Page 14 of A Book of Royals and Deities

Etena bristles. “My king is currently busy, but I’m sure he will return, and his first command would be to protect the library, like King Ziven and King Mazzis suggested.”

“Good idea,” I murmur, looking into her eyes. She is worried about Daegan, and she might be the only one.

Calix grins. “Still think you’re on the right side, Etena?” He lowers his voice. “The sun doesn’t seem to be shining down on you like it usually is.”

She glares at him, and I awkwardly glance at Kyrell. He looks as uncomfortable as I feel. “I don’t want your opinions on any part of my life.” She stubbornly lifts her chin. “None of you are welcome in here, so you can leave.”

“Story Dehana is always welcome in the libraries.” Mazzis’s soft voice comes from behind Etena, and his footsteps follow until he steps into the light. Dressed head to toe in orange robes, he smiles kindly at me. A sting fills my chest. He lied to me, too. Etena rolls her eyes and steps to the side. Mazzis smiles like the dawn sunlight, beautiful and bright. “Please come in. We need to talk.”

“We do,” I agree, rubbing my arm before joining his side. “I wanted to show Kyrell the libraries. He is a very good friend of mine, and he knows how much I love to read. He used to sneak me books sometimes.”

Kyrell’s eyes soften, but there is a glimmer of pain there. His lover used to get the books from outside the castle for me in the end, and he loved reading like me. I touch his hand and he nods once before following me past Etena. She stares at me, but she doesn’t say a word. Mazzis looks over his shoulder at Calix. “The guard can stay out here. This is currently the safest place for her.”

Calix’s shoulders tense. “The vampyre is?—”

“I’m not as weak as you are suggesting. I am still a king, boy, and I will be perfectly able to protect Story from a single vampyre as weak as he is.” Mazzis’s tone holds a bite I’ve never heard from him. My lips twitch with a smile, and Calix doesn’t dare say a word more when we follow Mazzis through the tunnel entrance. Mazzis moves to step back to my side. “I want to begin with an apology. I find Dawn is always in the middle of the Sunand Moon, two powers that are all-consuming.” I nod, knowing exactly what it is like to be between them. Part of me still feels like I am, even if I hate Daegan with every part of my body. “I wanted to tell you the truth, and I begged them both, but I was outvoted. I have so little family left, Story. Did I ever tell you of my two sisters?”

I shake my head as we all stop. Kyrell gives us space, waiting by the wall and staring at the library. I turn to Mazzis. “It is not you I’m angry at. Daegan has a lot to answer for.”

Mazzis takes my hands in his. “I tried to tell you the truth through the books I gave you. To give you hints without breaking the promise I made to the other kings on the penalty of death. I like you, Story. I believe people like you are the key to a better world. The people who read, who imagine and cry for words on a page, are the ones who will lead us. I thought maybe the books would give you some connection to the Dawn queen. She was family to me, after all.” He sighs. “I was a distant cousin to the crown, and my Dawn blood ran weak. I had two sisters from my mother’s side: neither one of them had a touch of royal blood in them. It was my father who made me king. You remind me so much of one of my sisters. She was a reader.”

“Many call her the princess, not queen,” I remark.

“She was the queen of the Dawn Dynasty for a time, and I dislike that is forgotten in light of the prophecy made,” he says with a sigh. “But, yes, the curse always talks about the princess; therefore, she’s usually given that name. You might be reborn of her, but who says each of us is not reborn of someone? They do not shape who we are. I know I must earn your trust back, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you have a long life, Story. You deserve it.” He walks around me to Kyrell. “And please do tell me your background, Kyrell?”

“I am Story’s best friend, and that’s the only part of my past that is worth explaining.” He turns his pale eyes on me. “And she feels guilty that I’m like this, but it’s not her fault. I want the same as you, King Mazzis. A long life for Story.”

Tears brim in my eyes. How did I get so lucky to have him as my friend? True love is one thing, but a deep friendship is just as powerful. Mazzis looks between us, and his smile is sweet. “Please come in, Kyrell.”

The library is just as I left it last, which feels like years ago with how much has changed in such a short time. It’s like it’s been untouched by everything that happened to the rest of the mansion when Maeve and I rode out the top of it. Librarians are still walking around with their carts, sorting books out and so calmly it’s like they aren’t aware of how everything changed in here. The tables are all empty at the front, and no one’s reading in here, but soft orange light glows across the room.

Kyrell looks in amazement. “There’s so many books. I once travelled with the prince to the king’s home in the Lightsun lands.” Mazzis looks at him with a clear question of how? “I used to be the prince’s guard. I went to the libraries to guard him. The king has a massive library like this, locked away deep underneath the castle in the Lightsun lands. No one’s allowed to go into them, and the fae workers there look like they never leave. I never saw all of it as I stayed by the door, but there were hundreds of thousands of books.” He looks at me and the shock on my face. “Telling you about a whole library full of books and unable to get you a single one would have been cruel when you were…” He drifts off. When I had given up wanting to live, he means.

“I’ve been reading so much here. About fae, about legends, and I can’t wait for you to read them.” The excitement I feel just comes out with every word. “The history of our race is extraordinary.”

Mazzis goes over to a cart by the wall and comes back with a book. “Now that you know the truth, I thought maybe you’d like to learn more about the Twilight Dynasty, where you came from, where the princess was from. There aren’t any other books on the Twilight Dynasty here because they kept to themselves. Their secrets too. But this is a traveller’s history written from someone who lived in the Twilight Dynasty for a time. It speaks about how most of them had red or black hair with a red glow. They had powers of flame and were not governed by the sun or moon for their strength.”

I take the book and touch the black cover. “You think I’m from the Twilight Dynasty? Or my ancestors were?”

Mazzis nods. “We might never know, but I personally take joy in learning about the ancestors of the Dawn Dynasty, and I think you should read about the Twilight. They may be gone from the world, but people like you could keep it alive.”

“Story…I’ve missed you.” I spin around to face Kyrell as the black bleeds over his eyes. The black moves across his eyeball like a wave, and a cruel smirk twitches on his face. Something about that smirk looks familiar to me.

My heart leaps in my chest as I take a step back. “Kyrell…what’s…” Kyrell jumps for me, teeth bared, and red light flashes in my hands. Mazzis pushes me back and Kyrell’s teeth latch straight onto his neck instead of mine. I scream as Mazzis goes almost floppy in his arms, orange light flickering from his body. “STOP!”

Kyrell doesn’t stop and I’m frozen in shock. Calix is by my side within a second, ripping Kyrell off Mazzis, who slumps to the ground. I catch Mazzis as Calix fights Kyrell across the library. The pair of them are powerful, but Calix is better. He swiftly grabs Kyrell around the neck, flipping him and slamming him onto one of the tables. It snaps in half, and silver light similar to Ziven’s flashes out of Calix’s hand into Kyrell’s face. Kyrell slumps, passed out as I clutch Mazzis tightly, seeing his chest rise and fall.

Etena shouts from the tunnel. “Get a healer! The Dawn king is injured!” I stare at Kyrell, unblinking, as I remember that smile. It reminded me of Prince Emyr.

Chapter Nine

Page Nine?—

It is said the deities are the very light of the titles of the dynasties.

Sunlight, Moonlight, Dawnlight, Dusklight and Twilight.

Only one of the deities we pray to is listening.

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