Page 33 of A Book of Royals and Deities

Mate. The animalistic side of me wants to grab Storm and fucking just leave with her. Let it all burn. It feels wrong about leaving her at all. Gritting my teeth, I unlock the door and step in, pushing the maddening thoughts of the vampyre royalprince getting anywhere near Storm when I’m not there. She has Maeve, and Maeve is not going down without a fucking fight. “Kyrell, we are being attacked and Story sent me. You need to run into the forest with the fae and get the fuck away from here. There is no side to this war where you’d be safe, but we both know my woman would fight them all for you.”

Kyrell doesn’t move from his bed as I unlock the bar lock, and the magic drops away with my touch. “Kyrell, I don’t have time for you to fuck about. Get up!”

He doesn’t move. Fuck it. I need to get on my dragon, and the door is open now. I did what Storm asked. I walk three steps before Kyrell moves around me in the blink of an eye, using his vampyre abilities, and blocks the door. Now he chooses to get up? He cocks his head to the side, his body shaking. “Where is Story Dehana?”

Something is wrong. “Getting her dragon. Where else would she be, Kyrell?” I can sense a change in him, and it’s the same one that was in the library. Whatever or whoever is possessing him is here, and Kyrell is not. “Whom am I speaking to?”

A big smile tilts his face up. “My name is Prince Emyr of the vampyre race, and I’m coming for you all. Story Dehana is mine.”

A fierce wave of destructive possessiveness washes over me at his claim. Like fuck she is.

I look into the eyes of the shit poor excuse of a man that caused my mate to be brought up as a slave, to be tortured and bitten, to have been used and broken. He nearly killed her before I could even meet her. “I’m coming for you, Prince, and I’ve dreamt of the pain I’m going to cause you. So get out of his body and backto wherever the fuck you are and come meet me in the sky. I’m not a scared woman you can beat and overpower. Neither is she anymore.” I smirk at him. “Story Dehana is a dragon rider and all fucking mine. Come for us. See what fucking happens to you.”

He snarls like an animal, snapping his fanged teeth at me, but he doesn’t make a move closer. He has some brains then. “No.” The room stills. “I know every inch of Story, inside and out, and I know this is her best friend who she is attached to. He died for her…and she won’t see us coming. I’m going to go and find Story in this body. She’s going to run up to me, happy to see her best friend, and then I’m going to sink my teeth into her neck and kill her.” I clench my fists. “I’ll bring her back as my bride, and she will be my queen forever. I knew when I met her, she had to be mine. I had this overwhelming desire to make her mine. My father called it an obsession, and he understood it. He said there was a name for it—mates.”

Fuck…no. I didn’t know that vampyres could have mates, but it makes sense they might be able to. I didn’t know it was even possible, but the way he’s speaking about her, the obsession, the need. Story doesn’t just have two mates, she has three. One from each of the dynasties, except for the one she comes from herself. He might be a vampyre, but he is a Dawn Dynasty royal through and through because of who his father is.

He’ll never stop until he has Story to himself, and I’ll never stop until he is dead.

Because she is mine, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Because I love her with every inch of who I am, and I know she won’t forgive me for this. I can’t let him leave. Kyrell asked me to do the unthinkable if he was ever a threat to Story because he loves her, too. I don’t want to do it. Killing people is easy for me. It’s never been an issue, but doing this…crossing this line? Wemight never get back from this. I wish I fucking didn’t have to do it, but I don’t see another option. He is fast, and even if I manage to get him back into the dungeons, the prince will use him to get to Story over and over.

Kyrell is her biggest threat because she loves him.

He runs, but I catch him with my magic, my silver shadows snapping out of the wall and clamping down on his legs and arms. My stomach turns to lead, and I cut off the part of me that feels, the part that is alive around my mate, as I betray her in the worst possible way. It’s for her own good.

I have to do this.

The fucker manages to break free of my shadows and run. I chase after him. Kyrell is weak because he’s barely been drinking the blood we’ve been giving him. That means he’s slow. It doesn’t take me long to track him in the forest, in a clearing of damp leaves and rocks, hunched over and breathless.

I walk up to him, and I don’t hesitate. I pour moonlight into his body, ripping him slowly apart with moon fire. He gasps, a silent scream in his mouth. His eyes completely change as he falls back onto the ground, and I crouch down, placing my hand on his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it ended like this for you.”

My moonlight is ripping him apart, tearing his soul from his body. Pure fire burning up his veins. I can’t save him, but I wouldn’t even if I could. He thinks of Story in his last moments, just like I would. He loves her like a brother, but me? I love her enough to do this terrible thing. “This proves to me you’re not selfish. You love her more than you want to keep her to yourself because, after this, she will hate you. Tell her the truth and thatthis is what I wanted. Maybe you are exactly what she needed to find, and you might get a chance. Thank you, King Ziven.” The idea of Story hating me again fills me with dread. Kyrell grabs my hand. “Tell her the truth about her mother. Tell her the truth about everything. No more lies.”

The moon fire creeps up his neck, and then his eyes glow with it. Burning silver flames. His hand drops from mine, and his entire body disintegrates into nothing but ash in my hand. I feel as dead as Kyrell as I look up and see Story standing there, shaking in the breeze, her soft red hair flowing around her, tears streaming down her face. Her pain is a stab to my chest. I did this.

Betrayal and hate is written across her face as clear as moonlight. “Did you just kill my best friend?”

Chapter Nineteen

Page Nineteen—I write these final pages on my deathbed.

This is a book for my children and for their children and so on…

Iknow what it’s like to be betrayed. I know what it’s like to have someone that you care about stand there and hurt you. I know what it’s like to pretend you aren’t shattering inside because letting them see it is a sign of weakness. But this… I can’t hide how I feel. It screams out of me, along with pained words to confirm what I just saw. Nothing compares to the betrayal I feel as I see my best friend die in Ziven’s arms. Until he is nothing but black moon dust, floating around the Moon king himself. The man I gave every inch of my heart to, who I love. Who I would have died for without another thought. He took Kyrell from me.

I scream in pain, rushing over to the ash pile, and sink down in front of it, touching the pile for a second. This is all I have left of my best friend. My brother. He’s gone. I look up, tears streaming down my face, and each tear is filled with bitter hate. Ziven reaches for me, and I nearly fall back to get away from him. “NO!” He stops, lowering his hand. “Why him? You knew what he meant to me and how much I owe him. I owed him a life! A long, full life, and you just killed him. How could you?”

My voice is broken, and I can’t stop crying. I sob in front of him as his own eyes fill with tears. “I did not want to kill him. The prince possessed him and was coming after you. Kyrell and I made a deal that if he was ever a threat to you, I’d end his life. I did what he asked.”

“How. Could. You!” I scream at him, shaking my head in disbelief.

“Story, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but I know he wanted this. The vampyre existence without a heart was torture for him. He was in pain all of the time, but he hid it from you. He couldn’t even feed to keep himself alive.” I can’t even listen to the lies. He has to be lying. Yes, Kyrell wasn’t happy, but was he starving? Was he in pain? “This is what he asked for, but I am so sorry.”

“Ziven, you never thought to tell me any of this?” I demand, my heart shattering. “You never thought to give me the choice or give me a chance to say goodbye?”

He crosses his arms. “The whole time he came back as a vampyre was your chance to say goodbye, and we both know you did. Hate me if it makes you feel better, but I told you I’d do anything to keep you safe. I don’t regret anything I do to make sure you’re alive and free.”

“Fuck you!” I snap, breathless. I can’t breathe. Kyrell’s last words echo to me. “What did he say about my mother? I heard that.”

---