasty king does.”

Tears fill my eyes as I look at the books. There isn’t time to get the books out of here, and he knows it, too. “Maz, please…you can’t stay here.”

“Dear girl.” He rises to his feet and takes my hands. “We both know, apart from the dragons and your mates, these books are the biggest threat to the vampyres. They are information on who we are, what the fae are meant to be, and each book is a page of hope.” He knows, and I’m not sure how. Mazzis might be the smartest fae I’ve ever met. “Go. The Moon Dynasty needs a queen, and someone to remember me by. Get out of here and on that magnificent dragon of yours.”

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